Browsing by Subject "Assistive technologies"

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    Exploring outlooks towards generative AI-based assistive technologies for people with Autism
    (ACM, 2023-04-28) Giri, Deepak; Brady, Erin
    The last few years have significantly increased global interest in generative artificial intelligence. Deepfakes, which are synthetically created videos, emerged as an application of generative artificial intelligence. Fake news and pornographic content have been the two most prevalent negative use cases of deepfakes in the digital ecosystem. Deepfakes have some advantageous applications that experts in the subject have thought of in the areas of filmmaking, teaching, etc. Research on the potential of deepfakes among people with disabilities is, however, scarce or nonexistent. This workshop paper explores the potential of deepfakes as an assistive technology. We examined Reddit conversations regarding Nvdia’s new videoconferencing feature which allows participants to maintain eye contact during online meetings. Through manual web scraping and qualitative coding, we found 162 relevant comments discussing the relevance and appropriateness of the technology for people with Autism. The themes identified from the qualitative codes indicate a number of concerns for technology among the autistic community. We suggest that developing generative AI-based assistive solutions will have ramifications for human-computer interaction (HCI), and present open questions that should be investigated further in this space.
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    Textflow: Screenless Access to Non-Visual Smart Messaging
    (ACM, 2021-04) Karimi, Pegah; Plebani, Emanuele; Bolchini, Davide; Human-Centered Computing, School of Informatics and Computing
    Texting relies on screen-centric prompts designed for sighted users, still posing significant barriers to people who are blind and visually impaired (BVI). Can we re-imagine texting untethered from a visual display? In an interview study, 20 BVI adults shared situations surrounding their texting practices, recurrent topics of conversations, and challenges. Informed by these insights, we introduce TextFlow: a mixed-initiative context-aware system that generates entirely auditory message options relevant to the users’ location, activity, and time of the day. Users can browse and select suggested aural messages using finger-taps supported by an off-the-shelf finger-worn device, without having to hold or attend to a mobile screen. In an evaluative study, 10 BVI participants successfully interacted with TextFlow to browse and send messages in screen-free mode. The experiential response of the users shed light on the importance of bypassing the phone and accessing rapidly controllable messages at their fingertips while preserving privacy and accuracy with respect to speech or screen-based input. We discuss how non-visual access to proactive, contextual messaging can support the blind in a variety of daily scenarios.