LATEST PUBLICATIONS

• 
  
  • Aidme: Interactive Non-visual Smartphone Tutorials
  • Rodrigues, André and Camacho, Leonardo and Nicolau, Hugo and Montague, Kyle and Guerreiro, Tiago
  • Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services Adjunct, 205–212, 2018
  • [ABSTRACT] [PDF] [LIBRARY]

  The constant barrage of updates and novel applications to explore creates a ceaseless cycle of new layouts and interaction methods that we must adapt to. One way to address these challenges is through in-context interactive tutorials. Most applications provide onboarding tutorials using visual metaphors to guide the user through the core features available. However, these tutorials are limited in their scope and are often inaccessible to blind people. In this paper, we present AidMe, a system-wide authoring and playthrough of non-visual interactive tutorials. Tutorials are created via user demonstration and narration. Using AidMe, in a user study with 11 blind participants we identified issues with instruction delivery and user guidance providing insights into the development of accessible interactive non-visual tutorials.
• 
  
  • Hybrid-Brailler: Combining Physical and Gestural Interaction for Mobile Braille Input and Editing
  • Trindade, Daniel and Rodrigues, André and Guerreiro, Tiago and Nicolau, Hugo
  • Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 27:1–27:12, 2018
  • [ABSTRACT] [PDF] [LIBRARY] [VIDEO]

  Braille input enables fast nonvisual entry speeds on mobile touchscreen devices. Yet, the lack of tactile cues commonly results in typing errors, which are hard to correct. We propose Hybrid-Brailler, an input solution that combines physical and gestural interaction to provide fast and accurate Braille input. We use the back of the device for physical chorded input while freeing the touchscreen for gestural interaction. Gestures are used in editing operations, such as caret movement, text selection, and clipboard control, enhancing the overall text entry experience. We conducted two user studies to assess both input and editing performance. Results show that Hybrid-Brailler supports fast entry rates as its virtual counterpart, while significantly increasing input accuracy. Regarding editing performance, when compared with the mainstream technique, Hybrid-Brailler shows performance benefits of 21% in speed and increased editing accuracy. We finish with lessons learned for designing future nonvisual input and editing techniques.
• 
  
  • The Use of Smart Glasses for Lecture Comprehension by Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students
  • Miller, Ashley and Malasig, Joan and Castro, Brenda and Hanson, Vicki L. and Nicolau, Hugo and Brandão, Alessandra
  • CHI ’17 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, , 2017
  • [ABSTRACT] [PDF]

  Deaf and hard of hearing students must constantly switch between several visual sources to gather all necessary information during a classroom lecture (e.g., instructor, slides, sign language interpreter or captioning). Using smart glasses, this research tested a potential means to reduce the effects of visual field switches, proposing that consolidating sources into a single display may improve lecture comprehension. Results showed no statistically significant comprehension improvements with the glasses, but interviews indicated that participants found it easier to follow the lecture with glasses and saw the potential for them in the classroom. Future work highlights priorities for smart glasses consideration and new research directions.
• 
  
  • In-context Q&A to Support Blind People Using Smartphones
  • Rodrigues, André and Montague, Kyle and Nicolau, Hugo and Guerreiro, João and Guerreiro, Tiago
  • Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, , 2017
  • [ABSTRACT] [PDF]

  Blind people face many barriers using smartphones. Still, previous research has been mostly restricted to non-visual gestural interaction, paying little attention to the deeper daily challenges of blind users. To bridge this gap, we conducted a series of workshops with 42 blind participants, uncovering application challenges across all levels of expertise, most of which could only be surpassed through a support network. We propose Hint Me!, a human-powered service that allows blind users to get in-app assistance by posing questions or browsing previously answered questions on a shared knowledge-base. We evaluated the perceived usefulness and acceptance of this approach with six blind people. Participants valued the ability to learn independently and anticipated a series of usages: labeling, layout and feature descriptions, bug workarounds, and learning to accomplish tasks. Creating or browsing questions depends on aspects like privacy, knowledge of respondents and response time, revealing the benefits of a hybrid approach.
• 
  
  • Investigating Laboratory and Everyday Typing Performance of Blind Users
  • Nicolau, Hugo and Montague, Kyle and Guerreiro, Tiago and Rodrigues, André and Hanson, Vicki L.
  • ACM Trans. Access. Comput., 4:1–4:26, 2017
  • [ABSTRACT] [PDF] [LIBRARY]

  Over the last decade there have been numerous studies on touchscreen typing by blind people. However, there are no reports about blind users’ everyday typing performance and how it relates to laboratory settings. We conducted a longitudinal study involving five participants to investigate how blind users truly type on their smartphones. For twelve weeks, we collected field data, coupled with eight weekly laboratory sessions. This paper provides a thorough analysis of everyday typing data and its relationship with controlled laboratory assessments. We improve state-of-the-art techniques to obtain intent from field data, and provide insights on real-world performance. Our findings show that users improve over time, even though it is at a slow rate. Substitutions are the most common type of error and have a significant impact on entry rates in both field and laboratory settings. Results show that participants are 1.3-2 times faster when typing during everyday tasks. On the other hand, they are less accurate. We finished by deriving some implications that should inform the design of future virtual keyboard for non-visual input. Moreover, findings should be of interest to keyboard designers and researchers looking to conduct field studies to understand everyday input performance.