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