The Accessibility of Data Visualizations on the Web for Screen Reader Users: Practices and Experiences During COVID-19

Around 36 million people in the world are blind and an additional 217 million have moderate to severe vision impairment. In higher education, four percent of 54,204 undergraduates who participated in the 2022 American College Health Association survey reported to be blind or have low vision. Those students frequently do not have access to data visualizations we generally teach and use in postsecondary statistics and data science classes. The design of those visualizations is premised on implicit assumptions about the user’s visual ability. Making data visualizations accessible to blind and visually impaired (BVI) people would help improve equity in higher education and benefit them with data driven reasoning and communication. The Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) College Report lists creating and interpreting graphical displays as one of the nine central goals for introductory statistics. We, as statistics and data science educators, researchers, or practitioners, should practice how to design accessible data visualizations, teach and use them in a way that is inclusive to the BVI community. This short article is a review of research and practices on teaching data visualizations for BVI students. I collected resources from related email threads in the Isolated Statisticians email list server and published articles over time. While this article pays particular attention to the BVI community, I acknowledge that other types of disabilities such as cognitive and motor disabilities may affect access to data visualizations as well.

Inaccessible online data visualizations can significantly disenfranchise screen-reader users from accessing critical online information. Current accessibility measures, such as adding alternative text to visualizations, only provide a high-level overview of data, limiting screen-reader users from exploring data visualizations in depth. In this work, we build on prior research to develop taxonomies of information sought by screen-reader users to interact with online data visualizations granularly through role-based and longitudinal studies with screen-reader users. Utilizing these taxonomies, we extended the functionality of VoxLens—an open-source multi-modal system that improves the accessibility of data visualizations—by supporting drilled-down information extraction. We assessed the performance of our VoxLens enhancements through task-based user studies with 10 screen-reader and 10 non-screen-reader users. Our enhancements "closed the gap" between the two groups by enabling screen-reader users to extract information with approximately the same accuracy as non-screen-reader users, reducing interaction time by 22% in the process.

The NavMol 2.0 program, a software that enables the navigation of molecular structures and chemical reactions by blind and visually impaired (BVI) users, is presented. The software enables BVI users to interpret and edit molecular structures by making use of common accessibility tools. NavMol 2.0 uses voice synthesizers and time clock polar type coordinates to communicate with the blind user and, at the same time, displays a conventional chemical sketch on the screen for sighted users. The new version of the program is based on the Chemistry Development Kit (CDK) that provides a chemoinformatics infrastructure. In order to help the navigation, automatic perception of structural features and their location were implemented, including functional groups, rings, and reaction centers. The editing features enable the building of chemical structures that can be exported and subsequently utilized in other software packages. This software is especially suited to be used by BVI researchers or in “inclusive classrooms”, providing BVI students equal opportunities, greatly enhancing the communication between BVI and fellow sighted students, as well as teachers.

Mobile health (mHealth) applications (apps) are crucial in delivering health information and services to older adults. Despite their importance, blind and visually impaired (BVI) older individuals often face significant challenges in app accessibility and usability. This study delves into the design preferences and expectations of BVI older users and underscores the necessity of user-centered design for inclusive mHealth apps. Conducted in September 2023, the study comprised six focus group interviews. Each session involved two to four participants who began with self-introductions, followed by discussions centered on three open-ended interview questions. The study involved 14 participants: four with severe low vision and 10 totally blind. The primary design principles highlighted were "customizability" and "simplicity". The participants stressed the importance of intuitively designed main pages aligning with user patterns. Further, the participants articulated the following mHealth app feature or menu recommendations: editable profiles, emergency contact access, adaptable data presentation, data exportation, audible color details, customizable colors for varying visual needs, audible error feedback, feasible data input methods, toolbars, and habit-establishing reminders. Discussions also touched on the vital role of clear health data visualizations and comprehensible app-based health information. The findings illuminate paths for software developers and health scientists working towards more inclusive mHealth solutions. It is essential during the development phase to prioritize app learnability to accommodate a broad range of users, ensuring that even those with disabilities can effectively use technological innovations to address health disparities.

