Name: Rheanna N.

Banguilan Date: 9/22/2022

Year and Section: BSIT 3-1

● Read the following Case Studies carefully, answer each question on your own
understanding.
● Don’t leave the questions unanswered, your Instructor will give considerations to your
answer.
● Leave the Grade section in the table, your instructor will be giving the grade for each
question.

Case Study # 1: Blind users experience the Internet

This study describes the research of Dr. Vanessa Evers and Drs. Hans Hillen (University
of Amsterdam) on website navigation for blind Internet users. In this research the problems
which occur in website navigation for blind Internet users were evaluated. We also evaluated
the strategies that blind people use to deal with inaccessible websites.

We describe what it is like to be blind on the Internet. First, we will offer some basic
information about why and how blind people use the Internet. Next, the concept of accessibility
is explained in more detail. Finally, you can see movie clips which illustrate how blind people
interact with websites, and explore interactive examples of common accessibility problems blind
people face.

Globally there are millions of visually impaired people, constantly growing in numbers
due to aging baby-boomers.

The Internet can be of great value to blind people as it empowers them to independently
complete tasks which they would normally not be able to accomplish without help from others
(such as reading mail or managing bank accounts).

Traditionally, blind people have been dependent on written information that has been
translated into braille or audio books, which often take time to be produced. Through the
Internet, new information (such as newspaper articles) is available immediately without delay.

Assistive technology enables users to access websites. Two categories of assistive

technology are used most by blind Internet users:

1. Screen readers are software that translates screen contents into synthetic speech.
2. Refreshable braille displays are hardware devices containing a strip of retractable braille
pins, allowing braille characters to be generated on the fly.

Both categories provide a linear information stream (either speech or braille), which means that
the user can only focus on one element at a time.
Basic steps to make a web page accessible

Web designers can easily increase the accessibility of their page by observing the following
rules (based on the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines):

● Always provide a textual description for images, tables and embedded content (for
instance movies or applets).
● Use correct markup to distinguish between page elements such as headings and
paragraphs, so that screen readers can navigate effectively.
● Provide 'skip links' which allow the user to skip directly to the main page content instead
of having to listen to the page menus, banners and other content preceding the main
information.
● Make sure that form elements have clearly associated labels as well as a
comprehendible function.
● Make sure the page can be navigated by keyboard alone, do not allow navigation by
Flash movies or JavaScript code requiring mouse actions.
● Make links self-descriptive rather than context dependent. For example, instead of
linking only one word (as in the link "click 'here' to find out more about this book", use the
full context as in the link: "Click here to find out more about this book"

The prototype used for this study consisted of a server-based agent which crawled
through all pages within a given website, followed each link it encountered (pointing to a page
within the current site domain) and collected information about these links and the pages they
lead to.

The result was a complete 'infrastructure' of the given website, which was then fed as
XML to the user's interface. The interface that users used to navigate through this overall
treestructure could be operated using only one hand, through buttons on the right numeric
keypad.

Using the arrow keys the user could move back and forth the website's link structure,
probing the targets of encountered links without actually following them. Because the target
pages had already been parsed on the prototype's server, the user could request audio 'preview
information' about where each link was leading, whether a link was working, whether it meant
leaving the current domain, whether it was a different protocol than HTTP (such as FTP or
mailto), or whether it was pointing to a file that was not a web page (such as an image or a PDF
file).

This approach caused the user to have access to two different types of navigation:

1. Navigating the site's structure through the prototype's interface. This form of navigation
has a low level of detail but allows the user to move around the website in a fast and
efficient manner, making it possible to have a 'macro level overview' of the website as a
whole.
2. Navigating a specific page through the standard browser interface. When a page of
interest was encountered in the prototype macro level overview, the user would be able
to switch to the main browser and access the page. This form of navigation is slower
 than the first navigation style but has a higher level of detail, allowing a 'micro analysis'
of the specific page.

User sessions were conducted with ten blind participants, each session consisting of the
following phases:

1. A semi - structured interview, in which the participants were asked about the way their
impairment influenced their daily lives, the role the Internet played in their daily lives and
the problems they have in accessing websites.
2. An observation session, where participants were asked to show a website they
frequently visit and show the tasks they normally carry out on this website while being
observed by the experimenter. This way, more knowledge could be obtained about
which problems blind Internet users encounter, and the ways in which they work around
these problems.
3. Finally, the participants were asked to navigate a site's structure using the prototype,
and to give their opinion on several of its key features.

Questions Answer Grade

1. How does blind people

interact or use the
computer? Internet-based communication or computer use is
common among blind people. They can get to these
devices in many ways. Assistive technology, which
includes screen readers, refreshable braille displays,
speech recognition software, and digital screen
magnification, is used by blind people to interact with
high-tech products. Assistive technology is the name
given to hardware and software that enables people
with disabilities to access technology.

2. What kind of Assistive The two kinds of Assistive technology that described
technology are to the study are, screen readers and refreshable
described to the study?
Differentiate the two braille displays. Due to the fact that they both transmit
categories. a linear information stream, whether by voice or
braille, neither category allows the user to focus on
more than one element at once. Software that
translates screen contents into synthetic speech is
what screen readers are. It permits reading text on a
computer screen using a voice synthesizer or braille
 display. It is the user's interaction with the computer
operating system Refreshable braille displays, on the
other hand, are computer hardware with a surface
made of fluid or refreshable braille cells. It is a piece of
hardware that has a row of retractable braille pins and
enables braille characters to be generated on the fly.

3. Based on the case study Blind people using the prototype's UI to navigate the
how do blind people site's structure. A "macro level overview" of the
users navigate
websites? website as a whole is achievable thanks to this
method of navigation, which has a low degree of
information yet allows the user to move about the site
quickly and effectively. And using the browser's default
user interface to navigate a certain page. The user
would be able to access a page when they came
across it in the prototype macro level overview by
switching to the primary browser. Although more
detailed and slower than the first navigation method, it
allows for "micro study" of the particular page.

4. Identify the problems

that blind users
encounter in accessing The problems that blind users encounter in
the websites
accessing the websites, they will find it difficult to
manage it in a short period of time and will want a
guide to explain how assistive technology works.
There are still significant usability and accessibility
problems that make using the computer difficult, such
as difficult Internet accessibility, a lack of spoken
feedback, frequent changes, the time needed to learn
new devices, new keyboard movements, etc.
 5. What is the process the The process which the researcher does on how
researcher does to blind users interact with the computer or website are,
come up with how blind
users interact with the semi-structured interview were questioned about how
computer or website? their impairment affected their everyday lives, the role
the internet played in those lives, and the difficulties
they had accessing websites. Next process is the
participant-led observation session in which the
experimenter invited them to display a website they
usually visit and the actions they typically take on it. In
this approach, more information regarding the issues
that blind Internet users face and the solutions they
come up with might be gathered. And after this, the
participants were asked to use the prototype to browse
a site's structure and give their opinion on several of
its key features.

6. If you were the A device with software that can follow information
programmer or by hearing is one of the things that you will create as a
researcher, what are the
things that you will do to programmer to offer the best match for the blind
produce the best fit to people. a voice-only search. When you input what you
the blind users? Explain
wish to search for or open, you can only use a
thoroughly
microphone.

Total Score: /30