VizAbility: Multimodal Accessible Data Visualization with Keyboard Navigation and Conversational Interaction
Year: 2023
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Data visualization serves as a crucial tool for communicating important information in our society. Yet, as visualizations grow more complex, they become less accessible to individuals with visual impairments. Traditional accessibility approaches like alternative text and data tables often fall short of capturing the full potential of data visualization. To bridge this gap, we introduce VizAbility, a novel multimodal accessible system that combines keyboard navigation with conventional interaction, enabling individuals with visual impairments to actively engage with and explore data visualizations. We built an LLM-based pipeline that classifies user queries and synthesizes underlying data, chart structure, user locality, and web-based information to answer the queries. Our preliminary evaluation using real-world questions from blind individuals demonstrates the significant potential of VizAbility.
Authors: Joshua Gorniak, Jacob Ottiger, Donglai Wei, Nam Wook Kim
Institution: Boston College
Language: English
Subfield: Human Factors and Ergonomics
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4388192082