| Guidelines, standards, methods and processes for software accessibility | | BIB | Full-Text | 1-5 | |
| Jan Gulliksen; Susan Harker; Gregg Vanderheiden | |||
| The software accessibility of human-computer interfaces -- ISO Technical Specification 16071 | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 6-16 | |
| Jan Gulliksen; Susan Harker | |||
| This paper describes the recently published Technical Specification ISO
16071 from the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), along with
the process through which the document has been developed. ISO TS 16071
contains guidelines on designing accessible software. This paper also relates
the activities within ISO to other ongoing standardisation activities, within,
for example, W3C and ETSI. Scope, contents, guidelines and the definition of
accessibility in ISO 16071 are discussed in relation to other definitions.
Finally, the process of turning the technical specification (TS) into an
international standard (IS) is discussed. Keywords: ANSI/HFES - International Standards Organisation - ISO 16071 -
Standardisation - Technical specification - W3C -- WAI guidelines | |||
| Using a universal access reference model to identify further guidance that belongs in ISO 16071 | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 17-29 | |
| Jim Carter; David Fourney | |||
| ISO TS 16071 Guidance on accessibility for human computer interfaces was
developed via the collection and evaluation of an extensive set of existing
software accessibility research and guidance. While this approach has served
well in creating this first major international software accessibility
standard, it is limited in its ability to expand the range of its guidance to
areas not covered by existing research. This paper introduces a universal
access reference model that can be used to identify areas requiring further
accessibility guidance. It also demonstrates the use of this reference model in
identifying guidelines that should be considered for potential addition to ISO
16071, as it progresses from a technical specification to an international
standard. Keywords: Accessibility standards - Accessible system - Reference model - Universal
access - Universal access reference model | |||
| Software accessibility standards and guidelines: progress, current status, and future developments | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 30-37 | |
| Paul S. Reed; Daryle Gardner-Bonneau; Scott Isensee | |||
| This article reviews progress in the development of standards and guidelines
for software accessibility, including those developed within international and
US standards bodies. Key factors driving efforts to identify and define
effective design guidelines for software accessibility include demographic
trends and the graying population, new legislation and the increasing
pervasiveness of information technology and devices. An overview of the US
Software Accessibility draft standard, including accessibility-focused design
guidance for Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems, is provided. A variety
of resources providing design guidance for improved accessibility are
identified, and expected developments in formal standards for software
accessibility are discussed. Keywords: Software accessibility guidelines - Standards | |||
| W3C user agent accessibility guidelines 1.0 for graphical Web browsers | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 38-47 | |
| Jon Gunderson | |||
| Web browsers and multimedia players play a critical role in making Web
content accessible to people with disabilities. Access to Web content requires
that Web browsers provide users with final control over the styling of rendered
content, the type of content rendered and the execution of automated behaviors.
