BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//132.216.98.100//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.20.4// BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20260918T194649EDT-8742GFlLLd@132.216.98.100 DTSTAMP:20260918T234649Z DESCRIPTION:Dr. Jonathan Lazar\n\nProfessor\, College of Information Studie s (iSchool)\n\nDirector\, Trace Research and Development Center\n\nCore fa culty\, Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL)\n\nUniversity of Maryland\n \njlazar [at] umd.edu\n\n \n\nAbstract: Many PDF documents are inaccessibl e for people with disabilities\, creating barriers in education\, science\ , commerce\, e-government\, and recreation. Our previous research on PDF a ccessibility including surveys\, interviews\, and usability testing\, has determined that documents in PDF format are considered harder to make acce ssible than documents in other formats primarily due to the insufficient t ools available to assist content creators. That means that even when conte nt creators are aware of the accessibility barriers in their documents\, t hey cannot easily figure out how to make the corrections. Our current work \, a collaboration of researchers at the University of Maryland and Adobe Research\, focuses on the development of tools to assist content creators in remediating their PDF files to improve accessibility. We developed a ne w tool called Ally which utilizes best practices from other areas of HCI r esearch\, to create a more efficient and effective interaction approach fo r remediating regions\, headers\, reading order\, and tables in a PDF docu ment for improved accessibility. In a usability study\, twenty participant s attempted to complete the same PDF accessibility remediation tasks using both Ally and a standard industry tool\, Adobe Acrobat Pro. Ally was almo st twice as fast and three times as accurate compared to Acrobat Pro\, wit h participants reporting a strong preference for and a much higher level o f satisfaction with Ally. We are continuing to expand Ally to include othe r aspects of PDF remediation\, including PDF forms.\n\n \n\nBio: Jonathan Lazar\, PhD\, LLM is a professor in the College of Information Studies (iS chool) at the University of Maryland. Professor Lazar has authored or edit ed 14 books\, including Accessible Technology and the Developing World (co -edited with Michael Stein)\, Research Methods in Human-Computer Interacti on (2nd edition\, co-authored with Heidi Feng and Harry Hochheiser)\, Ensu ring Digital Accessibility Through Process and Policy (co-authored with Da n Goldstein and Anne Taylor)\, Disability\, Human Rights\, and Information Technology (co-edited with Michael Stein)\, and Web Usability: A User-Cen tered Design Approach. Professor Lazar has published over 150 refereed art icles in journals\, conference proceedings\, and edited books\, frequently serves as an adviser to U.S. government agencies\, regularly provides tes timony at the federal and state levels\, and multiple U.S. federal regulat ions cite his research. At the University of Maryland iSchool\, he teaches courses on human-computer interaction\, user-centered design\, accessibil ity\, and legal research methods. He is the recipient of the 2021 ACM SIGC HI Academy Award\, the 2020 ACM SIGACCESS Award for Outstanding Contributi ons to Computing and Accessibility\, the 2017 University System of Marylan d Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Research\, and the 2016 ACM SIGCHI Social Impact Award. Dr. Lazar recently served as the general chair of the ACM ASSETS 2021 conference. At the University of Maryland\, D r. Lazar is a faculty member in the Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) and serves as director of the Trace Research and Development Center\, one of the world's oldest research centers on technology and disability.\n DTSTART:20221109T173000Z DTEND:20221109T190000Z LOCATION:Rm. 106\, Peel 3661\, CA\, QC\, Montreal\, H3A 1X1\, 3661 rue Peel SUMMARY:Tools for Assisting Content Creators in Remediating PDF Documents f or Accessibility URL:https://www.mcgill.ca/sis/channels/event/tools-assisting-content-creato rs-remediating-pdf-documents-accessibility-342970 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR