Introduction
In working and learning settings, collaborative work on shared documents, synchronously and asynchronously, is common and even necessary. Supporting tools are currently based on web applications such as GoogleDocs, Microsoft Word or Overleaf. These tools offer special functions to make collaborative editing of documents effective and efficient, but not for all user groups. There are already studies that examine such tools technically for their accessibility, but few studies examine the process of collaborative working on documents by people with and without disabilities, the real-world challenges and established practices. The question requires a socio-technical perspective to consider the impact on all stakeholders and to create sustainable solutions for accessible collaboration. The aim of this workshop is to shed light on this perspective from various angles, to discuss it and to provide new impetus for future developments in this area.
Several people working together, synchronously or asynchronously, on shared documents is a highly complex process. This process is frequently practiced in work and learning contexts in particular. Almost all tools currently available are based on web applications or at least on online functionality for merging changes. Well-known text editors in the working and learning environment for collaborative work on documents include GoogleDocs / GoogleDrive and Microsoft Word / OneDrive, as well as Overleaf / LaTeX. These and similar tools usually have the following relevant functions: Invite users/share documents, display of simultaneously working co-authors (and indication of where editing is currently taking place), change tracking and comment functions for discussing specific sections of text [3]. Lee et al. [2], with the support of a blind co-author and a user study with 11 blind participants, identified detailed challenges for blind people and weaknesses of existing text editors and also developed a tool that supports collaborative, synchronous and asynchronous work on documents for blind people. Comparable studies on existing tools were carried out by Mori et al. [3] and Schoeberlein and Wang [6], among others.
There are currently few to no studies on how the process of people with and without disabilities working together on documents works in practice, what challenges arise in this real-world setting and what practices and workarounds have already emerged in real contexts. In addition to the classic accessibility of text editors (e.g. according to WCAG guidelines), usability in the familiar (work) system must also be considered, as well as barriers and requirements that go beyond the established guidelines [1]. This issue requires a socio-technical approach [4, 5] in order to consider the effects on all groups of people involved in the joint writing process, to address individual needs and thus to establish sustainable solutions for fruitful and accessible collaboration between people with and without disabilities in the long term. Against the backdrop of the second state report published last year [7], in which Germany was shown to have room for improvement, this workshop provides important insights into how people with different abilities can work together effectively in work and learning contexts and thus increase the opportunities for more equal participation in society.
We invite interested researchers, users, those directly and indirectly affected by the topic and other interested parties to present their experiences, study results or other insights in the form of a short position paper, which we will then discuss together with all participants from different perspectives and develop impulses for future solutions.
If specific tools or support are required, please contact the workshop organizers.
Topics
Areas that could be addressed with a position paper in connection with “collaborative editing” (non-exhaustive list):
- Empowerment of companies, employees and people with disabilities
- Raising awareness and motivation for the topic of accessibility
- Creating and maintaining barrier-free working environments
- Accessibility strategy as part of the digitalization strategy
- Equal addressing of usability and accessibility
- Implementation of processes and methods in practice
- Transfer of know-how, teaching and learning formats
- Inclusive corporate management
- Socio-informatic perspective, view of micro, meso and macro level
- Sustainability / sustainable processes, methods, models and their appropriation
- AI-supported tools
- Challenges for HCI researchers in the area of accessibility
References
[1] Renaldo Bernard, Carla Sabariego, and Alarcos Cieza. 2016. Barriers and Facilitation Measures Related to People With Mental Disorders When Using the Web: A Systematic Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research 18, 6 (June 2016), e157.
https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.5442 
[2] Cheuk Yin Phipson Lee, Zhuohao Zhang, Jaylin Herskovitz, JooYoung Seo, and Anhong Guo. 2022. CollabAlly: Accessible Collaboration Awareness in Document Editing. In Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3517635
[3] Giulio Mori, Maria Claudia Buzzi, Marina Buzzi, Barbara Leporini, and Victor MR Penichet. 2011. Collaborative editing for all: the google docs example. In Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Applications and Services (Lecture Notes in Computer Science), Constantine Stephanidis (Ed.). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 165–174.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21657-2_18
[4] Claudia Müller. 2018. Introduction to the Thematic Focus ‘Socio-Informatics’. Media in Action 2, 1 (2018), 9–16.
[5] Corinna Ogonowski, Timo Jakobi, Claudia Müller, and Jan Hess. 2018. PRAXLABS:
A Sustainable Framework for User-Centered Information and Communication Technology Development – Cultivating Research Experiences from Living Labs in the Home. Oxford University Press. https://pub.h-brs.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/3568 Pages: 319-360 Publication Title: Wulf, Pipek et al. (Eds.): Socio-Informatics: A Practice-Based Perspective on the Design and Use of IT Artifacts.
[6] John G. Schoeberlein and Yuanqiong Wang. 2012. Accessible collaborative writing for persons who are blind: a usability study. In Proceedings of the 14th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility (ASSETS ’12). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 267–268.
https://doi.org/10.1145/2384916.2384986
[7] United Nations, Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 2023. Concluding observations on the combined second and third periodic reports of Germany.
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRPD%2FC%2FDEU%2FCO%2F2-3&Lang=en UN Doc. CRPD/C/DEU/CO/2-3.