Accessible, Multimodal Charts and Graphs on Touchscreens

Date & Time

Friday, March 22, 2024 - 4:20 PM PDT  

Location

Grand GH  

Description

Charts, graphs, and visual representations are a key component of representing data. This is particularly true in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines, where visual graphics dominate the way information is shared and understood. Yet, access to these graphics - particularly nonvisually - is a growing challenge, exacerbated by the increase in adoption of highly visual, digital mediums as a primary mode of information sharing. Touchscreens, which are widely available and adopted within the blindness and low vision community, have the potential to close the gap in accessible, digital graphics. Touchscreens provide a unique, multimodal experience, offering the ability to render graphics with sound, text description, vibration, and magnified visuals - all from one platform. In our ongoing collaborative research, we have investigated the presentation of digital STEM graphics rendered on touchscreens, highlighting both the affordances and limitations of this approach in facilitating graphical information access, compared to current and best practices.

In this session, we will review our current and previous research and will share recent findings on how to create more complex charts, such as those found in statistics (e.g. histograms and scatter plots). We will demonstrate a new approach using spatial audio to support localization, in addition to structured navigation using gestures. We will end with an interactive discussion on future development efforts.

This Presentation Link is provided by the Presenter(s) and not hosted by the Center on Disabilities at CSUN. The Center on Disabilities has confirmed, as of April 18, 2024, content linked is relevant to the presentation, but has not been reviewed for accessibility nor will the Center on Disabilities attempt to remediate any accessibility issues in the linked content. Please contact the Presenter(s) with any accessibility concerns.

 

Audience

• Higher Education
• Disability Specific
• K-12 Education
• Research & Development

Audience Level

Beginning  

Session Summary (Abstract)

Graphics dominate in science, technology, engineering, and math education but remain challenging to create in accessible formats. We will highlight recent advances in making graphics accessible using multimodal feedback on touchscreens.  

Primary Topic

Emerging Technologies  

Secondary Topics

• Blind/Low Vision
• Digital Accessibility
• Education
• Research

 

Session Type

General Track  

Presenters

• Jenna Gorlewicz
  Saint Louis University
• Wilfredo Robinson Moore
  Saint Louis University
• Nicholas Giudice
  The University of Maine

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