An alternative information web for visually impaired users in developing countries

Authors:
Nitendra Rajput;Sheetal Agarwal;Arun Kumar;Amit Anil Nanavati
Affiliations:
IBM India Research Lab, New Delhi, India;IBM India Research Lab, New Delhi, India;IBM India Research Lab, New Delhi, India;IBM India Research Lab, New Delhi, India
Venue:
Proceedings of the 10th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility
Year:
2008

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Abstract

Websites in World Wide Web are primarily meant for visual consumption. Moreover, the wide variety of visual controls available make it harder to interpret the websites with screen readers. This problem of accessing information and services on the web escalates even further for visually impaired in developing regions since most are either semi-literate/illiterate or cannot afford computers and high-end phones with screen reading capability. In this paper, we present an alternate platform -- the World Wide Telecom Web (WWTW). WWTW is already being successfully deployed as a network of VoiceSites that can be created and accessed by a voice interaction over an ordinary phone. WWTW presents a whole new set of opportunities for delivering information and services to the visually impaired. We present a preliminary user study that leads us towards the belief that the Telecom Web can be the mainstream Web for blind users.