This paper presents an assistive system that enables blind and visually impaired (BVI) users to localize and reach objects using spatialized audio cues, rendered as if the objects themselves emit sound. By integrating voice command recognition, RGB-D-based 3D localization, and head-tracked spatial audio via Apple AirPods Pro, the system transforms object positions into egocentric, directional prompts aligned with the user’s head orientation. We evaluated the system through tabletop localization-to-contact tasks with blindfolded sighted participants, comparing a spatial-audio (SA) condition against a speech-only (SO) baseline. While success rates were comparable between conditions, spatial audio significantly reduced task completion time and subjective workload and received substantially higher usability ratings. These findings suggest that spatialized object-originating sound can enhance task efficiency and user experience in near-field, non-visual interaction scenarios.

In the study entitled "Web usability evaluation with screen reader users: Implementation of the Partial Concurrent Thinking Aloud technique" (Federici et al. 2010), we have proposed a modified protocol of usability evaluation technique for blind users, which integrates the features of the concurrent and the retrospective techniques. This new technique, called partial concurrent thinking aloud (PCTA), while respecting the properties of classic verbal protocols, overcomes the structural interference and the limits of concurrent and retrospective protocols when used with screen reader users. In order to facilitate understanding and acquisition of the PCTA's technique for practitioners and researchers, we have video recorded three different verbal protocols by visualizing five experimental sections. In the first two videos, we have compared a concurrent with a retrospective's verbal protocol of a sighted user, showing the difference of the verbalizations provided by the user in these two conditions. The third video shows the structural interference of the screen reader, during a blind user concurrent thinking aloud. In the last two videos, we show the difference of a blind user behaviour when PCTA or retrospective protocol is adopted. The videos clearly visualize the advantage of the PCTA use in respect of the two other protocols. In conclusion, the visualization of the PCTA technique confirms that this new verbal protocol promotes and guarantees a more user-driven usability assessment with disabled people, by better involving screen reader users, overcoming the structural interference and the limits of the concurrent and retrospective protocols.

It is widely recognized that digital libraries (DLs) should be accessible for all types of users. However, there is a gap in assessing how well DLs support blind and visually impaired (BVI) users. This study evaluated the accessibility of DLs based on the DL Accessibility and Usability Guidelines (DLAUG). A total of 31 DL experts–comprising experienced DL developers–were recruited to assess five DLs representing diverse types. Multiple data collection methods, particularly expert assessments, were employed to gather data. The findings identified 22 types of violations corresponding to various help-seeking situations encountered by BVI users. These violations were classified into the following seven categories: feature labeling issues, inadequate help information, inappropriate design of features, incompatibility, lack of features, metadata issues, and multimedia issues. The significance of the study lies in its evaluation of the current compliance status of DLs, its identification of unique violations compared with other information retrieval (IR) systems, and its recommendations for improving the current DL designs to better support BVI users.

A programmable web platform for distributed access, analysis, and visualization of data

