How to make numerical information accessible: experimental identification of simplification strategies

Bautista, Susana; Hervás, Raquel ; Gervás, Pablo; Power, Richard and Williams, Sandra (2011). How to make numerical information accessible: experimental identification of simplification strategies. In: 13th IFIP TC 13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (INTERACT 2011), 5-9 September 2011, Lisbon, Portugal.

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URL:	http://www.springerlink.com/content/96418211w1l2q6...
DOI (Digital Object Identifier) Link:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23774-4
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Abstract

Public information services and documents should be accessible to the widest possible readership. Information in newspapers often takes the form of numerical expressions which pose comprehension problems for people with limited education. A first possible approach to solve this important social problem is making numerical information accessible by rewriting difficult numerical expressions in a simpler way. To obtain guidelines for performing this task automatically, we have carried out a survey in which experts in numeracy were asked to simplify a range of proportion expressions, with three readerships in mind: (a) people who did not understand percentages; (b) people who did not understand decimals; (c) more generally, people with poor numeracy. Responses were consistent with our intuitions about how common values are considered simpler and how the value of the original expression influences the chosen simplification.

Item Type:

Conference Item

2011 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing

ISSN:

0302-9743

Project Funding Details:

Funded Project Name	Project ID	Funding Body
Not Set	RES-000-22-2760	ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council)

Extra Information:

Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2011
13th IFIP TC 13 International Conference
Lisbon, Portugal,
September 5-9, 2011
Proceedings, Part I

Pedro Campos, Nicholas Graham, Joaquim Jorge, Nuno Nunes,
Philippe Palanque, Marco Winckler (Eds.)

Lecture Notes in Computer Science 6946

ISBN 978-3-642-23773-7

Keywords:

numerical information; simplification strategies

Academic Unit/Department:

Mathematics, Computing and Technology > Computing & Communications

Interdisciplinary Research Centre:

Centre for Research in Computing (CRC)

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