FluxMarker: Enhancing tactile graphics with dynamic tactile markers

Ryo Suzuki, Abigale Stangl, Mark D. Gross, Tom Yeh

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

39 Scopus citations

Abstract

For people with visual impairments, tactile graphics are an impor-tant means to learn and explore information. However, raised line tactile graphics created with traditional materials such as emboss-ing are static. Whileavailable refreshable displays can dynamically change the content, they are still too expensive for manyusers, and are limited in size. Thesefactors limit wide-spread adoption and the representation of large graphics or data sets. In this paper, we present FluxMaker, an inexpensive scalable system that renders dy-namic information on top of static tactile graphics with movable tactile markers. These dynamic tactile markers can be easily re-configured and used to annotate static raised line tactile graphics, including maps, graphs, and diagrams. We developed a hardware prototype that actuates magnetic tactile markers driven by low-cost and scalable electromagnetic coil arrays, which can befabricated with standard printed circuit boardmanufacturing.Weevaluate our prototype with six participants with visual impairments and found positive results across four application areas: location finding or navigating on tactile maps, data analysis, and physicalization, fea-ture identification for tactile graphics, and drawing support. The user study confirms advantages in application domains such as ed-ucation and data exploration.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationASSETS 2017 - Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages190-199
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9781450349260
DOIs
StatePublished - 19 Oct 2017
Event19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, ASSETS 2017 - Baltimore, United States
Duration: 29 Oct 20171 Nov 2017

Publication series

NameASSETS 2017 - Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

Conference

Conference19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, ASSETS 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBaltimore
Period29/10/171/11/17

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Copyright heldby theowner/author(s).

Keywords

  • Dynamic tactile markers
  • Interactive tactile graphics
  • Tangible interfaces
  • Visual impairment

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