Peer Reviewed

Presenters often screen-share slides over remote meetings as visual aids. Screen reader users however often do not have adequate ways to access slide content during presentations. To inform the design of more accessible interfaces, we ran a formative design workshop to elicit what screen reader users value during live screen-shared presentations, which are Prioritize Key Information, Reduce Cognitive Load, Provide Exploration Independence, Minimize Control Effort, and Encode Spatial Information. Based on these values, we created two prototypes that users experienced in a follow-up design probe. These interactions provide users control over what, when, and how slide elements are read out and introduce spatial audio separation between the presenter’s voice and screen reader audio. Participants found that a laptop-based prototype designed for the first four values significantly improved the accessibility of screen-shared content over existing tools, even with a presenter who was perceived to present materials accessibly. The importance of concurrent exploration is highlighted by participants’ frequent and diverse use of access to consume information complementary to the presenter, align focus, and understand information using alternative means. A phone-based prototype that encoded spatial information and greater exploration independence at the cost of increased cognitive load received mixed feedback, illustrating the balance between values that interaction design needs to strike. We conclude with insights and considerations for how the identified values and corresponding interactions can be used to improve the accessibility of screen-shared presentations.

We increasingly rely on up-to-date, data-driven graphs to understand our environments and make informed decisions. However, many of the methods blind and visually impaired users (BVI) rely on to access data-driven information do not convey important shape-characteristics of graphs, are not refreshable, or are prohibitively expensive. To address these limitations, we introduce two refreshable, 1-DOF audio-haptic interfaces based on haptic cues fundamental to object shape perception. Slide-tone uses finger position with sonification, and Tilt-tone uses fingerpad contact inclination with sonification to provide shape feedback to users. Through formative design workshops (n = 3) and controlled evaluations (n = 8), we found that BVI participants appreciated the additional shape information, versatility, and reinforced understanding these interfaces provide; and that task accuracy was comparable to using interactive tactile graphics or sonification alone. Our research offers insight into the benefits, limitations, and considerations for adopting these haptic cues into a data visualization context.

As data visualization has become increasingly important in our society, many challenges prevent people who are blind and visually impaired (BVI) from fully engaging with data and data graphics. For example, tactile data representations are commonly used by BVI people to explore spatial graphics, but it is difficult for BVI people to construct and understand tactile representations without prior training or expert assistance. In this work, we adopt a constructive visualization framework of using simple and versatile tokens to engage non-experts in the construction of tactile data representations. We present preliminary results of how participants chose to interpret and create tactile data representations and the preferred haptic exploratory procedures used for retrieving information. All participants used similar construction strategies and converged upon 3D compact spatial forms to retrieve and display analytical information. These insights can inform future data visualization authoring and consumption tools that users of more diverse skill backgrounds can effectively navigate.