Missions

Despite legal dispositions in France that require equal opportunities, visually impaired (VI) are largely excluded from scientific education and from resulting qualified employment. This observation holds true both nationally and globally (World Health Organization), and the challenges of ensuring the inclusion of VI in education and in work are considerable.
The analysis of the causes behind this significant exclusion mainly highlights the lack of accommodations for VI, particularly when it comes to interacting and working with others on content (e.g., paper or electronic learning materials). Two key questions arise: the first concerns the accessibility of scientific content for VI (1), and the second addresses collaboration and cooperative work between VI and sighted individuals on these contents (2).
The main challenges are:
- (1) The access to and manipulation of two-dimensional structures (e.g., mathematical equations, tables, graphs/diagrams) for VI.
- (2) Collaboration awareness for VI and, more broadly, for all stakeholders involved in collaborative work.
A review of the literature and existing solutions indicates that any proposed solution must include a multimodal interface to address these challenges. Moreover, to ensure long-term adoption and usability, the solution must be open-source and co-designed by both VI and sighted individuals.
The postdoctoral fellow will explore two research questions (RQ): one on VI interaction with two-dimensional structures and the other on collaborative editing of scientific/technical documents between VI and sighted individuals, as detailed below.
RQ 1) How can be defined the optimal properties of an interaction system enabling VI to manipulate two-dimensional structures such as equations, tables, and graphs? Interaction must be assessed in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, cognitive load, usability, appropriation, and comprehension. Once a design space is defined, the study will explore modality combinations, information redundancy, and smart assistance to facilitate exploration, understanding, and editing of these structures.
RQ 2) On the findings from RQ1, what processes and interfaces can support collaboration between VI and sighted individuals in a collaborative document editing task involving two-dimensional structures? The goal is to prototype and evaluate multimodal processes and interfaces that facilitate effective collaboration between VI and sighted users.
The postdoctoral fellow will implement and lead a participatory research approach with the project's stakeholders (researchers, Braille/VI experts, VI and sighted individuals, software developers, etc.). The objective is to collaboratively design, develop, and validate proposals that are grounded both in existing literature and in the expertise of participants engaged in this participatory research.

Activités

In this context, the postdoctoral fellow will be responsible for the following tasks:
- Systematic literature review on the research questions, resulting in the writing of an article, and the setting up of the cooperation framework (~4 months)
- Development of RQ 1 in a cooperative approach (~5 months)
- Development of RQ 2 in a cooperative approach (~5 months)
- Dissemination of the research work, including the writing of scientific article(s) using a cooperative approach (~4 months)

Compétences

The recruited researcher must hold a PhD in Computer Science in the field of or related to Human-Computer Interaction. Skills in front-end/back-end development, project management, and user-centered design are highly valued.
We are looking for a candidate driven by scientific curiosity and interested in developing scientific commons through a participatory approach (Science and Society).

Contexte de travail

The work carried out as part of this postdoctoral position will take place within the ANR Coobra project – (Coobra stands for “cooperation between sighted individuals and visually impaired Braille users for learning and working together”). Coobra is an ANR SAPS project (SAPS stands for “Science With and For Society”) and aims to conduct participatory research to strengthen interactions between scientific research and civil society. The goal is to improve current responses to the societal challenges of visually impaired (VI) inclusion, both in work and in education.
The Coobra project consortium consists of researchers (LIRIS laboratory) and stakeholders involved in visual impairment: the Lyon 1 University disability services office, the NBA association (NatBraille Association), the COEXISCIENCE association (Co-Opérer & EXpérImenter autrement la SCIENCE) and its committee of experts in Braille and visual impairment.
The employment contract will be issued by Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University.
The proposals and their validation will rely on NatBraille - a web-based editor for scientific and technical documents - designed for both VI and sighted users.

Le poste se situe dans un secteur relevant de la protection du potentiel scientifique et technique (PPST), et nécessite donc, conformément à la réglementation, que votre arrivée soit autorisée par l'autorité compétente du MESR.