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The representations created in this study can help people understand the versatility of screen readers, and can inspire innovation and changes to these technologies for people with disabilities. UMD researchers J. Bern Jordan, Victoria Van Hyning, Mason A. Jones, Rachael Bradley Montgomery, Elizabeth Bottner, and Evan Tansil had the opportunity to present their research on… Continue Reading Information Wayfinding of Screen Reader Users

Being able to recognize when content can be harmful for individuals with photosensitive epilepsy can give people the opportunity to release content that is safe for all viewers. TRACE researchers Dr. Bern Jordan and Dr. Gregg Vanderheiden recently had their work on photosensitive epilepsy published in the ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing journal. Photosensitive epilepsy,… Continue Reading Publication of TRACE Research on Photosensitive Epilepsy Guidelines

Understanding the opinions and thoughts of older adults when it comes to videoconferencing can lead to more inclusive designs for these populations. UMD researchers Ruipu Hu, Ge Gao, and Amanda Lazar had the opportunity to present their research on videoconferencing with older adults at the 2024 ASSETS conference (an accessibility and computing conference)! “While videoconferencing… Continue Reading Exploring Videoconferencing for Older Adults with Cognitive Concerns

Camera-based assistive technologies like object recognizers are impactful for many people with vision impairments. The insights that authors gained from this study can be used to improve these technologies are reduce the number of errors. UMD researchers Jonggi Hong and Hernisa Kacorri had the opportunity to present their research on the use of object recognition… Continue Reading Understanding How Blind Users Handle Object Recognition Errors

The insights gained from this study can guide AI developers to integrate informed consent and inclusive data practices into their work. UMD researchers Rie Kamikubo, Farnaz Zamiri Zeraati, Kyungjun Lee, and Hernisa Kacorri had the opportunity to present their research on data access and sharing with blind people at the 2024 ASSETS conference (an accessibility… Continue Reading Co-designing Data Access and Sharing with Blind People

The new book from Springer recounts Trace’s 50-year history, its enduring contributions to the field, and the lessons learned along the way. According to reviewers, Trace is “a tour de force,” “a catalyst for a global movement” and “an indispensable engine propelling accessibility forward for people with disabilities.”    The story of the Trace R&D… Continue Reading New History of the Trace Center Released: “Technology and Disability: 50 Years of Trace R&D Center Contributions and Lessons Learned”

We live in a world of digital technology. Computers have become embedded in our everyday lives to the point where many of us hardly notice how often we interact with technology—to buy our groceries or train tickets, check out books from the library, communicate with colleagues, friends and family, do our banking, enter secure spaces,… Continue Reading Morphic: Advancing Social Equity Through Digital Inclusion

Teachable object recognizers allow blind users to train their camera-equipped devices such as mobile phones to recognize everyday objects by providing a few photos as training examples. A user takes a series of pictures of an object to “train” the machine learning model how to distinguish that object from other objects, so that in the… Continue Reading Blind Users Accessing Their Training Images in Teachable Object Recognizers (Summary)

Dementia is a syndrome that involves changes in cognition (thinking, remembering, and reasoning) and abilities, often affecting the ways that individuals engage in daily activities. Many everyday technologies are not designed to meet the access needs of individuals with dementia. Recent research shows that almost half of those with mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia… Continue Reading Mobile Phone Use by People with Mild to Moderate Dementia: Uncovering Challenges and Identifying Opportunities (Summary)

More and more technologies that we use in our everyday lives are supported by artificial intelligence (AI). AI-infused technologies help us unlock our mobile phones, power our digital assistants, monitor health conditions, detect financial fraud, and navigate the best travel route. Although AI affords numerous conveniences and efficiencies to users, it can lead to discriminatory… Continue Reading Inclusive AI: Representation of Age, Gender, and Race in Accessibility Datasets

Kacorri, H., Dwivedi, U., Amancherla, S., Jha, M., & Chanduka, R. (2020). IncluSet: A data surfacing repository for accessibility datasets. In T. Guerreiro, H. Nicolau, & K. Moffatt (Eds.), ASSETS ’20: The 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (pp. 1-4, No. 72). New York: ACM.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3373625.3418026 PMCID: PMC8375514   Data is… Continue Reading IncluSet: A data surfacing repository for accessibility datasets. (Summary)

Photosensitive epilepsy is a condition that can cause seizures when affected people view flickering lights, flashing in videos and video games, and bold, regular patterns. It is estimated that 1 in 4000 people have photosensitive epilepsy with it being most common in adolescents. The Trace R&D Center (in the College of Information Studies at the… Continue Reading A case study of a strobe GIF and photosensitive epilepsy

Dr. Amanda Lazar and her team presented recent research at the 2022 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems examining the barriers faced by people with dementia to accessing relevant, accurate health information, as well as the potential for AI-driven tools to support different types of memory. The inclusion of people with dementia… Continue Reading How People with Dementia Access Health Information: Research Identifies Barriers, Strategies, and the Potential for New Technologies

iSchool professor Jonathan Lazar contributed to and testified in support of the bill to bring an accessibility requirement into the procurement process for digital educational tools in Maryland’s K-12 schools.   When Maryland’s 900,000 K-12 public school students hung up their backpacks in March 2020, where most remained for the next 18 months, the locus… Continue Reading New Law Ensures Equivalent Access to Digital Tools for All of Maryland’s K-12 Students

Dr. Hernisa Kacorri’s research on object recognizers with blind participants required a pivot to remote usability testing, leading her team to reflect on the many lessons learned from the shift from the lab to people’s homes.   When the covid-19 pandemic disrupted everyday life around the world, Dr. Hernisa Kacorri, assistant professor in the UMD… Continue Reading Covid-19 Pandemic Moves Research on Assistive Technologies From the Lab to People’s Homes