The features available in Web browsers determine the extent to which users can
orient themselves and navigate the structure of Web resources. The World Wide
Web Consortium (W3C) User Agent Guidelines are part of the W3C Web
Accessibility Initiative, the guidelines provide a comprehensive resource to
Web browser and multimedia developers on the features needed to render Web
content more accessibly to people with disabilities. UAAG 1.0 was developed
over a period of four years and included extensive reviews to demonstrate that
the proposed requirements can be implemented. Keywords: Accessibility - Browser - Disability - Universal design - User agent - World
Wide Web | |||
| Making the Internet accessible for people with cognitive and communication Impairments | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 48-56 | |
| David Poulson; Colette Nicolle | |||
| This paper provides an overview of the work of the European Union (EU) World
Wide Augmentative and Alternative Communication (WWAAC) project, which aims to
make the electronic highway more accessible to people with cognitive and
communication impairments, in particular those persons using symbols instead of
text to communicate. Many of these users will also be users of alternative and
augmentative communication (AAC) devices. The appropriateness of guidelines
from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) are discussed, with the finding that
few specific guidelines are available to make Web sites truly accessible and
usable for these user groups. We propose that additional guidelines are
required in order to facilitate access to Web pages for AAC users. Requirements
capture and preliminary evaluation activities within the project have led to
the development of draft guidelines that will be refined and validated as the
project reaches its final evaluation phase. These draft guidelines are
discussed along with other developments needed in this area. Keywords: Communication and cognitive impairments - Guidelines - Internet - Symbols | |||
| Increasing usability when interacting through screen readers | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 57-70 | |
| Barbara Leporini; Fabio Paterno | |||
| The application of appropriate Web site design and evaluation methods helps
to ensure more usable and accessible Web sites. While in the literature
guidelines and evaluation methods for accessibility and usability are given and
discussed separately, we aim at identifying the relationships between these two
concepts, in particular considering usability criteria for accessible Web
sites. In this work, we propose a set of such criteria targeted to improving
the navigability for a specific group of disabled users, i.e., vision-impaired
people. The identification of the eighteen criteria suggested herein was
performed through empirical feedback, by which potential issues were
identified. Subsequently, a systematic method was developed on the basis of the
analysis of potential solutions, resulting in a classification of the criteria
according to usability aspects. Some example applications of the proposed
criteria to three existing public administration Web sites are discussed. Keywords: User interfaces - Accessibility - Usability - Guidelines - Vision impaired
users | |||
| The use of guidelines to automatically verify Web accessibility | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 71-79 | |
| Julio Abascal; Myriam Arrue; Inmaculada Fajardo; Nestor Garay; Jorge Tomas | |||
| Accessibility is one of the key challenges that the Internet must currently
face to guarantee universal inclusion. Accessible Web design requires knowledge
and experience from the designer, who can be assisted by the use of broadly
accepted guidelines. Nevertheless, guideline application may not be obvious,
and many designers may lack experience to use them. The difficulty increases
because, as the research on accessibility is progressing, existing sets of
guidelines are updated and new sets are proposed by diverse institutions.
Therefore, the availability of tools to evaluate accessibility, and eventually
repair the detected bugs, is crucial. This paper presents a tool, EvalIris,
developed to automatically check the accessibility of Websites using sets of
guidelines that, by means of a well-defined XML structure, can be easily
replaced or updated. Keywords: Automatic accessibility verification - Inclusive design guidelines - Web
accessibility - Web services - XML structures | |||
| Applying Web accessibility to Internet portals | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 80-87 | |
| Henrike Gappa; Gabriele Nordbrock | |||
| Internet portals are becoming a very popular entry point to the Web. Users
utilise them because of the large amount of information available. This paper
aims to highlight the major hurdles disabled and/or older users encounter in
Web portals, and to issue recommendations for portals layout and structure,
based upon the results of a user requirements collection carried out by the
authors. The findings point out that provision of a powerful search engine is
essential for successful information retrieval. Moreover, due to the diverse
and sometimes contradictory needs of the user groups under consideration, the
customisation of information presentation plays an important role in ensuring
accessibility and usability of Internet portals. The paper also includes a
brief overview of the results in relation to the actual working draft of the
