Touchscreen computing devices such as the iPhone are becoming more common. However this technology is largely inaccessible to people with visual impairments. We present the results of a requirements capture study that illustrates the problems with touchscreen accessibility, and the choices visually impaired people make when choosing assistive technology. We investigate ways of overcoming touchscreen accessibility problems by comparing a raised paper overlay touchscreen based MP3 player, with a touchscreen gesture based player. Twelve blindfolded participants, and one visually impaired person, were able to operate both players, though there were problems with short impact related operations in the gesture player. From our results we provide guidelines for future designers, to help them exploit the potential of touchscreen technology for visually impaired people.

Abstract.We introduce the concept of Audio Bubbles -virtual spheres filled with audio that are geocentered on physical landmarks, providing navigational homing information for a user to more easily locate the landmark. We argue that the way in which tourists navigate is not well supported by traditional visual maps, and that Audio Bubbles better support the serendipitous discovery and homing behaviours exhibited in such tourist activities. We present a study comparing Audio Bubbles to a visual map in a real world navigation task. Navigation with Audio Bubbles appeared to be faster and was preferred by most of the participants. We discuss the findings and outline our future development plans.

PDF/A is an ISO-standardized version of the Portable Document Format (PDF) specialized for the digital preservation of electronic documents. The extension in the file name is pdf. PDF/A differs from "normal" PDF in that features ill-suited for long-term archiving are omitted. PDF/A embeds all fonts used in the document within the PDF file, so that the user of your file will not have to have the same fonts that you used to create the file installed on their computer in order to read it. Recommended versions are PDF/A-1a, -1b, -2a or -2b.PDF/A conversion -how to convert files to the PDF/A -format using different tools Microsoft Word (Office) and PDF-Xchange pro/Editor are installed on all Windows workstations managed by Aalto IT.

Abstract. We present the results of an investigation into the role of curated representations of self, which we term Digital Selfs, in augmented multi-party face-to-face interactions. Advancements in wearable technologies (such as Head-Mounted Displays) have renewed interest in augmenting face-toface interaction with digital content. However, existing work focuses on algorithmic matching between users, based on data-mining shared interests from individuals' social media accounts, which can cause information that might be inappropriate or irrelevant to be disclosed to others. An alternative approach is to allow users to manually curate the digital augmentation they wish to present to others, allowing users to present those aspects of self that are most important to them and avoid undesired disclosure. Through interviews, video analysis, questionnaires and device logging, of 23 participants in 6 multi-party gatherings where individuals were allowed to freely mix, we identified how users created Digital Selfs from media largely outside existing social media accounts, and how Digital Selfs presented through HMDs were employed in multi-party interactions, playing key roles in facilitating strangers to interact with each other. We present guidance for the design of future multi-party digital augmentations in collaborative scenarios.

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