Joyojeet Pal, U-M School of Information, discusses the challenges that touchsreens present to users with visual impairments in India. He describes interface management issues for smartphones and situates them within the socio-cultural issues around disability and accessibility in contemporary urban India.

Switching from keypad-based phones that offer tactile feedback, to gesture-based smartphones that individuals interface with through touchscreens present a significant learning curve as well as a number of continuing challenges for people with visual impairments. As keypad-based phones are slowly phased out of production, smartphone adoption is no longer a choice -- it is enforced by markets. New users rely on a range of institutional and community resources to adopt these technologies and deal with ongoing troubleshooting. Yet these resources may not always be easily available in various parts of the world where smartphones are still expensive for the average citizen.

Emergent Research events are aimed at better understanding the various types of research undertaken across campus, particularly as they relate to library services and support, opportunities for collaboration, data management and preservation, and beyond.