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<h2><b>Research Participation Request: Evaluating the Accessibility of
Touch and Audio-based Visual Analysis for Blind
Individuals</b></h2> <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>
<br><br>
<h2><b>Research Title: Evaluating the Accessibility of Touch and
Audio-based Visual Analysis for Blind Individuals</b></h2> <br><br>
Being conducted by: University of Maryland College Park<br><br>
<h2><b>Purpose of the Study</b></h2>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.<br><br>
<h2><b>Role of the Participants and Anticipated Length of the Study
</b></h2>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" eudora="autourl">
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uqMEpe7D33iOZxuScnFliWDQKZHuGEBGQ3xm1isIQXg/edit?usp=sharing<br>
<br>
</a><h2><b>Proposed Participant Compensation</b></h2>Yes, Upon completion
of the study, participants will be paid with a $100 gift card.<br><br>
<h2><b>Link or Instructions for Participants to Enter the Study
</b></h2>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<br><br>
<h2><b>Contact the following individual with any questions
</b></h2>Pramod Chundury<br><br>
2406205063<br><br>
pchundur@umd.edu<br><br>
<br>
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