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Transformation frameworks and their relevance in universal design

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Abstract

Music, engineering, mathematics, and many other disciplines have established notations for writing their documents. Adjusting these notations can contribute to universal access by helping to address access difficulties, such as disabilities, cultural backgrounds, or restrictive hardware. Tools that support the programming of such transformations can also assist by allowing the creation of new notations on demand, which is an under-explored option in the relief of educational difficulties. This paper reviews some programming tools that can be used to effect such transformations. It also introduces a tool, called “4DML,” which allows the programmer to create a “model” of the desired result, from which the transformation is derived.

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Notes

  1. This paper presents a prototypical WWW (World Wide Web) browser called “WebAdapter,” which provides new special needs adaptations for physically handicapped, blind, and visually impaired end users. These adaptations include near-miss-tolerance implementations of sophisticated HTML guidelines and advanced speech output. For evaluation purposes, a usability test was conducted, proving the suitability of the implemented special needs adaptations. The future goal of this work is a user interface for all (UI4All) for a standard Web browser. With regard to this perspective, the WebAdapter is still a reactive approach in that it only reacts to shortcomings of common Web browsers instead of proactively integrating a standardized software layer between the user front-end and underlying applications by which the I/O interface can easily and universally be adapted to a variety of different personal needs of handicapped as well as able-bodied end users. Thus, the WebAdapter only illustrates some new special needs adaptations which may be included into future versions of common WWW browsers in order to move another step towards a UI4All. Further inevitable improvements of the user interface of WWW browsers for disabled and elderly people beyond the scope of this project are discussed as well.

  2. (c) Copyright 1999 ACM Universal Access Low Vision Visual Icons Disabilities C.CHI.99.1.330 http://www.acm.org/pubs/articles/proceedings/chi/302979/p330-jacko/p330-jacko.pdf. This research focuses on characterizing visually impaired computer users’ performance on graphical user interfaces by linking clinical assessments of low vision with visual icon identification. This was accomplished by evaluating user performance on basic identification and selection tasks within a graphical user interface, comparing partially sighted user performance with fully sighted user performance and linking task performance to specific profiles of visual impairment. Results indicate that visual acuity contrast sensitivity visual field and color perception were significant predictors of task performance. In addition, icon size and background color significantly influenced performance. Suggestions for future research are provided.

  3. (c) Copyright 1998 ACM Partial Vision Visually Impaired Human–Computer Interaction Enabling Technologies C.ASSETS.98.75 http://www.acm.org/pubs/articles/proceedings/assets/274497/p75-jacko/p75-jacko.txt. In this position paper, we argue the importance of research focusing on the issues involved in designing computer systems for partially sighted computer users. Currently, there is a lack of data that explores how combinations of impaired visual processes affect preferences for and performance with graphical user interfaces. This lack of fundamental information about how an individual’s visual profile determines the strategies and behaviors exhibited while using computers limits our ability to design effective user interfaces for partially sighted computer users. The objective of this position paper is to motivate research that addresses this deficiency in our knowledge base so that researchers can design enabling technologies in a systematic fashion for this unique user group, as has been done for fully sighted users and blind users.

  4. CACMA2 0001-0782 Mon Jan 22 07:17:34 MST 2001 ack-nhfb C5540 (Terminals and graphic displays); C5610 (Computer interfaces) University California, Irvine, CA, USA blind programming aid; braille; computer interfaces; computer peripheral equipment; computer terminal; controller; tactile terminal; terminal RubinsteinF72 P Practical ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-trier.de/pub/users/Ley/bib/records.tar.gz#journals/cacm/RubinsteinF72

  5. (c) Copyright 1996 Association for Computing Machinery C.ASSETS.96.124 http://www.acm.org/pubs/articles/proceedings/assets/228347/p124-pitt/p124-pitt.pdf. Adaptations using speech synthesis provide a basic level of access to computer systems for blind users but current systems pose a number of usability problems. A study was carried out in order to assess the impact of certain issues on the usability of a typical speech adaptation. The results suggest that much work needs to be done on the design of speech dialogs.

  6. (c) Copyright 1994 Association for Computing Machinery C.ASSETS.94.39 Screen Reader/2 is IBM’s access system for OS/2, providing blind users access to the graphical user interface (GUI) of Presentation Manager to Windows programs running under OS/2 and to text-mode DOS and OS/2 programs. Screen Reader/2 is a completely redesigned and rewritten follow-on to IBM’s Screen Reader Version 1.2 for DOS. There has been considerable discussion about the technical challenges, difficulties, and inherent obstacles presented by the GUI. Not enough time and energy has been devoted to the successes in GUI access, in part, because the developers of GUI access software have had their hands full trying to solve very difficult problems. This paper will describe how IBM Screen Reader makes the GUI accessible.

  7. (c) Copyright 1992 Association for Computing Machinery Auditory Interfaces GUIs X Visual Impairment Multimodal Interfaces C.UIST.92.61 http://www.acm.org/pubs/articles/proceedings/uist/142621/p61-mynatt/p61-mynatt.pdf. This paper describes work to provide mappings between X-based graphical interfaces with auditory interfaces. In our system dubbed Mercator, this mapping is transparent to applications. The primary motivation for this work is to provide accessibility to graphical applications for users who are blind or visually impaired. We describe the design of an auditory interface which simulates many of the features of graphical interfaces. We then describe the architecture we have built to model and transform graphical interfaces. Finally, we conclude with some indications of future research for improving our translation mechanisms and for creating an auditory “desktop” environment.

  8. (c) Copyright 1998 ACM World Wide Web Browser Blind Information Retrieval HTML C.ASSETS.98.204 http://www.brookes.ac.uk/speech/publications/assets.htm, http://www.acm.org/pubs/articles/proceedings/assets/274497/p204-zajicek/p204-zajicek.txt. The aim of our work is to make the wealth of information on the World Wide Web more readily available to blind people. They must be able to search efficiently for relevant information and make quick and effective decisions about the usefulness of pages they retrieve. We have built a prototype application called BrookesTalk which we believe addresses this need more fully than other Web browsers. Information-retrieval techniques are used to provide a set of complementary options which summarize a Web page and enable rapid decisions about its usefulness.

  9. This article describes MFB software able to create and transcribe musical scores and its adaptability to blind users.

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Acknowledgements

The first author is supported by a studentship from the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

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  1. University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, 15 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0FD, UK

    Silas S. Brown & Peter Robinson

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  1. Silas S. Brown
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Correspondence to Silas S. Brown.

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Brown, S.S., Robinson, P. Transformation frameworks and their relevance in universal design. Univ Access Inf Soc 3, 209–223 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-004-0107-9

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