Towards building cyber-human systems for individuals with visual impairment

A lot of strides have been made in enabling technologies to aid individuals with visual impairment live an independent life. The advent of smart devices and participatory web has especially facilitated the possibility of new interactions to aide everyday tasks. Current systems however tend to be complex and require multiple cumbersome devices which invariably come with steep learning curves. Building new cyber-human systems with simple integrated interfaces while keeping in mind the specific requirements of the target users would help alleviate their mundane yet significant daily needs. Navigation is one such significant need that forms an integral part of everyday life and is one of the areas where individuals with visual impairment face the most discomfort. There is little technology out there to help travelers with navigating new routes. A number of research prototypes have been proposed but none of them are available to the general population. This may be due to the need for special equipment that needs expertise before deployment, or trained professionals needing to calibrate devices or because of the fact that the systems are just not scalable. Another area that needs assistance is the field of education. Lot of the classroom material and textbook material is not readily available in alternate formats for use. Another such area that requires attention is information delivery in the age of web 2.0. Popular websites like Facebook, Amazon, etc are designed with sighted people as target audience. While the mobile editions with their pared down versions make it easier to navigate with screen readers, the truth remains that there is still a long way to go in making such websites truly accessible.