| Web and aging: challenges and opportunities | | BIB | Full-Text | 1-2 | |
| Panayiotis Zaphiris; Sri Kurniawan; R. Darin Ellis | |||
| Strategies for teaching older people to use the World Wide Web | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 3-15 | |
| Anna Dickinson; Roos Eisma; Peter Gregor; Audrey Syme; Scott Milne | |||
| Information is increasingly displayed digitally, yet less than half of the
population of the UK use the Internet. Older people are especially unlikely to
be Internet users and the consequent risks of digital exclusion must be
addressed. A training course in computers and web use for older adults took
place at the University of Dundee, with 15 participants. The course approach
was to simplify application interfaces and to ensure that basic skills were
learnt before more complicated tasks were presented. As part of this process,
there was a focus on learning to use the computer before learners were
introduced to the web with its wide variety of content. The course outcomes
were positive and the authors report them here in order to reflect upon the
experience and help others who set out to provide training for older people in
web use. Keywords: Older users - Computer classes - Web browser design | |||
| Introducing computers and the Internet to older users: findings from the Care OnLine project | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 16-23 | |
| Zaheer Osman; David Poulson; Colette Nicolle | |||
| This paper reports the findings from a two-year pilot project called Care
OnLine (COL). The COL project has introduced computers and the Internet into
the homes of 50 elderly and vulnerable volunteers and provided shared Internet
access at five shared schemes housing older people across the Market
Harbrorough district of Leicestershire. A specific web portal was designed that
was geared towards older and vulnerable people and provided information about
the different services available to them, as well as links to a variety of
websites. All the volunteers were provided with training in using computers and
the Internet, and were interviewed regarding their experiences. Findings
related to their attitudes towards, and experiences of, computers and the
Internet are reported. The impact of having access to computers and the
Internet on the volunteers lives and some lessons learnt from providing such a
scheme are also discussed. Keywords: Elderly - Attitudes - Computer - Internet - Internet scheme - Training and
support | |||
| http://www.nihseniorhealth.gov: the process of construction and revision in the development of a model web site for use by older adults | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 24-38 | |
| Roger W. Morrell | |||
| The NIH (National Institutes of Health) Senior Health Project began as a
joint undertaking between the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the
National Library of Medicine (NLM) to accomplish two goals. The first goal was
to develop comprehensive research-based guidelines on how to make web sites
accessible to older adults. The second goal was the implementation of the
guidelines in the construction of a web site for older adults to locate health
information. This descriptive article outlines the process of developing the
guidelines and the building of the web site, http://www.nihseniorhealth.gov,
and includes an overview of what was learned as the project evolved. Keywords: Aging - Technology - Information web sites - Elder-friendly - Internet -
Older adults | |||
| Input devices for web browsing: age and hand effects | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 39-45 | |
| Tiffany Jastrzembski; Neil Charness; Patricia Holley; Jeffrey Feddon | |||
| The work reported in this paper examined performance on a mixed pointing and
data entry task using direct and indirect positioning devices for younger,
middle-aged, and older adults (n=72) who were experienced mouse users.
Participants used both preferred and non-preferred hands to perform an item
selection and text entry task simulating a typical web page interaction. Older
adults performed more slowly than middle-aged adults who in turn performed more
slowly than young adults. Performance efficiency was superior with the mouse
for older adults only on the first two trial blocks. Thereafter mouse and light
pen yielded equivalent performance. For other age groups, mouse and light pen
were equivalent at all points of practice. Contrary to prior research revealing
superior performance with a light pen for pure pointing tasks, these results
suggest that older adults may initially perform worse with a light pen than a
mouse for mixed tasks. Keywords: Age - Hand - Usability - Input device - Web | |||
| Personalization of Web browsing: adaptations to meet the needs of older adults | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 46-58 | |
| Vicki L. Hanson; Susan Crayne | |||
| Despite difficulties in using the Web, older adults are motivated to use it.
This paper reports on work underway to ease Web access for this population.
Although Web accessibility standards provide specifications that Web content
providers must incorporate if their pages are to be accessible, these standards
do not guarantee a good experience for all Web users. This paper will discuss
user controls that make a number of dynamic adaptations to page presentation
and input that can greatly increase the usability of Web pages for older users.
The paper will discuss the authors original work on the topic, lessons learned,
and usage patterns. Current extensions to that work are also discussed. Keywords: Web access - Older adults - Ease of access | |||
| Senior users of the internet: lessons from the cybernun study | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 59-66 | |
| Deborah J. Smith | |||
| This paper presents a study that examined computer use and life satisfaction
of senior religious sisters. A sample was obtained of 103 nuns in Upstate New
York. Participants self-identified as computer users (CU) or non-users (NU),
completed demographic information, the life satisfaction index-Z (LSIZ), the
attitudes toward computer use scale (ATCUS), and responded to additional
semi-structured questions. No statistically significant differences were found
between CU and NU in life satisfaction. A cross-comparative, grounded analysis
of the more open-ended responses found interesting differences in perceptions
of sisters about computer use. Senior usability concerns were also considered. Keywords: Religious sisters - Computer use - Usability | |||
| User study on older adults' use of the Web and search engines | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 67-81 | |
| Anne Aula | |||
| Ten older adults were interviewed about the motivational factors behind
learning to use computers and the negative and positive aspects related to it.