The amount of raw data related to electricity consumption is increasing rapidly with the increase of construction sites, population and Qatar preparation for 2022 world cup. By this increase, managers will find difficulties in studying the data and keeping track of the consumption. Thus, taking actions and future planning will be a hard task and the decisions taken might not be beneficial because of the miss understanding of data. In this project, a customized web application is developed to visualize the data on an interactive map. The idea behind the project is to help decision makers to take actions in an efficient and easy way based on the data visualized thus, it supports Qatar's 2030 vision for saving time and electricity. Instead of reading big tables with huge incomprehensible numbers, the application easily visualizes the average consumption on the map. It also provides different chart types to help the user in comparing the data and consequently take the right decision. The rapid increase of data challenges the ability of using such data in decision-making, the challenge also extends to the ability of avoiding the risk of getting lost in these big numbers. Reading such data and trying to analyze it could be wasteful in terms of time and money. Moreover, it could cut down industrial and scientific opportunities. The current solution in Qatar for electric consumption analysis is using Microsoft Excel. The stakeholders only use professional software for operational purposes, but not for analyzing the data. As a result, they are going to see what they asked for only and they would waste any opportunity for deeper insight into these data. Visual analytics is a powerful tool to visualize and transparent processes to provide a means of communicating about them rather than providing results. Data visualization is an effective tool for communication regardless of the communicators’ expertise. It is also viewed as an important analytical tool for effective research communication. It is not limited to the display of raw data sets, but rather all static and interactive visual representations of research data, which may include interactive charts, queries, etc. Combining the visualization aspect with the analytics of big data will significantly help resolving the problem of reading the electricity consumption data. One of the project's goals is to improve the readability of data insights and unlock the ultimate power of data visualization; the data presentation element is where alternative representations will be used to test the persuasive power of visualization. The project aims to make data understandable using data visualization techniques. It provides several features such as an interactive map that indicates the average consumption. The zooming levels are divided into three levels: 1) The Whole Country 2) Municipalities 3) Areas level. In addition, the data is visualized using different graph types: line graphs, pie charts, bar charts and others. This helps the managers and decision makers to effectively analyze the data and compare between different areas and the average consumption through years. Furthermore, it provides different utilities such as emailing the results, printing, saving and showing the table.

Humans primarily understand the world around them through visual perception and touch. As a result, visual and tactile information play crucial roles in the interaction between humans and their environment. In order to establish a correlation between what is seen and what is felt on the same object, particularly on flexible objects (such as textile, leather, skin etc.) which humans often access by touch to cooperatively determine their quality, the need for a new dataset that includes both visual and tactile information arises. This has motivated us to create a dataset that combines visual images and corresponding tactile data to explore the potential of cross-modal data fusion. We have chosen leather as our object of focus due to its widespread usage in everyday life. The dataset we propose consists of visual images depicting leather in various colours and displaying defects, alongside corresponding tactile data collected from the same region of the leather. Notably, the tactile data comprises components along the X, Y, and Z axes. To effectively demonstrate the relationship between visual and tactile data on the same object region, the tactile data is aligned with the visual data and visualized through interpolation. Considering the potential applications in computer vision, we have manually labelled the defect regions in each visual-tactile sample. Ultimately, the dataset comprises a total of 687 records. Each sample includes visual images, image representations of the tactile data (referred to as tactile images for simplicity), and segmentation images highlighting the defect regions, all with the same resolution.

Virtual reality (VR) simulations promote interactivity and immersion, and provide an opportunity that may help researchers gain insights from complex datasets. To explore the utility and potential of VR in graphically rendering large datasets, we have developed an application for immersive, 3-dimensional (3D) scatter plots. Developed using the Unity development environment, DataViz enables the visualization of high-dimensional data with the HTC Vive, a relatively inexpensive and modern virtual reality headset available to the general public. DataViz has the following features: (1) principal component analysis (PCA) of the dataset; (2) graphical rendering of said dataset’s 3D projection onto its first three principal components; and (3) intuitive controls and instructions for using the application. As a use case, we applied DataViz to visualize a single-cell RNA-Seq dataset. DataViz can help gain insights from complex datasets by enabling interaction with high-dimensional data.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the essential analytical skills required by accounting students to succeed in a rapidly evolving data-driven job market. Specifically, the study explores the role of data analytics, visualisation and software proficiency (e.g. Excel, Power BI) in the contemporary Australian accounting industry. The scope extends to providing recommendations for academia, professional bodies and employers on how accounting education can better align with the dynamic needs of the business environment by integrating these skills into curricula and professional development programmes. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected from Australian job listings incorporating accounting and data analytics tasks from popular job advertisement websites such as Seek, Indeed and Monster. Using the keyword “Data Analyst”, information was gathered on skills demanded, technology proficiency, industry sectors, professional qualifications and salary expectations. The data set comprised 73 observations across various job requirements and characteristics variables. Findings Critical analytical skills sought by accounting professionals in the current job market include extracting insights from big data, solving complex business problems, effective communication and data visualisation. Proficiency in tools like Microsoft Excel, SQL and Power BI is paramount. Originality/value This study enriches the literature by providing comprehensive insights into the contemporary demands for accounting analytics skills. It highlights the importance of integrating technology into accounting education and the varying skill requirements across industries. Additionally, it offers implications for professional qualifications and underscores the necessity for continuous monitoring and adaptation of accounting curricula to meet evolving industry needs.

There is a rising trend of data analysis and visualization tasks being performed on a tablet device. Apps with interactive data visualization capabilities are available for a wide variety of domains. We investigate whether users grasp how to effectively interpret and interact with visualizations. We conducted a detailed user evaluation to study the abilities of individuals with respect to analyzing data on a tablet through an interactive visualization app. Based upon the results of the user evaluation, we find that most subjects performed well at understanding and interacting with simple visualizations, specifically tables and line charts. A majority of the subjects struggled with identifying interactive widgets, recognizing interactive widgets with overloaded functionality, and understanding visualizations which do not display data for sorted attributes. Based on our study, we identify guidelines for designers and developers of mobile data visualization apps that include recommendations for effective data representation and interaction.

ABSTRACTData visualizations are now commonplace in the public media. The ability to interpret and create such visualizations, as a form of data literacy, is increasingly important for democratic participation. Yet, the cross-disciplinary knowledge and skills needed to produce and use data visualizations and to develop data literacy are not fluidly integrated into traditional K–12 subject areas. In this article, we nuance and complicate the push for data literacy in STEM reform efforts targeting youth of color. We explore a curricular reform project that integrated explicit attention to issues pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation, representation, visualization, and communication of data in an introductory computer science class. While the study of data in this unit emphasized viewing and approaching data in context, neither the teacher nor the students were supported in negotiating the racialized context of data that emerged in classroom discussions. To better understand these dynamics, we detail the construct of racial literacy and develop an interpretative framework of racial-ideological micro-contestations. Through an in-depth analysis of a classroom interaction using this framework, we explore how contestations about race can emerge when data visualizations from the public media are incorporated into STEM learning precisely because the contexts of data are often racialized. We argue that access to learning about data visualization, without a deep interrogation of race and power, can be counterproductive and that efforts to develop authentic data literacy require the concomitant development of racial literacy.

A rich source of information relevant to smart cities and health care comes from sensors embedded in the environment, or ambient sensors. Strategically responding to sensed data helps healthcare would be smarter. By gaining real time access to this information, city services can respond promptly to urgent health needs and make decisions to avoid unhealthy situations. The emergence of virtual reality and ICT assisted urban planning effectively overcomes these complexities through visualization of big data. Web-based visualization technologies such as virtual reality (VR) present a highly detailed dynamic virtual environment. Also, there is continuously increasing demand for the effective organization of this diversified data, linkage with other data, and the visualization of data. In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in the development of health information systems motivated by legislation intended to protect patients’ information and privacy and government interest in reducing the cost and improving the quality of healthcare. In this paper, we investigate types of physiological content and the related sensors that can be included in a smart city healthcare system. We present a technical healthcare information model with XML in a standardized format for the implementation of a 3D virtual smart city as follows: Firstly, 3D virtual environment and healthcare information systems were confirmed to be dictated by sensor information parameters via XML. Secondly, real-time location, direction, and health data representation for 3D health management sensor data monitoring and real-time monitoring were conducted in XML. The identified key use case physiological sensor-based XML is helpful as it provides a standardized format for the implementation of a 3D virtual smart city. For implementation, X3D was used for visualizing an example health information system.