mobile and eyes free exploration of graphical information

1. mobile and eyes free exploration of graphical information Sina Bahram Prime Access Consulting @SinaBahram Sina@SinaBahram.com blog.sinabahram.com www.pac.bz

2. Ground Rules • Please ask plenty of questions • … But don’t raise your hand! @SinaBahram

3. My Background • Finishing up PhD in Computer Science (Human Computer Interaction) at North Carolina State University • Dissertation focuses on eyes-free exploration of graphical information • Passionate about high-tech startups, accessibility, and technology • Founder of Prime Access Consulting @SinaBahram

4. Eyes-free Interaction • Traditional audio interface is linear • Shortcuts and other navigation hotkeys facilitate non-linear access • Semantic markup is key @SinaBahram

5. Desktop Interaction (screenreader) • Disconnect exists between eyes-free interface and visual presentation • This makes collaboration more difficult • Spatial information is hard to convey @SinaBahram

6. Demo of Screenreader @SinaBahram

7. Mobile Interaction • Touch offers unique advantages • Facilitates eyes-free exploration of spatial layout • Facilitates collaboration between sighted and eyes-free users • Relies on concept of an access overlay @SinaBahram

8. What Is An Access Overlay? • Invisible software layer that intercepts touch events • Provides explore functionality • Responds to particular gestures • Allows native gestures to still be performed (usually with a small modification) @SinaBahram @SinaBahram

9. Demo of voice over and ios @SinaBahram

10. Thoughts on Eyes-free Interaction • Selection for sighted user • What you see is what you can touch • Selection for eyes-free user: Identification and selection are decoupled • Discover what can be selected (identification) • Activate desired item (selection) @SinaBahram

11. Eyes-free exploration of graphical information • How can we use what we’ve talked about to explore graphics such as maps? • Remember decoupling of identification and selection • Additionally, let’s introduce the concept of reduction of complexity • Gives the user control over how much information is available at any given time • Allows the users to change this easily @SinaBahram

12. Example of Discretization grid @SinaBahram

13. Variable resolution discretization grid • Is an access overlay • Provides both absolute and relative addressing (e.g. “4 squares across five squares down” (absolute) or “one square to the right” (relative) • User can change the size of the grid (can therefore access more or less information) • Responds to various gestures @SinaBahram

14. Touch it, key it, speak it (TIKISI) • Uses a variable-resolution discretization grid to make Google maps accessible for eyes-free exploration • Is a multi-modal framework (speech, keyboard, and touch input) • Extensible to other domains • Being used to research why certain techniques work better than other for eyes-free exploration of graphical information @SinaBahram

15. Demo of TIKISI @SinaBahram

16. Thoughts • Multi-modal facilitates greater access for all users, not just those with functional limitations • Access overlays are a powerful technique for facilitating access to touch interfaces • Touch offers unique advantages to facilitate eyes-free exploration of graphical information • Accessibility of rich graphics should not be limited to static labels @SinaBahram

17. Questions @SinaBahram