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Dissertation © Copyright 2016 Kyle Rector Enhancing Quality of Life for People who are Blind or Low Vision Using Computing Technology Kyle Rector A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2016 Reading Committee: Julie A. Kientz, Chair Richard E. Ladner, Chair Jennifer Mankoff Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Computer Science and Engineering University of Washington Abstract Enhancing Quality of Life for People who are Blind or Low Vision Using Computing Technology Kyle K. Rector Chairs of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Richard E. Ladner, Associate Professor Julie A. Kientz Computer Science and Engineering, Human Centered Design & Engineering People who are blind or low vision may have a harder time participating in activities that enhance quality of life due to inaccessibility, travel difficulties, or lack of experience. Enhancing quality of life allows people to complete and enjoy activities that they view as important such as exercise, education, or engaging in culture. The goal of this dissertation is to present the artifacts and studies that give insights to help people who are blind or low vision engage in these activities. First, I present an empirical investigation where I employed Value Sensitive Design. My Value Sensitive Design work involved 20 semi-structured interviews and a 76-person survey to learn about the opportunities and challenges for exercise technologies. I present four new themes I discovered through this work. Then, I present Eyes-Free Yoga, an accessible yoga coach that provides personalized real-time feedback on yoga postures and auditory motivations including levels, achievements, and reminders. Using 3D camera technology, I captured a person’s posture and used the expertise of yoga instructors to determine personalized feedback. I developed the motivations based on the persuasive technology literature. I conducted a 16-person laboratory study and found that 13 preferred the personalized feedback to no feedback. I also conducted a 4- person 8-week in-home deployment study and found that all four participants used Eyes-Free Yoga consistently and felt that motivations enhanced their workouts. Then, I present Eyes-Free Art, a proxemic audio interface that helps people who are blind or low vision interactively explore 2D paintings. Using 3D camera technology, I captured a user’s distance from the painting and physical gestures to present different audio representations: background music, interactive sonification of colors, interactive sound effects, and detailed verbal description. I conducted a 13-person laboratory study and found that 11 of the 13 participants preferred Eyes-Free Art to only a verbal description. In this dissertation, I provide supporting evidence for my thesis statement: “When applied to quality of life for people who are blind or low vision, interactive technologies support an increase in enjoyment, an increase in the amount of time engaged in the activity, people to learn more about the activity, independent access to the activity, and multiple stakeholders.” TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. ix Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Motivation ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Thesis Statement ............................................................................................................. 3 1.3 Research Questions and Approaches .............................................................................. 3 1.3.1 Value Sensitive Design of Exercise for People who are Blind or Low Vision .......... 4 1.3.2 Eyes-Free Yoga ........................................................................................................... 5 1.3.3 Eyes-Free Art .............................................................................................................. 6 1.4 Contributions................................................................................................................... 7 1.5 Dissertation Overview .................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 2. Background and Related Work ................................................................................... 10 2.1 Computer Vision Technologies .................................................................................... 10 2.1.1 3D Camera Platform Technologies ........................................................................... 10 2.1.2 Computer Vision Based Activity Recognition Algorithms for 3D Platforms .......... 11 2.2 Quality of Life for People who are Blind or Low Vision ............................................. 12 2.3 Quality of Life in the HCI Literature ............................................................................ 13 2.4 Eyes-Free Exercise........................................................................................................ 15 2.4.1 HCI, Exergame, and Exercise Technologies ............................................................ 15 2.4.2 Eyes-Free Exercise Opportunities............................................................................. 17 i 2.4.3 Eyes-Free Exergame and Exercise Technologies ..................................................... 18 2.4.4 Eyes-Free Yoga Opportunities and Yoga Technologies ........................................... 20 2.5 Eyes-Free Art ................................................................................................................ 21 2.5.1 Current Eyes-Free Museum Opportunities ............................................................... 21 2.5.2 Sensory Substitution ................................................................................................. 23 2.5.3 HCI and Interactive Art ............................................................................................ 24 2.6 Chapter 2 Summary ...................................................................................................... 25 Chapter 3. Value Sensitive Design ............................................................................................... 27 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 27 3.2 Background of Value Sensitive Design ........................................................................ 29 3.2.1 Conceptual Investigation .......................................................................................... 30 3.2.2 Empirical Investigation ............................................................................................. 30 3.2.3 Technical Investigation ............................................................................................. 31 3.3 Researcher Stance ......................................................................................................... 31 3.4 Conceptual Investigation .............................................................................................. 31 3.4.1 Stakeholders .............................................................................................................. 31 3.4.2 Harms and Benefits ................................................................................................... 32 3.4.3 Values ....................................................................................................................... 32 3.5 Empirical Investigation Methods .................................................................................. 33 3.6 Results ........................................................................................................................... 36 3.6.1 Stakeholder Themes, Values, and Value Tensions ................................................... 36 3.6.2 General Population Response to Exercise Scenarios ................................................ 45 3.7 Technical Investigation ................................................................................................. 47 ii 3.8 Limitations and Future Work ........................................................................................ 51 3.9 Chapter 3 Summary ...................................................................................................... 52 Chapter 4. Eyes-Free Yoga Prototype and Lab Study .................................................................. 53 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 53 4.2 Eyes-Free Yoga Prototype Design ................................................................................ 55 4.2.1 Design Principles ...................................................................................................... 55 4.2.2 Technical Development ............................................................................................ 59 4.3 Validation of Accuracy ................................................................................................. 61 4.3.1 Study Methodology and Data Analysis ...................................................................
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