Article

This article describes website information seeking strategies used by
users who are blind and compares those with sighted users. It outlines how
assistive technologies and website design can aid users who are blind while
information seeking. METHOD: People who are blind and sighted are tested using an
assessment tool and performing several tasks on websites.
The times and
keystrokes are recorded for all tasks as well as commands used and spatial
questioning. RESULTS: Participants who are blind used keyword-based search
strategies as their primary tool to seek information. Sighted users also used
keyword search techniques if they were unable to find the information using a
visual scan of the home page of a website. A proposed model based on the present
study for information seeking is described. CONCLUSIONS: Keywords are important
in the strategies used by both groups of participants and providing these common
and consistent keywords in locations that are accessible to the users may be
useful for efficient information searching. The observations suggest that there
may be a difference in how users search a website that is familiar compared to
one that is unfamiliar.
CI - (c) 2011 Informa UK, Ltd.
Aveugle - Cécité

Langue : ANGLAIS