2025
Conference article
Closed Access
Empowering visual navigation: a deep-learning solution for enhanced accessibility and safety among the visually impaired
Nasabeh S. S., Meliá S., Leporini B., Gadzhimusieva D.
Individuals with visual impairments face significant challenges navigating environments, especially with tasks such as object identification and traversing unfamiliar spaces. Often, their needs are inadequately addressed, leading to applications that do not meet their specific requirements. Traditional object detection models frequently lack this demographic's accuracy, speed, and efficiency. However, recent Internet of Things (IoT) advancements offer promising solutions, providing real-time guidance and alerts about potential hazards through IoT-enabled navigation apps and smart city infrastructure. This paper presents an extension of our MoSIoT framework, incorporating the YOLOv8 convolutional neural network for precise object detection and a specialized decision layer to improve environmental understanding. Additionally, advanced distance measurement techniques are incorporated to provide crucial information on object proximity. Our model demonstrates increased efficiency and adaptability across diverse environments using transfer learning and robust regularization techniques. Systematic evaluation indicates significant improvements in object detection accuracy, measured by mean Average Precision at 50% Intersection over Union (mAP50) from 0.44411 to 0.51809 and mAP50-95 from 0.24936 to 0.29586 for visually impaired individuals, ensuring reliable real-time feedback for safe navigation. These enhancements significantly improve the MoSIoT framework, thereby greatly enhancing accessibility, safety, independence, and mobility for users with visual impairments.Source: LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE, vol. 15439, pp. 338-348. Doha, Qatar, 2–5/12/2024
DOI: 10.1007/978-981-96-0573-6_25
Metrics:
Nasabeh S. S., Meliá S., Leporini B., Gadzhimusieva D.
Individuals with visual impairments face significant challenges navigating environments, especially with tasks such as object identification and traversing unfamiliar spaces. Often, their needs are inadequately addressed, leading to applications that do not meet their specific requirements. Traditional object detection models frequently lack this demographic's accuracy, speed, and efficiency. However, recent Internet of Things (IoT) advancements offer promising solutions, providing real-time guidance and alerts about potential hazards through IoT-enabled navigation apps and smart city infrastructure. This paper presents an extension of our MoSIoT framework, incorporating the YOLOv8 convolutional neural network for precise object detection and a specialized decision layer to improve environmental understanding. Additionally, advanced distance measurement techniques are incorporated to provide crucial information on object proximity. Our model demonstrates increased efficiency and adaptability across diverse environments using transfer learning and robust regularization techniques. Systematic evaluation indicates significant improvements in object detection accuracy, measured by mean Average Precision at 50% Intersection over Union (mAP50) from 0.44411 to 0.51809 and mAP50-95 from 0.24936 to 0.29586 for visually impaired individuals, ensuring reliable real-time feedback for safe navigation. These enhancements significantly improve the MoSIoT framework, thereby greatly enhancing accessibility, safety, independence, and mobility for users with visual impairments.Source: LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE, vol. 15439, pp. 338-348. Doha, Qatar, 2–5/12/2024
DOI: 10.1007/978-981-96-0573-6_25
Metrics:
See at:
doi.org 
| CNR IRIS | link.springer.com
2024
Conference article
Open Access
Increasing accessibility of online board games to visually impaired people via machine learning and textual/audio feedback: the case of "Quantik"
Battaglini C, Biancalani F, Bottari D, Camurri A, Gnecco G, Leporini B
Playing board games is commonly recognized as an effective way to promote the integration and socialization of their participants. However, visually impaired people may encounter accessibility issues when playing online versions of board games, for instance, because such versions may have been designed having initially sighted people in mind. Given this premise, the aim of this work is to design an interface aimed to help visually impaired people play board games online, via an improved interaction with a normal or touch screen. This goal is achieved by means of automatic recognition of the portion of the screen one's finger or the cursor is pointing to, its classification via machine learning, and the use of either textual or audio feedback. In this way, a visually impaired person could explore the screen in quite a natural way, obtaining information, e.g., about the positions of the various pieces on the board. As a case study, a preliminary version of the interface is developed to address accessibility of the online version of a carefully selected pure strategy abstract board game, namely "Quantik" from Gigamic.Source: LECTURE NOTES OF THE INSTITUTE FOR COMPUTER SCIENCES, SOCIAL INFORMATICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENGINEERING (INTERNET), pp. 167-177. Lucca, Italy, 27/11/2023
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-55722-4_12
Metrics:
Battaglini C, Biancalani F, Bottari D, Camurri A, Gnecco G, Leporini B
Playing board games is commonly recognized as an effective way to promote the integration and socialization of their participants. However, visually impaired people may encounter accessibility issues when playing online versions of board games, for instance, because such versions may have been designed having initially sighted people in mind. Given this premise, the aim of this work is to design an interface aimed to help visually impaired people play board games online, via an improved interaction with a normal or touch screen. This goal is achieved by means of automatic recognition of the portion of the screen one's finger or the cursor is pointing to, its classification via machine learning, and the use of either textual or audio feedback. In this way, a visually impaired person could explore the screen in quite a natural way, obtaining information, e.g., about the positions of the various pieces on the board. As a case study, a preliminary version of the interface is developed to address accessibility of the online version of a carefully selected pure strategy abstract board game, namely "Quantik" from Gigamic.Source: LECTURE NOTES OF THE INSTITUTE FOR COMPUTER SCIENCES, SOCIAL INFORMATICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENGINEERING (INTERNET), pp. 167-177. Lucca, Italy, 27/11/2023
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-55722-4_12
Metrics:
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IRIS Cnr 
| IRIS Cnr | IRIS Cnr | Archivio della Ricerca - Università di Pisa | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS
2024
Journal article
Open Access
A comparative study of disabled people's experiences with the video conferencing tools Zoom, MS Teams, Google Meet and Skype
Hersh M., Leporini B., Buzzi M.
