Kyrie Zhixuan Zhou's Preliminary Examination
PhD candidate Kyrie Zhixuan Zhou will present their proposal defense, "A Pragmatic and Human-centered Approach to Promoting Software Accessibility: Design, Education, Governance." Zhou's preliminary examination committee includes Assistant Professor Madelyn Rose Sanfilippo, chair and co-director of research; Associate Professor Rachel F. Adler, co-director of research; Professor Ted Underwood; Assistant Professor Jessie Chin; Professor Michael Twidale; and Assistant Professor Xin Tong, Duke Kunshan University.
Abstract:
Software are often designed without explicitly considering accessibility, effectively creating barriers to use for people with disabilities. Extensive literature has been devoted to the design, education, and governance of accessibility. However, myriad accessibility pitfalls are still present in software in the wild. Best practices to promote software accessibility deserve further interrogation. This dissertation pragmatically promotes software accessibility through design guidelines, classroom teaching/education outreach, and governance recommendations under the broader framework of "engaged scholarship." Design-wise, we will elicit accessibility design guidelines from formative studies with cancer survivors with impairments, which designers and developers can easily implement in the design process. Education-wise, we will use disability simulation games to teach high school students and undergraduate information science majors about software accessibility. Governance-wise, we will conduct a comparative institutional analysis to understand how accessibility laws and accessibility guidelines fall short and inconsistent and submit policy comments to relevant government departments.