ABSTRACT Exploring the Usability Issues Encountered by Individuals with Visual Impairments on Social Networking Sites: Problem Description, System Evaluation and Semantic Web Solution by Julian Brinkley April, 2014 Director of Thesis: Dr. M. H. Nassehzadeh Tabrizi Major Department: Computer Science While social networking sites (SNSs) like Facebook are widely used and have been broadly studied, investigations of their use by individuals with visual impairments are scarce within the academic literature. Anecdotal complaints regarding their usability however can be found in abundance online; an extension of the well documented difficulty that users with visual impairments have in interacting with the web generally relative to the sighted. The investigation of this issue began with a pilot study of the online behavioral habits of 46 internet users; 26 of whom self-identified as having a visual impairment (either blind or low vision). This was followed by an ethnographic usability study of the Facebook mobile interface, involving six blind participants, using JAWS screen reading software on desktop computers. Of the features evaluated participants were most severely challenged by the process of creating a user profile and identifying other users with whom to establish relationships. A portable profile architecture based on semantic web technologies is presented as a potential solution that may improve usability by decoupling the profile and relationship maintenance activity from any single system. Exploring the Usability Issues Encountered by Individuals with Visual Impairments on Social Networking Sites: Problem Description, System Evaluation and Semantic Web Solution A Thesis Presented To the Faculty of the Department of Department of Computer Science East Carolina University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Software Engineering by Julian Brinkley April, 2014 ©Copyright 2014 Julian Brinkley Exploring the Usability Issues Encountered by Individuals with Visual Impairments on Social Networking Sites: Problem Description, System Evaluation and Semantic Web Solution by Julian Brinkley APPROVED BY: DIRECTOR OF DISSERTATION/THESIS: ______________________________________________________________________________ M. H. N. Tabrizi, PhD COMMITTEE MEMBER: ______________________________________________________________________________ Junhua Ding, PhD COMMITTEE MEMBER: ______________________________________________________________________________ Sergiy Vilkomir, PhD CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE: ______________________________________________________________________________ Karl Abrahamson, PhD DEAN OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL: ______________________________________________________________________________ Paul J. Gemperline, PhD ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my wife, Nathalie Brinkley, for her patience and support during the research process. I would also like to thank Dr. M. H. N. Tabrizi for his tremendous guidance during my graduate studies and Jennifer Jacobs for the instrumental logistical support that she provided. Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES…………………………….…………………………………………………x LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………………….xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND AND RELATED WORK ........................................................... 3 2.1 Visual Impairment ............................................................................................................ 3 2.2 Accessibility versus Usability .......................................................................................... 3 2.2.1 Accessibility Technology.......................................................................................... 7 2.2.2 Screen Reading Software .......................................................................................... 7 2.3 Social Networking Sites ................................................................................................. 10 2.3.1 SNSs and Disabled Users........................................................................................ 11 2.3.2 Facebook ................................................................................................................. 13 2.3.3 Scenario: Screen Reader Social Networking Interaction ........................................ 16 CHAPTER 3: ONLINE SURVEY ............................................................................................... 20 3.1 Method ........................................................................................................................... 20 3.1.1 Participants .............................................................................................................. 20 3.1.2 Procedure ................................................................................................................ 23 3.2 Results ............................................................................................................................ 23 3.2.1 Information Seeking and Online Exploratory Behavior ......................................... 23 3.2.2 Website Usage Habits ............................................................................................. 28 3.2.3 Use of Social Networking Sites .............................................................................. 30 3.3 Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER 4: ETHNOGRAPHIC USABILITY STUDY OF THE FACEBOOK SNS .............. 32 4.1 Study Design .................................................................................................................. 32 4.2 Method ........................................................................................................................... 36 4.2.1 Participants .............................................................................................................. 36 4.2.2 Apparatus ................................................................................................................ 37 4.2.3 Procedure ................................................................................................................ 38 4.3 Results ............................................................................................................................ 48 4.3.1 Scenario 1 – Profile Creation .................................................................................. 50 4.3.2 Scenario 2 – Social Search ...................................................................................... 54 4.3.3 Scenario 3 – Information Sharing ........................................................................... 58 4.3.4 Scenario 4 – Privacy, Terms and Conditions and Account Visibility .................... 59 4.3.5 Post Scenario Interview and System Usability Scale Questionnaire ...................... 59 4.4 Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 62 4.4.1 Limitations .............................................................................................................. 62 4.4.2 Overview of Identified Usability Issues ................................................................. 62 4.4.3 Implications............................................................................................................. 63 CHAPTER 5: PORTABLE PROFILE ARCHITECTURE .......................................................... 64 5.1 Related Work.................................................................................................................. 64 5.1.1 Linked Data ............................................................................................................. 64 5.2 Portable Profile Architecture (Personal Profile Manager) ............................................. 70 5.2.1 System Components................................................................................................ 71 5.3 Use Case: Portable Social Network Profile.................................................................... 72 5.4 Implementation: eXtensible Accessible Portable Profile Application ........................... 73 5.5 Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 80 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 81 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 82 APPENDIX A: Online Survey.................................................................................................... 101 APPENDIX B: Informed Consent Document ............................................................................ 108 APPENDIX C: Facebook Usability Test Screener ..................................................................... 111 APPENDIX D: Study Checklist ................................................................................................. 115 APPENDIX E: Post Task Questionnaire .................................................................................... 116 APPENDIX F: System Usability Scale Questionnaire ............................................................... 117 APPENDIX G: Post Scenario Questionnaire ............................................................................