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. Keywords: Accessibility - Internet portals - Older people - People with disabilities -
Universal access - Usability | |||
| Universal access to information services -- the need for user information and its relationship to device profiles | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 88-95 | |
| Carlos A. Velasco; Yehya Mohamad; Alfred S. Gilman; Nikos Viorres; Evangelos Vlachogiannis; Argyris Arnellos; Jenny S. Darzentas | |||
| Users access information services with a variety of devices and with
different interaction modes that depend on personal characteristics (including
disabilities) and on the context of usage. With the appearance of mobile
devices, the industry has focused its efforts on the standardization of device
characteristics, thus giving to information providers some content adaptation
facilities. However, little attention has been paid to the standardization of
user profiles that will allow further customization and adaptation capabilities
in mainstream services. This paper will present the authors experiences in
outlining and implementing user profiles, as well as possible integration paths
with device characteristics. Keywords: Assistive technology - Internet - Universal access - Usability - User
interface | |||
| Accomplishing universal access through system reachability -- a management perspective | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 96-101 | |
| Jan Gulliksen; Hans Andersson; Per Lundgren | |||
| The aim of this paper is to describe the need of a method by which we can
estimate the return on accessibility investments in information technology (IT)
systems. This paper reveals some of the reasons why accessibility still is a
secondhand criterion when designing digital services. It also describes the
authors experiences regarding the concept of accessibility and how it must
develop in order to obtain the status of a basic business criterion for the
benefit of disabled people who are currently excluded from public services and
labour markets. The paper also questions the need of a separate accessibility
standard. Additionally, we discuss some of the hindering in the market and
limiting perspectives that are blocking further development. One of the
problems in the market seems to be that accessibility as a concept has been
more of an issue about creating equal opportunities and therefore probably does
not have the quality of a business criterion. In order to bridge that gap, we
argue for replacing accessibility with reachability, which is a concept based
on a measure used by media when estimating the reached percentage of a
population or target group. Keywords: Accessibility - Guidelines - Management - Standards - Usability | |||
| The procurement of usable and accessible software | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 102-106 | |
| Clas Thoren | |||
| This article discusses the need for the inclusion of usability and
accessibility requirements in public procurements of software to be included in
public electronic services. Legislation on public procurement in Europe
requests clear, well-defined criteria for accessibility and usability.
Accessibility criteria exists, but there is a lack of usability criteria. The
use of suppliers declarations is a possible approach. Keywords: Accessibility - Application software - E-government - Procurement -
Suppliers declarations | |||
| ETSI's human factors contribution to eEurope | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 107-110 | |
| Bruno Niman; Knut Nordby | |||
| This article describes the most recent development in the European
telecommunications industry from the end-user perspective, considering generic
user interface elements for interaction with mobile communication systems, as
described in a series of European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI)
deliverables. It also reports the results of work from recent and ongoing
activities in the ETSI Technical Committee Human Factors (TCHF), performed by
major industry representatives under the European Commissions eEurope
Initiative. The availability of a standardised set of universal, generic
interaction elements increases the transfer of knowledge to use mobile devices
and services, improves the overall usability of the entire interactive mobile
environment and improves access for all. Such a transfer becomes even more
important in a world of ubiquitous devices and services to the young, elderly
and disabled. Keywords: Design for all - Disabilities - eEurope - Human factors - Telecommunications | |||
| Design principles to support older adults | | BIB | Full-Text | 111-113 | |
| Mary Zajicek; Stephen Brewster | |||
| Using familiar technologies in unfamiliar ways and learning from the old about the new | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 114-121 | |
| Darren J. Reed; Andrew Monk | |||
| Findings are reported from a study of the befriending scheme for older
people that includes a bi-weekly recreational telephone conference.
Participants were visited in their homes soon after one of these link-ups. What
emerges is a picture of the telephone as a mundane technology. The telephone
receiver, the telephone conference, and even the content of the talk are not
foregrounded in the accounts of the participants. Instead, they provided a rich
account of their daily experiences that happen to include the technology.
