Friday, February 13, 2009
10:00 AM
Computer Science Bldg. Room 601
Jeffrey R. Bigham
University of Washington
Improved Access by and for Blind Web Users
The web is an unparalleled information resource, but remains difficult
and frustrating for millions of blind and low vision people to use.
The openness and flexibility of the web make it possible to better
adapt content for all users, but until recently, blind web users have
been left out of this process. In this talk, I'll discuss the
following three projects designed to improve our understanding of how
blind people access the web and enable them to independently improve
access: (i) WebinSitu facilitates longitudinal remote user studies,
(ii) TrailBlazer makes non-visual access to the web more usable by
predicting what users might want to do next, and (iii) WebAnywhere
adds speech output to any web page without installing new software.
These projects have not only made significant advances in web
accessibility and usability for blind web users, but have also yielded
general lessons applicable for adapting and delivering content for all
users.
Refreshments provided at 9:45 am