Detecting Deceptive Dark-Pattern Web Advertisements for Blind Screen-Reader Users

Advertisements have become commonplace on modern websites. While ads are typically designed for visual consumption, it is unclear how they affect blind users who interact with the ads using a screen reader. Existing research studies on non-visual web interaction predominantly focus on general web browsing; the specific impact of extraneous ad content on blind users\u27 experience remains largely unexplored. To fill this gap, we conducted an interview study with 18 blind participants; we found that blind users are often deceived by ads that contextually blend in with the surrounding web page content. While ad blockers can address this problem via a blanket filtering operation, many websites are increasingly denying access if an ad blocker is active. Moreover, ad blockers often do not filter out internal ads injected by the websites themselves. Therefore, we devised an algorithm to automatically identify contextually deceptive ads on a web page. Specifically, we built a detection model that leverages a multi-modal combination of handcrafted and automatically extracted features to determine if a particular ad is contextually deceptive. Evaluations of the model on a representative test dataset and \u27in-the-wild\u27 random websites yielded F1 scores of 0.86 and 0.88, respectively

Assisted Interaction for Improving Web Accessibility: An Approach Driven and Tested by Userswith Disabilities

148 p.Un porcentaje cada vez mayor de la población mundial depende de la Web para trabajar, socializar, opara informarse entre otras muchas actividades. Los beneficios de la Web son todavía más cruciales paralas personas con discapacidades ya que les permite realizar un sinfín de tareas que en el mundo físico lesestán restringidas debido distintas barreras de accesibilidad. A pesar de sus ventajas, la mayoría depáginas web suelen ignoran las necesidades especiales de las personas con discapacidad, e incluyen undiseño único para todos los usuarios. Existen diversos métodos para combatir este problema, como porejemplo los sistemas de ¿transcoding¿, que transforman automáticamente páginas web inaccesibles enaccesibles. Para mejorar la accesibilidad web a grupos específicos de personas, estos métodos requiereninformación sobre las técnicas de adaptación más adecuadas que deben aplicarse.En esta tesis se han realizado una serie de estudios sobre la idoneidad de diversas técnicas de adaptaciónpara mejorar la navegación web para dos grupos diferentes de personas con discapacidad: personas conmovilidad reducida en miembros superiores y personas con baja visión. Basado en revisionesbibliográficas y estudios observacionales, se han desarrollado diferentes adaptaciones de interfaces web ytécnicas alternativas de interacción, que posteriormente han sido evaluadas a lo largo de varios estudioscon usuarios con necesidades especiales. Mediante análisis cualitativos y cuantitativos del rendimiento yla satisfacción de los participantes, se han evaluado diversas adaptaciones de interfaz y métodosalternativos de interacción. Los resultados han demostrado que las técnicas probadas mejoran el acceso ala Web y que los beneficios varían según la tecnología asistiva usada para acceder al ordenador

Implementation of sound workspace awareness to visually impaired users in aynchronous and cooperative web applications

Este artigo discute a implementação de recursos de acessibilidade para deficientes visuais em sistemas síncronos e cooperativos na Internet. Com base no cenário sociocultural de afirmação da diferença e nos contextos de cooperação estabelecidos pela Web 2.0, discutimos a aplicação da Percepção no Espaço de Trabalho em ferramentas do Groupware através de Ícones Auditivos, Earcons, fala sintetizada, Live Region e Screen Readers em um sistema de chat na web. Trata-se de uma pesquisa experimental qualitativa com validação interna de dados e de objetivo exploratório. O processo de análise de coleta de dados foi realizado utilizando protocolos aplicados com cinco usuários reais. Os resultados das experiências mostraram uma adesão satisfatória dessas tecnologias na construção de percepção sonora para usuários de leitores de tela.This paper discusses the implementation of accessibility features for visually impaired people in synchronous and cooperative systems on the Internet. Based on the sociocultural scenario of affirmation of difference and on the contexts of cooperation established by Web 2.0, we discuss the application of Sound Workspace Awareness in Groupware tools through Auditory Icons, Earcons, synthesized speech, Live Region, and Screen Readers in a Web chat system. The article presents a qualitative experimental research with internal data validation and an exploratory goal. The process of data collection and analysis was performed using protocols applied with five real users. The results of the experiments showed a satisfactory adherence of these technologies in the construction of Sound Workspace Awareness to screen reader users

Teaching Accessibility and Design-For-All in the Information and Communication Technology Curriculum: Three Case Studies of Universities in the United States, England, and Austria

Digital technologies allow people with disabilities to participate independently in society in ways they never could before. The full realization of these new opportunities remains elusive, though, because working professionals in the information and communication technology (ICT) field rarely receive adequate training in how to make digital ICT accessible to people with disabilities. Adding accessibility to the university ICT curriculum can help create a critical mass of ICT professionals with accessibility awareness and expertise to finally realize the full accessibility potential of digital technologies. This dissertation provides a rich informational context from which ICT curriculum leaders can decide how to best infuse accessibility into their own curriculum

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse