NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ1004616
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1040-0435
EISSN: N/A
Toward an Improved Haptic Zooming Algorithm for Graphical Information Accessed by Individuals Who Are Blind and Visually Impaired
Rastogi, Ravi; Pawluk, Dianne T. V.
Assistive Technology, v25 n1 p9-15 2013
An increasing amount of information content used in school, work, and everyday living is presented in graphical form. Unfortunately, it is difficult for people who are blind or visually impaired to access this information, especially when many diagrams are needed. One problem is that details, even in relatively simple visual diagrams, can be very difficult to perceive using touch. With manually created tactile diagrams, these details are often presented in separate diagrams which must be selected from among others. Being able to actively zoom in on an area of a single diagram so that the details can be presented at a reasonable size for exploration purposes seems a simpler approach for the user. However, directly using visual zooming methods have some limitations when used haptically. Therefore, a new zooming method is proposed to avoid these pitfalls. A preliminary experiment was performed to examine the usefulness of the algorithm compared to not using zooming. The results showed that the number of correct responses improved with the developed zooming algorithm and participants found it to be more usable than not using zooming for exploration of a floor map. (Contains 6 figures.)
Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A