A comprehensive digital environment for visually impaired students: user's perspectives

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the perception of visually impaired undergraduate students about the digital environment in their institutions and develop an online information system suiting their requirements. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted on undergraduate students enrolled in ten colleges of the University of Delhi. A total of 95 visually impaired students were interviewed individually. Data collected from the respondents were analyzed and interpreted using simple percentage method and is presented in the form of figures. Findings The study found that maximum (35.8 percent) respondents access online electronic resources daily. Major constraints faced by them are as follows: inaccessibility of the college notice board, lack of accessibility to existing facilities and resources, lack of assistive technology facilities and unavailability of readers and writers. In total, 51.6 percent respondents indicated that it is cumbersome to access the college website because they are not designed according to the accessibility standards developed for visually impaired students. The respondents also revealed that they are not very familiar with useful devices like Vachak (Hindi Reading Device), SARA CE, Lex (Scanner for Hindi Script). The major reason cited by them is the lack of training and non-availability of trained staff. Research limitations/implications DigitVaran contains course contents of the University of Delhi. Course contents of other Universities are not included. However, it is expected that contents related to the syllabi of other universities would be added in future. Practical implications The study will help visually impaired students to get the desired course contents conveniently. In addition, librarians of other universities can utilize the findings of the study to develop a comprehensive digital environment for visually impaired students. The study can be helpful in the assessment of digital infrastructure and services to visually impaired students by National Assessment and Accreditation Council and other funding agencies. Originality/value The study developed an information system DigitVaran to assist visually impaired undergraduate students in India. The system will help them to access the study materials and make aware of various extracurricular activities of the institutions.