HCC: Small: Non-Visual Skimming: Improving the Usability of Web Access for Blind People

HCC：小：非视觉略读：提高盲人访问 Web 的可用性

• 批准号: 1218570
• 负责人: Yevgen Borodin
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-10-01 至 2016-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1218570&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: HCC; Small; Non; Visual; Skimming

In our information driven Web-based society, we are all gradually falling victims to information overload. But while sighted people can develop ways to quickly skim Web content in order to get the gist of the information and find what they need, blind users are stymied because they must rely on screen reader software with limited functionality to narrate content using computer-generated speech through a serial audio interface, which does not allow these users to find out what content is important before they listen to it. So, they either listen to all content or listen to the first part of each sentence or paragraph before skipping to the next. The PI's goal in this project is to address this problem by developing novel interfaces and algorithmic techniques for non-visual skimming that will empower people with visual impairments to access information on the Web significantly faster than is currently possible with state-of-the-art screen readers.When skimming, sighted people quickly look through content and pick out keywords and relevant phrases. The PI's approach is to emulate this process and enable a computer-assisted skimming experience for screen-reader users. To this end, he will iteratively and concurrently pursue two research directions: designing interfaces for non-visual skimming, and developing algorithms to enable these interfaces. Through a process of participatory design interfaces will be derived for skimming with standard shortcut-driven screen-readers, touch-based devices, and simulated haptic surfaces, while algorithms for generating summaries will be created to support skimming of various types of Web content at different levels of granularity and speed. Controlled and in-situ real-world experiments will be conducted to evaluate the utility of the resulting interfaces and algorithms. Project outcomes will include an open-source skimming tool and reusable datasets of Web pages with annotations and summaries.Broader Impacts: Technology to facilitate non-visual skimming will transform information access for visually impaired users while also contributing to the fields of natural language processing, machine learning, and Web information retrieval. Additionally, this research will help us better understand how a combination of touch and haptic interfaces can improve website navigation and skimming. Although not explored in this research, project outcomes will likely prove useful to people with other disabilities such as cognitive and motor impairments, and they may ultimately also be helpful to sighted people.

在我们这个信息驱动的网络社会里，我们都逐渐成为信息过载的受害者。 但是，虽然视力正常的人可以找到快速浏览网络内容的方法，以便获得信息的要点并找到他们所需要的内容，但盲人用户却受到了阻碍，因为他们必须依赖功能有限的屏幕阅读器软件，通过串行音频接口使用计算机生成的语音来讲述内容，这使得这些用户无法在听之前找出哪些内容是重要的。他们要么听完所有内容，要么听完每个句子或段落的第一部分，然后跳到下一个。 PI在这个项目中的目标是通过开发新的界面和算法技术来解决这个问题，这些技术将使视力障碍的人能够比目前最先进的屏幕阅读器更快地访问Web上的信息。当略读时，视力正常的人快速浏览内容并挑选关键字和相关短语。 PI的方法是模拟这个过程，并为屏幕阅读器用户提供计算机辅助的略读体验。 为此，他将迭代并同时追求两个研究方向：设计非视觉略读的界面，并开发算法来实现这些界面。 通过参与式设计的过程中，接口将与标准的快捷方式驱动的屏幕阅读器，触摸式设备和模拟触觉表面的略读，而生成摘要的算法将被创建，以支持略读不同类型的Web内容在不同的粒度和速度。 将进行受控和现场真实世界的实验，以评估所产生的接口和算法的效用。 项目成果将包括一个开放源代码的略读工具和可重复使用的带有注释和摘要的网页数据集。更广泛的影响：促进非视觉略读的技术将改变视障用户的信息访问方式，同时也有助于自然语言处理、机器学习和Web信息检索领域。 此外，这项研究将帮助我们更好地了解触摸和触觉界面的组合如何改善网站导航和略读。 虽然在本研究中没有探索，但项目成果可能会证明对其他残疾人（如认知和运动障碍）有用，最终也可能对视力正常的人有帮助。