Amongst these experiences, the befriending scheme in general, and the feeling
of contact provided by the link-ups in particular, are seen as the most
important experiences. It is concluded that the designers of domestic
technologies for recreation need to focus on experience rather than tasks when
formulating design requirements. The uses and gratification model developed for
describing mass media usage is suggested as one way of conceptualising these
requirements. Finally, an experience-artefact cycle is outlined, that parallels
Carroll's task-artefact cycle, to describe the evolution of technology in this
area. Keywords: Experience artefact cycle - Recreational telephone conferences - Uses and
gratifications | |||
| Speech interaction for older adults | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 122-130 | |
| Mary Zajicek; Richard Wales; Andrew Lee | |||
| Interaction with electronic speech products is becoming a fact of life
through telephone answering systems and speech-driven booking systems, and is
set to increase in the future. Older adults will be obliged to use more of
these electronic products, and because of their special interactional needs due
to age-related impairments it is important that such interactions are designed
to suit the needs of such users, and in particular, that appropriate mechanisms
are put in place to support learning of older users about interaction. Drawing
upon the expertise of tutors at Age Concern Oxfordshire, and the results of
preliminary investigations with older adults using dialogues in a speech
system, this paper explores the conditions which best provide for the learning
experience of older adults, and looks at special features which enable
instructions and help for learning to be embedded within speech dialogue
design. Keywords: Learning ICT - Older adults - Speech interactions - Voice dialogues -
VoiceXML - Web accessibility | |||
| Early user involvement in the development of information technology-related products for older people | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 131-140 | |
| R. Eisma; A. Dickinson; J. Goodman; A. Syme; L. Tiwari; A. F. Newell | |||
| The UTOPIA project (Usable Technology for Older People -- Inclusive and
Appropriate) is focused on developing effective methods for the early
involvement of older people in the development of information
technology-related products for people aged 60 and over, and on providing
industry with tools to assist in the development of information technology
products for such older people. An essential part of this methodology is
building a diverse user base, forming a long-lasting partnership with older
people, and developing approaches for effective interaction with this target
user group. Our experiences with eliciting information from groups of older
people about technology is described, together with a report on seminars for
Scottish industry designed to raise an awareness of these issues. Keywords: Older people - Technology - User involvement | |||
| Eliciting user requirements with older adults: lessons from the design of an interactive domestic alarm system | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 141-148 | |
| Lorna Lines; Kate S. Hone | |||
| This paper documents how methodological challenges were addressed when
identifying user requirements for an Interactive Domestic Alarm System (IDAS)
designed to enable older adults to live independently in their own homes for
longer. A novel approach to determine possible IDAS functionality is described,
and the results of focus groups conducted with older adults and care workers
are reported. The paper identifies some difficulties encountered when using the
focus group method with an ageing sample, and highlights the importance of
careful preparatory work if this method is to be used successfully in such a
context. Keywords: Focus groups - Interactive domestic alarm systems - Older adults - User
requirement capture | |||
| Design for participation: providing access to e-information for older adults | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 149-163 | |
| Simeon Keates; P. John Clarkson; Peter Robinson | |||
| Electronic information sources are becoming increasingly more prolific and
offer a huge potential for those able to use them. However, for those unable to
access those services, there is the risk of being further disadvantaged by
continued exclusion from an increasing number of services. This paper presents
two examples of kiosks designed to help principally older adults access online
governmental information sources. The design issues identified and the
implications for future kiosk interface designs, both for hardware and
software, are also discussed. Keywords: Digital divide - Inclusive design - Information access - Kiosks -
Participation | |||
| Unified user interface development: the software engineering of universally accessible interactions | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 165-193 | |
| Anthony Savidis; Constantine Stephanidis | |||
| In the information society, the notion of computing-platform encompasses,
apart from traditional desktop computers, a wide range of devices, such as
public-use terminals, phones, TVs, car consoles, and a variety of home