The paper presents a comparative mixed methods study of the accessibility and usability for disabled people of four video conferencing tools, Zoom, MS Teams, Google Meet and Skype. Useable responses were obtained from 81 disabled people with diverse characteristics, mainly in the UK, though some groups had low representation. None of the tools was considered fully accessible and useable. Zoom was both the most commonly used and the most frequently preferred (56.1%) tool, with MS Teams second in usage and a trailing second in preferences (15.9%). It was considered to have better captioning, but otherwise to generally be a poor second to Zoom. Skype was the most commonly used before lockdown, but was considered dated and its limited use was mainly social, whereas the other tools were also used in work and education. The results were used to draw up separate lists of recommendations for developers and meeting organisers and hosts, as the study also identified actions for organisers and hosts to improve meeting accessibility. Developer recommendations include several easy to set customisation and user friendly interface features, involving disabled people and specific accessibility features, including compatibility with assistive technology, keyboard shortcuts for all functions and automatically-on high quality captions.Source: BEHAVIORAL & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
DOI: 10.1080/0144929x.2023.2286533
Metrics:
Hersh M., Leporini B., Buzzi M.
The paper presents a comparative mixed methods study of the accessibility and usability for disabled people of four video conferencing tools, Zoom, MS Teams, Google Meet and Skype. Useable responses were obtained from 81 disabled people with diverse characteristics, mainly in the UK, though some groups had low representation. None of the tools was considered fully accessible and useable. Zoom was both the most commonly used and the most frequently preferred (56.1%) tool, with MS Teams second in usage and a trailing second in preferences (15.9%). It was considered to have better captioning, but otherwise to generally be a poor second to Zoom. Skype was the most commonly used before lockdown, but was considered dated and its limited use was mainly social, whereas the other tools were also used in work and education. The results were used to draw up separate lists of recommendations for developers and meeting organisers and hosts, as the study also identified actions for organisers and hosts to improve meeting accessibility. Developer recommendations include several easy to set customisation and user friendly interface features, involving disabled people and specific accessibility features, including compatibility with assistive technology, keyboard shortcuts for all functions and automatically-on high quality captions.Source: BEHAVIORAL & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
DOI: 10.1080/0144929x.2023.2286533
Metrics:
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CNR IRIS | ISTI Repository | www.tandfonline.com | CNR IRIS
2024
Conference article
Open Access
ICT to Support Inclusive Education - Universal Learning Design (ULD)
Hersh M., Leporini B.
This short paper presents 12 papers discussing different features of and approaches to inclusive education and give a flavour of the research in the area and the potential of different types of technology. They can be divided into three main groups, covering curriculum accessibility, the attitudes and experience of students and teachers, and the use of particular technologies. They are introduced by a brief discussion of the importance of inclusive education and the role of accessibility, usability and the social model of disability in supporting it.Source: LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE, vol. 14750, pp. 333-339. Linz, Austria, 8–12/07/2024
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-62846-7_40
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-08645-8_37
Metrics:
Hersh M., Leporini B.
This short paper presents 12 papers discussing different features of and approaches to inclusive education and give a flavour of the research in the area and the potential of different types of technology. They can be divided into three main groups, covering curriculum accessibility, the attitudes and experience of students and teachers, and the use of particular technologies. They are introduced by a brief discussion of the importance of inclusive education and the role of accessibility, usability and the social model of disability in supporting it.Source: LECTURE NOTES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE, vol. 14750, pp. 333-339. Linz, Austria, 8–12/07/2024
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-62846-7_40
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-08645-8_37
Metrics:
See at:
IRIS Cnr | IRIS Cnr | CNR IRIS | IRIS Cnr | link.springer.com | doi.org | doi.org | Archivio della Ricerca - Università di Pisa | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS | Archivio della Ricerca - Università di Pisa
2024
Contribution to book
Open Access
La Scienza si fa in 100
Pagano A., Pennacchi B., Di Renzo A., Leporini B., Pietroni E., Galesi G., Biocca L., Buzzi M., Capirci O.
Questo manuale, opera prima nel suo genere in ambito nazionale ed internazionale, rappresenta il lavoro condiviso di un gruppo di ricercatori, esperti, studiosi e tecnici, autorevole espressione della cultura italiana di settore, sostenuti da un obiettivo comune: porre il visitatore del patrimonio al centro dell’attenzione e intorno a lui i luoghi della cultura adeguatamente progettati, come il sole e i pianeti nella teoria eliocentrica di Copernico, rappresentazione di un nuovo umanesimo valoriale.
Pagano A., Pennacchi B., Di Renzo A., Leporini B., Pietroni E., Galesi G., Biocca L., Buzzi M., Capirci O.
Questo manuale, opera prima nel suo genere in ambito nazionale ed internazionale, rappresenta il lavoro condiviso di un gruppo di ricercatori, esperti, studiosi e tecnici, autorevole espressione della cultura italiana di settore, sostenuti da un obiettivo comune: porre il visitatore del patrimonio al centro dell’attenzione e intorno a lui i luoghi della cultura adeguatamente progettati, come il sole e i pianeti nella teoria eliocentrica di Copernico, rappresentazione di un nuovo umanesimo valoriale.
