Availability and preferences for information services to visually impaired tertiary students in Delhi

IF 1.7 Q2 REHABILITATION

Journal of Enabling Technologies Pub Date : 2021-10-04 DOI:10.1108/jet-04-2021-0021

R. Bhardwaj

{"title":"Availability and preferences for information services to visually impaired tertiary students in Delhi","authors":"R. Bhardwaj","doi":"10.1108/jet-04-2021-0021","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe study aims to understand the information services provided to visually impaired users in Indian universities. Further, the study identifies the nuances of information system for visually impaired (ISVI) development suitable to the requirements of the visually impaired community in Indian higher educational institutions.Design/methodology/approachA two-fold methodology was followed in the study: (1) empirical survey and (2) information system design and development. The empirical survey was conducted in Indian higher educational institutions wherein 316 responses were collected including 185 (58.5%) undergraduate and 131 (41.5%) postgraduate students. A stratified random sampling technique was used in data collection. Empirical study findings were further used as a basis for ISVI design and development for addressing the information requirements of visually impaired users.FindingsThe study found that 232 respondents (73.2%) access the Internet every day. “Surprisingly, 143 respondents (45.3%) revealed that no digital infrastructure is available in their institutions, while 173 respondents (54.7%) stated digital infrastructure is available. A total of 210 respondents (75.9%) highlighted that the interface of open access (OA) resources is not designed as per visually impaired (VI) students' requirements. information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure is not up to the mark revealed as by 34 respondents (10.7 percent) and was rated ‘poor.’” A total of 268 respondents (90.2%) expressed that their institution should develop the information system to full their information needs.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is conducted in only one state in India due to financial hindrances. Visually impaired students studying in other states of India are not covered in the study, which may have different perception about the design and development of information system for the visually impaired.Practical implicationsAn online ISVI is designed and developed under the study, which is accessible at http://www.isvi.in. Furthermore, the findings of the study may also be used by administrators of the higher educational institutions for building ICT infrastructure for visually impaired students.Originality/valueNo study has been conducted in Indian higher educational institutions for understanding the availability and preferences of information services to visually impaired tertiary students.","PeriodicalId":42168,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Enabling Technologies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Enabling Technologies","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jet-04-2021-0021","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"REHABILITATION","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 1

Abstract

PurposeThe study aims to understand the information services provided to visually impaired users in Indian universities. Further, the study identifies the nuances of information system for visually impaired (ISVI) development suitable to the requirements of the visually impaired community in Indian higher educational institutions.Design/methodology/approachA two-fold methodology was followed in the study: (1) empirical survey and (2) information system design and development. The empirical survey was conducted in Indian higher educational institutions wherein 316 responses were collected including 185 (58.5%) undergraduate and 131 (41.5%) postgraduate students. A stratified random sampling technique was used in data collection. Empirical study findings were further used as a basis for ISVI design and development for addressing the information requirements of visually impaired users.FindingsThe study found that 232 respondents (73.2%) access the Internet every day. “Surprisingly, 143 respondents (45.3%) revealed that no digital infrastructure is available in their institutions, while 173 respondents (54.7%) stated digital infrastructure is available. A total of 210 respondents (75.9%) highlighted that the interface of open access (OA) resources is not designed as per visually impaired (VI) students' requirements. information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure is not up to the mark revealed as by 34 respondents (10.7 percent) and was rated ‘poor.’” A total of 268 respondents (90.2%) expressed that their institution should develop the information system to full their information needs.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is conducted in only one state in India due to financial hindrances. Visually impaired students studying in other states of India are not covered in the study, which may have different perception about the design and development of information system for the visually impaired.Practical implicationsAn online ISVI is designed and developed under the study, which is accessible at http://www.isvi.in. Furthermore, the findings of the study may also be used by administrators of the higher educational institutions for building ICT infrastructure for visually impaired students.Originality/valueNo study has been conducted in Indian higher educational institutions for understanding the availability and preferences of information services to visually impaired tertiary students.

查看原文本刊更多论文

德里视障大学生信息服务的可用性和偏好

目的本研究旨在了解印度大学为视障用户提供的信息服务。此外，该研究确定了适合印度高等教育机构视障群体需求的视障信息系统（ISVI）开发的细微差别。设计/方法论/方法研究采用了双重方法：（1）实证调查和（2）信息系统的设计和开发。这项实证调查在印度高等教育机构进行，共收集了316份回复，其中包括185名（58.5%）本科生和131名（41.5%）研究生。数据收集采用分层随机抽样技术。实证研究结果被进一步用作ISVI设计和开发的基础，以满足视障用户的信息需求。研究发现，每天有232名受访者（73.2%）上网。“令人惊讶的是，143名受访者（45.3%）表示，他们的学校没有数字基础设施，173名受访者（54.7%）表示有数字基础设施。共有210名受访者（75.9%）强调，开放获取（OA）资源的接口没有按照视障学生的要求设计。信息和通信技术（ICT）基础设施未达到34名受访者（10.7%）的标准，被评为“差”。”共有268名受访者（90.2%）表示，他们所在的机构应该开发信息系统来满足他们的信息需求。研究局限性/影响由于财政障碍，该研究仅在印度的一个邦进行。本研究不包括在印度其他州学习的视障学生，他们可能对视障信息系统的设计和开发有不同的看法。实际含义根据该研究设计和开发了一个在线ISVI，可访问http://www.isvi.in.此外，高等教育机构的管理人员也可以利用这项研究的结果为视障学生建设信息和通信技术基础设施。原创性/价值没有在印度高等教育机构进行研究，以了解视障大学生获得信息服务的情况和偏好。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of Enabling Technologies REHABILITATION-

CiteScore

4.10

自引率

9.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Enabling Technologies (JET) seeks to provide a strong, insightful, international, and multi-disciplinary evidence-base in health, social care, and education. This focus is applied to how technologies can be enabling for children, young people and adults in varied and different aspects of their lives. The focus remains firmly on reporting innovations around how technologies are used and evaluated in practice, and the impact that they have on the people using them. In addition, the journal has a keen focus on drawing out practical implications for users and how/why technology may have a positive impact. This includes messages for users, practitioners, researchers, stakeholders and caregivers (in the broadest sense). The impact of research in this arena is vital and therefore we are committed to publishing work that helps draw this out; thus providing implications for practice. JET aims to raise awareness of available and developing technologies and their uses in health, social care and education for a wide and varied readership. The areas in which technologies can be enabling for the scope of JET include, but are not limited to: Communication and interaction, Learning, Independence and autonomy, Identity and culture, Safety, Health, Care and support, Wellbeing, Quality of life, Access to services.