Web 2.0

Our paper titled 'Understanding Blind Users' Web Accessibility and Usability Problem', has been published in the journal AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction. The paper is available at http://aisel.aisnet.org/thci/vol2/iss3/1. I am giving below the abstract of the paper. Have a look and please share your feedback.

Abstract

Our motivation for this research is the belief that blind users cannot participate effectively in routine Web-based activities due to the lack of Web accessibility and usability for non-visual interaction. We take a cognitive, user-centered, task-oriented approach to develop an understanding of accessibility and usability problems that blind users face in Web interactions. This understanding is critically needed to determine accessibility and usability requirements for non-visual Web interaction. We employ verbal protocol analysis for an in-depth examination of difficulties participants face in completing an online assessment through a course management system. We analyze the problems that hinder accessibility and usability and explain the nature of these problems in terms of design principles. Our study contributes an effective method for qualitative evaluation of Web accessibility and usability. Our findings will guide future research to develop more accessible and usable Web applications for blind users.

Posted by Dr. Jai Ganesh at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There seems to be lot of confusion between accessibility and usability and what comes first. While working on different web projects we usually emphasize on ease of use. For that we customize our web pages for different types of users such that the users do not have to traverse through several pages to get to the topic of his/her interest.We not only provide the information but we make that a wonderful experience for the user.

For example, I go to canteen everyday and take orange juice. For this I have to stand in queue, place the order and wait for the juice to be delivered. Vendor observes this for few days and one day as soon as he looks at me entering the canteen, he prepares the juice and provides me the glass when I reach the counter. Not only that, he ensures that the juice is presented in such a way every day that I wait to go and have the juice. Vendor does the same thing for all different types of users by observing there behavior over a period of time.  He keeps on refining the process. That is creating a user friendly environment and that is what usability is all about.

Then what is accessibility. Now take a similar example for a user who is not able to go out till canteen to have the juice. Vendor provides the on call delivery to his/her desk. That is how he ensures to make his service accessible to everyone at anytime.

What comes first, accessibility or usability? This can still be debated. But there are now legal implications of not addressing accessibility issues. There are guidelines which need to be followed to ensure that all the web pages are accessible to differently abled users. So every site now has to be accessible as well as usable. Infosys iProwe helps users to address the accessibility issue for their web pages. I always thought that usability was important in this competitive environment and now realize that accessibility is equally important.

 

Neha Ranjeet Ghorpade

Product Manager - Future Web Research Lab, SETLabs

neha_ghorpade@infosys.com

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