appliances. Today, such computing platforms are mainly delivered with embedded
operating systems (such as Windows CE, Embedded/ Personal Java, and Psion
Symbian), while their operational capabilities and supplied services are
controlled through software. The broad use of such computing platforms in
everyday life puts virtually anyone in the position of using interactive
software applications in order to carry out a variety of tasks in a variety of
contexts of use. Therefore, traditional development processes, targeted towards
the elusive average case, become clearly inappropriate for the purposes of
addressing the new demands for user- and usage-context diversity and for
ensuring accessible and high-quality interactions. This paper will introduce
the concept of unified user interfaces, which constitutes our theoretical
platform for universally accessible interactions, characterized by the
capability to self-adapt at run-time, according to the requirements of the
individual user and the particular context of use. Then, the unified user
interface development process for constructing unified user interfaces will be
described, elaborating on the interactive-software engineering strategy to
accomplish the run-time self-adaptation behaviour. Keywords: Development processes - Software engineering - Unified user interfaces -
User-adapted interfaces - User interface architectures | |||
| Developing a navigation aid for the frail and visually impaired | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 194-201 | |
| Pontus Engelbrektsson; I. C. Marianne Karlsson; Blaithin Gallagher; Heather Hunter; Helen Petrie; Ann-Marie O'Neill | |||
| This paper describes the development of a new navigational aid for the
frail, elderly, and visually impaired person. The users were involved both in
the user requirements study and in the evaluation of different prototypes. The
results show that the users were able to provide information on their current
aid, the use situation, and their preference regarding different solutions, but
they had difficulties to provide the detailed answers on technical solutions
required by the technical development team. Further, prototype evaluations with
users enabled the technical team to understand the users and their use
situation. Keywords: User involvement - User oriented product development - User requirement
elicitation | |||
| A taxonomy of novice user perception of error on the Web | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 202-208 | |
| Jonathan Lazar; Gabriele Meiselwitz; Anthony Norcio | |||
| Novice users face many challenges when browsing the Web. The goal of this
experiment was to learn about how users perceive error situations when using
the World Wide Web. Specifically, the goal was to learn which circumstances
cause users to believe that an error has occurred. An exploratory experiment
took place with 78 subjects who were novice users. In the experiment the
subjects were asked to identify when they perceived that an error had occurred.
The subjects reported a total of 219 error situations. These error situations
were then classified by the researchers into the following four categories:
user error, system error, situational error, and poor Web design. Based on the
collected data, suggestions are presented for improving the usability of Web
browsers and Web sites. Keywords: Novice user - Universal usability - User error - User frustration - User
perception | |||
| Transformation frameworks and their relevance in universal design | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 209-223 | |
| Silas S. Brown; Peter Robinson | |||
| Music, engineering, mathematics, and many other disciplines have established
notations for writing their documents. Adjusting these notations can contribute
to universal access by helping to address access difficulties, such as
disabilities, cultural backgrounds, or restrictive hardware. Tools that support
the programming of such transformations can also assist by allowing the
creation of new notations on demand, which is an under-explored option in the
relief of educational difficulties. This paper reviews some programming tools
that can be used to effect such transformations. It also introduces a tool,
called 4DML, which allows the programmer to create a model of the desired
result, from which the transformation is derived. Keywords: Notations - Transformation - Conversion - Education - Tools - 4DML | |||
| Using speech and dialogue for interactive TV navigation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 224-238 | |
| Aseel Berglund; Pontus Johansson | |||
| Interaction techniques for interactive television (iTV) are currently
complex and difficult to use for a wide-range of viewers. Few previous studies
have dealt with the potential benefits of multimodal dialogue interaction in
the context of iTV for the purpose of flexibility, usability, efficiency, and
accessibility. This paper investigates the benefits of introducing speech and
connected dialogue for iTV interaction, and presents a case study in which a
prototype system was built allowing users to navigate the information space and
control the operation of the TV by a speech-based natural language interface.
