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Dimensional alt text: Enhancing Spatial Understanding through Dimensional Layering of Image Descriptions for Screen Reader Users

Published:19 April 2023Publication History

ABSTRACT

Over the past decade, there has been a significant improvement in the quality of images we see on the web, and image processing technologies such as monocular depth estimation are opening up new possibilities for various applications. However, despite these developments, how we utilize image descriptions for image accessibility has remained stagnant since alt text was introduced with HTML 2.0 in 1995. This paper presents the concept of Dimensional alt text, which enables users to navigate image descriptions through three-dimensional layers: the foreground, middle ground, and background. Our research findings suggest that providing space for image descriptions on each dimensional layer can assist users in building a mental image of the photo, resulting in better spatial understanding. Our discussion for future work is to extend the use case of the prototype to a broader range of users and investigate a hybrid authoring model that combines human authorship with AI assistance.

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References

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  1. Dimensional alt text: Enhancing Spatial Understanding through Dimensional Layering of Image Descriptions for Screen Reader Users

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    • Published in

      cover image ACM Conferences
      CHI EA '23: Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
      April 2023
      3914 pages
      ISBN:9781450394222
      DOI:10.1145/3544549

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      Publication History

      • Published: 19 April 2023

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