Designing interactive content with blind users for a perceptual supplementation system

Abstract : With the spread of ICT and the Internet during the last two decades, more and more tools rely on graphical interfaces that make them scarcely accessible to the visually impaired. The ITOIP project aims at developing the use of a tactile perceptual supplementation system called Tactos. A partnership with a visually impaired persons (VIP) association allows us to conduct a participatory design approach intended to gather first community of users around our system. This article reports on the design approach we have implemented in order to develop usable and useful applications for VIP users. Through a rapid prototyping process we address the development of the use of our technology with blind users representatives. We present the interaction and use principles highlighted from the design of three Tactos applications: a tutorial, a street maps exploration system and a country level map application.