CRAFTPy: allowing people with visual impairments to create diagrams
Resumo
The inclusion of students with visual impairments (SVI) in higher education has greatly advanced with the advent of newtechnologies. Despite these strides, challenges remain, particularly in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) courses that heavily rely on visual elements. Screen readers facilitate SVI’s access to digital content, but many educational tools are still incompatible with these readers. This incompatibility is especially problematic in tools requiring interaction with visual components, such as block-based programming, diagramming, and 3D modeling tools. This study introduces CraftPy, an accessible web tool fully compatible with screen readers. CraftPy enables SVI to create various types of diagrams using Python code, employing an object-oriented approach to design classes, actors, entities, attributes, and relationships. We also conducted a preliminary evaluation involving eight SVI participants to assess the tool’s effectiveness. Overall, participants found the tool to be highly accessible with screen readers and user-friendly. They were able to complete the experiment tasks with minimal difficulties. However, improvements are needed, particularly in enhancing screen responsiveness for low-vision users who depend on screen magnifiers. By developing CraftPy, we aim to promote equity in higher education, offering SVI enhanced opportunities to succeed in ICT courses. Link to the video: https://youtu.be/NXu4xbOH8Q4
Referências
Lais Alves, Larissa Rocha, Cláudia Pereira, Ivan Machado, Windson Viana, and Nailton Almeida Junior. 2022. Estudantes com Deficiência Visual em Computação: participação, perspectivas e desafios enfrentados. In Anais do II Simpósio Brasileiro de Educação em Computação (Online). SBC, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil, 67–76. DOI: 10.5753/educomp.2022.19200
A Bogdanchikov, M Zhaparov, and R Suliyev. 2013. Python to learn programming. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 423, 1 (apr 2013), 012027. DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/423/1/012027
Pedro de Azevedo, Francisco Carlos Souza, and Alinne Souza. 2021. B-Model Uma ferramenta para auxiliar estudantes com deficiência visual na modelagem de sistemas. Revista Eletrônica de Iniciação Científica em Computação 19, 3 (set. 2021). [link]
Martin Fowler. 2018. UML distilled: a brief guide to the standard object modeling language. Addison-Wesley Professional.
Alex Hadwen-Bennett, Sue Sentance, and Cecily Morrison. 2018. Making Programming Accessible to Learners with Visual Impairments: A Literature Review. International Journal of Computer Science Education in Schools 2, 2 (May 2018), 3–13. DOI: 10.21585/ijcses.v2i2.25
M. Horstmann*, M. Lorenz, A. Watkowski, G. Ioannidis, O. Herzog, A. King, D. G. Evans, C. Hagen, C. Schlieder, A.-M. Burn, N. King, H. Petrie, S. Dijkstra, and D. Crombie. 2004. Automated interpretation and accessible presentation of technical diagrams for blind people. New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia 10, 2 (2004), 141–163. DOI: 10.1080/13614560512331326017 arXiv: [link]
Greg Lindstrom. 2005. Programming with python. IT professional 7, 5 (2005), 10–16.
Ava Gibson Lise Bird Claiborne, Sue Cornforth and Alexandra Smith. 2011. Supporting students with impairments in higher education: social inclusion or cold comfort? International Journal of Inclusive Education 15, 5 (2011), 513–527. DOI: 10.1080/13603110903131747 arXiv: [link]
Néstor Ulises López Flores and Aída Lucina González Lara. 2023. Technologies in Education for Visually Impaired People: A Literature Review. In 2nd EAI International Conference on Smart Technology, Francisco Torres-Guerrero, Leticia Neira-Tovar, and Jorge Bacca-Acosta (Eds.). Springer International Publishing, Cham, 163–169.
Leandro Luque, CL Santos, Davi O Cruz, Leônidas O Brandao, and AA Brandao. 2016. Model2gether: a tool to support cooperative modeling involving blind people. In Brazilian Conference of Software.
Rafael L Magalhães and Michelle MF Neto. 2010. AprenDER: Ferramenta de apoio à construção de diagrama entidade relacionamento para deficientes visuais. In Brazilian Symposium on Computers in Education (Simpósio Brasileiro de Informática na Educação-SBIE), Vol. 1.
Aboubakar Mountapmbeme, Obianuju Okafor, and Stephanie Ludi. 2022. Addressing Accessibility Barriers in Programming for People with Visual Impairments: A Literature Review. ACM Trans. Access. Comput. 15, 1, Article 7 (mar 2022), 26 pages. DOI: 10.1145/3507469
Romeu Kazumi Sassaki. 2003. Inclusão no lazer e turismo: em busca da qualidade de vida. São Paulo: Áurea (2003).
Osvaldo Kotaro Takai, Isabel Cristina Italiano, and João Eduardo Ferreira. 2005. Introdução a banco de dados. Departamento de Ciências da Computação. Instituto de Matemática e Estatística. Universidade de São Paulo. São Paulo (2005).
Alisson Verde, Lais Alves, Lucas Fraga, and Larissa Soares. 2023. Py2UML: a Tool for Visually Impaired Students to Build UML Diagrams from Python Coding. In Proceedings of the XXXVII Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering (Campo Grande, Brazil) (SBES ’23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 491–496. DOI: 10.1145/3613372.3613418
WHO et al. 2019. World report on vision. (2019).
Ira Woodring, Charles Owen, and Samia Islam. 2024. A Method for Presenting UML Class Diagrams with Audio for Blind and Visually Impaired Students. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments (Crete, Greece) (PETRA ’24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 15–20. DOI: 10.1145/3652037.3652056
Eliana Zen, Marcelo da Silveira Siedler, Vinicius Kruger da Costa, and Tatiana Aires Tavares. 2022. Assistive Technology to Assist the Visually Impaired in the Use of ICTs: A Systematic Literature Review. In XVIII Brazilian Symposium on Information Systems (Curitiba, Brazil) (SBSI). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 18, 8 pages. DOI: 10.1145/3535511.3535529
