• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.48-58
• /
• 2014

Public libraries provide information to all persons and its users are the inhabitants of the community it serves. This may not be the reality in some cases as some category of persons may not be properly served by the public library. This study assesses the provision of information materials in alternative format, in terms of its availability, access and level of use by the visually impaired in public libraries in southwestern Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design. Four (4) public libraries in four states were purposively selected because they are the ones that provide alternative format for the use of a sizable number of the visually impaired. Complete enumeration was used to capture all the 166 registered users of the libraries through the use of observations checklist and interview schedule. Data from 69.2% of the 166 visually impaired persons that were interviewed, and the observations made were analyzed. The result reveals that alternative formats availability were inadequate and, e-resources were not available while access to formats and information desired by the users were limited. Braille is the most utilized format; audio materials and large prints were seldom used. The demand for alternative formats is high but it is not related to level of use of materials. Provision of information materials in alternative formats for the visually impaired in public libraries cannot support the needs of the visually impaired; it requires intervention from all stakeholders. The study recommends improved investment and funding for public libraries and services to persons with disabilities.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.258-268
• /
• 2021

Online learning systems are becoming an effective educational medium for many universities. The accessibility of online learning system in universities means that every student, including the visually impaired, is able use all the site's services. This research focuses on investigating the accessibility of online learning systems for visually impaired users. The paper purpose is to understand the perception of visually impaired undergraduate students towards Blackboard's accessibility and to make recommendations for a new Blackboard design with accessible features that support their needs. Impact of a new Blackboard design with accessible features on visually impaired students, using Taif University students as a case study is evaluated in this paper, as it is similar to most learning systems used by Saudi universities. A study on Taif University's utilization of Blackboard was conducted using mixed method approaches (an automatic tool and a user study). In the first phase, Taif's use of Blackboard was evaluated by the web accessibility tool called AChecker. In the second phase, we conducted a user study to verify previously discovered accessibility challenges to fully assess them according to the accessibility and usability guidelines. In this study, the accessibility of Taif University's Blackboard was evaluated by thirteen visually impaired undergraduate students. The results of the study show that Blackboard has accessibility issues, which are confusing navigation, incompatibility with assistive technologies, untitled pages or parts, unclear identification for visual elements, and inaccessible PDF files. This paper also introduces a set of recommendations that aim to improve the accessibility of Blackboard and other educational websites developed for this population. It also highlights the serious need for universities to enhance web accessibility for online learning systems for students with disabilities.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.69-83
• /
• 2013

This paper aims to determine the preference and use of electronic information and resources by blind/visually impaired users in the leading National Capital Region (NCR) libraries of India. Survey methodology has been used as the basic research tool for data collection with the help of questionnaires. The 125 in total users surveyed in all the five libraries were selected randomly on the basis of willingness of the users with experience of working in digital environments to participate in the survey. The survey results were tabulated and analyzed with descriptive statistics methods using Excel software and 'Stata version 11'. The findings reveal that ICT have a positive impact in the lives of people with disabilities as it helps them to work independently and increases the level of confidence among them. The Internet is the most preferred medium of access to information among the majority of blind/visually impaired users. The 'Complexity of content available on the net' is found as the major challenge faced during Internet use by blind users of NCR libraries. 'Audio books on CDs/DVDs and DAISY books' are the most preferred electronic resources among the majority of blind/visually impaired users. This study will help the library professionals and organizations/institutions serving people with disabilities to develop effective library services for blind/visually impaired users in the digital environment on the basis of findings on information usage behavior in the study.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Design Studies Conference
• /
• 2002.11b
• /
• pp.174-175
• /
• 2002

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
• /
• v.66 no.6
• /
• pp.95-109
• /
• 2016

The process of making fashion accessories brings many benefits to visually impaired people. It helps the development of their tactile sensation, improves their aesthetic attitude, creativity, and imagination, and brings energy to their life. The current accessory making education in Korea is targeted to people with normal vision, and does not reflect the specific needs of the visually impaired. This causes a lot of trouble in educating the visually impaired. Therefore, this study aims to increase the efficiency of accessory making education by selecting curriculum and material that are appropriate and systematic for the visually impaired. In order to understand visual impairment, literature review was conducted to examine the definition and classifications of the impairment. Research was also done regarding material types and production method of fashion accessory. The study also designed an education program, including teaching guidelines, by referring to literature related to fashion accessory design, teaching guideline. The study conducted 12 experiments based on the results from April to June 2014. After revising and supplementing the teaching method, 2nd set of experiments were conducted from July to September 2014. Each class lasted for one and a half hour every week, and the class was composed of 6 students, 1 instructor and 1 volunteer. After each class, interviews were done to collect student opinions about the curriculum and material. Total experiment results and interview were reflected in constructing the final education program. The result of the experiments and interviews showed that selecting the accessory materials for class must be selected carefully. The visually-impaired students were very sensitive to the size, texture, shape, hole size of beads and length of material. After the experiments, all the students were able to distinguish the size and shape of the beads well, and finished the accessories using the given materials. The study verified that there is a need for another approach when educating the visually impaired about fashion accessory design. Many factors need to be considered from selecting materials to class contents. This study will contribute as a reference to fashion accessory making education as well as other design education for the visually impaired.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.20 no.10
• /
• pp.688-701
• /
• 2020

