SIM-SR - Semiotic Inspection Method Mediated by Screen Reader: Analysing the Benefits of Bringing Communicability to the Accessibility Evaluation Table

Abstract

Accessibility--> inspection methods provide an important complement to user evaluations in the development of interactive systems. However, many inspection methods tend to focus on violations of guidelines and are limited in conveying the impact of such problems when delivering their results. Drawing from the theoretical framework of Semiotic Engineering of Human–Computer Interaction, this paper presents SIM-SR—Semiotic Inspection Method Mediated by Screen Reader and an investigation to collect indicators about the method’s applicability and insights it can generate. In order to assess its applicability, we conducted three case studies employing the method, analysing how aspects of accessibility and communicability were approached and results generated. Regarding SIM-SR insights, we used WCAG 2.1 criteria to discuss how communicative breakdowns relate to accessibility guidelines and their impact. Our results show that SIM-SR went beyond identifying guidelines violations and led evaluators to consider the impact of accessibility issues on the system’s communicability and different levels of communicative breakdowns that users with visual disabilities could experience during interaction.