CHS: Medium: Next Generation Content Production Tools for People with Vision Impairments

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

Ensuring the accessibility of digital information and computational tools is crucial to enabling people with vision impairments to participate in all aspects of society, from education to career prospects to personal growth. This critical need is underscored by the fact that the millions of Americans with a visual disability are less likely to be employed or to pursue higher education than their sighted peers, and often have lower income levels as well. Although there has been tremendous improvement in information accessibility, the vast majority of research focuses on making content produced by others accessible. Yet, producing original content oneself (such as creative writing, podcasts, and music) provides valuable forms of employment, self-expression, and advocacy for people with vision impairments. This project will introduce novel accessible tools for creating text- and audio-based content, which will support the needs of blind students and professionals whether working independently or on teams with sighted collaborators. Outreach and dissemination of the work will take place through partnership with five community organizations for people with vision impairments, as well as online by means of open-source software and accompanying instructional materials. A "living laboratory for accessibility" will be created thal integrates research, education, and outreach through immersive learning experiences for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as opportunities for community members with disabilities to learn about and participate in research. The project has the potential to increase access to STEM-related educational experiences and career opportunities for people with vision impairments by bridging computation, engineering, and the arts. The research will also demonstrate an innovative approach to accessibility and content production that can be extended to other domains and applications. Advancing accessible content production tools requires rethinking the way information is processed, rendered, and interacted with, which brings critical challenges in human-computer interaction, machine learning, and collaboration to the forefront of research. This project will contribute: (1) design guidelines and a taxonomy for accessible content creation tools; (2) novel algorithms to process text- and audio-based content, which enable new ways of presenting information while solving challenges relevant to machine learning, text analytics, and audio processing; (3) accessible interaction techniques that advance the ability of blind users to understand, navigate, and edit their work; (4) collaboration support features that will bridge gaps in collaboration systems and provide empirical and theoretical evidence of whether and how core collaborative processes operate in the context of mixed-ability teams; and (5) empirical evidence of how the developed systems support individual self-efficacy and collaboration during naturalistic use, thereby advancing inclusive online work and learning more broadly. Project outcomes will be assessed through a comprehensive evaluation strategy that captures individual, group, and societal level outcomes. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.