Simone Bacellar Leal Ferreira

Protocols for Evaluation of Site Accessibility with the Participation of Blind Users

Abstract User interfaces, through which users interact with the systems, should be designed according to the accessibility guidelines, with focus on usability. To this end, the designers of these interfaces should analyze whether their requirements meet the quality requirements, including their “user-friendliness” and “accessibility” features. The design of interfaces that are able to meet the needs of users with different characteristics is not a trivial task. It is paramount to involve the users and analyze how they interact with the system. Interface evaluation methods are absolutely necessary when gauging the systems quality, since they allow the identification of many usability problems where the focus in on their accessibility. The present work aims to analyze two methods of observation involving people with totally impaired vision in order to develop a protocol with recommendations that can assist professionals in the identification of characteristics and problems, which can be solved or minimized during the interfaces’ evaluations, thus facilitating the process of system access focusing on users with totally impaired vision.

Evaluation of Web Accessibility: An Approach Related to Functional Illiteracy

Abstract Functionally illiterate users, that means those lacking reading, writing, calculation and science skills, are potential Internet users, so technological solutions must ensure that content is intelligible to them. The interface design guided by accessibility norms and may improve accessibility, but considering accessibility evaluations is an essential part of this process. Evaluation can be automatic, performed by specialists or performed with the participation of users. Some barriers are only detected with user tests. Usually, usability tests are adapted and performed with the purpose of evaluating accessibility, but most of works in this area dealt with persons with visual impairment. This paper aimed to research the behavior of functionally illiterate users, identifying important characteristics that the evaluators and specialists should consider in the performance of an evaluation of accessibility with this audience. As a result was generated a list of important characteristics that contribute to the adaptation of usability evaluation methods with functionally illiterate users. Besides that, it was elaborated a list of best strategies that the specialists and researchers should consider in accessibility evaluation with the audience under examination.

Aligning Usability Requirements with the Accessibility Guidelines Focusing on the Visually-Impaired

Abstract The user interface should meet the expectations and needs of a variety of users. They should be accessible by any person, independently of their physical, perceptual-motor, social and cultural capabilities. The current research aims to show that the development of accessible Web applications goes beyond the design of sites in compliance with accessibility guidelines: usability issues should also be addressed. The interaction between visually-impaired persons and several sites was observed and the problems detected in this process, were analyzed. The analysis was based on a taxonomy of non-functional requirements related to usability. This taxonomy was aligned with the accessibility guidelines aiming to help professionals in the identification of accessibility and usability problems that may avoided or minimized during requirements planning, and thus, facilitate the interaction of visually-impaired users with the Internet and provide sites that offer content that is easy to understand and are easy to navigate.

WhatsApp accessibility from the perspective of visually impaired people

The value of online social networks has been widely recognized. Although extensive researches focused on web accessibility in order to make content accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities, there are many barriers that might prevent visually impaired users from fully engaging with online social networks. This article describes an evaluation of the web accessibility of the social networking services WhatsApp by the perspective of five blind users using a mobile device, applying the WCAG 2.0 success criteria. As a result, we observed some issues to be addressed to improve web accessibility for visually impaired in this domain.

Preliminary Web Accessibility Evaluation Method through the Identification of Critical Items with the Participation of Visually Impaired Users

Abstract In order to ensure the access of the visually impaired to all information provided online it is necessary to remove existing barriers on the websites through several existent approaches, from recommendations to web development to validations of existing websites. The issues on navigating through the web that are detected only during the users interactions on the sites, creates a need to evaluate this users interactions aiming to ensure the web accessibility. So, in this scenery, this study uses previous researches on the subject and web accessibility rates in order to identify those barriers commonly founded by these users with total visual impairment, as well as to come up with a list of recommendations in order to optimize the evaluation process.

Guidelines for Search Features Development – A Comparison between General Users and Users with Low Reading Skills

Abstract The lack of reading skills affects the way users search on the Web or interact with computer interfaces. Developers and designers must comprehend these users’ limitations in order to provide features that meet their needs and help them to have a better experience on the Web when using search features. In this work we analyzed the interaction of users with low reading skills with a limited set of search features. Their behavior and preferences were compared to general users’ behavior on search interfaces retrieved from literature. These comparison permitted to identify related issues and create a set of common recommendations.

