The document discusses various aspects of accessibility and universal design through the works of several researchers, highlighting projects aimed at improving internet access for blind individuals and the development of assistive technologies like digital family portraits. It addresses the challenges faced by visually impaired users in navigating the web and presents innovative solutions, such as nonvisual web reading systems and dynamic tactile graphics powered by mobile robots. The document concludes with insights into user experiences and encourages a discussion on the challenges and future directions of accessibility technology.

1. Accessibility &
Universal Design
Sruti Vijaykumar & Cindy Lo

2. Timeline and Overview

3. Timeline and Overview

4. Timeline and Overview

5. In the US...
Source: cdc.gov

6. User Interface of a Home Page Reader
Chieko Asakawa & Takashi Itoh
ASSETS 1998

7. Chieko Asakawa
EDUCATION & CAREERS
●Otemon Gakuin University_bachelors in English
literature in 1982
●two-year computer programming course for blind
people using an Optacon to translate print to tactile
sensation
●joined IBM Research in 1984
●University of Tokyo_PhD in engineering in 2004
PROJECTS
●a word processor and a digital library for Braille
documents
●Netscape browser plug-in
●a system that would allow sighted web designers to
experience the web as blind people
●accessible control of multimedia content,
technological and social changes
●a lightweight suitcase robot
QUESTION
In what way you think losing eyesight helps you with
the knowledge of accessibility?
●2003 added to the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame
●2009 became an IBM Fellow, IBM's top honor for its employees
●2011 Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology_Women of
Vision Award
●keynote speaker at the Fourth International Conference on Software
Development for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Info-exclusion
(DSAIE 2012)
●2013 Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon
●2013 the winner of the 2013 ACM SIGACCESS Impact Award
●2017 elected as a foreign member of the US National Academy of
Engineering

8. Outline Difficulties & motivation
● Blind people in Japan only have two sources of published
information: braille books and cassette tapes->need a long
time to transcribe
● The information gap between sighted and blind people
became wider as the world wide web showed up->blind
people cannot access the Web smoothly yet
● The environment for blind people to access the Web called
“DOS environment”->doesn’t allow them to exploit any of the
main advantages of the web->it’s hard to find hyperlinks and
two-dimensional information cannot be read correctly

9. Outline Problems involved when reading Web pages
● The system only reads the text information displays on the
screen->not possible to read two-dimensional information
such as tables and columns, to input forms, and to read
frames.
● When a page is too large to be displayed on the screen, users
are required to scroll both vertically and horizontally->these
scrolling operations are very difficult to perform non visually.
However, in the GUI environment, it is very easy to set up the
network environment.

10. Outline Solutions
● nonvisual Web reading system on Windows 95 to analyze the
HTML tags rather than simply reading the screen->the
system needs to be easy enough to use for blind people since
the Web is a new information resource

11. Outline 5 special characteristics
● The use of numeric keypad for surfing the Net
● Fast-forward key for quick reading
● Hyperlinks are read in a female voice
● HTML tags are converted into voice data to solve the
above-mentioned problems in reading Web pages such as
clickable maps, tables, frames and other graphical elements
● The system can be synchronized with Netscape Navigator

12. Outline

13. Outline How did it go?
● Beginners, needed to provide a way of teaching what home
pages and hyperlinks were (basic concepts of the
Internet)->challenging because charts are not normally
understandable to blind people, the explanation has to be
entirely verbal. After grasping structure, it was easy for them
to use the system: 30 mins for learning the basics
● Advanced users, could learn advanced functions at home
themselves->1 day to send email; 3 days to learn almost all
the functions

14. Outline Comments from the participants
● “Until now, I had only heard about the Internet. With this
tool, I can join the Internet craze myself”
● “The Home Page Reader is wonder! The user interface is so
easy I could surf the Net after hearing a twenty-minute
lecture. I like using a numeric keypad.”
● “This tool extends my world. It is very difficult for me to read
newspaper on the same day as it published without this kind
of tool“
● ”I didn’t expect the Home Page Reader to be so great. We
should have one for each family, like a TV set.”

15. Discussion

16. What did you think of the paper?

17. Has anyone used a screen reader/seen someone else
use it?

18. Is there room for user experience in Accessibility?

19. “How do interaction design principles vary for visually-impaired
individuals?”
Visibility, Feedback, Affordance, Mapping, Constraints, Consistency.
Do you think these apply to blind users?

