Exploring the Experiences of Individuals Who are Blind or Low-Vision Using Object-Recognition Technologies in India

Research Background and Issues

• Identified Problems or Challenges:

  1. Existing smartphone-based object recognition (OR) applications (e.g., Seeing AI, Lookout) are predominantly designed in North America, emphasizing individual independence, and fail to adequately consider cultural contexts in regions like South Asia, where social interdependence is highly valued.
  2. The social acceptability of object recognition technologies in non-Western contexts (e.g., India) remains underexplored, particularly in multicultural societies where public and private environments are intertwined.
  3. Technical limitations of existing OR applications, such as cultural mismatches in datasets and lack of accessibility-focused feedback, hinder their usability in low-resource environments.

• Significance of the Issues:

  1. Globally, 90% of visually impaired individuals live in developing countries, with India having one of the highest proportions of visually impaired populations. Understanding the applicability of these technologies in diverse cultural contexts is crucial for achieving global accessibility in technology.
  2. Traditional design frameworks (e.g., independence-first paradigms) may create discomfort and exclusion in societies that emphasize collective collaboration.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  1. Previous studies have focused on the functional accessibility of OR technologies but have rarely addressed their adaptability and social acceptability in different sociocultural contexts.
  2. Community-driven technological innovations demonstrate that users in low-resource environments often adapt high-tech products through localization and collaborative methods.

Proposed Solution

• Proposed Method or Solution: The authors employed a combination of "diary studies" and "in-depth interviews" to explore the experiences of visually impaired users in India with OR applications. They proposed design guidelines based on an "Interdependence Framework" to develop assistive technologies better suited for community-oriented societies.

• Innovative Aspects of the Solution:

  1. The study redefined the design approach for assistive technologies, shifting from an emphasis on individual independence to valuing interdependent cultural norms, offering a new localized perspective on technology applicability.
  2. It introduced design principles tailored to community-oriented societies, such as community-centered design, cultural adaptation, and localized adjustments.

• Implementation Steps:

  1. A 7-day "diary study": Participants used OR applications daily to complete at least one task, documenting their usage scenarios, goals, and experiences.
  2. One-on-one, semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted via Zoom to explore participants' motivations, challenges, and adaptations in using OR applications within their social and cultural contexts.
  3. Data analysis employed thematic analysis, with open coding of interview transcripts to identify key themes influencing user behavior.

Research Outcomes

• Specific Findings:

  1. Participants' behaviors and perceptions of OR applications were categorized, revealing various technical and social limitations, including a 41% task failure rate. Primary causes included object recognition errors, lack of feedback, and the inability of applications to recognize culturally specific objects.
  2. Three major themes influencing application use were identified: social stigma and interpersonal relationships, concerns about safety and privacy, and usability issues of the applications.

• Comparison with Existing Solutions and Advantages:

  1. Unlike traditional designs that emphasize individual independence, this study advocates for an "interdependence" framework, enhancing user experience by fostering interactions between technology and social relationships.
  2. The proposed design guidelines incorporate cultural adaptation factors (e.g., support for local languages and recognition of specific objects) and flexibility, addressing the shortcomings of high-resource technologies in multicultural regions.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  1. Out of 67 diary tasks, only 26 were deemed successful, further validating the technical and experiential challenges of existing OR applications in specific cultural contexts.
  2. Key insights included participants' experiences with recognizing uniquely Indian objects (e.g., local foods and clothing) and the social embarrassment caused by the technology.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  1. Limitations: The participant sample consisted of highly educated, urban users, which may not represent broader low-income or rural user groups. Remote research constrained the observation of factors like real-time camera use and environmental lighting.
  2. Future Research: Further exploration of broader socioeconomic and cultural factors (e.g., gender, class, and digital literacy) influencing application use; conducting field observations to gain deeper insights into user behavior and improve the design and implementation of OR technologies.