Summary
CodeBox64 allows users with visual impairments to interact with a block programming language using a tactile input modality. The peripheral device has four arrows (up, down, left, right) and two buttons (one to select, and one to go back). It operates by using a transparent interface over the block programming environment and controls the mouse based on pre-programmed pixels.
Undergraduate Researchers
- Max Hayden, Kennesaw State University, 2016-2017
- Zirui Wang, Birmingham-Southern College, 2018-2019
Publications/Presentations
- Max Paulk, Amber Wagner. CodeBox64: A Tactile Input Modality for Block Programming. Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. Seattle, WA, March 2017.
- Zirui Wang, Amber Wagner. CodeBox64, A Tactile Input Approach to Scratch for Students with Visual Impairments. ACM Mid Southeast 2018, Gatlinburg, TN, November 2018.
- Zirui Wang. Using Touch and Sound to Program Scratch. Proceedings of the 2019 ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, Student Research Competition. Minneapolis, MN, February 2019. Awarded 2nd Place
- Amber Wagner, Zirui Wang. Talking and Listening to Blocks. Symposium on Disability Rights, UAB Institute for Human Rights. Birmingham, AL, February 2019.
- Zirui Wang, Amber Wagner. Evaluating a tactile approach to programming Scratch. ACM Southeast Conference (ACMSE). Kennesaw, GA, April 2019.
Future Work
Would like to create a more dynamic way to control the screen that would not require as much pre-programming of block locations. Also, the use of RFID Lego blocks to control the blocks on the screen may be an interesting approach.