Understanding the Usages, Lifecycle, and Opportunities of Screen Readers’ Plugins

IF 2.5 Q3 COMPUTER SCIENCE, INTERDISCIPLINARY APPLICATIONS

ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing Pub Date : 2023-02-02 DOI:10.1145/3582697

Farhani Momotaz, Md Ehtesham-Ul-Haque, Syed Masum Billah

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Screen reader plugins are small pieces of code that blind users can download and install to enhance the capabilities of their screen readers. This article aims to understand why blind users use these plugins, as well as how these plugins are developed, deployed, and maintained. To this end, we conducted an interview study with 14 blind users to gain individual perspectives and analyzed 2,000 online posts scraped from three plugin-related forums to gain the community perspective. Our study revealed that screen reader users rely on plugins for various reasons, such as to improve the usability of screen readers and application software, to make partially accessible applications accessible, and to receive custom auditory feedback. Furthermore, installing plugins is easy; uninstalling them is unlikely; and finding them online is ad hoc, challenging, and sometimes poses security threats. In addition, developing screen reader plugins is technically demanding; only a handful of people develop plugins. Unfortunately, most plugins do not receive updates once distributed and become obsolete. The lack of financial incentives plays in the slow growth of the plugin ecosystem. Further, we outlined the complex, tripartite collaboration among individual blind users, their online communities, and developer communities in creating a plugin. Additionally, we reported several phenomena within and between these communities that are likely to influence a plugin’s development. Based on our findings, we recommend creating a community-driven repository for all plugins hosted on a peer-to-peer infrastructure, engaging third-party developers, and raising general awareness about the benefits and dangers of plugins. We believe our findings will inspire HCI researchers to embrace the plugin-based distribution model as an effective way to combat accessibility and usability problems in non-visual interaction and to investigate potential ways to improve the collaboration between blind users and developer communities.

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了解屏幕阅读器插件的用法，生命周期和机会

屏幕阅读器插件是一小段代码，盲人用户可以下载并安装它们来增强屏幕阅读器的功能。本文旨在了解盲人用户使用这些插件的原因，以及如何开发、部署和维护这些插件。为此，我们对14名盲人用户进行了访谈研究，以获得个人观点，并分析了从三个插件相关论坛中抓取的2000个在线帖子，以获得社区观点。我们的研究表明，屏幕阅读器用户依赖插件的原因有很多，比如提高屏幕阅读器和应用软件的可用性，使部分可访问的应用程序可访问，以及接收定制的听觉反馈。此外，安装插件很容易;卸载它们是不可能的;在网上找到它们是特别的、具有挑战性的，有时还会带来安全威胁。此外，开发屏幕阅读器插件在技术上要求很高;只有少数人开发插件。不幸的是，大多数插件一旦发布就不会收到更新，并且会过时。缺乏经济激励是插件生态系统增长缓慢的原因。此外，我们还概述了盲人个人用户、他们的在线社区和开发人员社区在创建插件时复杂的三方合作。此外，我们还报告了一些可能影响插件开发的社区内部和社区之间的现象。基于我们的发现，我们建议为托管在点对点基础设施上的所有插件创建一个社区驱动的存储库，吸引第三方开发人员，并提高对插件的好处和危险的普遍认识。我们相信我们的发现将激励HCI研究人员接受基于插件的分发模型，将其作为解决非视觉交互中的可访问性和可用性问题的有效方法，并研究改善盲人用户和开发人员社区之间协作的潜在方法。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing COMPUTER SCIENCE, INTERDISCIPLINARY APPLICATIONS-

CiteScore

6.20

自引率

8.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Computer and information technologies have re-designed the way modern society operates. Their widespread use poses both opportunities and challenges for people who experience various disabilities including age-related disabilities. That is, while there are new avenues to assist individuals with disabilities and provide tools and resources to alleviate the traditional barriers encountered by these individuals, in many cases the technology itself presents barriers to use. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing (TACCESS) is a quarterly peer-reviewed journal that publishes refereed articles addressing issues of computing that seek to address barriers to access, either creating new solutions or providing for the more inclusive design of technology to provide access for individuals with diverse abilities. The journal provides a technical forum for disseminating innovative research that covers either applications of computing and information technologies to provide assistive systems or inclusive technologies for individuals with disabilities. Some examples are web accessibility for those with visual impairments and blindness as well as web search explorations for those with limited cognitive abilities, technologies to address stroke rehabilitation or dementia care, language support systems deaf signers or those with limited language abilities, and input systems for individuals with limited ability to control traditional mouse and keyboard systems. The journal is of particular interest to SIGACCESS members and delegates to its affiliated conference (i.e., ASSETS) as well as other international accessibility conferences. It serves as a forum for discussions and information exchange between researchers, clinicians, and educators; including rehabilitation personnel who administer assistive technologies; and policy makers concerned with equitable access to information technologies.