Research in the Real-World Lab Accessibility
Our research explores accessibility through an interdisciplinary lens, focusing on the built environment, digital technology, assistive technology and the combination thereof. Our work is rooted in Architecture, Human-Computer Interaction, and Computer Vision. We employ participatory and experience-centered methods, develop concepts and prototypes, while working in lab and field settings. Currently, our research evolves around the following pillars:
Digital Technology and Disability
We examine the potential of technology to be leveraged by disabled people to increase participation in education, work, and leisure. We do this in the context of purpose-built assistive and rehabilitative technology, digital technology that seeks to engage non-disabled stakeholders in dialogue about access, and with a broader lens on the accessibility of digital technology for disabled people in general.
| Recent publications in this area: |
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| Karin Müller, Christin Engel, Claudia Loitsch, Rainer Stiefelhagen, and Gerhard Weber. 2022. Traveling More Independently: A Study on the Diverse Needs and Challenges of People with Visual or Mobility Impairments in Unfamiliar Indoor Environments. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing 15 (2). https://doi.org/10.1145/3514255 |
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Kathrin Gerling, Kay Kender, Katta Spiel, Saskia Van der Oord, Dieter Baeyens, Arno Depoortere, Maria Aufheimer. 2022. Reflections on Ableism in Participatory Technology Design. In Mensch & Computer 2022 Workshopband, Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. |
| Kathrin Gerling and Katta Spiel. 2021. A Critical Examination of Virtual Reality Technology in the Context of the Minority Body. In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '21). ACM, New York, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445196 |
| Giuseppe Melfi, Karin Müller, Thorsten Schwarz, Gerhard Jaworek, and Rainer Stiefelhagen. 2020. Understanding what you feel: A Mobile Audio-Tactile System for Graphics Used at Schools with Students with Visual Impairment. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '20). ACM, New York, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376508 |
Access and Comfort in the Built Environment
We focus on the built environment and its accessibility in order to increase the participation of disabled people in daily life and activities. In addition to the central question of mobility, we are also looking at building layout and the visual and acoustical qualities of spaces to make them more legible and comfortable for the diversity of building occupants.
| Recent publications in this area: |
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| Dong, J., Karmann, C. 2023. A review study of space perception and navigation of people with low vision: is simulated low vision a reliable methodology? Light Symposium 2023, Stockholm, Sweden |