Publications
You can find our diverse research contributions at:
https://www.thm.de/bliz/en/research-conferences/applied-research-publications.html
You can find a check list e.g., WebAIM at: https://webaim.org/standards/wcag/checklist.
The WCAG criteria published by the W3C form the basis of this guide. Further details are available at: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22.
Conference IARIA 2023, 2024 and 2025 | Digitisation as a path to inclusion
The team from Hessen from THM and Frankfurt Goethe University contributed the papers for an entire programme track at the IARIA conference in Venice (2023) and Barcelona (2024). The Centre for Blind and Visually Impaired Students (BliZ) of the Technical University of Central Hesse participated in a conference in Italy with a series of contributions. At the "International Conference on Universal Accessibility in the Internet of Things and Smart Environments" (IARIA) in Venice, Prof. Dr. Monika Maria Möhring, the director of the BliZ, was responsible for a separate programme focus on the topic of "Digital Accessibility".
The main focus was to show how people with disabilities in seeing, hearing and understanding, but also with other impairments, can be enabled to use digital media and tools in their professional activities. In this context, accessible digital access was presented as a challenge of a social and technological nature, but also as an important factor for inclusion. In addition, the pedagogical teaching of competence in dealing with digital technology innovations was addressed.
With special funding from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the BliZ group was able to travel to Venice to give scientific oral presentations and contribute papers. In this way, they presented research work of the THM Centre on various aspects to the conference audience. The spectrum ranged from theoretical basics of accessibility and legal concerns to 3-D programming for blind students and simulation of visual impairment. Andreas Deitmer, the deputy BliZ director, received special recognition. His contribution was awarded as the best Paper of the Conference.
The THM's Department of Information Technology - Electrical Engineering - Mechatronics was also represented by a team that presented, among other things, an "'acoustic torch'. In addition, eight contributions from the 'studiumdigitale' of the Goethe University Frankfurt enriched this section of the programme. Altogether, Hessen was represented there by 20 researchers who helped to make this section of the programme a showstopper.
Prof. Möhring has already received an invitation to offer the "'Special Track' on Digital Accessibility again next year at the follow-up conference in Barcelona. 'Starting from Hesse, an international competence network can be created that takes into account the requirements of blind and visually impaired people in the age of digitalisation,' sums up the BliZ director.
Figure 1: The research team from Hesse presented the current research results on digital inclusion