The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $400,000 Project Grant under its Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CFDA 47.070) program to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for a 2-year project, commencing on October 1, 2024. This project investigates methods and systems that enable blind and low-vision (BLV) users to build richer, customized representations of data spanning multiple sensory modes (text, audio, and tactile). The goal is to empower BLV individuals to engage in data analysis as effectively as sighted users, by allowing them to specify desired data depictions that the underlying system will then generate. The research will involve qualitative studies to understand current practices of BLV data analysts, co-design workshops to elicit BLV user expectations, and the development of computational abstractions for multisensory data representations. The project outcomes, including open-source software, will be made available to facilitate broad adoption and impact.
Generated 3/4/25, 6:38 AM