research-article

Including blind people in computing through access to graphs

Authors:

Suzanne P. Balik,

Sean P. Mealin,

Matthias F. Stallmann,

Robert D. Rodman,

Michelle L. Glatz,

Veronica J. SiglerAuthors Info & Claims

ASSETS '14: Proceedings of the 16th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers & accessibility

Pages 91 - 98

https://doi.org/10.1145/2661334.2661364

Published: 20 October 2014 Publication History

Abstract

Our goal in creating the Graph SKetching tool, GSK, was to provide blind screen reader users with a means to create and access graphs as node-link diagrams and share them with sighted people in real-time. Through this effort, we hoped to better include blind people in computing and other STEM disciplines in which graphs are important. GSK proved very effective for one blind computer science student in courses that involved graphs and graph structures such as automata, decision trees, and resource-allocation diagrams. In order to determine how well GSK works for other blind people, we carried out a user study with ten blind participants. We report on the results of the user study, which demonstrates the efficacy of GSK for the examination, navigation, and creation of graphs by blind users. Based on the study results, we improved the efficiency of GSK for blind users. We plan more enhancements to help meet the need for accessible graph tools as articulated by the blind community.

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Cited By

Zhao YNacenta MSukhai MSomanath S(2024)TADA: Making Node-link Diagrams Accessible to Blind and Low-Vision PeopleProceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642222(1-20)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642222
Binkhonain MNajm MAlharbi O(2023)Understanding Uses’ Needs in the Development of Indoor Navigation for Visually Impaired Users in Saudi ArabiaExtended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544549.3585909(1-7)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544549.3585909
Colley MKränzle TRukzio E(2022)Accessibility-Related Publication Distribution in HCI Based on a Meta-AnalysisExtended Abstracts of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491101.3519701(1-28)Online publication date: 27-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3491101.3519701
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Index Terms

Including blind people in computing through access to graphs
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
2. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing profession
      1. Assistive technologies
  2. User characteristics
    1. People with disabilities

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cover image ACM Conferences

ASSETS '14: Proceedings of the 16th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers & accessibility

October 2014

378 pages

ISBN:9781450327206

DOI:10.1145/2661334

General Chair:
Sri Kurniawan
University of California Santa Cruz, USA
,
Program Chair:
John Richards
IBM Watson Group, USA

Copyright © 2014 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Sponsors

SIGACCESS: ACM Special Interest Group on Accessible Computing

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 20 October 2014

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Division of Computer and Network Systems

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ASSETS '14

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SIGACCESS

ASSETS '14: The 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

October 20 - 22, 2014

New York, Rochester, USA

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ASSETS '14 Paper Acceptance Rate 29 of 106 submissions, 27%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 436 of 1,556 submissions, 28%

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Cited By

Zhao YNacenta MSukhai MSomanath S(2024)TADA: Making Node-link Diagrams Accessible to Blind and Low-Vision PeopleProceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642222(1-20)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642222
Binkhonain MNajm MAlharbi O(2023)Understanding Uses’ Needs in the Development of Indoor Navigation for Visually Impaired Users in Saudi ArabiaExtended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544549.3585909(1-7)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544549.3585909
Colley MKränzle TRukzio E(2022)Accessibility-Related Publication Distribution in HCI Based on a Meta-AnalysisExtended Abstracts of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491101.3519701(1-28)Online publication date: 27-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3491101.3519701
Borah PSorathia K(2021)Learning and Creating Mathematical Diagrams: Findings of a Retrospective Study Conducted with Users with Blindness or Low VisionProceedings of the 12th Indian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/3506469.3506486(105-109)Online publication date: 19-Nov-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3506469.3506486
Kearney-Volpe CHurst A(2021)Accessible Web DevelopmentACM Transactions on Accessible Computing10.1145/345802414:2(1-32)Online publication date: Jul-2021
https://doi.org/10.1145/3458024
Storer KSampath HMerrick MKitamura YQuigley AIsbister KIgarashi TBjørn PDrucker S(2021)”It’s Just Everything Outside of the IDE that’s the Problem”:Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3411764.3445090(1-12)Online publication date: 6-May-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3411764.3445090
Kim NJoyner SRiegelhuth AKim Y(2021)Accessible Visualization: Design Space, Opportunities, and ChallengesComputer Graphics Forum10.1111/cgf.1429840:3(173-188)Online publication date: 29-Jun-2021
https://doi.org/10.1111/cgf.14298
Brulé ETomlinson BMetatla OJouffrais CSerrano MBernhaupt RMueller FVerweij DAndres JMcGrenere JCockburn AAvellino IGoguey ABjørn PZhao SSamson BKocielnik R(2020)Review of Quantitative Empirical Evaluations of Technology for People with Visual ImpairmentsProceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3313831.3376749(1-14)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3313831.3376749
Yang YMarriott KButler MGoncu CHolloway LBernhaupt RMueller FVerweij DAndres JMcGrenere JCockburn AAvellino IGoguey ABjørn PZhao SSamson BKocielnik R(2020)Tactile Presentation of Network Data: Text, Matrix or Diagram?Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3313831.3376367(1-12)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3313831.3376367
Crockett AGannod G(2020)Improving Understanding of Data Structures for the Blind with Tactile Media and a User-Centered Iterative Approach2020 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE44824.2020.9273978(1-8)Online publication date: 21-Oct-2020
https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE44824.2020.9273978
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