Google DTorial: An interactive tutorial framework for blind users in a Web 2.0 world - Manual (Page 4)

PCM is not familiar to the typical screen-reader user. This shift in the way the screen
reader is operated is needed so that Web applications can capture user keyboard input
(normally intercepted by JAWS for screen-reader functionality). Unfortunately PCM,
also lacks audio feedback for users (see Appendix A).
For VIUs, Web 2.0 applications not only pose the common challenge of learning a
new application, but also a burden in requiring new screen-reader interactions. VIUs
must overcome both hurdles simultaneously. Thus, a Web-based tutorial system,
designed for VIUs’ needs, is critical for accessibility of ubiquitous Web Applications.
4 Interviews with Visually Impaired Users
There are many guides for creating tutorials on the desktop [7, 19, 21, 22] and for the
Web [8, 28], but less is known about how VIUs approach computer usage and their
concerns with adopting new software. To gain further insight, we conducted five 2-
hour interviews with members of the visually impaired community. Participants were
all screen-reader users from Silicon Valley (remunerated $75/hour). We attempted to
recruit a representative user pool, individuals whose primary profession was not high
technology. Each interview focused on participant’s computer usage specifically, file
organization, application management, and inter-personal communication.
Interviews were transcribed and video taped. All five participants reported large
effort required to adopt new applications. However, each participant talked about new
software adoption from a different perspective. One spoke about waiting to take a
class to learn new software, while another said that she needed to wait for a large
amount of time to be available to learn a new piece of software due to trial and error.
Another individual wished to see a “guardian angel” that would show him around his
programs and answer his questions. Participant issues revolved around the screen
reader world-view that comes from memorization of key commands and Web
page/application layout.
From our observations, we concluded that an accessible Web-based tutorial and
help system would improve Web application adoption (akin to the findings of [23]).
An examination of the existing practices of sighted users, detailed analysis of
AJAX/screen-reader technologies, and comments from interviewees lead us to a
proposed set of 4 key requirements that such a system should have:
•Embedded Content - Because layout and context is critical to
users, any help system should provide its content in the context of
the target application to reduce chances of losing position from
window switching.
•Interactive and Dynamic Content - Users should be able to
quickly gain access to and change their tutorial/help system content
while in their application, thus reducing trial-and-error by allowing
topic lookup as an easy alternative. Note: while the concept of
dynamic content is not new [9], the application to a non-visual
domain is novel.