CREATE and Accessibility Research
Various Presenters (Allen School)
Colloquium
Thursday, November 17, 2022, 3:30 pm
Abstract
Speaker: Ather Sharif
https://www.athersharif.com/
Title - VoxLens: Making Online Data Visualizations Accessible with an Interactive JavaScript Plug-In
JavaScript visualization libraries are widely used to create online data visualizations but provide limited access to their information for screen-reader users. Building on prior findings about the experiences of screen-reader users with online data visualizations, we present VoxLens, an open-source JavaScript plug-in that—with a single line of code—improves the accessibility of online data visualizations for screen-reader users using a multi-modal approach. Specifically, VoxLens enables screen-reader users to obtain a holistic summary of presented information, play sonified versions of the data, and interact with visualizations in a “drill-down” manner using voice-activated commands. Through task-based experiments with 21 screen-reader users, we show that VoxLens improves the accuracy of information extraction and interaction time by 122% and 36%, respectively, over existing conventional interaction with online data visualizations. Our interviews with screen-reader users suggest that VoxLens is a “game-changer” in making online data visualizations accessible to screen-reader users, saving them time and effort.
Paper at: Ather Sharif, Olivia H. Wang, Alida T. Muongchan, Katharina Reinecke, and Jacob O. Wobbrock. VoxLens: Making Online Data Visualizations Accessible with an Interactive JavaScript Plug-In. CHI 2022. https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3517431
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Speakers: Emma McDonnell & Kelly Mack
https://ej-mcdonnell.github.io/
https://kmack3.github.io/
Title - Chronically Under-Addressed: Considerations for HCI Accessibility Practice with Chronically Ill People
Accessible design and technology could support the large and growing group of people with chronic illnesses. However, human computer interactions (HCI) has largely approached people with chronic illnesses through a lens of medical tracking or treatment rather than accessibility. We describe and demonstrate a framework for designing technology in ways that center the chronically ill experience. First, we identify guiding tenets: 1) treating chronically ill people not as patients but as people with access needs and expertise, 2) recognizing the way that variable ability shapes accessibility considerations, and 3) adopting a theoretical understanding of chronic illness that attends to the body. We then illustrate these tenets through autoethnographic case studies of two chronically ill authors using technology. Finally, we discuss implications for technology design, including designing for consequence-based accessibility, considering how to engage care communities, and how HCI research can engage chronically ill participants in research.
Paper at: Kelly Mack, Emma J. McDonnell, Leah Findlater, and Heather D. Evans. Chronically Under-Addressed: Considerations for HCI Accessibility Practice with Chronically Ill People. ASSETS 2022. https://doi.org/10.1145/3517428.3544803
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Speaker: Venkatesh Potluri
https://venkateshpotluri.me/
Title - PSST: Enabling Blind or Visually Impaired Developers to Author Sonifications of Streaming Sensor Data
We present the first toolkit that equips blind and visually impaired (BVI) developers with the tools to create accessible data displays. Called PSST (Physical computing Streaming Sensor data Toolkit), it enables BVI developers to understand the data generated by sensors from a mouse to a micro:bit physical computing platform. By assuming visual abilities, earlier efforts to make physical computing accessible fail to address the need for BVI developers to access sensor data. PSST enables BVI developers to understand real-time, real-world sensor data by providing control over what should be displayed, as well as when to display and how to display sensor data. PSST supports filtering based on raw or calculated values, highlighting, and transformation of data. Output formats include tonal sonification, nonspeech audio files, speech, and SVGs for laser cutting. We validate PSST through a series of demonstrations and a user study with BVI developers.
Paper at: Venkatesh Potluri, John Thompson, James Devine, Bongshin Lee, Nora Morsi, Peli De Halleux, Steve Hodges, and Jennifer Mankoff. 2022. PSST: Enabling Blind or Visually Impaired Developers to Author Sonifications of Streaming Sensor Data. UIST 2022. https://doi.org/10.1145/3526113.3545700
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Speaker: Momona Yamagami
https://momona-yamagami.github.io/
Title - “I’m Just Overwhelmed”: Investigating Physical Therapy Accessibility and Technology Interventions for People with Disabilities and/or Chronic Conditions
Many individuals with disabilities and/or chronic conditions (da/cc) experience symptoms that may require intermittent or on-going medical care. However, healthcare is an often-overlooked domain for accessibility work, where access needs associated with temporary and long-term disability must be addressed to increase the utility of physical and digital interactions with healthcare workers and spaces. Our work focuses on a specific domain of healthcare often used by individuals with da/cc: physical therapy (PT). Through a 12-person interview study, we examined how people’s access to PT for their da/cc is hampered by social (e.g., physically visiting a PT clinic) and physiological (e.g., chronic pain) barriers, and how technology could improve PT access. In-person PT is often inaccessible to our participants due to lack of transportation and insufficient insurance coverage. As such, many of our participants relied on at-home PT to manage their da/cc symptoms and work towards PT goals. Participants felt that PT barriers, such as having particularly bad symptoms or feeling short on time, could be addressed with well-designed technology that flexibly adapts to the person’s dynamically changing needs while supporting their PT goals. We introduce core design principles (adaptability, movement tracking, community building) and tensions (insurance) to consider when developing technology to support PT access. Rethinking da/cc access to PT from a lens that includes social and physiological barriers presents opportunities to integrate accessibility and adaptability into PT technology.
Paper at: Momona Yamagami, Kelly Mack, Jennifer Mankoff, and Katherine M. Steele. 2022. “I’m Just Overwhelmed”: Investigating Physical Therapy Accessibility and Technology Interventions for People with Disabilities and/or Chronic Conditions. TACCESS, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1145/3563396
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