Web Search Credibility Assessment for Individuals who are Blind

Abstract

While screen reading technologies offer considerable promise to individuals who are blind by providing an accessible overview of web-based content, difficulties can be faced determining the credibility of sites and their respective contents. This can impact the user's behavior, particularly if sensitive information needs to be entered (e.g. into a web-based form). In this paper, we describe an exploratory study examining the criteria which blind screen reader users utilize to assess credibility. More specifically, we have focused on the common task of web searching and exploring search results. Findings from the study have suggested that mismatches between the title of the search results and their respective snippets, along with the richness and accessibility of the content when search results are selected, can lead to users determining whether sites are indeed credible.