VizWiz

Abstract

The lack of access to visual information like text labels, icons, and colors can cause frustration and decrease independence for blind people. Current access technology uses automatic approaches to address some problems in this space, but the technology is error-prone, limited in scope, and quite expensive. In this paper, we introduce VizWiz, a talking application for mobile phones that offers a new alternative to answering visual questions in nearly real-time-asking multiple people on the web. To support answering questions quickly, we introduce a general approach for intelligently recruiting human workers in advance called quikTurkit so that workers are available when new questions arrive. A field deployment with 11 blind participants illustrates that blind people can effectively use VizWiz to cheaply answer questions in their everyday lives, highlighting issues that automatic approaches will need to address to be useful. Finally, we illustrate the potential of using VizWiz as part of the participatory design of advanced tools by using it to build and evaluate VizWiz::LocateIt, an interactive mobile tool that helps blind people solve general visual search problems.

Crowd-powered positive psychological interventions

“…Another team makes the changes and, finally, yet another group of workers reviews and approves the work. Similar algorithmic techniques have been used to crowdsource encyclopedia articles (Kittur, Smus, Khamkar, & Kraut, 2011), poetry translations (Kittur, 2010), travel itineraries (Zhang et al, 2012), fashion tips (Burton et al, 2012), and visual assistance for the visually impaired (Bigham et al, 2010). In all cases, worker recruitment, worker training, worker coordination, and quality control are coordinated entirely through code.…”

"I can do everything but see!" -- How People with Vision Impairments Negotiate their Abilities in Social Contexts

“…This is somewhat echoed in assistive crowdsourcing systems such as VizWiz ii [5,15], a service that allows people with VI to pose questions about a visual problem (captured through a photo) either to Mechanical Turk iii or peoples' wider social network on Facebook [8]; as well as in ethnographic work of co-constructed accessibility in the home [9] and at work [10]. However, outside routine environments in which access to information can be pre-configured or better planned for, the reaching out to other people for help becomes a different challenge for technology to assist.…”

“…Examples include systems to support spatial awareness and navigation [12,13,21,22,26,62], to aid the identification of specific objects or their characteristics [5,14,15], to assist the detection and identification of text [17], barcodes [31], signs [18,51], or currency [32], and help with handwriting [43]. For digital user interfaces, we further find many applications for the input and recognition of Braille on touchscreens [3,27,34,52], and alternatives for text-entry or navigating digital menus [7,38,24,25,63].…”

“…Only a few examples extend the relationship with a system beyond an individual user, to include i.e. social support through a crowd [5,8,15], or with a teacher [43], family and friends [34].…”

The Whodunit Challenge: Mobilizing the Crowd in India

“…Recent years have witnessed the power of cro wdsourcing as a tool for solving i mportant societal challenges [1][2][3][4]. Of particu lar note are instances of crowd mobilization, where large groups of people work together in service of a co mmon goal.…”