Web Science and Digital Libraries Research Group

  The ACM Web4All Conference (W4A) is the premier venue for research focused on web accessibility. It brings together a diverse community committed to making the web inclusive for users of all abilities and backgrounds. This year, the 22nd International Web for All Conference (W4A 2025) was held at the ICC Sydney: International Convention & Exhibition Centre in Sydney, Australia, from April 28–29, 2025. In this blog post, I highlight my work titled “ AccessMenu: Enhancing Usability of Online Restaurant Menus for Screen Reader Users ,” which addresses the accessibility challenges faced by blind and visually impaired (BVI) users when navigating image-based restaurant menus online. Figure 1 Venkatraman et al.: (A) A sample restaurant menu in its original visual form. (B) The output produced by JAWS Convenient OCR when applied to the menu. (C) The AccessMenu interface, where the red box highlights the natural language query field, the yellow box marks the voice-input button, and...

  The ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) serves as the leading global platform for showcasing innovative research in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). It convenes researchers, practitioners, and industry leaders to discuss cutting-edge advancements in designing, evaluating, and utilizing technology to improve human experiences. CHI 2024 , themed "Surfing the World," took place from May 11 to 16, 2024, at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, USA, with provisions for remote participation.  In this blog post, I highlight a compelling recent work presented at the conference, titled " GazePrompt: Enhancing Low Vision People’s Reading Experience with Gaze-Aware Augmentations ," authored by Ru Wang et al . Figure 1 Wang et al. : GazePrompt offers two primary features: Line-Switching (LS) support and Difficult-Word (DW) support. Each feature includes two design options: (a) Line Highlighting and (b) Arrow for LS support, and (c) Text-...

The ACM ASSETS Conference , formally known as the International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, is a leading forum for presenting research on the design, evaluation, and use of computing and information technologies to assist people with disabilities and older adults. ASSETS is dedicated to exploring how technology can support accessibility and inclusivity for individuals with special needs. The conference covers a wide range of topics related to accessible computing, including assistive technologies, user interfaces, and inclusive design practices. In this blog post, I write about the most recent work co-authored by Dr. Vikas Ashok , titled " Enabling Uniform Computer Interaction Experience for Blind Users through Large Language Models ," published in ASSETS '24 .  Motivation Blind individuals who rely on screen readers, such as JAWS , VoiceOver , and NVDA , face significant challenges when interacting with computer applications designed primaril...

The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems , commonly known as 'kai,' is the premier international conference in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). This annual gathering brings together a diverse group of researchers and practitioners from around the world, representing various cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives. Their shared goal is to improve the world by developing and applying interactive digital technologies. In this blog post, I delve into the research paper authored by Tawanna R. Dillahunt and  Joey Chiao-Yin Hsiao , titled " Positive Feedback and Self-reflection: Features to Support Self-efficacy among Underrepresented Job Seekers ," published in the Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems . In the digital age, finding employment increasingly relies on technology, yet underrepresented job seekers often find themselves disadvantaged due to a lack of support from existing digital tools. This research us...