Avaliação de usabilidade do sistema Dosvox na interação de cegos com a web

Abstract

This report presents development and results of a research about usability of Dosvox, free system developed in the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and used by blind people in the performance of their tasks with the use of computers, including the interaction with the Web. Through exploratory research based on the observation of the interaction of blind students with the Web, usability problems were identified in the Dosvox interface and in the Webvox, that is a program which is part of the system and is used to access the electronic sites on the Web. While there has been a major concern to develop the Dosvox with focus on novice users, structured interviews with the system developers discovered that the problems were related to the fact that the interface is designed in accordance with the mental model of these Information Technology professionals. This fact hampers its use by people less accustomed to these concepts. In addition to these results, information found on observation of blind specialists in accessibility using Dosvox in the interaction with the Web was realized. After this observation, structured interviews were conducted, an other problems in the system were highlighted, added to proposals of usability improving to Dosvox.