The Use of Magnets for the Nonvisual Construction of Syntax Based Tangible Object Assemblies for Individuals who are Blind or Visually Impaired

Assist Technol. 2023 May 12. doi: 10.1080/10400435.2023.2213733. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTMany students have difficulty in mastering syntax when programming. To alleviate this problem, the Scratch programming language was developed to have a visual block based drag and drop code editor, where the shapes of the blocks and animation are used to make the syntax intuitive. To similarly make syntax intuitive to individuals who are blind or visually impaired (BVI) using tangible code blocks, a method needs to take into account perceptual processing differences between the senses and implementation differences between the physical and virtual world. The studies in this paper examined the effectiveness of using local reciprocal shape/location information in combination with magnetic attraction for providing intuitive feedback about syntax. The studies found that supplementing the use of local reciprocal shape/location constraints with magnetic attraction increased the accuracy and perceived ease of use by blindfolded BVI users to detect whether blocks successfully connected and, therefore, represented a code segment with valid syntax. This did not appear to change significantly with changes in the size and weight of the blocks, although stronger magnetic connections appeared preferred. We also introduced a "stopper" design to allow for code blocks to have exceptions to the regular syntax rules, while not adding complexity to the majority of code blocks.PMID:37171411 | DOI:10.108...
Source: Assistive Technology - Category: Rehabilitation Authors: Source Type: research