The today and tomorrow of Braille learning

ABSTRACT

Despite the overwhelming emergence of accessible digital technologies, Braille still plays a role in providing blind people with access to content. Nevertheless, many fail to see the benefits of nurturing Braille, particularly given the time and effort required to achieve proficiency. Our research focuses on maximizing access and motivation to learn and use Braille. We present initial insights from 5 interviews with blind people, comprising of Braille instructors and students, where we characterize the learning process and usage of Braille. Based on our findings, we have identified a set of opportunities around Braille education. Moreover, we devised scenarios, and built hardware and software solutions to motivate discovery and retention of Braille literacy.

References

1. Nicolau, H., et al. UbiBraille: designing and evaluating a vibrotactile Braille-reading device. In proc. of the ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers & accessibility. 2013.
2. Nicolau, H., et al., Augmenting Braille Input through MultiTouch Feedback. In Proc. of UIST, 2013.
3. Oliveira, J., et al. BrailleType: unleashing braille over touch screen mobile phones. In Proc of INTERACT 2011, 100--107
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Index Terms

• Human-centered computing

  • Human computer interaction (HCI)