See at:
CNR IRIS | www.dsu.cnr.it | CNR IRIS
2024
Conference article
Open Access
A Chatbot-based assistive technology to get information on a clinical environment
Buzzi M., Grassini E., Leporini B.
Healthcare is crucial for our society. Nowadays ICT has revealed the potential of improving efficiency and lowering costs. Chatbots interact with humans to answer questions, provide information and suggestions, and even in more complex tasks, such as assisting clinicians in performing diagnoses. However, despite their steadily increasing importance, only very few chatbots are created with inclusivity in mind, in order to be easily exploited by anyone, regardless of abilities. In this study, we propose a chatbot-based assistive technology for providing usable content with immediate short and focused answers. The basic idea that has driven the chatbot design was to provide an assistive technology capable of giving immediate and very short answers in a simple and accessible way especially for users who are not so familiar with digital content or for those who use screen readers and similar technology. Such information is certainly available on the web, but reaching it may not be easy for everyone. The proposed assistive chatbot technology is designed to make a contribution in this direction. The prototype has been specialized for Pisa hospital contents. A preliminary pilot test with ten users showed the feasibility of the proposed approach.DOI: 10.1145/3652037.3663953
Metrics:
Buzzi M., Grassini E., Leporini B.
Healthcare is crucial for our society. Nowadays ICT has revealed the potential of improving efficiency and lowering costs. Chatbots interact with humans to answer questions, provide information and suggestions, and even in more complex tasks, such as assisting clinicians in performing diagnoses. However, despite their steadily increasing importance, only very few chatbots are created with inclusivity in mind, in order to be easily exploited by anyone, regardless of abilities. In this study, we propose a chatbot-based assistive technology for providing usable content with immediate short and focused answers. The basic idea that has driven the chatbot design was to provide an assistive technology capable of giving immediate and very short answers in a simple and accessible way especially for users who are not so familiar with digital content or for those who use screen readers and similar technology. Such information is certainly available on the web, but reaching it may not be easy for everyone. The proposed assistive chatbot technology is designed to make a contribution in this direction. The prototype has been specialized for Pisa hospital contents. A preliminary pilot test with ten users showed the feasibility of the proposed approach.DOI: 10.1145/3652037.3663953
Metrics:
2024
Conference article
Open Access
Is Generative AI mature for alternative image descriptions of STEM content?
Buzzi M., Galesi G., Leporini B., Nicotera A.
Alternative descriptions of digital images have always been an accessibility issue for screen reader users. Over time, numerous guidelines have been proposed in the literature, but the problem still exists. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) has been introduced in digital applications to support visually impaired people in getting information about the world around them. In this way, such applications become a digital assistant for people with visual impairments. Increasingly, generative AI is being exploited to create accessible content for visually impaired people. In the education field, image description can play a crucial role in understanding even scientific content. For this reason, alternative descriptions should be accurate and educational-oriented. In this work, we investigate whether existing AI-based tools on the market are mature for describing images related to scientific content. Five AI-based tools were used to test the generated descriptions of four STEM images chosen for this preliminary study. Results indicate that answers are prompt and context dependent, and this technology can certainly support blind people in everyday tasks; but for STEM educational content more effort is required for delivering accessible and effective descriptions, supporting students in satisfying and accurate image exploration.DOI: 10.5220/0012996800003825
Metrics:
Buzzi M., Galesi G., Leporini B., Nicotera A.
Alternative descriptions of digital images have always been an accessibility issue for screen reader users. Over time, numerous guidelines have been proposed in the literature, but the problem still exists. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) has been introduced in digital applications to support visually impaired people in getting information about the world around them. In this way, such applications become a digital assistant for people with visual impairments. Increasingly, generative AI is being exploited to create accessible content for visually impaired people. In the education field, image description can play a crucial role in understanding even scientific content. For this reason, alternative descriptions should be accurate and educational-oriented. In this work, we investigate whether existing AI-based tools on the market are mature for describing images related to scientific content. Five AI-based tools were used to test the generated descriptions of four STEM images chosen for this preliminary study. Results indicate that answers are prompt and context dependent, and this technology can certainly support blind people in everyday tasks; but for STEM educational content more effort is required for delivering accessible and effective descriptions, supporting students in satisfying and accurate image exploration.DOI: 10.5220/0012996800003825
Metrics:
See at:
IRIS Cnr | www.scitepress.org | doi.org | CNR IRIS
2024
Journal article
Open Access
A systematic review of chatbots in inclusive healthcare: insights from the last 5 years
Grassini Elia, Buzzi Marina, Leporini Barbara, Vozna Alina
Healthcare is one of the most important sectors of our society, and during the COVID-19 pandemic a new challenge emerged—how to support people safely and effectively at home regarding their health-related problems. In this regard chatbots or conversational agents (CAs) play an increasingly important role, and are spreading rapidly. They can enhance not only user interaction by delivering quick feedback or responses, but also hospital management, thanks to several of their features. Considerable research is focused on making CAs more reliable, accurate, and robust. However, a critical aspect of chatbots is how to make them inclusive, in order to effectively support the interaction of users unfamiliar with technology, such as the elderly and people with disabilities. In this study, we investigate the current use of chatbots in healthcare, exploring their evolution over time and their inclusivity. The study was carried out on four digital libraries (ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and Google Scholar) on research articles published in the last 5 years, with a total of 21 articles describing chatbots implemented and actually used in the eHealth clinical area. The results showed a notable improvement in the use of chatbots in the last few years but also highlight some design issues, including poor attention to inclusion. Based on the findings, we recommend a different kind of approach for implementing chatbots with an inclusive accessibility-by-design approach.Source: UNIVERSAL ACCESS IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY
DOI: 10.1007/s10209-024-01118-x
Metrics:
Grassini Elia, Buzzi Marina, Leporini Barbara, Vozna Alina
Healthcare is one of the most important sectors of our society, and during the COVID-19 pandemic a new challenge emerged—how to support people safely and effectively at home regarding their health-related problems. In this regard chatbots or conversational agents (CAs) play an increasingly important role, and are spreading rapidly. They can enhance not only user interaction by delivering quick feedback or responses, but also hospital management, thanks to several of their features. Considerable research is focused on making CAs more reliable, accurate, and robust. However, a critical aspect of chatbots is how to make them inclusive, in order to effectively support the interaction of users unfamiliar with technology, such as the elderly and people with disabilities. In this study, we investigate the current use of chatbots in healthcare, exploring their evolution over time and their inclusivity. The study was carried out on four digital libraries (ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and Google Scholar) on research articles published in the last 5 years, with a total of 21 articles describing chatbots implemented and actually used in the eHealth clinical area. The results showed a notable improvement in the use of chatbots in the last few years but also highlight some design issues, including poor attention to inclusion. Based on the findings, we recommend a different kind of approach for implementing chatbots with an inclusive accessibility-by-design approach.Source: UNIVERSAL ACCESS IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY
DOI: 10.1007/s10209-024-01118-x
Metrics:
2024
Journal article
Open Access
Game accessibility for visually impaired people: a review
Agrimi E., Battaglini C., Bottari D., Gnecco G., Leporini B.
