TalkingCards: Using Tactile NFC Cards for Accessible Brainstorming

Few accessible methods to support brainstorming sessions for blind and visually impaired users exist. We present an approach consisting of a smartphone application and tangible near field communication (NFC) cards enhanced with an additional layer by using different tactile materials. With the smartphone application blind and visually impaired users can write information, like ideas in brainstorming sessions, on NFC cards using speech recognition or voice recording. Text stored on the cards can also be read out loud with the application by using text to speech synthesis. The approach was developed based on a user centered design process with strong participation of blind and visually impaired users. It is low cost, lightweight and easily transportable. Evaluation results show that the approach is fun, easy to use and appreciated by the users. It can be used by blind and visually impaired people for tasks which require spatial arrangement of information, thus supporting accessible brainstorming sessions.

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