Transcript Slide 1

The Travails of Visually
Impaired Web Travelers
By
Carole Goble
Simon Harper
Robert Stevens
Presented by
Chih-Tang Lee

Problem addressed


Most visual navigation cues are not appropriate for a VI user to
navigate in the virtual world.
Hypothesis

Propose a model that evaluates mobility support given to VI
users on the web.

“… traveling and mobility on the web mirrors traveling and
mobility in the physical world.”
Traveling

3 mental representations:


Author’s definition of travel:


Landmarks, route knowledge, survey knowledge
“… confident navigation and orientation with purpose, ease
and accuracy within an environment.”
In the physical world:



Simpler information of the environment.
Detailed route description and more specific obstacle
information.
Increased use of mental maps.
Traveling

In the virtual world:

Rely more on audible solutions than enhancing actual web
navigation.




Screen scraping (sensory translation): web browsers and specialist
browsers (screen readers).
Listening vs. scanning: information flow is slower.
Explicitly warned of obstacles.
Mental map usage is limited.
Model of Travel
Travel objects - Travelers use landmarks and memory objects to
make sure they are going in the right direction.


Mobility actions - And navigates and orientates by consulting
memory objects, and detecting and identifying landmarks.
Model of Travel

Mobility instruments - Consultation, detection and identification
with mobility instruments.
Mobility Evaluation

Is the object a cue or obstacle?
 Travel
purpose: seeking information,
orientation, navigation, etc.
 User
 Timeliness of feedback
 User agent
 Presentation form
Mobility Evaluation Common presentation forms
http://www.imdb.com/
IMDB Home Page Evaluation
IMDB Home Page Evaluation
IMDB Home Page Evaluation
Conclusion

Related travel in the virtual world to that in the
real world.

The proposed model can aid the identification of
cues and obstacles and promote improved
mobility support for VI users.

Need to extend model’s usage to web sites.
Authors
Carole Goble
Robert Stevens
Professor, University of Manchester
?
Simon Harper
Prototype mobility tools for visually
impaired surfers
A pilot study to examine the
mobility problems of visually
impaired users traveling the web