Emoji Accessibility for Visually Impaired People

Garreth W. Tigwell; Benjamin M. Gorman; Rachel Menzies

doi:10.1145/3313831.3376267

Emoji Accessibility for Visually Impaired People

Garreth W. Tigwell, Benjamin M. Gorman, Rachel Menzies

Computing

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Emoji are graphical symbols that appear in many aspects of our lives. Worldwide, around 36 million people are blind and 217 million have a moderate to severe visual impairment. This portion of the population may use and encounter emoji, yet it is unclear what accessibility challenges emoji introduce. We first conducted an online survey with 58 visually impaired participants to understand how they use and encounter emoji online, and the challenges they experience. We then conducted 11 interviews with screen reader users to understand more about the challenges reported in our survey findings. Our interview findings demonstrate that technology is both an enabler and a barrier, emoji descriptors can hinder communication, and therefore the use of emoji impacts social interaction. Using our findings from both studies, we propose best practice when using emoji and recommendations to improve the future accessibility of emoji for visually impaired people.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI '20
Subtitle of host publication	Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Place of Publication	New York
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Number of pages	14
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450367080
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376267
Publication status	Published - Apr 2020
Event	CHI 2020: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Hawaiʻi Convention Center, Oahu, United States Duration: 25 Apr 2020 → 30 Apr 2020 https://chi2020.acm.org/

Conference

Conference	CHI 2020
Abbreviated title	CHI 2020
Country/Territory	United States
City	Oahu
Period	25/04/20 → 30/04/20
Internet address	https://chi2020.acm.org/

Keywords

accessibility
cmc
emoji
visual impairments

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design
Human-Computer Interaction
Software

Access to Document

10.1145/3313831.3376267

Cite this

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title = "Emoji Accessibility for Visually Impaired People",

abstract = "Emoji are graphical symbols that appear in many aspects of our lives. Worldwide, around 36 million people are blind and 217 million have a moderate to severe visual impairment. This portion of the population may use and encounter emoji, yet it is unclear what accessibility challenges emoji introduce. We first conducted an online survey with 58 visually impaired participants to understand how they use and encounter emoji online, and the challenges they experience. We then conducted 11 interviews with screen reader users to understand more about the challenges reported in our survey findings. Our interview findings demonstrate that technology is both an enabler and a barrier, emoji descriptors can hinder communication, and therefore the use of emoji impacts social interaction. Using our findings from both studies, we propose best practice when using emoji and recommendations to improve the future accessibility of emoji for visually impaired people.",

keywords = "accessibility, cmc, emoji, visual impairments",

author = "Tigwell, {Garreth W.} and Gorman, {Benjamin M.} and Rachel Menzies",

note = "Funding Information: We thank our participants for taking part in this research, and to Erin Brady for supporting early stages of this work. This research was awarded funding via the Bournemouth University ACORN (Acceleration Of Research & Networking) Fund. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 ACM. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.; CHI 2020 : Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems , CHI 2020 ; Conference date: 25-04-2020 Through 30-04-2020",

year = "2020",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1145/3313831.3376267",

language = "English",

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AU - Tigwell, Garreth W.

AU - Gorman, Benjamin M.

AU - Menzies, Rachel

N1 - Funding Information: We thank our participants for taking part in this research, and to Erin Brady for supporting early stages of this work. This research was awarded funding via the Bournemouth University ACORN (Acceleration Of Research & Networking) Fund. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 ACM. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2020/4

Y1 - 2020/4

N2 - Emoji are graphical symbols that appear in many aspects of our lives. Worldwide, around 36 million people are blind and 217 million have a moderate to severe visual impairment. This portion of the population may use and encounter emoji, yet it is unclear what accessibility challenges emoji introduce. We first conducted an online survey with 58 visually impaired participants to understand how they use and encounter emoji online, and the challenges they experience. We then conducted 11 interviews with screen reader users to understand more about the challenges reported in our survey findings. Our interview findings demonstrate that technology is both an enabler and a barrier, emoji descriptors can hinder communication, and therefore the use of emoji impacts social interaction. Using our findings from both studies, we propose best practice when using emoji and recommendations to improve the future accessibility of emoji for visually impaired people.

AB - Emoji are graphical symbols that appear in many aspects of our lives. Worldwide, around 36 million people are blind and 217 million have a moderate to severe visual impairment. This portion of the population may use and encounter emoji, yet it is unclear what accessibility challenges emoji introduce. We first conducted an online survey with 58 visually impaired participants to understand how they use and encounter emoji online, and the challenges they experience. We then conducted 11 interviews with screen reader users to understand more about the challenges reported in our survey findings. Our interview findings demonstrate that technology is both an enabler and a barrier, emoji descriptors can hinder communication, and therefore the use of emoji impacts social interaction. Using our findings from both studies, we propose best practice when using emoji and recommendations to improve the future accessibility of emoji for visually impaired people.

KW - accessibility

KW - cmc

KW - emoji

KW - visual impairments

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DO - 10.1145/3313831.3376267

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:85091275185

BT - CHI '20

PB - Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

CY - New York

T2 - CHI 2020

Y2 - 25 April 2020 through 30 April 2020

ER -

Emoji Accessibility for Visually Impaired People

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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