A Study of Blind Drawing Practice: Creating Graphical Information Without the Visual Channel Hesham M. Kamel James A. Landay Group for User Interface Research EECS Department University of California, Berkeley

2 Visual Communication by Blind People (Kurze, 1996, figure 5)

3 Presentation Overview Problems with GUIs Creating vs. accessing graphical data Study of blind drawing practice Required mechanisms for blind drawing The grid-based model for drawing Demonstration of drawing with IC2D Conclusion

4 Problems with GUIs Rely entirely on visual feedback & direct manipulation Graphical elements hinder screen readers Warnings –“… enabling technologies for the sighted have become disabling technologies for the visually- impaired ” (Pun, Roth, & Petrucci, 1998) –New interfaces threaten effectiveness of screen readers (Boyd, Boyd, & Vanderheiden, 1990) Goal of screen reader developers –develop meaningful non-visual representation of picture-based interfaces

5 Problems with Drawing Tool UIs Graphical user interfaces –imagine drawing with the monitor off where is the cursor? what ’ s on the screen? how do I get back to where I was? Haptic user interfaces –hard to carry –expensive

6 Accessing Graphical Data Relies on the method of output –audio-haptic Talking Fingertip (Vanderheiden, 1996) –non-speech audio (Alty & Rigas, 1998) –speech and non-speech audio Mercator (Mynatt, 1995)

7 Creating Graphical Data Relies on the method of input & requires feedback –tactile freehand drawing Sewell line drawing kit (Millar, 1975) thermo-pen and heat sensitive paper, speech (Kurze, 1996) Do tactile freehand drawing tools provide enough feedback?

8 Study of Blind Drawing Practice Used the Sewell Raised Line Drawing Kit 5 participants: 3 partially & 2 totally blind Drawing TaskEvaluation Metrics Uppercase “ D ” Curvature, closure 2 greater-than signsAngle, length consistency 2 squaresEqual in size, square Any drawingMatch user ’ s intentions

9 Methodology Emphasized testing of tool, not skills No prior experience with drawing tool Equal amount of familiarization time No physical model was provided to participants

10 Testing Curvature and Closure “ The curvature is not what I had in mind. I wanted it to look like a half tear drop. ”

11 Importance of Feedback Improper closure by 3/5 participants Via touching or looking at the figures participants could assess performance

12 Testing Length, Angle and Closure Measurement by counting Measurement between thumb & pinky Measurement using knuckles

13 Self-directed Drawing “It looks a little sloppier than what I had in mind.” “The feet are where they should not be”

14 Findings of Study Drawing requires mechanisms for –assessing curvature –finding relative and absolute locations –measuring distances –determining angles There are a number of strategies for determining line length 3/5 participants were very happy with their self-directed drawings

15 Presentation Recap Problems with GUIs Creating vs. accessing graphical data Study of blind drawing practice Required mechanisms for blind drawing The grid-based model for drawing Demonstration of drawing with IC2D Conclusion

16 Grid-based Drawing Model Based on telephone keypad –known by most blind individuals –nine fixed screen cells –each cell is a unique point of reference & can be selected equivalent to point & click The grid supports –finding relative and absolute locations –measuring distances –determining common angles

17 IC2D: A Grid-based Drawing Program For both drawing by the blind & communicating drawings by sighted users Uses grid for navigation, selection & feedback Two ways to navigate –directional keys or numbers 1-9 Voice & non-speech feedback –blind users accustomed to screen readers car created with help of sighted user – self describes its “parts”

18 Grid Recursion Allows more precise point selections Resolution of 27 x 27 cells –permits drawing objects at different scale Objects drawn at full screen resolution –example, the right arrow

19 Example: Drawing a Circuit

Demonstration

21 Example: My House

22 Pilot Evaluation Tested with two blind users –both blind from birth Three drawing tasks after a 25 min. tutorial Results encouraging –car drawn in ~13 min.

23 Conclusion Audio feedback can work for drawing Grid-based model allows –finding relative and absolute locations –measuring distances –determining angles –currently limited for assessing curvature The recursive grid is a general technique for graphical interaction Better drawing tools open graphical communication between blind and sighted Blindness is not an excuse, it is a challenge

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