A new way to make graphs more accessible to blind and low-vision readers

Bar graphs and different charts present a easy strategy to talk knowledge, however are, by definition, troublesome to translate for readers who’re blind or low-vision. Designers have developed strategies for changing these visuals into “tactile charts,” however tips for doing so are in depth (for instance, the Braille Authority of North America’s 2022 guidebook is 426 pages lengthy). The method additionally requires understanding various kinds of software program, as designers usually draft their chart in applications like Adobe Illustrator after which translate it into Braille utilizing one other utility.

Researchers from MIT’s Pc Science and Synthetic Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have now developed an strategy that streamlines the design course of for tactile chart designers. Their program, known as “Tactile Vega-Lite,” can take knowledge from one thing like an Excel spreadsheet and switch it into each a regular visible chart and a touch-based one. Design requirements are hardwired as default guidelines inside the program to assist educators and designers robotically create accessible tactile charts.

The instrument may make it simpler for blind and low-vision readers to know many graphics, akin to a bar chart evaluating minimal wages throughout states or a line graph monitoring international locations’ GDPs over time. To carry your designs to the true world, you’ll be able to tweak your chart in Tactile Vega-Lite after which ship its file to a Braille embosser (which prints textual content as readable dots).

This spring, the researchers will current Tactile Vega-Lite in a paper on the Affiliation of Computing Equipment Convention on Human Elements in Computing Programs. In accordance with lead writer Mengzhu “Katie” Chen SM ’25, the instrument strikes a steadiness between the precision that design professionals need for modifying and the effectivity educators have to create tactile charts rapidly.

“We interviewed lecturers who needed to make their classes accessible to blind and low-vision college students, and designers skilled in placing collectively tactile charts,” says Chen, a latest CSAIL affiliate and grasp’s graduate in electrical engineering and laptop science and the Program in System Design and Administration. “Since their wants differ, we designed a program that’s simple to make use of, supplies on the spot suggestions if you need to make tweaks, and implements accessibility tips.”

Knowledge you’ll be able to really feel

The researchers’ program builds off of their 2017 visualization instrument Vega-Lite by robotically encoding each a flat, commonplace chart and a tactile one. Senior writer and MIT postdoc Jonathan Zong SM ’20, PhD ’24 factors out that this system makes intuitive design selections so customers don’t should.

“Tactile Vega-Lite has sensible defaults to make sure correct spacing, structure, and texture and Braille conversion, following greatest practices to create good touch-based studying experiences,” says Zong, who can also be a fellow on the Berkman Klein Heart for Web and Society at Harvard College and an incoming assistant professor on the College of Colorado. “Constructing on current tips and our interviews with specialists, the objective is for lecturers or visible designers with out a number of tactile design experience to rapidly convey knowledge in a transparent method for tactile readers to discover and perceive.”

Tactile Vega-Lite’s code editor permits customers to customise axis labels, tick marks, and different parts. Completely different options inside the chart are represented by abstractions — or summaries of an extended physique of code — that may be modified. These shortcuts mean you can write transient phrases that tweak the design of your chart. For instance, if you wish to change how the bars in your graph are stuffed out, you could possibly change the code within the “Texture” part from “dottedFill” to “verticalFill” to switch small circles with upward traces.

To know how these abstractions work, the researchers added a gallery of examples. Every one features a phrase and what change that code results in. Nonetheless, the staff is trying to refine Tactile Vega-Lite’s person interface to make it extra accessible to customers much less aware of coding. As a substitute of utilizing abstractions for edits, you could possibly click on on totally different buttons.

Chen says she and her colleagues are hoping so as to add machine-specific customizations to their program. This could permit customers to preview how their tactile chart would look earlier than it’s fabricated by an embossing machine and make edits based on the machine’s specs.

Whereas Tactile Vega-Lite can streamline the numerous steps it normally takes to make a tactile chart, Zong emphasizes that it doesn’t change an skilled doing a ultimate check-over for guideline compliance. The researchers are persevering with to include Braille design guidelines into their program, however warning that human assessment will possible stay the perfect apply.

“The flexibility to design tactile graphics effectively, significantly with out specialised software program, is essential for offering equal entry of knowledge to tactile readers,” says Stacy Fontenot, proprietor of Font to Dot, who wasn’t concerned within the analysis. “Graphics that comply with present tips and requirements are useful for the reader as consistency is paramount, particularly with complicated, data-filled graphics. Tactile Vega-Lite has a simple interface for creating informative tactile graphics rapidly and precisely, thereby lowering the design time in offering high quality graphics to tactile readers.”

Chen and Zong wrote the paper with Isabella Pineros ’23, MEng ’24 and MIT Affiliate Professor Arvind Satyanarayan. The researchers’ work was supported by a Nationwide Science Basis grant.

The CSAIL staff additionally included enter from Wealthy Caloggero from MIT’s Incapacity and Entry Companies, in addition to the Lighthouse for the Blind, which allow them to observe technical design workflows as a part of the undertaking.