ing as cotemporaneous notes were taken. These sessions were conducted in Sara’s home, where she demonstrated tasks and shared her feelings about the artifacts used. Adapting Blythe et al.’s “Technology Biographies” 4 in these sessions, particularly “ Technology Tours,” “Personal History,” and “Guided Speculation,” we asked Sara to choose software and non-software artifacts to demonstrate and discuss.

She shared her BrailleNote, a chordal keyboard combined with refresh-able Braille display and voice output, and demonstrated how she reads and writes using the device. She showed how she uses her cellphone to send and receive phone calls. She demonstrated her use of a Braille labeler to create embossed Braille tape she used to label the buttons on a microwave. She showed how she uses her Language Master (a voice-output electronic dictionary), including how she uses it as a thesaurus, to play games, and to look up words. She discussed her CD collection and demonstrated how she searches for and plays CDs. She demonstrated her screen-reading software (Job Access With Speech, or JAWS) by navigating a class-discussion Web site. She demonstrated how she uses plastic measuring cups for everyday cooking tasks and how she tells time using her tactile wristwatch.

We applied the Technology Tours, which involves asking how these items are used (“How would you go to a link in a Web page using JAWS?)” and observing her use of the object while concurrently listening to (and recording) her descriptions of her own actions. Using Personal History questions, we asked her to recall early memories about each object, as well as how she felt when she used it. Finally, using Guided Speculation, we asked her to describe any desire she had for each object or task in the future. Adapting Technology Biographies to our setting, we borrowed a protocol suited to a context-specific elicitation of tech-nologies-in-use that are part of Sara’s everyday world.

Sara demonstrated and discussed a variety of digital and non-digital artifacts she selected herself. We asked her to select them for two reasons: First, it allowed her to choose those she felt comfortable with and that

We focus our
data collection
and analysis
on the kinds of
workarounds
a nonsighted
person adopts
in carrying out
everyday
tasks and their
implications
for design.

were personally important to share in the context of the study. Second, allowing this breadth of artifacts extended the range of observations and topics discussed, contributing to the depth of the analysis of her interactions overall. In this sense, we can be confident that insights we draw across these digital and non-digital artifacts are representative of Sara’s character and intentions.

Analysis

Throughout our note-taking and de-briefings of interview sessions, we worked iteratively to capture our insights about limitations and workarounds, validating early conjectures with the subsequent data we collected. We shared our insights with Sara in subsequent interviews, soliciting her feedback and asking for additional clarification. We provide a brief example of this type of analysis for both a digital and a non-digital object in the remainder of this section.

We also summarize a sample of the data and insights from Sara’s interactions in the table here. For most of the actions demonstrated, Sara had a workaround in situations where the default method failed her. For instance, with JAWS, Sara implemented a method of retracing her steps again until she was able to accomplish her task. Similarly, she navigated her extensive CD collection through a mix of spatially memorized locations and linear search. In each interaction, she negotiates efficient ways to accomplish her tasks. Other objects, such as tactile watch, cellphone, and labeler, reflect the importance of social context and independence on her choice of object and task or as a cause of frustration.

Tactile watch. Sara’s tactile watch has Braille-like dots to mark the time on a clock face and a clear glass cover over it to protect the dots and watch hands. She easily flips open the lid to feel the time the hands point to. Interviews revealed her desire to avoid the kind of attention a talking digital watch might attract.

Sara: “I have a couple of talking watches, too. I just feel, I don’t know like, I have a weird thing, I don’t want to say that it’s a bad thing or in any way put those things down, but I personally feel sort of embarrassed when I have to