20. “...One of the key aspects of interaction design is universal design, which many people
misconstrue as design for all types of users. In contrast, universal design may not
accommodate every user. It just attempts to accommodate for as many as possible.”
What are your thoughts? Is designing for all types of
users possible?

21. Digital Family Portraits:
Supporting Peace of Mind for Extended
Family Members
Elizabeth D. Mynatt, Jim Rowan, Annie Jacobs and Sarah
Craighill
CHI 2001

22. Elizabeth D. Mynatt
EDUCATION & CAREERS
●North Carolina State University_bacheors in CS in
1988
●Georgia Institute of Technology_master in
Information and Computer Science in 1989
●Georgia Institute of Technology_Phd in CS in 1995
with her thesis, "Audio GUIs: Transforming Graphical
User Interfaces into Auditory Interfaces"
●currently directs the GVU Center at Georgia Tech
and the research program in Everyday Computing
PROJECTS
●pioneered creating nonspeech auditory interfaces
from graphical interfaces to enable blind computer
users to work with modern computer applications
●current research explores the implications and
opportunities stemming from the pervasive presence
of computation in the informal activities of everyday
life
QUESTION
What made you want to focus on researching blind
users?
FIELDS
●Human-Computer Interaction
●Ubiquitous Computing
●Health Informatics
●Human-Centered Computing
AWARDS
●Sloan Fellowship
●NSF Career award
●CHI Academy

23. The problem
● No peace of mind for adult children who are geographically separated from
their aging parents
● Older adults have to give up their independence and privacy and move to an
institutional care facility
Solution?
Awareness of daily activities through Digital Family Portraits

24. The Digital Family Portrait (DFP)
● Designed to be hung on the wall like a regular portrait
● Represents present and past data via icons
● Data is collected through sensors in a home environment (ubiquitous
computing)
● Data is updated once a day
● Same data is presented to both parties

25. (Version 1) Digital Family Portrait
Static picture
Dynamic frame

26. (Version 1) Digital Family Portrait
Health
Relationships
Activity
Events

27. (Version 1) Digital Family Portrait
Density of icons
=
Measurement for
that category
3 bands that
represent data
over time
Current
day
3 days prior
7 days prior

28. Findings
● Too complex
● Misinterpretation of information
● Icons are feminine
● Different participants used the digital portrait in different ways
● One event could be mapped to several categories
● Led to initiations of phone conversations
● Emotionally engaging

29. (Version 2) Set of Digital Family Portraits
One category
in one frame
(Trend of
poor sleeping
over 28 days)
Clockwise
representation
of data

30. (Version 2) Set of Digital Family Portraits
Crisis followed by
two days of poor
health followed
by a rebound
Current day

31. Future work
● Longer term field study for families beginning to consider assistive care for an
older adult
● Connecting the DFP to actual sensing systems in the Broadband Institute
Residential Laboratory
● More active interaction with the DFP (voice or touch)

32. Discussion

33. ● How senior adults respond to relative intrude in their
mental health? or how would you respond ?
● If similar concepts would be applied to other age
groups like children and adults/nursing
homes/health care facilities?
● How to balance between privacy and safety?

34. RoboGraphics: Dynamic Tactile Graphics
Powered by Mobile Robots
Darren Guinness, Annika Muehlbradt, Daniel Szafir, Shaun K.
Kane
ASSETS 2019

35. Shaun Kane
Shaun Kane with Amy Hurst at UMBC
History
● Assistant Professor
University of Colorado Boulder
(2014-2018)
● Assistant Professor
UMBC (2011-2014)
● Ph.D. Information Science
& M.S. Information Science
University of Washington (2005-2011)
● M.S. Computer Science
& B.S. Computer Science
University of Massachusetts (1999-2005)
Projects
● RoboGraphics
● Gest-Rest: Input possibilities for
wheelchair armrests
● Wearable Assistive Technology
● Touch screen accessibility
Awards
● 14 Awards in the past two decades!
● Best Paper Award: CHI Conference (2011,
2015, 2016)
● Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (2016)
Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science
University of Colorado Boulder
(2018 - present)
Director of The Superhuman
Computing Lab
Interests: HCI, Accessibility,
Mobile and Wearable tech, DIY
Accessibility
Fun Facts!
● He worked with Amy in the PAD Lab (Now DARE
Lab).
● His work with Dr. Jacob Wobbrock on
touchscreen devices had a major impact on
Apple’s VoiceOver technology.
● He taught IS 760 in Fall 2011 and 2012!
● Peers say he is a kind and compassionate person.
Question
You have collaborated with people from varied
disciplines. Which of these collaborations, in your
opinion, has benefited Accessibility the most?