Evaluation of potential communication breakdowns in the interaction of the deaf in corporate information systems on the web

The translation of web content into Libras (Lingua Brasileira de Sinais – Brazilian Sign Language), although adequate, cannot always be implemented, due to its high cost. Thus, the present study aims to identify and propose solutions for the potential communication breakdowns in the interaction of bilingual deaf users in corporate systems on the web. The analysis of the interaction took place at the Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) Foundation, with the utilization of the Communication Evaluation Method (CEM) of Semiotic Engineering. The results showed that the population in the study, although having experience in the web, had difficulties using the corporate system.

Protocolos para Avaliação da Acessibilidade Web com a Participação de Analfabetos Funcionais

A interacao com Sistemas de Informacao, em particular os executados na web , e um processo particular que exige do usuario certo grau de aprendizado. Assim, a interface, que e uma parte importante dessa interacao, deve estar acessivel de forma a nao impedir que os usuarios utilizem esses sistemas. Nesse contexto, a acessibilidade web esta relacionada a remocao das barreiras que impedem que mais pessoas possam perceber, compreender e usufruir de todo apoio computacional oferecido pelos sistemas web . Dentre essas pessoas estao os analfabetos funcionais, que sao aqueles aos quais faltam dominio nas habilidades de leitura, escrita, calculos e ciencias. E importante considera-los como potenciais usuarios da internet e propor solucoes tecnologicas acessiveis para eles e tambem adequadas a um publico mais letrado, mas que garantam que o conteudo seja facilmente compreendido. Considerar as normas e as orientacoes de acessibilidade no projeto de interfaces minimiza barreiras no acesso a esses sistemas, mas considerar as avaliacoes de acessibilidade tambem e fundamental. A literatura propoe tres tipos de avaliacao: a automatica, a realizada por especialista e a realizada com a participacao de usuarios com diferentes deficiencias ou limitacoes. Pesquisas revelaram que realizar avaliacoes automaticas e com especialistas nao sao suficientes para tornar a interface de um sistema acessivel. Existem barreiras que so sao detectadas com a avaliacao de usuarios com diferentes deficiencias ou limitacoes, baseando-se em metodos de avaliacao da usabilidade adaptados. Foram encontrados na literatura alguns trabalhos que se baseiam em testes de usabilidade para avaliar a acessibilidade, mas em sua maioria com foco em pessoas com deficiencia visual. Esta pesquisa teve por objetivo pesquisar o comportamento dos usuarios analfabetos funcionais, identificando caracteristicas importantes que os avaliadores devem considerar na realizacao de uma avaliacao de acessibilidade com esse publico. Para isso, foram necessarios os seguintes estudos: (a) estudo etnografico, de forma a identificar caracteristicas que contribuissem para a adaptacao dos metodos de avaliacao de usabilidade para avaliar a acessibilidade com analfabetos funcionais; (b) estudo de caso, com vistas a aplicacao dos conhecimentos adquiridos nos estudos anteriores e identificacao de outras estrategias necessarias para as avaliacoes; (c) definicao e validacao dos protocolos, com o objetivo de verificar a adequacao dos protocolos identificados. Esses estudos resultaram em uma lista de protocolos para auxiliar nas avaliacoes de acessibilidade com a participacao de analfabetos funcionais.

Using mediation dialogs to improve navigation of low literate users on the web

In Brazil a great number of essential services are only provided over the internet. These services should be available to any users, regardless of their individual skills or disabilities. Functional illiterates are those who have reading and understanding difficulties. These users have large access problems when using the internet, as most of its content is presented as text, including the front-end pages for the services mentioned before. The objective of this research is to present and evaluate the results of using a technique that matches mediation with an assistive technology used to create dialogs over the original page layer from a Web site, allowing creation and authoring of a new accessible layer for the non-accessible existing pages, focusing on functional illiterate users.

AES cryptography in color image steganography by genetic algorithms

This work incorporates the AES cryptography algorithm, to improve the hidden data security in two methodologies for steganography: the genetic algorithm and path relinking. It also combines them proposing a new hybrid approach that outperforms the LSB (least significant bits) substitution technique presented in works cited in the literature concerning the quality of a stego image. It improves the possibility of hiding data inside color images significantly, increasing the space available for information by more than three times when compared to the usual steganography approach used by grayscale images. Moreover all types of digital information from text and compressed files to even executable programs can be hidden inside the cover image. This considerably increases the scope of application of the technique for transmitting information inside a typical image, hiding the data from intruders.