Camera canvas: Image editing software for people with disabilities

Abstract

We developed Camera Canvas, photo editing and picture drawing software for individuals who cannot use their hands to operate a computer mouse. Camera Canvas is designed for use with camera-based mouse-replacement interfaces that allow a user with severe motion impairments to control the mouse pointer by moving his or her head in front of a web camera. To make Camera Canvas accessible to as wide of a range of movement abilities as possible, we designed its user interface so that it can be extensively tailored to meet individual user needs. We conducted studies with users without disabilities, who used Camera Canvas with the mouse-replacement input system Camera Mouse. The studies showed that Camera Canvas is easy to understand and use, even for participants without prior experience with the Camera Mouse. An experiment with a participant with severe cerebral palsy and quadriplegia showed that he was able to use some but not all of the functionality of Camera Canvas. Ongoing work includes conducting additional user studies and improving the software based on feedback. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.