In previous research, the computer frustrations of student and workplace users have been documented. However, the challenges faced by blind users on the Web have not been previously examined. In this study, 100 blind users, using time diaries, recorded their frustrations using the Web. The top causes of frustration reported were (a) page layout causing confusing screen reader feedback; (b) conflict between screen reader and application; (c) poorly designed/unlabeled forms; (d) no alt text for pictures; and (e) 3-way tie between misleading links, inaccessible PDF, and a screen reader crash. Most of the causes of frustration, such as inappropriate form and graphic labels and confusing page layout, are relatively simple to solve if Webmasters and Web designers focus on this effort. In addition, the more technically challenging frustrations, such as screen reader crashes and conflicts, need to be addressed by the screen reader developers. Blind users in this study were likely to repeatedly attempt to...

What Frustrates Screen Reader Users on the Web: A Study of 100 Blind Users

This paper describes an empirical study of the problems encountered by 32 blind users on the Web. Task-based user evaluations were undertaken on 16 websites, yielding 1383 instances of user problems. The results showed that only 50.4% of the problems encountered by users were covered by Success Criteria in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0). For user problems that were covered by WCAG 2.0, 16.7% of websites implemented techniques recommended in WCAG 2.0 but the techniques did not solve the problems. These results show that few developers are implementing the current version of WCAG, and even when the guidelines are implemented on websites there is little indication that people with disabilities will encounter fewer problems. The paper closes by discussing the implications of this study for future research and practice. In particular, it discusses the need to move away from a problem-based approach towards a design principle approach for web accessibility.

http://www-course.cs.york.ac.uk/advt/classes/class03/materials/Power,%20Freire,%20Petrie,%20Swallow%202012.pdf

Guidelines are only half of the story: accessibility problems encountered by blind users on the web

Over the last few years, information and communication technologies have become an essential part of daily life, affecting education, employment, and leisure, among other activities. Nonetheless, many individuals still reap few or no benefits from these technologies, and there are resilient gaps in their use. Within this larger context, the authors examine the Internet digital divide between people with and without disabilities from a multidimensional approach. Rather than analyzing the gap in terms of “haves” and “have-nots,” a range of Internet-related dimensions—affordability, motivation and attitudes, skills, usage, and others—is taken into account.

A Multidimensional Analysis of the Disability Digital Divide: Some Evidence for Internet Use

We designed and deployed automatic alt-text (AAT), a system that applies computer vision technology to identify faces, objects, and themes from photos to generate photo alt-text for screen reader users on Facebook. We designed our system through iterations of prototyping and in-lab user studies. Our lab test participants had a positive reaction to our system and an enhanced experience with Facebook photos. We also evaluated our system through a two-week field study as part of the Facebook iOS app for 9K VoiceOver users. We randomly assigned them into control and test groups and collected two weeks of activity data and their survey feedback. The test group reported that photos on Facebook were easier to interpret and more engaging, and found Facebook more useful in general. Our system demonstrates that artificial intelligence can be used to enhance the experience for visually impaired users on social networking sites (SNSs), while also revealing the challenges with designing automated assistive technology in a SNS context.

Automatic Alt-text: Computer-generated Image Descriptions for Blind Users on a Social Network Service

The use of web accessibility evaluation tools is a widespread practice. Evaluation tools are heavily employed as they help in reducing the burden of identifying accessibility barriers. However, an over-reliance on automated tests often leads to setting aside further testing that entails expert evaluation and user tests. In this paper we empirically show the capabilities of current automated evaluation tools. To do so, we investigate the effectiveness of 6 state-of-the-art tools by analysing their coverage, completeness and correctness with regard to WCAG 2.0 conformance. We corroborate that relying on automated tests alone has negative effects and can have undesirable consequences. Coverage is very narrow as, at most, 50% of the success criteria are covered. Similarly, completeness ranges between 14% and 38%; however, some of the tools that exhibit higher completeness scores produce lower correctness scores (66-71%) due to the fact that catching as many violations as possible can lead to an increase in false positives. Therefore, relying on just automated tests entails that 1 of 2 success criteria will not even be analysed and among those analysed, only 4 out of 10 will be caught at the further risk of generating false positives.

Benchmarking web accessibility evaluation tools: measuring the harm of sole reliance on automated tests

Improving web accessibility: a study of webmaster perceptions

Computing practices in developing countries can be complex. At the same time, open source software (OSS) impacts developing countries in various ways. This chapter examines the social and economic impacts of OSS on three such nations: China, South Korea, and India. In so doing, the chapter discusses and analyzes benefi ts as well as downsides of the social, political, and fi nancial impacts on these developing countries. Topics covered in this chapter are piracy, software licensing, software initiatives, social and political components involved in OSS implementation, and software compatibility issues.

The Social and Economical Impact of OSS in Developing Countries

When designing information systems, it is important to consider the needs of users with disabilities, including those with visual impairment, hearing impairment, or color-blindness. This is especially important for designing Websites. It takes time and money to create or redesign Websites for easy access for users with disabilities. This is also known as Web accessibility. This chapter will discuss the ethical implications involved with Web accessibility. An ethical analysis of Web accessibility will be performed using a partial combination of two structured analysis approaches. It is the position of the authors of this chapter that Website development should consider accessibility for users with sensory and motor disabilities as an ethical requirement. 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Suite 200, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.irm-press.com IRM PRESS This chapter appears in the book, Information Security and Ethics: Social and Organizational Issues edited by Marian Quigley. Copyright © 2005, IRM Press, an imprint of Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. Web Accessibility for Users with Disabilities 103 Copyright © 2004, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. Introduction It is always important to consider the needs of users when building an informational system (Hoffer, George & Valacich, 2002). One portion of the user population is users with disabilities. Accessibility means to make a system or building usable by a person with a disability. When applied to informational systems, accessibility means that an information system is flexible enough to be utilized by someone using alternative input and/or output methods. These alternative input/output methods are known as assistive technologies (Alliance for Technology Access, 2000). Assistive technologies include screen readers (where the output on the screen is presented as speech synthesis output), voice recognition, and Braille output. When an information system provides flexibility for those using assistive technology, this is called an accessible information system. There are specific guidelines for making accessible information systems and accessible Websites. An important question to consider is “Why make a Website accessible?” While Web accessibility is an important goal, making a Website accessible costs money, and therefore it is important to identify clearly the stakeholders, the various concerns, and the benefits. The purpose of this chapter is to perform an ethical analysis of Web accessibility.

Web Accessibility for Users with Disabilities: A Multi-faceted Ethical Analysis

As instructors, we bring to the classroom the diversity within us. The phenomenon of cultural transfusion and interchange with the environment tends to be the most obvious in the beginning of the career in the new environment, and the experience can be full of frustrating, interesting, and supportive events that one would categorize as learning experiences.The Computer Sciences are believed to be diversity-hostile disciplines, in the sense that it is hard to introduce topics of gender, national origin, disability etc. However, it is being done in our classrooms, on a micro and macro level. Being "the new colleague", our efforts to integrate these issues into our courses may incur different reactions by both students and colleagues.The panel is designed to present the experiences and the view of four new Towson University instructors on teaching in an environment where they are minority in one or several socially induced categories, and how they infuse their diversity topics of interest in the curriculum.

Alfreda Dudley-Sponaugle

Papers

Improving web accessibility: a study of webmaster perceptions

The Social and Economical Impact of OSS in Developing Countries

Web Accessibility for Users with Disabilities: A Multi-faceted Ethical Analysis

New faculty contributions toward enhancing diversity

Under-Representation of African American Women Pursuing Higher-Level Degrees in the Computer Science/Technology Fields