In this study, a total of 68 domestic and international papers were selected from 1993 to August 2020 in order to examine the research trends related to artificial intelligence for the visually impaired. The papers were compared and analyzed by the number of papers published by year, research method, research topic, keyword analysis status, research type, and implementation method. As a result of the study, the number of papers during the study period seemed to increase steadily. But in the case of domestic research, It can be seen that it has become active since 2016. As for research methods, development research accounted for 89.7% of both domestic and foreign research. Keywords was in Visually Impaired, Deep Learning, and Assistive Device order in domestic research. And it was in Visually Impaired, Deep learning, Artificial intelligence order in foreign research. There was a difference in the frequency of words. Research type were Design, development and implementation both in domestic and foreign. Implementation method were in System 13.2%, Solution 7.4%, App. 4.4% order in domestic research, and it was in System 32.4%, App. 13.2%, Device 7.4% order in foreign research. As for the applied technology of the implementation method, were in YOLO 2.7%, TTS 2.1%, Tensorflow 2.1% order in domestic research, and it was used in CNN 8.0%, TTS 5.3%, MS-COCO 4.3% order in foreign research. The purpose of this study was to compare and analyze the trends of artificial intelligence-related research targeting the visually impaired, to immediately know the current status of domestic and foreign research, and to present the direction of artificial intelligence research for the visually impaired in the future.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
• /
• no.28
• /
• pp.100-108
• /
• 2001

The purpose of this study is to develop recommendation of sign system and color codes in making the public interior environment more accessible for the visually impaired persons. The appropriate guidelines in designing the sign system and the color codes in the public interior environment can increase the accessibility, the mobility and the safety for the visually impaired persons including the increasing elderly. By selecting the effective sign system much more desirable results can be brought: Improvement of accessibility, mobility, increase of safety, work efficiency and the psychological stability. Sign system and the color is more important for the weak-sighted people than the normal-sighted in way finding and the orientation strategies. 53 visually impaired persons participated for this study, the answers of the questionaires by the weak-sighted persons are focused on in this research. The data, the needs of users is analysed on the basis of users-oriented. The result of this study can be considered as a basic direction of sign system design and color codes in our codes in our public environment for all people especially visually impaired persons.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
• /
• v.9 no.5
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2008

This paper explains a new design and Implementation of an efficient portable braille point system for visually Impaired person, The information systems for the visually impaired persons require efficiently designed devices, tools and accessibility to use the devices, and education support. These three conditions are the basic requirements of designing systems for the visually impaired persons, The system proposed in this paper satisfies the above three conditions. The system converts data and web documents between the braille and Hangul using an algorithm stored in a PC, and transfers the converted data to portable devices. And the portable braille device presents the transferred data in an electromagnetic way.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
• /
• v.14 no.8
• /
• pp.3270-3294
• /
• 2020

Some things come easily to humans, one of them is the ability to navigate around. This capability of navigation suffers significantly in case of partial or complete blindness, restricting life activity. Advances in the technological landscape have given way to new solutions aiding navigation for the visually impaired. In this paper, we analyze the existing works and identify the challenges of path selection, context awareness, obstacle detection/identification and integration of visual and nonvisual information associated with real-time assisted mobility. In the process, we explore machine learning approaches for robotic path planning, multi constrained optimal path computation and sensor based wearable assistive devices for the visually impaired. It is observed that the solution to problem is complex and computationally intensive and significant effort is required towards the development of richer and comfortable paths for safe and smooth navigation of visually impaired people. We cannot overlook to explore more effective strategies of acquiring surrounding information towards autonomous mobility.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.24-30
• /
• 2015

As the complexity of urban growth out of people with disabilities are subject to many restrictions. In particular, visually impaired people are not allowed to perceive objects as well as objects around the environment, it suffers from a number of outdoor activities to environmental challenges. But the outdoors environment of the current domestic reality is lacking a lot of facilities to assist the activities of people with disabilities, including the visually impaired. In this paper, we propose a navigation system to help the visually impaired in outdoor activities. The proposed system was applied to test the Jeungpyeong campus of Korea National University of Transportation for the exam.