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When headers are not there: design and user evaluation of an automatic topicalisation and labelling tool to aid the exploration of web documents by blind users

Authors:

Jorge Sassaki Resende Silva,

André Pimenta Freire,

Paula Christina Figueira CardosoAuthors Info & Claims

W4A '22: Proceedings of the 19th International Web for All Conference

Article No.: 18, Pages 1 - 11

https://doi.org/10.1145/3493612.3520470

Published: 27 April 2022 Publication History

Abstract

Using headers to grasp a document's structure has been one of the main strategies employed by blind users on web documents when using screen readers. However, when headers are not available or not appropriately marked up, they can cause serious difficulties. This paper presents the design and evaluation of a tool for automatically generating headers for screen readers with topicalisation and labelling algorithms. The proposed tool uses Natural Language Processing techniques to divide a web document into topic segments and label each segment based on its content. We conducted an initial user study with eight blind and partially-sighted screen reader users. The evaluation involved tasks with questions answered by participants with information from texts with and without automatically generated headers. Results provided preliminary indicators of improvement in performance and reduction of cognitive load. The findings contribute to knowledge to improve tools to aid in text exploration. It also provides initial empirical evidence to be further explored to analyze the impact of automatically-generated headings in improving performance and reducing cognitive load for blind users.

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Cited By

Silva JCardoso PDe Bettio RTavares DSilva CWatanabe WFreire A(2024)In-Page Navigation Aids for Screen-Reader Users with Automatic Topicalisation and LabellingACM Transactions on Accessible Computing10.1145/364922317:2(1-45)Online publication date: 22-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3649223
Šumak BKous KMartínez-Normand LPekša JPušnik M(2023)Identification of Challenges and Best Practices for Including Users with Disabilities in User-Based TestingApplied Sciences10.3390/app1309549813:9(5498)Online publication date: 28-Apr-2023
https://doi.org/10.3390/app13095498
Watanabe Wde Lemos GNascimento R(2022)Accessibility landmarks identification in web applications based on DOM elements classificationUniversal Access in the Information Society10.1007/s10209-022-00959-823:2(765-777)Online publication date: 13-Dec-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10209-022-00959-8

Index Terms

When headers are not there: design and user evaluation of an automatic topicalisation and labelling tool to aid the exploration of web documents by blind users
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Accessibility
    1. Accessibility technologies

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cover image ACM Conferences

W4A '22: Proceedings of the 19th International Web for All Conference

April 2022

209 pages

ISBN:9781450391702

DOI:10.1145/3493612

General Chairs:
Dragan Ahmetovic
University of Milan, Italy
,
Victoria Yaneva
NBME/University of Wolverhampton, UK

Copyright © 2022 ACM.

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Published: 27 April 2022

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W4A'22

W4A'22: 19th Web for All Conference

April 25 - 26, 2022

Lyon, France

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W4A '22 Paper Acceptance Rate 18 of 36 submissions, 50%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 171 of 371 submissions, 46%

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Cited By

Silva JCardoso PDe Bettio RTavares DSilva CWatanabe WFreire A(2024)In-Page Navigation Aids for Screen-Reader Users with Automatic Topicalisation and LabellingACM Transactions on Accessible Computing10.1145/364922317:2(1-45)Online publication date: 22-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3649223
Šumak BKous KMartínez-Normand LPekša JPušnik M(2023)Identification of Challenges and Best Practices for Including Users with Disabilities in User-Based TestingApplied Sciences10.3390/app1309549813:9(5498)Online publication date: 28-Apr-2023
https://doi.org/10.3390/app13095498
Watanabe Wde Lemos GNascimento R(2022)Accessibility landmarks identification in web applications based on DOM elements classificationUniversal Access in the Information Society10.1007/s10209-022-00959-823:2(765-777)Online publication date: 13-Dec-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10209-022-00959-8

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