36. Daniel Szafir
History
● Research Intern
Intelligent Robotics Group, NASA AMES
Research Center (2013 & 2015)
● Graduate Research Fellow
Department of Computer Sciences
University of Wisconsin-Madison
(2010-2015)
● Software Development Intern
IBM, Inc. (2007 & 2009)
● Software Development Intern
Tybrin Corporation (2008)
● Ph.D., Computer Science
Master of Science, Computer Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
(2010-2015)
● Bachelor of Arts, Computer Science
Bachelor of Arts, History
Boston College (2006-2010)
Awards
● Named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list of
top innovators in Science (2017)
● Best Paper Award (HRI 2018)
● NASA Early Career Faculty Award
Assistant Professor
Department of computer science
& ATLAS Institute
University of Colorado Boulder
(2015 - present)
Director of The IRON Lab
Interests: HRI, HCI, VR/AR/MR,
robotic technologies for space
exploration and manufacturing
Projects
● Effective Human Collaboration with Aerial
Robots
● Supporting User Interactions with Virtual,
Mixed, and Augmented Reality
● Repurposing Robots for Novel Interactions
● Designing Adaptive Robotic Products and
Educational Technologies
● Artistic Expressions with Robotics and
Interactive Technologies
Fun Facts!
● His projects have been sponsored by Google,
NASA, NSF, Intel, Lockheed Martin, and
Mitsubishi.
● He teaches Human-Robot Interaction and
Introduction to Virtual Reality at CU Boulder.
● He has collaborated with Irene Rae, Terry Fong,
Shaun Kane, Christoffer Heckman, Nisar Ahmed,
Jack Burns, and Danielle Albers Szafir.
Question
Do you think that Robotics will have a major role to play
in the future of Accessibility?

37. RoboGraphics Demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocR05bRjjnw

38. How it works
A touch screen tablet: accepts user input and displays control
codes for the mobile robots
Mobile robots: move across the screen to represent moving
and interactive elements
Static tactile overlays: represents static portions of the
graphic

39. How it works

40. User Study
● 7 participants with vision impairments
● Approach: Familiarize participants with the different components, Ask them
to describe their experience, get feedback, and then ask them to perform the
main tasks
● Tactile vs. audio interface: Not much difference in the speed and accuracy
but the participants found the tactile interface more informative and
enjoyable
● Participants applied different exploration strategies

41. Limitations and Future work
● not all tactile information is best represented using a robot
● all robots share the same size and shape->sometimes difficult to
track multiple robot simultaneously and to remember which robot
represented which object.
● the system does not track the actual positions of the robots as there
is no overhead camera or other sensor to track their
location->placing the robot back in starting position and restart
● The small robots used in the system present some usability
challenges, such as turning slowly, accidentally being knocked off
course, and shutting off to preserve power.
● robots were sometimes too large to represent fine details.
● content can only be authored by programmers

42. Limitations and Future work
● As robot-based shape displays are still relatively new, there are
exciting opportunities in exploring the design space of the
associated robot hardware and in developing robot platforms
that are optimized for non-visual displays.
● current version of RoboGraphics uses a small display and a small
number of robots, it may be worth exploring how the number of
robots affects the ability to represent certain types of
information.
● how robot-based shape displays represent information could
lead to guidelines for designing such displays and could also
result in algorithms for mapping information onto shape displays
of different sizes or with different numbers of robots.

43. Discussion

44. ● What did you think of the paper?
● How such system will convey error state?
● How does such system define constraint user in order
to avoid wrong interactions?
● Would something like this benefit sighted users?

45. Now that we have seen all three papers, do
you think the development of assistive
technology has been slower in comparison to
the development of widely used
technologies developed for a wider
audience?

46. The Activity! (Use headphones)
A. Use a screen reader on your phone!
1. Go to Settings
2. Scroll down to Accessibility settings
3. Select TalkBack/VoiceOver
4. Switch on the Toggle button
5. Start exploring any messaging App on
your phone!
How different is the interface with the screen
reader on? Would you use it again?
B. Watch the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amBaWfn
TSw0
1. First, mute the video, cover the subtitles
and watch the video
2. Watch the video again with subtitles but
still muted
Tell us what you understand as first time
watching the video without subtitles, and
what’s the difference with subtitles.