Playing games is an important way to promote the integration, inclusion, and socialization of participants. This is especially the case of persons with disabilities, such as visually impaired people. Unfortunately, very few games are accessible to such persons. Hopefully, in many digital games, this accessibility can be enabled in principle by assistive technologies, such as screen readers. The aim of this work consists in reviewing the recent literature on game accessibility for people with visual impairment and discussing benefits, limitations, and possible improvements of currently available accessibility solutions. After providing a definition of visual impairment and describing its relationship with gaming, the work reviews general techniques for designing more accessible games. Subsequently, it focuses on specific techniques based on replacing visual stimuli with auditory stimuli (e.g., sonification and sound-source simulation), also presenting some recently proposed sonification-mapping strategies. Then, the application of machine-learning techniques to the development of accessible interfaces for online versions of board games is illustrated by a recent case study. Finally, a discussion and some conclusions are provided, with a particular focus on policy implications of improvements in game accessibility for visually impaired people.Source: SOFT COMPUTING
DOI: 10.1007/s00500-024-09827-4
Metrics:
Agrimi E., Battaglini C., Bottari D., Gnecco G., Leporini B.
Playing games is an important way to promote the integration, inclusion, and socialization of participants. This is especially the case of persons with disabilities, such as visually impaired people. Unfortunately, very few games are accessible to such persons. Hopefully, in many digital games, this accessibility can be enabled in principle by assistive technologies, such as screen readers. The aim of this work consists in reviewing the recent literature on game accessibility for people with visual impairment and discussing benefits, limitations, and possible improvements of currently available accessibility solutions. After providing a definition of visual impairment and describing its relationship with gaming, the work reviews general techniques for designing more accessible games. Subsequently, it focuses on specific techniques based on replacing visual stimuli with auditory stimuli (e.g., sonification and sound-source simulation), also presenting some recently proposed sonification-mapping strategies. Then, the application of machine-learning techniques to the development of accessible interfaces for online versions of board games is illustrated by a recent case study. Finally, a discussion and some conclusions are provided, with a particular focus on policy implications of improvements in game accessibility for visually impaired people.Source: SOFT COMPUTING
DOI: 10.1007/s00500-024-09827-4
Metrics:
See at:
Soft Computing | IRIS Cnr | IRIS Cnr | Software Heritage | GitHub | CNR IRIS
2024
Journal article
Open Access
Machine learning techniques in breast cancer preventive diagnosis: a review
Anastasi Giada, Franchini Michela, Pieroni Stefania, Buzzi Marina, Buzzi Maria Claudia, Leporini Barbara, Molinaro Sabrina
Breast cancer (BC) is known as the most prevalent form of cancer among women. Recent research has demonstrated the potential of Machine Learning (ML) techniques in predicting the five-year BC risk using personal health data. Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest, K-NN (K-Nearest Neighbour), Naive Bayes, Neural Network, Decision Tree (DT), Logistic Regression (LR), Discriminant Analysis, and their variants are commonly employed in ML for BC analysis. This study investigates the factors influencing the performance of ML techniques in the domain of BC prevention, with a focus on dataset size and feature selection. The study's goal is to examine the effect of dataset cardinality, feature selection, and model selection on analytical performance in terms of Accuracy and Area Under the Curve (AUC). To this aim, 3917 papers were automatically selected from Scopus and PubMed, considering all publications from the previous 5 years, and, after inclusion and exclusion criteria, 54 articles were selected for the analysis. Our findings highlight how a good cardinality of the dataset and effective feature selection have a higher impact on the model's performance than the selected model, as corroborated by one of the studies, which gets extremely good results with all of the models employed.Source: MULTIMEDIA TOOLS AND APPLICATIONS (DORDRECHT. ONLINE), vol. 83 (issue 35), pp. 82805-82848
DOI: 10.1007/s11042-024-18775-y
Metrics:
Anastasi Giada, Franchini Michela, Pieroni Stefania, Buzzi Marina, Buzzi Maria Claudia, Leporini Barbara, Molinaro Sabrina
Breast cancer (BC) is known as the most prevalent form of cancer among women. Recent research has demonstrated the potential of Machine Learning (ML) techniques in predicting the five-year BC risk using personal health data. Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest, K-NN (K-Nearest Neighbour), Naive Bayes, Neural Network, Decision Tree (DT), Logistic Regression (LR), Discriminant Analysis, and their variants are commonly employed in ML for BC analysis. This study investigates the factors influencing the performance of ML techniques in the domain of BC prevention, with a focus on dataset size and feature selection. The study's goal is to examine the effect of dataset cardinality, feature selection, and model selection on analytical performance in terms of Accuracy and Area Under the Curve (AUC). To this aim, 3917 papers were automatically selected from Scopus and PubMed, considering all publications from the previous 5 years, and, after inclusion and exclusion criteria, 54 articles were selected for the analysis. Our findings highlight how a good cardinality of the dataset and effective feature selection have a higher impact on the model's performance than the selected model, as corroborated by one of the studies, which gets extremely good results with all of the models employed.Source: MULTIMEDIA TOOLS AND APPLICATIONS (DORDRECHT. ONLINE), vol. 83 (issue 35), pp. 82805-82848
DOI: 10.1007/s11042-024-18775-y
Metrics:
See at:
Multimedia Tools and Applications | IRIS Cnr | IRIS Cnr | CNR IRIS
2024
Conference article
Open Access
Digital citizen rights: accessibility of e-government websites in Italy
Buzzi M. C., Buzzi M., Della Penna G., Leporini B., Ricci F.
