A Study of Blind Drawing Practice: A Study of Blind Drawing Practice: Creating Graphical Information Creating Graphical Information Without the Visual ChannelWithout the Visual Channel

Hesham M. Kamel

James A. Landay

Group for User Interface ResearchEECS DepartmentUniversity of California, Berkeley

2

Visual Communication by Blind PeopleVisual Communication by Blind People

(Kurze, 1996, figure 5)

3

Presentation OverviewPresentation Overview

Problems with GUIsCreating vs. accessing graphical dataStudy of blind drawing practiceRequired mechanisms for blind drawingThe grid-based model for drawingDemonstration of drawing with IC2DConclusion

4

Problems with GUIsProblems with GUIs

Rely entirely on visual feedback & direct manipulation

Graphical elements hinder screen readers Warnings

– “…enabling technologies for the sighted have become disabling technologies for the visually-impaired” (Pun, Roth, & Petrucci, 1998)

– New interfaces threaten effectiveness of screen readers (Boyd, Boyd, & Vanderheiden, 1990)

Goal of screen reader developers– develop meaningful non-visual representation

of picture-based interfaces

5

Problems with Drawing Tool UIsProblems with Drawing Tool UIs

Graphical user interfaces– imagine drawing with the monitor off

• where is the cursor?• what’s on the screen?• how do I get back to where I was?

Haptic user interfaces– hard to carry– expensive

6

Accessing Graphical DataAccessing Graphical Data

Relies on the method of output – audio-haptic

• Talking Fingertip (Vanderheiden, 1996)

– non-speech audio • (Alty & Rigas, 1998)

– speech and non-speech audio • Mercator (Mynatt, 1995)

7

Creating Graphical DataCreating Graphical Data

Relies on the method of input & requires feedback – tactile freehand drawing

• Sewell line drawing kit (Millar, 1975)• thermo-pen and heat sensitive paper,

speech (Kurze, 1996)

Do tactile freehand drawing tools provide enough feedback?

8

Study of Blind Drawing PracticeStudy of Blind Drawing Practice

Used the Sewell Raised Line Drawing Kit5 participants: 3 partially & 2 totally blind

Drawing Task Evaluation Metrics

Uppercase “D” Curvature, closure

2 greater-than signs Angle, length consistency

2 squares Equal in size, square

Any drawing Match user’s intentions

9

MethodologyMethodology

Emphasized testing of tool, not skillsNo prior experience with drawing toolEqual amount of familiarization timeNo physical model was provided to

participants

10

Testing Curvature and ClosureTesting Curvature and Closure

“The curvature is not what I had in mind.

I wanted it to look like a half tear drop.”

11

Importance of FeedbackImportance of Feedback

Improper closure by 3/5 participants Via touching or looking at the figures

participants could assess performance

12

Testing Length, Angle and ClosureTesting Length, Angle and Closure

Measurement by counting

Measurement betweenthumb & pinky

Measurement using knuckles

13

Self-directed DrawingSelf-directed Drawing

“It looks a little sloppier than what I had in mind.” “The feet are where they should not be”

14

Findings of StudyFindings of Study

Drawing requires mechanisms for– assessing curvature – finding relative and absolute locations– measuring distances– determining angles

There are a number of strategies for determining line length

3/5 participants were very happy with their self-directed drawings

15

Presentation RecapPresentation Recap

Problems with GUIsCreating vs. accessing graphical dataStudy of blind drawing practiceRequired mechanisms for blind drawingThe grid-based model for drawingDemonstration of drawing with IC2DConclusion

16

Grid-based Drawing ModelGrid-based Drawing Model

Based on telephone keypad– known by most blind individuals– nine fixed screen cells– each cell is a unique point of

reference & can be selected• equivalent to point & click

The grid supports– finding relative and absolute

locations– measuring distances– determining common angles

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

17

IC2D: A Grid-based Drawing ProgramIC2D: A Grid-based Drawing Program

For both drawing by the blind & communicating drawings by sighted users

Uses grid for navigation, selection & feedback

Two ways to navigate– directional keys or numbers 1-9

Voice & non-speech feedback– blind users accustomed to

screen readers

car created with helpof sighted user –

self describes its “parts”

18

Grid RecursionGrid Recursion

Allows more precise point selections Resolution of 27 x 27 cells

– permits drawing objects at different scale Objects drawn at full screen resolution

– example, the right arrow

19

Example: Drawing a CircuitExample: Drawing a Circuit

DemonstrationDemonstration

21

Example: My HouseExample: My House

22

Pilot EvaluationPilot Evaluation

Tested with two blind users– both blind from birth

Three drawing tasks after a 25 min. tutorial

Results encouraging– car drawn in ~13 min.

23

ConclusionConclusion

Audio feedback can work for drawing Grid-based model allows

– finding relative and absolute locations– measuring distances– determining angles– currently limited for assessing curvature

The recursive grid is a general technique for graphical interaction

Better drawing tools open graphical communication between blind and sighted

Blindness is not an excuse, it is a challenge

24

For More InformationFor More Information

http://guir.berkeley.edu/ic2d

http://guir.berkeley.edu