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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> NFBMD <nfbmd-bounces@nfbnet.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>David Andrews via NFBMD<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, August 28, 2024 6:55 AM<br><b>To:</b> nfbmd@nfbnet.org; nfbv-announce@nfbnet.org; nfb-dc@nfbnet.org<br><b>Cc:</b> David Andrews <dandrews920@comcast.net><br><b>Subject:</b> [NFBMD] Research Request<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><h2>Research Participation Request: Evaluating the Accessibility of Touch and Audio-based Visual Analysis for Blind Individuals<o:p></o:p></h2><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'> <br><br>The below research participant solicitation is being provided for informational purposes only. The National Federation of the Blind has no involvement in this research, but we believe that it may contribute to our research mission.<br><br> <o:p></o:p></p><h2>Research Title: Evaluating the Accessibility of Touch and Audio-based Visual Analysis for Blind Individuals<o:p></o:p></h2><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'> <br><br>Being conducted by: University of Maryland College Park<o:p></o:p></p><h2>Purpose of the Study<o:p></o:p></h2><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>We have developed a cross-modal tool for making charts accessible on touchscreen devices such as tablets and smartphones. The system - TactualPlot, uses speech and non-speech audio to represent chart elements and data values, while the interaction is through touch-based gestures. We designed our interaction gestures and audio through workshops with our blind collaborator where we used Tactile Graphics interaction as reference. We mainly focused on scatter plots for our initial exploration. Our goal is to quantitatively understand how effective our approach is in comparison to (1) accessible textual descriptions (captions), and (2) Monarch device - a multi-line refreshable Braille display that can render tactile graphics.<o:p></o:p></p><h2>Role of the Participants and Anticipated Length of the Study <o:p></o:p></h2><p class=MsoNormal>In the current planned study, we will create<br><br>Bar chart: A horizontal chart where adjacent bars of different height will convey values in a one-dimensional dataset, such as sales figures for different products or unemployment rates for different countries.<br><br>Line chart: A horizontal chart representing time-series data as a continuous line where time is represented on the horizontal axis and value is represented on the vertical axis, such as stock market indices or temperature measurements over time.<br><br>Pie Chart: A radial chart representing relative ratios of a whole, where circle segments (pies) convey the ratio for each discrete label, such as gender distributions or parts-of-whole relationships.<br><br>Scatterplot: A two-dimensional chart with different data dimensions mapped to the vertical and horizontal axes and data points plotted in the Cartesian plane defined by them, such as a camera dataset plotting price versus resolution, or cars plotting gas mileage versus horsepower.<br><br>Tasks<br><br>In designing tasks for a data science study, it is important to select tasks that are representative of the full gamut of tasks that an analyst might encounter in their daily work. We choose to base our choice of tasks on the cardinality of the task: the number of data items each task is concerned with. More specifically, while each visual representation will have specific tasks, we propose a common theme for all representations:<br><br>One item (access) - reading a single value from a dataset;<br><br>Two items (comparison) - comparing two different values in a dataset.<br><br>Many/all items (distribution) - characterizing the entirety of a dataset.<br><br>The study session will last no longer than 3 hours, and participants will be compensated $100 for their time.<br><br>A detailed research plan is available in the following link:<br><br><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uqMEpe7D33iOZxuScnFliWDQKZHuGEBGQ3xm1isIQXg/edit?usp=sharing">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uqMEpe7D33iOZxuScnFliWDQKZHuGEBGQ3xm1isIQXg/edit?usp=sharing<br><br></a><o:p></o:p></p><h2>Proposed Participant Compensation<o:p></o:p></h2><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>Yes, Upon completion of the study, participants will be paid with a $100 gift card.<o:p></o:p></p><h2>Link or Instructions for Participants to Enter the Study <o:p></o:p></h2><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>Dear NFB members,<br><br>Our research team, led by Professor Jonathan Lazar at University of Maryland, College Park, aims to improve information accessibility for blind individuals through design and evaluation of interactive systems that represent data in the form of sound and touch. We have designed an interactive tool to support data analysis (using sound) to generate insights. Additionally, we have also designed data visualizations to work with the Monarch, a refreshable tactile display from the American Printing House for the Blind (APH). To evaluate our designs, we are seeking participants for a user study.<br><br> We are recruiting participants who are blind, have experience with a screen reader, have experience with data analysis, and are 18 years of age or older.<br><br> The study will in total take approximately 3 hours during which we will ask you to use the tools to explore data, followed by a small interview to gather feedback on the design. The sessions shall be audio and video recorded and participant’s on screen activities shall be screen recorded. No personal data will be collected, and all study data will be anonymized.<br><br> Participants will be compensated with a $100 gift card for their time and efforts. Study sessions will be conducted at the University of Maryland campus in College Park, at a convenient location for the participant such as a nearby public library, or their home (if comfortable). Please email the researcher (listed below) to discuss travel and location.<br><br> If you are interested in participating, please send an email to Pramod (pchundur@umd.edu). After receiving your email, we will reply to confirm your appointment, and provide details about the study. Please feel free to share the email to others who you believe may be interested in participating!<br><br> Best regards,<br><br> Pramod Chundury<br><br> Email: <a href="mailto:pchundur@umd.edu">pchundur@umd.edu</a> <br><br> Phone: 240-620-5063<o:p></o:p></p><h2>Contact the following individual with any questions <o:p></o:p></h2><p class=MsoNormal>Pramod Chundury<br><br>2406205063<br><br>pchundur@umd.edu<br><br> <o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>