Accessible Data Access and Analysis by People who are Blind or Have Low Vision

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel assistive system combining tactile graphics and speech to enable blind or low vision individuals to explore and analyze data, aiming to improve accessibility and equity in data access.

Contribution

It introduces an innovative multimodal system using tactile displays and conversational agents to support data analysis for BLV users, addressing current accessibility barriers.

Findings

Design of a tactile and speech-based data exploration system

Potential to improve data access for BLV individuals

Advances in multimodal interfaces and dialogue systems

Abstract

Our work aims to develop new assistive technologies that enable blind or low vision (BLV) people to explore and analyze data readily. At present, barriers exist for BLV people to explore and analyze data, restricting access to government, health and personal data, and limiting employment opportunities. This work explores the co-design and development of an innovative system to support data access, with a focus on the use of refreshable tactile displays (RTDs) and conversational agents. The envisaged system will use a combination of tactile graphics and speech to communicate with BLV users, and proactively assist with data analysis tasks. As well as addressing significant equity gaps, our work expects to produce innovations in assistive technology, multimodal interfaces, dialogue systems, and natural language understanding and generation.