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Date: | Mon, 5 Nov 2001 13:44:40 +0100 |
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Hi,
my name is Olof Öberg and I am a computer science student
with an interest in cognitive science.
Right now I am researching how one could make a user
interface to a document management system tailored for
someone that is blind.
A document management system keeps track of all changes
that have been made to a document so that one can undo
changes or look back at what has changed and when it changed.
In short the system keeps a history of changes to a
document.
For a non-blind user this can be accomplished by visualizing
the history of a document as a graph where the nodes are
the document at specific times in the history. The edges of
the graph naturally symbolize the changes made and visualizes
that two (or more in some cases) nodes are each others'
predecessor and successor, respectively.
Now my problem is to make this user interface comprehensible
to someone that can not see.
I have this prejudice that more complex spatial mental
representations are based on the ability that one has actually
seen it or something similar.
For example, I (who is not blind) have mental images of the
above mentioned graph that almost completely resembles the one
I have seen. The same happens if I try to create a mental image
of the road I would take to get down to the university from
where I live.
One can see the graph mentioned above to be like the road to
school. Every street corner, or where one has a choice of
direction, is a node in the graph and the road the edges in
the graph.
My question is how a blind person would create that mental
image. If one has become blind later in life the process is
probably similar to mine, but if one has never seen a visual
representation of the graph how would it be thought about?
I am interested in any personal experience that explains the
process used to navigate and manipulate something that
resembles a graph. This can be organizing gadgets on a desktop
(real or virtual) or even better understanding the organization
of an unknown desktop.
If anyone can point me to any research done on the subject that
would be helpful too.
Thanks in advance, Olof.
--
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