When Headers Are Not There: Design and User Evaluation of an Automatic Topicalisation and Labelling Tool to Aid the Exploration of Web Documents by Blind Users

Autor(es)

Silva, Jorge Sassaki Resende ; Freire, Andre Pimenta ; Cardoso, Paula Christina Figueira ; Assoc Comp Machinery

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: 19TH INTERNATIONAL WEB FOR ALL CONFERENCE; v. N/A, p. 11-pg., 2022-01-01.

Resumo

Using headers to grasp a document's structure has been one of the main strategies employed by blind users on web documents when using screen readers. However, when headers are not available or not appropriately marked up, they can cause serious difficulties. This paper presents the design and evaluation of a tool for automatically generating headers for screen readers with topicalisation and labelling algorithms. The proposed tool uses Natural Language Processing techniques to divide a web document into topic segments and label each segment based on its content. We conducted an initial user study with eight blind and partially-sighted screen reader users. The evaluation involved tasks with questions answered by participants with information from texts with and without automatically generated headers. Results provided preliminary indicators of improvement in performance and reduction of cognitive load. The findings contribute to knowledge to improve tools to aid in text exploration. It also provides initial empirical evidence to be further explored to analyze the impact of automatically-generated headings in improving performance and reducing cognitive load for blind users. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 20/05187-5 - Usabilidade de sistemas interativos com internet das coisas para controle de casas inteligentes e monitoramento de saúde para pessoas idosas
• Beneficiário: André Pimenta Freire
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular