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Re: Excellent paper on how screen reader users interact with webpages

for

From: Markel Vigo
Date: Apr 12, 2012 2:54AM

Let me suggest one more from my colleagues:

Identifying Behavioral Strategies of Visually Impaired Users to Improve Access to Web Content.

Available at http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=1952388.1952390

The World Wide Web is a predominantly visual media for presenting and disseminating information. As such, visually impaired users, who access content through audio interaction, are hindered as the Web is not designed with their needs in mind. To compensate for this, visually impaired users develop behavioral strategies to cope when access to the content becomes challenging. While tools exist to aid visually impaired users in accessing the Web, they tend to focus on adapting content to meet the needs of the device rather than the user. Therefore, to further improve Web access an understanding of the behavioral strategies users employ is required. To achieve this, studies of eleven visually impaired Web users were conducted. The data from these sessions were analyzed to develop a framework for identifying strategies that users may employ when they face difficulties accessing the content. Using data for twenty visually impaired users obtained from an independent study, the framework was validated and shown to be flexible and accurate enough to be applicable to multiple data sources. An analysis of the coping strategies identified from the framework revealed six abstract patterns of coping. These patterns were used as the basis for developing behavior-driven transcoding that transformed static Web documents into interactive content by allowing users to navigate between key elements of the page through a consistent set of key presses. Results obtained from a user evaluation of the transcoding support the use of behavior-driven transcoding as a mechanism for improving access to Web content when compared to existing transcoding techniques. This result allows the coping strategies framework to be used as a foundation for further understanding of the strategies visually impaired users employ on Web sites and the transformations required to allow the Web to be accessible to those users.

Regards,


Markel Vigo
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
University of Manchester (UK)
Web Ergonomics Lab - Information Management Group

PS: I check my email at 9AM and 5PM BST. If you require a faster response please include the word [fast!] in the subject line.

On Apr 12, 2012, at 9:38 AM, Alistair Duggin wrote:

