Abstract:
In this era of information and communication, technology has become indispensable for
people with blindness. It is noticed that for visually challenged users, the progress has been
much slower as compared to normal people. There are number of visually impaired users
that require specific application that could help them in their daily lives.
User involvement is an important issue that is currently being researched and discussed in
software development industry. Literature on software development reflects that user
involvement in software development lifecycle (SDLC) process can contribute to software
usability. Necessary considerations for improving accessibility and usability are generally
lacking in software engineering procedures. Emergence of smartphones is an example of
cutting edge technology. Usage of smartphones is equally important for people with visual
impairment. Visually challenged people face numbers of problems while interacting with
surroundings, because a variety of information is encoded visually. The research study
propose a stepwise methodology for gathering requirements from visually impaired users
and establish usability centered development model for visually challenged people. That
helps to improve software development process. The proposed usability centered
framework will be implemented by developing proof of concept based on a comparative
analysis of smartphone applications and the requirements gathered from the case study to
prove its effectiveness.
Moreover the simplified application is presented to enhance the usability and accessibility
of application and also guide visually impaired people in order to identify the correct object
by using their smartphone. The development was performed using the android platform and
application was deployed on Samsung Galaxy Note II for testing.