Nowadays, digital services pervade all our life. Accessible services can greatly empower the personal autonomy of people with disabilities. In Eu- rope, accessible and usable interfaces for assuring a satisfying interaction with applications and services created by Public Administrations is a right for any cit- izen, regardless of any functioning or ability. In this paper, starting from experi- ence of people with disabilities, the accessibility of Italian PA services has been investigated to evaluate progresses in a time range of six years. Results suggest that PA services have increased but no substantial improvement in terms of ac- cessibility has been recorded. Simplified interaction and increased efficiency are still lacking, even if global user satisfaction seems to have slightly improved. However, the virtuous cycle of accessibility improvement is steadily in progress thanks to tools and resources made available by eGovernment agencies with the voluntary contribution of the Italian designer and development community, and this will hopefully lead to further improvements in the coming years.Source: LECTURE NOTES IN BUSINESS INFORMATION PROCESSING
Buzzi M. C., Buzzi M., Della Penna G., Leporini B., Ricci F.
Nowadays, digital services pervade all our life. Accessible services can greatly empower the personal autonomy of people with disabilities. In Eu- rope, accessible and usable interfaces for assuring a satisfying interaction with applications and services created by Public Administrations is a right for any cit- izen, regardless of any functioning or ability. In this paper, starting from experi- ence of people with disabilities, the accessibility of Italian PA services has been investigated to evaluate progresses in a time range of six years. Results suggest that PA services have increased but no substantial improvement in terms of ac- cessibility has been recorded. Simplified interaction and increased efficiency are still lacking, even if global user satisfaction seems to have slightly improved. However, the virtuous cycle of accessibility improvement is steadily in progress thanks to tools and resources made available by eGovernment agencies with the voluntary contribution of the Italian designer and development community, and this will hopefully lead to further improvements in the coming years.Source: LECTURE NOTES IN BUSINESS INFORMATION PROCESSING
2023
Conference article
Open Access
Haptic-based cognitive mapping to support shopping malls exploration
Paratore Mt, Leporini B
This paper describes a study, which is currently underway, whose aim is to investigate how the haptic channel can be effectively exploited by visually impaired users in a mobile app for the preliminary exploration of an indoor environment, namely a shopping mall. Our goal was to use haptics to convey knowledge of how the points of interest (POIs) are distributed within the physical space, and at the same time provide information about the function of each POI, so that users can get a perception of how functional areas are distributed in the environment "at a glance". Shopping malls are typical indoor environments in which orientation aids are highly appreciated by customers, and many different functional areas persist. We identified seven typical categories of POIs which can be encountered in a mall, and then associated a different vibration pattern each. In order to validate our approach, we designed and developed a prototype for preliminary testing, based on the Android platform. The prototype was periodically debugged with the aid of two visually impaired experienced users, who gave us precious advice throughout the development process. We will describe how this app was conceived, the issues emerged during its development and the positive outcomes produced by a very early testing stage. Finally, we will show that the proposed approach is promising and is worthy of further investigation.Source: LECTURE NOTES OF THE INSTITUTE FOR COMPUTER SCIENCES, SOCIAL INFORMATICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENGINEERING (INTERNET), pp. 54-62. Online event, 16-18/11/2022
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-28813-5_4
Metrics:
Paratore Mt, Leporini B
This paper describes a study, which is currently underway, whose aim is to investigate how the haptic channel can be effectively exploited by visually impaired users in a mobile app for the preliminary exploration of an indoor environment, namely a shopping mall. Our goal was to use haptics to convey knowledge of how the points of interest (POIs) are distributed within the physical space, and at the same time provide information about the function of each POI, so that users can get a perception of how functional areas are distributed in the environment "at a glance". Shopping malls are typical indoor environments in which orientation aids are highly appreciated by customers, and many different functional areas persist. We identified seven typical categories of POIs which can be encountered in a mall, and then associated a different vibration pattern each. In order to validate our approach, we designed and developed a prototype for preliminary testing, based on the Android platform. The prototype was periodically debugged with the aid of two visually impaired experienced users, who gave us precious advice throughout the development process. We will describe how this app was conceived, the issues emerged during its development and the positive outcomes produced by a very early testing stage. Finally, we will show that the proposed approach is promising and is worthy of further investigation.Source: LECTURE NOTES OF THE INSTITUTE FOR COMPUTER SCIENCES, SOCIAL INFORMATICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENGINEERING (INTERNET), pp. 54-62. Online event, 16-18/11/2022
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-28813-5_4
Metrics:
See at:
CNR IRIS | link.springer.com | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS
2023
Journal article
Open Access
Exploiting the haptic and audio channels to improve orientation and mobility apps for the visually impaired
