AskSeeShop: Interactive Pictures Assist Blind and Visually Impaired Users Browsing Clothes On-Line


Many people shop for clothes online rather than in brick and mortar stores for immediate, hassle-free access to the vast selection of clothes. Unfortunately, online shopping remains painstakingly cumbersome for visually impaired and blind people - today’s status quo of browsing images is currently experienced with a one-size-fits-all, typically incomplete textual description per image. We introduce AskSeeShop, a system that empowers users to ask a visual question about clothing and receive an answer immediately. For example, a user can learn what is the color of the top paired with black pants. Powered by computer vision, the system also immediately magnifies the queried article of clothing. This feature is a valuable alternative for visually impaired users who currently must maneuver a device to focus the display on their region of interest in the image (e.g., pants). Experiments show that AskSeeShop provides more accurate clothes descriptions than currently available with screen readers.