Exploring diagram synchronicity for the seeing impaired
The seeing impaired have long been marginalized in the graphics domain. Therefore, the TeDUB (Technical Drawings Understanding for the Blind) project has developed a graphics-understanding interface for the seeing impaired community. The interface consists of technical drawings with images that include schematics of an architectural, an electronic or a mechanical quality. The primary information found in the technical drawings was extracted via image pre-processing methods and then interpreted verbally. In this way, users have the option to direct and to cater the interpretation to suit their needs. In the case of diagrams in particular the project examined how blind people can make a mental image of a diagram. This was done through face-to-face evaluations and discussions with seeing impaired users. A key finding was that the users prefer tactile representations for diagrams that are simple and with little text. In fact, tactile diagrams can be realised synchronously in the way that sighted persons perceive a diagram visually. With complex diagrams, on the other hand, tactile representations were not sufficient; thus, it is preferable to use Braille and audio interaction instead. Overall, the techniques for achieving synchronous exploration involved having direct access to known and unknown portions of the diagram and being able to find where the points come together. Alternatively, another group of overall glance techniques involves simplification of a diagram in order to perceive the parts and their relationships by exploring nodes aggregation.