Paratore Mt, Leporini B
Orientation and mobility apps for visually impaired people are well known to be effective in improving the quality of life for this target group. A mobile application that guides a visually impaired person step-by-step through a physical space is a valuable aid, but it does not provide an overview of a complex environment "at a glance," as a traditional hard-copy tactile map does. The aim of this study is to investigate whether a smartphone GPS map, enriched with haptic and audio hints, can facilitate cognitive mapping for visually impaired users. Encouraged by a preliminary study conducted in co-operation with two visually impaired volunteers, we designed and developed an Android prototype for exploration of an urban area. Our goal was to provide an affordable, portable and versatile solution to help users increase awareness of an environment through the positions of its landmarks and points of interest. Vibro-tactile and audio hints were linked to the coordinates on the map via the GeoJSON data format and were issued exploiting the text-to-speech and vibration features of the mobile device, as they were displayed through the operating system's APIs. Test sessions and interviews with visually impaired users produced encouraging results. Results, to be verified by more extensive testing, overall confirm the validity of our approach and are in line with results found in the literature.Source: UNIVERSAL ACCESS IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (PRINT)
DOI: 10.1007/s10209-023-00973-4
Metrics:
Paratore Mt, Leporini B
Orientation and mobility apps for visually impaired people are well known to be effective in improving the quality of life for this target group. A mobile application that guides a visually impaired person step-by-step through a physical space is a valuable aid, but it does not provide an overview of a complex environment "at a glance," as a traditional hard-copy tactile map does. The aim of this study is to investigate whether a smartphone GPS map, enriched with haptic and audio hints, can facilitate cognitive mapping for visually impaired users. Encouraged by a preliminary study conducted in co-operation with two visually impaired volunteers, we designed and developed an Android prototype for exploration of an urban area. Our goal was to provide an affordable, portable and versatile solution to help users increase awareness of an environment through the positions of its landmarks and points of interest. Vibro-tactile and audio hints were linked to the coordinates on the map via the GeoJSON data format and were issued exploiting the text-to-speech and vibration features of the mobile device, as they were displayed through the operating system's APIs. Test sessions and interviews with visually impaired users produced encouraging results. Results, to be verified by more extensive testing, overall confirm the validity of our approach and are in line with results found in the literature.Source: UNIVERSAL ACCESS IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (PRINT)
DOI: 10.1007/s10209-023-00973-4
Metrics:
See at:
CNR IRIS | link.springer.com | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS
2023
Other
Restricted
Esposizione multimodale e multimediale interattiva ed inclusiva per le persone con disabilità visiva
Galesi G., Vozna A., Leporini B.
Per consentire al visitatore con disabilità visiva di fruire a pieno della mostra sarebbe molto utile fornirgli una serie di informazioni su come l'esposizione è organizzata e su come si estende fisicamente. Le icone fisiche dovrebbero essere percepibili in modo quasi immediato al tatto, e ciò si può ottenere:- evitando molti dettagli e usando forme molto ben definite nei contorni- evitando di confondere le icone tra loro, ricorrendo a forme differenziate tra loro.DOI: 10.32079/isti-tr-2023/004
Metrics:
Galesi G., Vozna A., Leporini B.
Per consentire al visitatore con disabilità visiva di fruire a pieno della mostra sarebbe molto utile fornirgli una serie di informazioni su come l'esposizione è organizzata e su come si estende fisicamente. Le icone fisiche dovrebbero essere percepibili in modo quasi immediato al tatto, e ciò si può ottenere:- evitando molti dettagli e usando forme molto ben definite nei contorni- evitando di confondere le icone tra loro, ricorrendo a forme differenziate tra loro.DOI: 10.32079/isti-tr-2023/004
Metrics:
2023
Other
Open Access
Un pannello multimodale interattivo per la Sala delle Carpe giapponesi del Museo di Storia Naturale dell'Università di Pisa: un esempio di User Experience inclusiva
Zanobini D., Leporini B., Magrini M., Nicolosi P.
Il progetto di tesi verte sulla realizzazione di un pannello espositivo interattivo multimodale da inserire all'interno dell'Acquario del Museo di Storia Naturale dell'Università di Pisa. Il pannello, posizionato nella Sala delle Carpe giapponesi, permette di migliorare l'inclusività e l'accessibilità consentendo una maggiore fruizione dei contenuti museali della sala stessa. Attraverso questo lavoro di tesi è stato possibile creare un connubio tra cultura e conoscenza, in questo caso legate alla Sala delle Carpe giapponesi che grazie, alle tecnologie informatiche esistenti, permetterà così una User Experience più immersiva e appagante per i visitatori del Museo. L'inclusione museale è centrale, al giorno d'oggi, perché permette di ampliare l'accesso alla cultura: questo significa andare incontro, con gli attuali mezzi a disposizione, ai bisogni e alle esigenze degli utenti studiando, ricercando e creando soluzioni che abbiano come fine ultimo la fruizione dei contenuti culturali a livello globale. In questo modo sarà possibile a chiunque avere un'esperienza migliore durante una visita nel Museo di Storia Naturale dell'Università di Pisa. Il pannello interattivo multimodale realizzato, in ultima analisi, vuole essere uno strumento per accrescere la percezione che un visitatore ha del proprio corpo in funzione della scoperta delle informazioni veicolate dalla Sala delle Carpe giapponesi.
