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An increasing amount of information content used in school, work, and everyday living is presented in graphical form. Unfortunately, it is difficult for people who are blind or visually impaired to access this information, especially when many diagrams are needed. One problem is that details, even in relatively simple visual diagrams, can be very difficult to perceive using touch. With manually created tactile diagrams, these details are often presented in separate diagrams which must be selected from among others. Being able to actively zoom in on an area of a single diagram so that the details can be presented at a reasonable size for exploration purposes seems a simpler approach for the user. However, directly using visual zooming methods have some limitations when used haptically. Therefore, a new zooming method is proposed to avoid these pitfalls. A preliminary experiment was performed to examine the usefulness of the algorithm compared to not using zooming. The results showed that the number of correct responses improved with the developed zooming algorithm and participants found it to be more usable than not using zooming for exploration of a floor map. (Contains 6 figures.)

The increasing use of visual diagrams in educational and work environments, and even our daily lives, has created obstacles for individuals who are blind or visually impaired to "independently" access the information they represent. Although physical tactile pictures can be created to convey the visual information, it is typically a slow, cumbersome, and costly process. Refreshable haptic displays, which interact with computers, promise to make this access quicker, easier, and cheaper. One important aspect in converting visual to tactile diagrams is to simplify the diagram as otherwise it can be too difficult to interpret with touch. Enabling this to be under user control in an interactive environment, such as with refreshable displays, could allow users to avoid being overwhelmed by the diagrams at any instant in time while still retaining access to all information in "storage". Through this article the authors investigate whether two types of diagram simplification--boundary simplification and contextual simplification--showed potential utility in an interactive environment. Boundary simplification was found to be significantly helpful in answering general questions about borders on a geographic map, and contextual simplification was helpful in answering relational questions, as compared to using the original map unchanged. (Contains 4 tables and 4 figures.)

Introduction: This article describes the development and initial assessment of a set of tactile crayons that can produce different textured lines and areas on standard paper. Method: An assessment of the need for tactile crayons was performed through the use of surveys and focus groups from which a set of six tactile crayons was developed. Development was focused on being able to differentiate the crayons along the texture dimensions of sticky or slippery, rough or smooth, and hard or soft in informal dimensional analysis. Preliminary discrimination testing was performed to determine the viability of the six selected crayons. The main assessment determined whether individuals were able to identify each of the crayons by number from feeling scribbles on paper. Results: User needs assessment showed that many practitioners felt the development of tactile crayons would aid in teaching and fill a needs gap. The participants were able to discriminate the six crayons with a mean accuracy (standard error) of 77% (4%), and of those six, they could identify the four most easily discriminable with 86% (3%) accuracy. Discussion: Many families and teachers showed interest in the potential of tactile crayons as a learning tool. Four of the six tactile crayons were both highly discriminable and identifiable by adults who are visually impaired. This finding shows promise for discriminability and identifiability of these crayons by children who are visually impaired and their potential as a learning tool in both formal and informal learning environments. Implications for practitioners: The use of the developed tactile crayons has the potential to aid childhood development and student learning. In addition, the use of the crayons by teachers could help reduce the time needed to produce tactile diagrams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]