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An Accessible Blocks Language: Work in Progress

Authors:

Varsha Koushik,

Clayton LewisAuthors Info & Claims

ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

Pages 317 - 318

https://doi.org/10.1145/2982142.2982150

Published: 23 October 2016 Publication History

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Abstract

Block languages are extensively used to introduce programming to children. They replace the complex and error prone syntax of textual languages with simple shape cues that show how program elements can be combined. In their present form, blind learners cannot use them, because they rely on graphical presentation of code, and mouse interactions. We are working on a nonvisual blocks language called Pseudospatial Blocks (PB), that supports program creation using keyboard commands with synthetic speech output. It replaces visual shape cues for language syntax, the key feature of block languages, with filtering of program elements by syntactic category.

References

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Lewis, C. (2014). Work in Progress Report: Nonvisual Visual Programing. In B. duBoulay and J.Good (Eds) Proc. PPIG 2014 Psychology of Programming Annual Conference, 25th Anniversary Event. Brighton, England, 25th-27th June 2014.

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Cited By

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Poddar RNaik TPunnam MChourasia KPandurangan RPaali RBhat NBiradar BDeshpande VGhosh DChaudhuri SChakraborty DPrakash ASwaminathan M(2024)Experiences from Running a Voice-Based Education Platform for Children and Teachers with Visual ImpairmentsACM Journal on Computing and Sustainable Societies10.1145/36773232:3(1-35)Online publication date: 8-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677323
Tabassum MGray JSmith DStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)An Accessible Blocks Language for Students with and without Visual ImpairmentsProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630775(1300-1306)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630775

Index Terms

An Accessible Blocks Language: Work in Progress
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Accessibility
    1. Accessibility systems and tools
  2. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Interaction techniques
      1. Auditory feedback
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Context specific languages
      1. Visual languages

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Published In

ASSETS '16: Proceedings of the 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

October 2016

362 pages

ISBN:9781450341240

DOI:10.1145/2982142

General Chair:
Jinjuan Heidi Feng
Towson University, USA
,
Program Chair:
Matt Huenerfauth
Rochester Institute of Technology, USA

Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 23 October 2016

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ASSETS '16

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SIGACCESS

ASSETS '16: The 18th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

October 23 - 26, 2016

Nevada, Reno, USA

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ASSETS '16 Paper Acceptance Rate 24 of 95 submissions, 25%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 436 of 1,556 submissions, 28%

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Cited By

View all

Poddar RNaik TPunnam MChourasia KPandurangan RPaali RBhat NBiradar BDeshpande VGhosh DChaudhuri SChakraborty DPrakash ASwaminathan M(2024)Experiences from Running a Voice-Based Education Platform for Children and Teachers with Visual ImpairmentsACM Journal on Computing and Sustainable Societies10.1145/36773232:3(1-35)Online publication date: 8-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677323
Tabassum MGray JSmith DStephenson BStone JBattestilli LRebelsky SShoop L(2024)An Accessible Blocks Language for Students with and without Visual ImpairmentsProceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630775(1300-1306)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626252.3630775

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