Zanobini D., Leporini B., Magrini M., Nicolosi P.
Il progetto di tesi verte sulla realizzazione di un pannello espositivo interattivo multimodale da inserire all'interno dell'Acquario del Museo di Storia Naturale dell'Università di Pisa. Il pannello, posizionato nella Sala delle Carpe giapponesi, permette di migliorare l'inclusività e l'accessibilità consentendo una maggiore fruizione dei contenuti museali della sala stessa. Attraverso questo lavoro di tesi è stato possibile creare un connubio tra cultura e conoscenza, in questo caso legate alla Sala delle Carpe giapponesi che grazie, alle tecnologie informatiche esistenti, permetterà così una User Experience più immersiva e appagante per i visitatori del Museo. L'inclusione museale è centrale, al giorno d'oggi, perché permette di ampliare l'accesso alla cultura: questo significa andare incontro, con gli attuali mezzi a disposizione, ai bisogni e alle esigenze degli utenti studiando, ricercando e creando soluzioni che abbiano come fine ultimo la fruizione dei contenuti culturali a livello globale. In questo modo sarà possibile a chiunque avere un'esperienza migliore durante una visita nel Museo di Storia Naturale dell'Università di Pisa. Il pannello interattivo multimodale realizzato, in ultima analisi, vuole essere uno strumento per accrescere la percezione che un visitatore ha del proprio corpo in funzione della scoperta delle informazioni veicolate dalla Sala delle Carpe giapponesi.
See at:
ISTI Repository | CNR ExploRA
2023
Other
Open Access
Thunkable come strumento di sviluppo a supporto dell'accessibilità
Leporini B, Galesi G, Vozna A
Oggigiorno sono disponibili molti strumenti di end-user development per lo sviluppo rapido di app e siti web. Il supporto dell'accessibilità di tali strumenti non è sempre scontato. In questa sessione si vuol mostrare le funzionalità del framework Thunkable per sviluppare app accessibili e per il supporto all'accessibilità. In particolar modo saranno presentati gli aspetti più rilevanti di Thunkable che potrebbero essere utili nello sviluppo di interfacce utente, nella progettazione di app per l'autonomia, così come nella fruizione di mappe interattive su touch screen. Scopo di questa sessione è quello di presentare, tramite esempi concreti, i risultati ottenuti testando l'uso del framework Thunkable da un punto di vista di accessibilità.
Leporini B, Galesi G, Vozna A
Oggigiorno sono disponibili molti strumenti di end-user development per lo sviluppo rapido di app e siti web. Il supporto dell'accessibilità di tali strumenti non è sempre scontato. In questa sessione si vuol mostrare le funzionalità del framework Thunkable per sviluppare app accessibili e per il supporto all'accessibilità. In particolar modo saranno presentati gli aspetti più rilevanti di Thunkable che potrebbero essere utili nello sviluppo di interfacce utente, nella progettazione di app per l'autonomia, così come nella fruizione di mappe interattive su touch screen. Scopo di questa sessione è quello di presentare, tramite esempi concreti, i risultati ottenuti testando l'uso del framework Thunkable da un punto di vista di accessibilità.
See at:
accessibilitydays.it | CNR IRIS | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS
2023
Conference article
Restricted
Making everyday objects more inclusive: a case study via remote participatory design
Leporini B, Buzzi M, Baldini L
Interacting with everyday objects remains a challenge for blind and visually impaired people who rely on assistive technology. This study investigates how to exploit Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to make everyday objects more accessible for people with visual disabilities, and help create a more inclusive society. A participatory design process including five blind and two visually impaired users was carried out in Italy, exploiting video conferencing tools with the aim of increasing the usability of everyday objects, based on visual interfaces, usually poorly accessible to sightless people. As a case study, a well-known traditional paper-based calendar was selected, since it is a very popular object used at home, at work and in social life. Although digital calendars are very popular nowadays, a tangible paper-based calendar may be more suitable or preferred by users, in specific contexts. Due to people's various needs and preferences, a set of suggestions emerged from this valuable experisence in co-design sessions with technical teams and end users, which can be applied in other contexts where additional information is required .Source: LECTURE NOTES OF THE INSTITUTE FOR COMPUTER SCIENCES, SOCIAL INFORMATICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENGINEERING (INTERNET), pp. 583-597. Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 14-17/11/2022
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-34776-4_31
Metrics:
Leporini B, Buzzi M, Baldini L
Interacting with everyday objects remains a challenge for blind and visually impaired people who rely on assistive technology. This study investigates how to exploit Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to make everyday objects more accessible for people with visual disabilities, and help create a more inclusive society. A participatory design process including five blind and two visually impaired users was carried out in Italy, exploiting video conferencing tools with the aim of increasing the usability of everyday objects, based on visual interfaces, usually poorly accessible to sightless people. As a case study, a well-known traditional paper-based calendar was selected, since it is a very popular object used at home, at work and in social life. Although digital calendars are very popular nowadays, a tangible paper-based calendar may be more suitable or preferred by users, in specific contexts. Due to people's various needs and preferences, a set of suggestions emerged from this valuable experisence in co-design sessions with technical teams and end users, which can be applied in other contexts where additional information is required .Source: LECTURE NOTES OF THE INSTITUTE FOR COMPUTER SCIENCES, SOCIAL INFORMATICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENGINEERING (INTERNET), pp. 583-597. Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 14-17/11/2022
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-34776-4_31
Metrics:
See at:
CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS | link.springer.com
2023
Conference article
