Accessibility requirements for blind and visually impaired in a regional context: An exploratory study

Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing

Mripa

Bunjaku³

2016

Self Cite

Abstract. Besides the globally popular MOOCs, localized MOOCs specific to a region or language are also emerging. These specialized MOOCs often aim to address specific needs that are typically unaddressed by the global MOOCs. Such example is Almooc that aims to address the needs of the Albanian-speaking persons who lack English proficiency. Despite the MOOCs adage to include and offer education to all people, research has shown that their interface is not accessible to people with disabilities, such as the blind. To evaluate the level of accessibility of Almooc, in this paper we report findings from three different methods: usability testing, automatic accessibility checking, and heuristic evaluation. The results indicate that Almooc is not currently accessible to blind people, however, we present recommendations to easily overcome the discovered issues.

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Accessibility of MOOCs for Blind People in Developing Non-English Speaking Countries

Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing

Mripa

Bunjaku³

2016

Self Cite

“…List of all challenges identified in the workshops are detailed in [6], while in this paper we mainly emphasize on the web content accessibility challenges for visually impaired people.…”

Section: Web Accessibility Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main effort is to understand the key requirements and provide initial solutions that could be utilized for providing access to web content for this marginalized group. To this end, we provide exploratory insights on the accessibility requirements identified through three workshops held in Macedonia and Sweden [6]. This was followed with the design activities and development of a middleware using contemporary web technologies in order to adapt a given website based on user needs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Web Accessibility for Visually Impaired People: Requirements and Design Issues

Usability- And Accessibility-Focused Requirements Engineering

Vogel

Kurti

et al. 2016

Self Cite

Abstract. Access to web content continues to be a challenge for the visually impaired, as the needs of such community are very diverse. The access is further hindered by the fact that designers continue to build websites noncompliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). To better understand the needs of the visually impaired community, three workshops were organized with various stakeholders coming from three different countries. The results from the workshops suggest that one-solution-fits-all model is inadequate without considering the levels of visual impairment when providing customized web experience. A set of requirements devised from the workshops guided the process of building a middleware prototype. Using eight adaptation techniques, the prototype provides the required user experience based on users level of visual impairment. Preliminary evaluation of the middleware suggests that several adaptation techniques perform better with non-WCAG compliant websites compared to those being compliant.

Methods and Techniques of Adaptive Web Accessibility for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Raufi

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences

Zenuni

et al. 2015

Self Cite

Massive volumes of information shared on the web together with linked open data initiatives and exabytes of data generated through social networks frequently disorientates and confuses web users in their everyday interaction. Additionally, web users constitute a highly heterogeneous entities with different needs and requirements. Considering this, user adaptive software systems have been developed as a new application approach to ease the interaction between users and web information with the intent to bridge the gap between such presentation and navigational pitfalls. The user adaptive interaction is especially useful when considering a marginalized group such as blind and visually impaired users. This paper attempts at providing an overview of a state-of-the-art survey concerning adaptive interaction between users and web information space with special emphasis on exploiting methods and techniques for adaptive web accessibility for blind and visually impaired people. Likewise, the exploration of possibilities of new methods and techniques for user adapted interaction for blind and visually impaired is highly required in order to alleviate the accessibility according to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Recent studies indicate that even when the guidelines are implemented on web information systems, there is little indication that people with disabilities will gain better accessibility. To address these issues, we introduce various visual and auditory approaches to extend such adaptive methods and techniques for blind and visually impaired.