The system was evaluated by analysing the user experience in five categories
capturing essential aspects of iTV interaction: interaction style, information
load, data access, effectiveness and initiative. Design considerations relevant
for speech and dialogue information systems for TV interfaces also emerged from
the analysis. Keywords: Electronic program guide - Universal access - Speech interaction - iTV | |||
| The experience of being connected | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 239-251 | |
| Richard van de Sluis; Elmo Diederiks | |||
| The rapid spread of broadband always-on Internet is expected to change the
way people will communicate and share content and experiences in the near
future. This broadband connection can enhance the communication among family
members and friends. It can also make it easy to share content and activities
such as watching a movie together or listening to the same music while having a
videophone chat. While using all these functions people want to be able to move
freely through their home. The advance of portable devices fulfills this need
for mobility. These portable devices can be used either in isolation or in
co-operation with the stationary devices in the house. This paper describes the
development and evaluation of two novel interaction concepts that support
sociability and mobility for people inhabiting the connected home. Keywords: User interaction - Communities - Sharing - Communication - Portable devices | |||
| Comparing accessibility evaluation tools: a method for tool effectiveness | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 252-263 | |
| Giorgio Brajnik | |||
| This paper claims that effectiveness of automatic tools for evaluating web
site accessibility has to be itself evaluated, given the increasingly important
role that these tools play. The paper presents a comparison method for a pair
of tools that takes into account correctness, completeness and specificity in
supporting the task of assessing the conformance of a web site with respect to
established guidelines. The paper presents data acquired during a case study
based on comparing LIFT Machine with Bobby. The data acquired from the case
study is used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the comparison method.
The conclusion is that even though there is room for improvement of the method,
it is already capable of providing accurate and reliable conclusions. Keywords: Web accessibility - Accessibility assessments - Automated evaluations -
Accessibility evaluation tools - Tools effectiveness | |||
| The geography of the digital divide: broadband deployment in the Community of Madrid | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 264-271 | |
| Jose Luis Gomez Barroso; Jorge Perez Martinez | |||
| Realising the potential of the information society requires an adequate
broadband infrastructure, a sine qua non condition for usage. The different
deployment rhythms of broadband networks threaten to increase the distance
separating developed and developing countries. However, inside developed
countries, separating lines are also being traced on regional or local scales.
The magnitude and characteristics of this second form of geographic digital
divide are not thoroughly known. This article provides this analysis for a
specific case, namely the Community of Madrid. We conclude that outside the
metropolitan areas, adapting existing infrastructures, instead of deploying new
networks, is the actual base for expanding broadband accessibility. However, it
seems certain that the deployment is quite far from being universal, at least
in the medium term. Population size seems to be the most relevant criterion for
identifying threatened areas. Keywords: Broadband networks - ADSL deployment - Cable deployment - Digital divide -
Community of Madrid | |||
| German BIENE award reveals best practice in barrier-free Web design | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 272-275 | |
| Renate Anderweit; Michael Pieper | |||
| In the European year of people with disabilities 2003 the major German
social organisation Aktion Mensch and the Stiftung Digitale Chancen (digital
opportunities foundation) have for the first time jointly initiated a
competition for the design of barrier-free Web sites. The so-called BIENE award
is meant to honor the best barrier-free Web sites in the German language and to
present them as best practice examples. In this context, the acronym BIENE
stands for Barrierefreies Internet eroffnet neue Einsichten (barrier-free
Internet reveals new insights), stressing the objectives of promoting
communication, joint action and productive cooperation. Keywords: Best-practice award - Digital divide - Barrier-free Internet - Usability -
Accessibility - Regulatory legislation - Special needs | |||
| Lowering elderly Japanese users' resistance towards computers by using touchscreen technology | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 276-288 | |
| Hiroyuki Umemuro | |||
| The standard qwerty keyboard is considered to be a major source of
reluctance towards computer technology use by Japanese elderly, due to their
limited experience with typewriters and the high cognitive demand involved in
inputting Japanese characters. The touchscreen enables users to enter Japanese
characters more directly and is expected to moderate this resistance. An e-mail
terminal with a touchscreen was developed and compared with the same terminal
using a standard keyboard and mouse. Computer attitudes and subjective
evaluations of 32 older adults were measured. The results showed that the
anxiety factor of computer attitudes declined significantly in the touchscreen
condition. Keywords: Touchscreen - Alternative interface - Japanese elderly - E-mail - Computer
attitude | |||
| Interaction design: Beyond human-computer interaction by Preece, Sharp and Rogers (2001), ISBN 0471492787 | | BIB | Full-Text | 289 | |
| Sri Kurniawan | |||