An Accessible User Interface Concept for Non-Verbal and Spatial Aspects of Business Meetings for Blind and Visually Impaired People

Abstract

Business meetings are an integral part ofwork life. While the modus operandi has changed over the course of the past years and decades, shifting from meetings with analog tools like flipcharts to digital aids like projectors or large touch displays mounted to walls, some aspects have stayed the same: Information does not only get exchanged verbally. Visual information like flipcharts but also non-verbal communication and spatial information are deemed essential information. This information is basically inaccessibly to blind and visually impaired people, which renders business meetings inaccessible to them as well. Consequentially, BVIPs have a tremendous disadvantage in their professional life. While research has been concerned with the mitigation of single aspects of the whole problem, especially with tracking all types of information, no comprehensive and user-friendly user interface approach has been developed. This paper proposes an accessible user interface approach facilitating affordable off-the-shelf hardware, which allows access to visual, non-verbal and spatial aspects of business meetings in a user-friendly manner and presents a fully functional prototype called MAPVI brainstorming tool.