Publicação
Creating accessible virtual environments : strategies and challenges on virtual navigation for and by blind people
| Resumo: | Visually-Impaired People (VIP) that have the desire to partake in recreational activities, such as playing video games or exploring virtual environments will often find barriers with the lack of accessibility features available. This is mostly due to the fact that such environments are heavily designed with the visual video component in mind. Still, among the number of people with visual impairments, blind people have the most difficulty in adapting to these environments. Although there are options that suit their impairments, either digital audio or text-based games, these experiences will often offer a lesser recreational value compared to the more complex and detailed options available in the market of video games. In this work, we delved into how blind people experience Virtual Reality and Virtual Environments. We analysed video content from blind content producers, identifying their biggest barriers while playing video games that weren’t completely accessible. At the same time, we registered and discussed about the many ways, either via elements outside or from the games they play, that they managed to overcome such barriers with their own hands and ingenuity. A contribution on its own, these observed experiences are supported by demonstrative videos and may serve to guide developers on how to better create or modify Virtual Environments to be accessible to blind people. We went further in our study, using the indications we gathered previously and created a Virtual Environment of our own. The implementation of possible solutions for some of the most common barriers observed was evaluated through testing with 7 participants, who also shared their opinions and suggestions. We expect that this can serve as a practical example on how to initiate the creation or adaptation of Virtual Environments to be accessible for blind people |
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| Autores principais: | Piçarra, Manuel Rodrigues Sertório |
| Assunto: | Realidade virtual Acessibilidade Diretrizes de design Pessoas com deficiências visuais Cegueira Tese de mestrado - 2023 |
| Ano: | 2023 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | dissertação de mestrado |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade de Lisboa |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa |
| Resumo: | Visually-Impaired People (VIP) that have the desire to partake in recreational activities, such as playing video games or exploring virtual environments will often find barriers with the lack of accessibility features available. This is mostly due to the fact that such environments are heavily designed with the visual video component in mind. Still, among the number of people with visual impairments, blind people have the most difficulty in adapting to these environments. Although there are options that suit their impairments, either digital audio or text-based games, these experiences will often offer a lesser recreational value compared to the more complex and detailed options available in the market of video games. In this work, we delved into how blind people experience Virtual Reality and Virtual Environments. We analysed video content from blind content producers, identifying their biggest barriers while playing video games that weren’t completely accessible. At the same time, we registered and discussed about the many ways, either via elements outside or from the games they play, that they managed to overcome such barriers with their own hands and ingenuity. A contribution on its own, these observed experiences are supported by demonstrative videos and may serve to guide developers on how to better create or modify Virtual Environments to be accessible to blind people. We went further in our study, using the indications we gathered previously and created a Virtual Environment of our own. The implementation of possible solutions for some of the most common barriers observed was evaluated through testing with 7 participants, who also shared their opinions and suggestions. We expect that this can serve as a practical example on how to initiate the creation or adaptation of Virtual Environments to be accessible for blind people |
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