Open Access
Towards a haptic-based virtual cane to assist blind people in obstacle detection
Leporini B, Raucci M, Rosellini M, Forgione N
Blind persons rely on the traditional white cane to explore and avoid obstacles while moving independently in indoor and outdoor environments. Although numerous electronic aids have been proposed in the literature and on the market, orienting and moving are still a challenge for people who cannot see. Usually, electronic support devices are used in combination with the stick as blind people consider it a fundamental tool for exploring and getting information about the surrounding. In this paper, a virtual version of the traditional white cane based on the use of a laser sensor, actuators and haptic feedback for obstacle detection is proposed to move towards a single aid for mobility tasks. Although the proposed electronic aid is the first prototype tested in an indoor environment, it is a first step towards a discreet and lightweight virtual cane.DOI: 10.1145/3594806.3594864
Project(s): TactileInteGration for Humans and arTificial systems
Metrics:
Leporini B, Raucci M, Rosellini M, Forgione N
Blind persons rely on the traditional white cane to explore and avoid obstacles while moving independently in indoor and outdoor environments. Although numerous electronic aids have been proposed in the literature and on the market, orienting and moving are still a challenge for people who cannot see. Usually, electronic support devices are used in combination with the stick as blind people consider it a fundamental tool for exploring and getting information about the surrounding. In this paper, a virtual version of the traditional white cane based on the use of a laser sensor, actuators and haptic feedback for obstacle detection is proposed to move towards a single aid for mobility tasks. Although the proposed electronic aid is the first prototype tested in an indoor environment, it is a first step towards a discreet and lightweight virtual cane.DOI: 10.1145/3594806.3594864
Project(s): TactileInteGration for Humans and arTificial systems
Metrics:
See at:
dl.acm.org | CNR IRIS | ISTI Repository | CNR IRIS
2023
Conference article
Open Access
Investigating the use of the Thunkable end-user framework to develop haptic-based assistive aids in the orientation of blind people
Vozna A, Galesi G, Leporini B
Nowadays mobile devices are essential tools for visiting cultural heritage sites. Thus, it is very important to provide an inclusive cultural mobile experience for anyone. In this study, we investigate how to create accessible apps to enhance the experience of the visually impaired people in outdoor cultural itineraries. In such a context, the integration of specific features for improving accessibility for blind people may require high skills. This study investigates how it is possible to exploit a simple-to-use developing environment, Thunkable framework, which does not require specific technical competencies, to easily develop an accessible app.DOI: 10.5220/0012181900003584
Project(s): Tactile InteGration for Humans and arTificial systems
Metrics:
Vozna A, Galesi G, Leporini B
Nowadays mobile devices are essential tools for visiting cultural heritage sites. Thus, it is very important to provide an inclusive cultural mobile experience for anyone. In this study, we investigate how to create accessible apps to enhance the experience of the visually impaired people in outdoor cultural itineraries. In such a context, the integration of specific features for improving accessibility for blind people may require high skills. This study investigates how it is possible to exploit a simple-to-use developing environment, Thunkable framework, which does not require specific technical competencies, to easily develop an accessible app.DOI: 10.5220/0012181900003584
Project(s): Tactile InteGration for Humans and arTificial systems
Metrics:
See at:
CNR IRIS | ISTI Repository | ISTI Repository | www.scitepress.org | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS
2023
Conference article
Open Access
Accessibility of e-government websites in Italy: the user experience of people with disabilities
Buzzi Mc, Buzzi M, Della Penna G, Leporini B, Ricci F
Public Administration services must be accessible for anyone, including people with disabilities who interact via assistive technology. In 2016, the European Union published Directive 2016/2102 with the aim of making such services more accessible to any citizen, regardless of its abilities. This paper investigates the accessibility of e-Government services in Italy from the point of view of people with disabilities: seventy-six users participated in an online survey, and the collected answers have been further refined through semi-structured interviews. Results have been compared with a previous study, showing that the number of services has increased but no substantial improvement in terms of accessibility has been recorded. Simplified interaction and increased efficiency are still lacking, even if global user satisfaction seems to have slightly improved.DOI: 10.5220/0012177400003584
Metrics:
Buzzi Mc, Buzzi M, Della Penna G, Leporini B, Ricci F
Public Administration services must be accessible for anyone, including people with disabilities who interact via assistive technology. In 2016, the European Union published Directive 2016/2102 with the aim of making such services more accessible to any citizen, regardless of its abilities. This paper investigates the accessibility of e-Government services in Italy from the point of view of people with disabilities: seventy-six users participated in an online survey, and the collected answers have been further refined through semi-structured interviews. Results have been compared with a previous study, showing that the number of services has increased but no substantial improvement in terms of accessibility has been recorded. Simplified interaction and increased efficiency are still lacking, even if global user satisfaction seems to have slightly improved.DOI: 10.5220/0012177400003584
Metrics:
See at:
Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università degli Studi dell Aquila | IRIS Cnr | ISTI Repository | IRIS Cnr | Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università degli Studi dell Aquila | Archivio della Ricerca - Università di Pisa | Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università degli Studi dell Aquila | CNR IRIS | CNR IRIS