Interaction on the Web is often problematic for visually disabled users. In order to analyse how visually disabled users deal with problematic situations we carried out a secondary analysis of 2 independent datasets containing the interaction of 24 users. As a result, we determine the situations in which coping occurs including uncertainty, reduced mobility, confusion and overload, and identify 17 tactics employed to overcome these situations, being impulsive clicking, exploration tactics and re-doing some of the most noteworthy. These tactics are novel in that they are contextualised and complete: their presence denotes the presence of specific problems. Therefore, these tactics are behavioural markers of cognitive processes that indicate problematic situations. We highlight the importance of these behavioural markers for designers and tools in order to remove the need to cope, evaluate accessibility-in-use and inform navigation models. ©2013 Elsevier Ltd.
BT - International Journal of Human Computer Studies DO - 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2013.08.002 IS - 11 LA - eng N1 -The study one analysed the interaction between the blind and visually impaired people and the web pages. Employing an think-aloud method, it asked the participants to use assistive technologies, or magnifiers, or nothing at all to navigate the web page. They were asked to accomplish four tasks online: (1) finding the weather forecast for a specific location; (2) finding the specific information about a journal in a digital library; (3) finding information about Solomon Islands in a large catalogue of resources; and (4) purchasing a suit in a large department store. Study two observed five blind or visually impaired users period their period of interacting with computers. No specific tasks were deployed. Overall, the study found that the majority of the problems encountered by visually impaired users were not due to the accessibility problems. Coping strategies discovered were discussed.
N2 -Interaction on the Web is often problematic for visually disabled users. In order to analyse how visually disabled users deal with problematic situations we carried out a secondary analysis of 2 independent datasets containing the interaction of 24 users. As a result, we determine the situations in which coping occurs including uncertainty, reduced mobility, confusion and overload, and identify 17 tactics employed to overcome these situations, being impulsive clicking, exploration tactics and re-doing some of the most noteworthy. These tactics are novel in that they are contextualised and complete: their presence denotes the presence of specific problems. Therefore, these tactics are behavioural markers of cognitive processes that indicate problematic situations. We highlight the importance of these behavioural markers for designers and tools in order to remove the need to cope, evaluate accessibility-in-use and inform navigation models. ©2013 Elsevier Ltd.
PB - Elsevier PY - 2013 SN - 1612756204 SP - 1013 EP - 1025 T2 - International Journal of Human Computer Studies TI - Coping tactics employed by visually disabled users on the web UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2013.08.002 VL - 71 ER -