Skip to main content

Use of Social Media by People with Visual Impairments: Usage Levels, Attitudes and Barriers

  • Conference paper
Computers Helping People with Special Needs (ICCHP 2012)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 7382))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Social medias are a central arena for participation, in social life, politics, business and working life. This paper aims to document the social media use among people with visual impairments (VI) in Norway, and to explore some barriers and motivational factors to the use of social media for this group. We present results from two surveys about social media usage among people with VI. One telephone survey was conducted among 150 members of the Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted (NABP). This survey contained questions about social media usage. The results from this quantitative survey are discussed in light of results from a web survey with more open-ended questions. The web survey was about how disabled people in Norway use social media, and what accessibility and usability challenges they experience. Through the web survey informants brings to the surface some important accessibility issues and adds nuances to the overall picture. While the telephone survey shows that a high percentage of people with VI participate in social media, the web-based survey indicate they face a variety of problems and typically use the core functionality only. Together, these two surveys give a broad picture of social media usage among people with visual impairments in Norway.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Lazar, J., Allen, A., Kleinman, J., Malarkey, C.: What Frustrates Screen Reader Users on the Web: A Study of 100 Blind Users. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction 22, 247–269 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Fuglerud, K.S.: The Barriers to and Benefits of Use of ICT for People with Visual Impairment. In: Stephanidis, C. (ed.) HCII 2011 and UAHCI 2011, Part I. LNCS, vol. 6765, pp. 452–462. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  3. Tollefsen, T., Dale, Ø., Berg, M., Nordby, R.: Connected! A paper about the disabled and the use of social media. MediaLT (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Hailpern, J., Guarino-Reid, L., Boardman, R., Annam, S.: Web 2.0: blind to an accessible new world. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on World Wide Web, pp. 821–830. ACM, Madrid (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Leporini, B., Paternò, F.: Increasing usability when interacting through screen readers. Universal Access in the Information Society 3, 57–70 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Rømen, D., Svanæs, D.: Validating WCAG versions 1.0 and 2.0 through usability testing with disabled users. Universal Access in the Information Society, 1–11 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Tollefsen, M., Kalvenes, C., Begnum, M.N.: Demands for screen reader user qualifications 2 (September 2010)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Wentz, B., Lazar, J.: Email Accessibility and Social Networking. In: Ozok, A.A., Zaphiris, P. (eds.) OCSC 2009. LNCS, vol. 5621, pp. 134–140. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  9. Fritsch, L., Fuglerud, K., Solheim, I.: Towards inclusive identity management. Identity in the Information Society 7, 1–24 (October 7, 2010)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Sauer, G., Lazar, J., Hochheiser, H., Feng, J.: Towards A Universally Usable Human Interaction Proof. Evaluation of Task Completion Strategies 2, 1–32 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Leahy, D., Broin, U.O.: Social Networking Sites and Equal Opportunity: The Impact of Accessibility. In: 22nd Bled eConference, eEnablement: Facilitating an Open, Effective and Representative eSociety, Bled, Slovenia, pp. 17–31 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Bigham, J.P., Cavender, A.C.: Evaluating existing audio CAPTCHAs and an interface optimized for non-visual use. In: Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1829–1838. ACM, Boston (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  13. Gibson, B.: Enabling an accessible web 2.0. In: Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A), pp. 1–6. ACM, Banff (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  14. Brown, A., Jay, C., Chen, A., Harper, S.: The uptake of Web 2.0 technologies, and its impact on visually disabled users. Universal Access in the Information Society, 1–15 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Yesilada, Y., Chen, T., Harper, S.: RIAM Framework: Overlaps between Mobile and Accessible Webs. School of Comp. Science, Information Management Group, HCW (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  16. W3C: Relationship between Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), http://www.w3.org/TR/mwbp-wcag/

  17. DTL: Act June 20 2008 No. 42 relating to a prohibition against discrimination on the basis of disability. In: The Ministry of Children, LOV-2008-06-20-42 Lovdata, Norway (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Tjøstheim, I., Solheim, I.: The use of social media among blind and visually impaired in Norway 2010. Norsk Regnesentral/ Norwegian Computing Center (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Facebook-rekord i Norge (Eng: Facebook-record in Norway), http://www.kampanje.com/medier/article5450029.ece (accessed January 22, 2011)

  20. Tjøstheim, I., Solheim, I., Fuglerud, K.S.: The Importance of Peers for Visually Impaired Users of Social Media. In: From Proceeding (746) Internet and Multimedia Systems and Applications/747: Human-Computer Interaction 2011, p. 21 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Fuglerud, K.S., Tjøstheim, I., Gunnarsson, B.R., Tollefsen, M. (2012). Use of Social Media by People with Visual Impairments: Usage Levels, Attitudes and Barriers. In: Miesenberger, K., Karshmer, A., Penaz, P., Zagler, W. (eds) Computers Helping People with Special Needs. ICCHP 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7382. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31522-0_85

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31522-0_85

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-31521-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-31522-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics