Inclusion by Accessible Social Media - Use of Social Media by People with Visual Impairments: Usage Levels, Attitudes and Barriers - Fuglerud, Kristin Skeide (f)

1. Use of Social Media
by People with Visual Impairments:
Usage Levels, Attitudes and Barriers
ICCHP 2012, Linz
Kristin Skeide Fuglerud,
Norwegian Computing Center (NR)
Ingvar Tjøstheim, Norwegian Computing Center
Birkir Rúnar Gunnarsson, Blindrafelagid
Morten Tollefsen, MediaLT

2. Introduction
• Social media is an important arena for
participation in society
• This presentation is based on results from two
surveys conducted in two R&D projects:
• IVIS supported by Nordforsk
• NetCitizen supported by the Research
Council of Norway.

3. Two surveys about social media usage (1)
• A representative telephone survey (IVIS project)
• Participants drawn from member list of the
Norwegian Association for the Blind and
Partially sighted (NABP).
• 150 respondents
• Questions with predefined answer
alternatives

4. Two surveys about social media usage (2)
• A web survey among disabled (WebCitizen project)
• Recruited through e-mailing lists, Facebook and
the project webpages
• 101 answers, 70% visually impaired
• Open ended questions

5. Results telephone survey I
Access to mobile phone and PC
• 99% of visually impaired in NABP (Norway)
had a mobile phone
• Access to a PC
• 58% blind
• 73% severe visual impairment
• 77% moderate visual impairment
• 94% General population

6. Results telephone survey II
Types of services
• Facebook 90%
• Windows messenger 80%
• Skype 65%
• Twitter 10%
• YouTube 10%

7. Results telephone survey IV
Usage in age groups
• 15-24 years (general population)
• 90% (96%) used Facebook
• 100% used text-messages (SMS)
• 45% used mobile apps
• Across all age groups
• 20% (21%) used mobile apps

8. Results telephone survey V
Motivation for use of social media
The motivation is associated with
• how easy or difficult it is to use social
media
• the possibility of interacting with peers
and other VI through social media.

9. Results web survey I
Accessibility and usability barriers
• Most comments referred to
Facebook
• Capthca is a major barrier
• Difficult navigation
• Buttons and interaction
elements lacking alternative
texts

10. Results web survey II
Accessibility and usability barriers
• Emoticons (e.g. smileys is not
interpreted by screen readers)
• Most apps and computer games integrated
in FB were inaccessible
• User generated content, such as uploaded
pictures etc. lacked alternative texts.

11. Results web survey III
Other issues
• Problems associated with web 2.0
technology (AJAX)
• Reloading parts of the web page
• Frequently changing interfaces
• Lack of training opportunities and
documentation for AT users
• Many visually impaired people prefer the
mobile web interface
• Easier and more accessible
• Less functionality

12. Results web survey V: Added value
“… I use what I have learnt on Facebook
when I later meet people face to face,
and this has made it much easier for
Example: me to follow and understand the
Pregnancy context of conversations. It has also
become much easier to keep in touch
with people I otherwise would not have
had the resources to keep in contact
with. For me, Facebook provides the
opportunity for a more active social life
out in “real life”.

13. Discussion
• The usage level of social media among the
young not far behind the rest of the population
• Does this mean that social media is fairly
accessible?
- The surveys reveals many difficulties
- Visually impaired use the mobile interface
with less functionality
- Strong motivation to use social media

14. Conclusion
 Quite high usage of social media among visually
impaired people in Norway despite difficulties,
probably due to high motivation and mobile
interfaces.
 Many of the accessibility and usability challenges are
known, could have been addressed by adherence to
existing guidelines
 Better accessibility guidelines alone is not enough
 Important to ensure a participatory and user centred
design process, involving various stakeholders

15. Thanks for your attention!
Comments?
Questions?
Please contact
Kristin Skeide Fuglerud
Head of e-Inclusion
Norwegian Computing Center
E-mail: kristin.skeide.fuglerud@nr.no