> As a web developer I find such studies and advice based on user
> research incredibly useful and informative.
>
> Here are a couple more I've just found:
>
> A Modified Google Docs UI accessible via screen reader (2011)
> Abstract: Collaborative editors are simple tools that enable
> people to create, share and exchange documents via
> Internet, quickly enhancing learning, knowledge and
> socialization. However, at present collaborative
> software is designed with little attention to the needs of
> differently-abled persons, such as the blind. Dynamic
> user interfaces and visual features delivering meaning
> may be inaccessible via screen reader, if an appropriate
> design is not adopted. In this demo we show a
> prototype of some modified Google Docs User
> Interfaces (UIs) -- for accessing and editing a
> document -- that allow full accessibility via JAWS
> screen reader. An interaction with the original and
> modified UIs is shown to highlight barriers and possible
> solutions for their elimination.
> http://giove.isti.cnr.it/attachments/publications/ecscw2011-def.pdf
>
>
> Google News: How User-Friendly is It for the Blind? (2011)
> Abstract: Being able to read text, find out information and know about
> the
> latest news has always been a challenge for those who cannot
> access the printed version, such as the visually-impaired. The
> advent of the Web has been a big step in the right direction for
> blind people to obtain up-to-date information on the internet.
> Many portals and Web sites offer online services for up-to-date
> news. In this paper our aim is to evaluate how easy and rewarding
> it is for blind people to access this. For this purpose, we are
> focusing on the well-known online service provided by Google,
> i.e. Google News as a case study. In order to truly benefit from
> access to the information available on the Web, the page interface
> must be simple and easy to use by everyone, including people
> who have to use assistive technologies. In this work we analyze
> not only the accessibility of the service offered by Google for its
> News, but also in particular the usability when interacting via
> screen reader.
> http://giove.isti.cnr.it/attachments/publications/p241.pdf
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 12 Apr 2012, at 07:49, Alistair Duggin wrote:
>
>> Here are a couple of more recent research papers I have found. I
>> could only find pdf versions so have included the abstracts here.
>>
>> Do you know of any similar studies or resources ?
>>
>> More than Meets the Eye: A Survey of Screen-Reader Browsing Strategies
>> (2009)
>> Abstract: Browsing the Web with screen readers can be difficult and
>> frustrating. Web pages often contain inaccessible content that is
>> expressed only visually or that can be accessed only with the
>> mouse. Screen-reader users must also contend with usability
>> challenges encountered when the reading content is designed with
>> built-in assumptions of how it will be accessed – generally by a
>> sighted person on a standard display. Far from passive consumers
>> of content who simply accept web content as accessible or not,
>> many screen-reader users are adept at developing, discovering,
>> and employing browsing strategies that help them overcome the
>> accessibility and usability problems they encounter. In this paper,
>> we overview the browsing strategies that we have observed
>> screen-reader users employ when faced with challenges, ranging
>> from unfamiliar web sites and complex web pages to dynamic and
>> automatically-refreshing content. A better understanding of
>> existing browsing strategies can inform the design of accessible
>> websites, development of new tools that make experienced users
>> more effective, and help overcome the initial learning curve for
>> users who have not yet acquired effective browsing strategies.
>>
>> http://hci.cs.rochester.edu/pubs/pdfs/browsing-strategies-w4a10.pdf
>>
>>
>>
>> Usability and Accessibility of eBay by Screen Reader (2009)
>> Abstract. The evolution of Information and Communication Technology
>> and
>> the rapid growth of the Internet have fuelled a great diffusion of
>> eCommerce
>> websites. Usually these sites have complex layouts crowded with active
>> elements, and thus are difficult to navigate via screen reader.
>> Interactive
>> environments should be properly designed and delivered to everyone,
>> including
>> the blind, who usually use screen readers to interact with their
>> computers. In
>> this paper we investigate the interaction of blind users with eBay, a
>> popular
>> eCommerce website, and discuss how using the W3C Accessible Rich
>> Internet
>> Applications (WAI-ARIA) suite could improve the user experience when
>> navigating via screen reader.
>> http://giove.isti.cnr.it/attachments/publications/2009-A2-091.pdf
>>
>>
>>
>> Source Order, Skip links and Structural labels (2006)
>> Abstract: Is page source order important to screen reader users?
>> Recently, the idea of
>> placing the informational content of a web page before the navigation
>> has gained some
>> currency. This paper reports on our research into the relevance and
>> importance of
>> page source order, skip links and structural labels for screen reader
>> users.
>> http://usability.com.au/resources/source-order.cfm
>>
>>
>> cheers,
>> Al
>>
>> On 11 Apr 2012, at 19:49, Jennifer Sutton wrote:
>>
>>> This article seems to be picking up steam in circulation. I
>>> recommend that readers keep in mind that it came out a number of
>>> years ago like 2002 or 2003.
>>>
>>> The article reads, in part:
>>> "Between November 2002 and February 2003, we observed and listened to
>>> 16 blind users as they worked with Web sites using assistive devices
>>> that read the screen to them (screen readers)."
>>>
>>>
>>> No NVDA, no VO . . .
>>> And hasn't the Web changed? And many new versions of screen readers
>>> since then?
>>>
>>> It may be useful/thought-provoking, but dates on this kind of
>>> information/research matter, even if they are not always easy to
>>> notice.
>>>
>>> Jennifer
>>>
>>> At 12:29 PM 4/11/2012, you wrote:
>>>> I generally only use Twitter to distribute this kind of info, rather
>>>> than overload the list, but I find this article and study very
>>>> interesting, especially in that it provides tips and ideas not just
>>>> for designers but also for SR vendors.
>>>
>>>
>>>> http://www.redish.net/content/papers/interactions.html
>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>
>>> >>> >>> >>
>> >> >> >
> > >