Publications

Semantic Segmentation of Node and Edge Diagrams for Assistive Technology

Published in 23rd Conference on Robots and Vision (CRV 2026), 2026

Computer vision techniques for improving accessibility to diagram information for blind and low-vision people.

Recommended citation: Cormier, M., Zhao, Y., Paul, L., Swift, C., Dang, D. T., & Nacenta, M. (2026). "Semantic Segmentation of Node and Edge Diagrams for Assistive Technology." Proceedings of the Conference on Robots and Vision. (CRV 2026, paper presentation) link

“If We Had the Information That We Need to Interpret the World Around Us, We Wouldn’t Be Disabled:” Barriers and Opportunities in Information Work among Blind and Sighted Colleagues

Published in ACM 5th Annual Symposium on Human-Computer Interaction for Work (CHIWORK '26), 2026

Indentification of common information barriers faced by work teams with diverse visual abilities, and how they are influenced by higher-level social and workplace dynamics.

Recommended citation: Zhao, Y., Nacenta, M., Sukhai, M, & Somanath, S.. (2026). "'If We Had the Information That We Need to Interpret the World Around Us, We Wouldn't Be Disabled:' Barriers and Opportunities in Information Work among Blind and Sighted Colleagues." Proceedings of the 5th Annual Symposium on Human-Computer Interaction for Work (CHIWORK '26). (ACM CHIWORK '26', paper presentation) link

Accessibility-Driven Information Transformations in Mixed-Visual Ability Work Teams

Published in ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2026

Investigation of how team members with diverse visual abilities collectively transform information for accessibility reasons technically and socially, and discuss the various trade-offs and negotiations that occur during the process.

Recommended citation: Zhao, Y., Nacenta, M., Sukhai, M, & Somanath, S.. (2026). "Accessibility-Driven Information Transformations in Mixed-Visual Ability Work Teams." Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. (ACM CHI, paper presentation) link

ClayPhys: Towards Toolkits that Support Making Expressive Data Physicalization

Published in ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2026

Exploration of how clay can be used as an expressive material for data physicalization and how our toolkit can support the creation of expressive data physicalizations.

Recommended citation: Bakhtiari, B., Zhao, Y., Wong, J., Tabard, A., Somanath, S., & Perin, C. (2026). "ClayPhys: Towards Toolkits that Support Making Expressive Data Physicalization." Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. (ACM CHI, paper presentation) link

Interventions for Concurrent Brain Injury and Mental Health/Substance Use: Evidence Mapping Review, Equity Examination, & Development of an Interactive Knowledge Mobilization Platform

Published in The 53rd Meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society, 2025

Evidence mapping review of interventions for concurrent brain injury and mental health/substance use.

Recommended citation: Kennedy, C. J., Zhao, Y., Spargo, E. L., Dupriez-Mitchell, B., Gavas, N., Rees, D., Premji, Z., Woodin, E., Schmidt, J., Breese Biagioni, J., & Garcia-Barrera, M. A. (2025, February). "Interventions for Concurrent Brain Injury and Mental Health/Substance Use: Evidence Mapping Review, Equity Examination, & Development of an Interactive Knowledge Mobilization Platform." The 53rd Meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society, New Orleans, LA, USA. (conference poster presentation). link

Speech-based Mark for Data Sonification

Published in ACM ASSETS ’24, 2024

A noval approach to sonify data using speech-based marks.

Recommended citation: Zhao, Y., Lu, J., and Nacenta, M. (2024). Speech-based Mark for Data Sonification. In The 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS ’24), October 27–30, 2024, St. John’s, NL, Canada. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 5 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3663548.3688514 link

Meta-Analysis of Meta-Analyses on Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation for Post-Stroke Depression

Published in Global Neuropsychology Congress (GNC), 2024

A statistical umbrella review analysis of meta-analyses on non-invasive brain stimulation for post-stroke depression with the DECISION-MAP interface.

Recommended citation: Cole J. Kennedy*, Yichun Zhao*, Mauricio A. Garcia-Barrera (*: Equal Contributions). (2024). "Meta-Analysis of Meta-Analyses on Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation for Post-Stroke Depression." Global Neuropsychology Congress. (conference oral presentation). link

TADA: Making Node-link Diagrams Accessible to Blind and Low-Vision People

Published in ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2024

TADA is a system making diagram accessible to people who are blind or have low vision. This work consists of formative study, system design, and evaluative study.

Recommended citation: Zhao, Y., Nacenta, M., Sukhai, M, & Somanath, S. (2024). "TADA: Making Node-link Diagrams Accessible to Blind and Low-Vision People." Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. (ACM CHI, paper presentation and honourable mention). link

Tools and Tasks in Sensemaking: A Visual Accessibility Perspective

Published in ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems – Sensemaking Workshop, 2024

Recommended citation: Zhao, Y., Nacenta. (2024). "Tools and Tasks in Sensemaking: A Visual Accessibility Perspective." Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems – Sensemaking Workshop. (ACM CHI workshop presentation). link

An Interactive Multi-Touch Audio Interface Makes Diagrams Accessible

Published in ACM Graphics Interface Conference, 2023

This demo presents a work-in-progress interactive multi-touch audio interface for making diagrams accessible to people with visual impairments.

Recommended citation: Zhao, Y., Nacenta, M., & Somanath, S. (2023). "An Interactive Multi-Touch Audio Interface Makes Diagrams Accessible to People with Visual Impairments." ACM Graphics Interface Conference. (ACM GI, demo presentation, won Best Demonstration Award). link

Interactive Sonification for Health and Energy using ChucK and Unity

Published in Conference on Sonification of Health and Environmental Data, 2022

An interactive sonification tool.

Recommended citation: Zhao, Y., & Tzanetakis, G. (2022). "Interactive Sonification for Health and Energy using ChucK and Unity." Proceedings of the Conference on Sonification of Health and Environmental Data. 57-62. (SoniHED, paper presentation). link

Detecting Fake Users on Social Media with a Graph Database

Published in The Abutus Review, 2021

Recommended citation: Zhao, Y., & Weber, J. (2021). "Detecting Fake Users on Social Media with a Graph Database." The Arbutus Review. 12(1): 49-56. (paper). link

Detecting Fake Users on Social Media with Neo4j and Random Forest Classifier

Published in Computing Student Research Conference; JCURA Research Fair., 2020

This poster discusses detecting fake users on social media with Neo4j and Random Forest Classifier.

Recommended citation: Zhao, Y. (2020). "Detecting Fake Users on Social Media with Neo4j and Random Forest Classifier." Computing Student Research Conference, Queen’s University; JCURA Research Fair, University of Victoria. (poster). link

An Educational Electronic Health Record with a Configurable UI

Published in IF Multidisciplinary Care Conference, 2020

Recommended citation: Shala, F., Wagner, E., & Zhao, Y. (2020). "An Educational Electronic Health Record with a Configurable UI." IF Multidisciplinary Care Conference. (poster, equal contributions).