Bridging the digital divide for deaf signer users

Motivation -- In order to design strategies to overcome deaf signer users' digital divide, the authors portray an overview of some of the cognitive processing characteristics of this type of users during Web information search based on insights gained from the Cogniweb project's empirical research. Research approach -- Critical review of 5 experiments on Web Information Search which manipulated system and users' variables. Findings/Design -- The results highlight the relevance of 3 cognitive factors as predictors of Web information search efficiency for deaf people: reading skills, verbal categorization abilities and visual-spatial span. Additionally, the results suggest that the usage of textual hyperlinks linked to videos with their Sing Language translations seems to be an efficient Web navigation mechanism for deaf signer users. Research limitations/Implications -- A small number of deaf signer users participated in the set of studies, which limited a possible generalisation of the findings. Originality/Value -- The research makes a contribution to the knowledge about how cognitive and systems factors interact and how this knowledge can be used to increase Web information scents for deaf signer people. Take away message -- Need of researchers to investigate Sign Language navigation mechanisms as an alternative to overcome the digital divide for users of linguistic minorities like deaf signers.

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