Our interaction with digital resources is becoming increasingly based on touch, gestures, and now also eye movement. Many everyday consumer electronics products already include touch-based interfaces, from e-book readers to tablets, and from the last personal computers to the GPS system in your car. What implications do these new forms of…

The process of learning involves interaction with the learning environment through our five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste). Until recently, distance education focused only on the first two of those senses, sight and sound. Internet-based learning environments are predominantly visual with auditory components. With the advent of…

Seventy-two sighted college students who studied the braille or Fishburne alphabet for eight minutes were tested for recall. More Fishburne than braille items were recalled, independent of item arrangement. Results suggest that visually impaired persons might use the Fishburne system for labelling personal objects or when braille learning is too…

Explains haptic computer interfaces for Web sites that relay touch-sensory feedback to the user. Discusses the importance of touch to cognition and learning; whether haptics can improve performance and learning; haptic interfaces for accessibility for blind and physically impaired users; comparisons of haptic devices; barriers to implementation;…