They were then given search tasks and were observed as they used search engines
for finding information from the Web. All of the participants completed several
search tasks during the search session. Although their performance in the
search tasks was adequate, they faced several problems in the interaction. For
example, text editing was difficult and understanding the structure of the Web
and terminology used caused problems. Based on the observations, an elderly
friendly search user interface is proposed. Keywords: Older adults - World Wide Web - Search engines - User study | |||
| Special issue on design for a more inclusive world | | BIB | Full-Text | 83-84 | |
| Simeon Keates; John Clarkson; Patrick Langdon; Peter Robinson | |||
| Movement time for motion-impaired users assisted by force-feedback: effects of movement amplitude, target width, and gravity well width | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 85-95 | |
| Faustina Hwang; Simeon Keates; Patrick Langdon; P. John Clarkson | |||
| This paper presents a study investigating how the performance of
motion-impaired computer users in point and click tasks varies with target
distance (A), target width (W), and force-feedback gravity well width (GWW).
Six motion-impaired users performed point and click tasks across a range of
values for A, W, and GWW. Times were observed to increase with A, and to
decrease with W. Times also improved with GWW, and, with the addition of a
gravity well, a greater improvement was observed for smaller targets than for
bigger ones. It was found that Fitts' Law gave a good description of behaviour
for each value of GWW, and that gravity wells reduced the effect of task
difficulty on performance. A model based on Fitts' Law is proposed, which
incorporates the effect of GWW on movement time. The model accounts for 88.8%
of the variance in the observed data. Keywords: Fitts' Law - Motion-impaired - Force-feedback - Haptic | |||
| Interacting with notations: two examples of the use of a transformation system | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 96-104 | |
| Silas S. Brown; Peter Robinson | |||
| Computers can present data in different ways to fit different tasks and
different users experience, abilities and disabilities. Transformation
frameworks allow developers and competent end-users to experiment with
alternative notations more quickly, and thus discover new presentations
appropriate for particular sets of circumstances. This paper illustrates this
in two separate contexts: musical notations and interfaces to complex
applications software. Keywords: Transformation - Low vision - Blind - Interfaces - Music | |||
| Robotic assistants in therapy and education of children with autism: can a small humanoid robot help encourage social interaction skills? | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 105-120 | |
| B. Robins; K. Dautenhahn; R. Te Boekhorst; A. Billard | |||
| This article presents a longitudinal study with four children with autism,
who were exposed to a humanoid robot over a period of several months. The
longitudinal approach allowed the children time to explore the space of
robot-human, as well as human-human interaction. Based on the video material
documenting the interactions, a quantitative and qualitative analysis was
conducted. The quantitative analysis showed an increase in duration of
pre-defined behaviours towards the later trials. A qualitative analysis of the
video data, observing the children's activities in their interactional context,
revealed further aspects of social interaction skills (imitation, turn-taking
and role-switch) and communicative competence that the children showed. The
results clearly demonstrate the need for, and benefits of, long-term studies in
order to reveal the full potential of robots in the therapy and education of
children with autism. Keywords: Autism therapy - Longitudinal study - Robotic assistant - Imitation - Social
interaction | |||
| The emotional hearing aid: an assistive tool for children with Asperger syndrome | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 121-134 | |
| R. el Kaliouby; P. Robinson | |||
| People diagnosed along the autistic spectrum often have difficulties
interacting with others in natural social environments. The emotional hearing
aid is a portable assistive computer-based technology designed to help children
with Asperger syndrome read and respond to the facial expressions of people
they interact with. The tool implements the two principal elements that
constitute ones ability to empathize with others: the ability to identify a
persons mental state, a process known as mind-reading or theory of mind, and
the ability to react appropriately to it (known as sympathizing). An automated
mind-reading system attributes a mental state to a person by observing the
behaviour of that person in real-time. Then the reaction advisor suggests to
the user of the emotional hearing an appropriate reaction to the recognized
mental state. This paper describes progress in the development and validation
of the emotional hearing aid on two fronts. First, the implementation of the
reaction advisor is described, showing how it takes into account the
persistence, intensity and degree of confidence of a mental state inference.
Second, the paper presents an experimental evaluation of the automated
mind-reading system on six classes of complex mental states. In light of this
progress, the paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges that still
need to be addressed in developing and validating the emotional hearing aid. Keywords: Autism - Asperger syndrome - Facial expression analysis - Mind-reading -
Dynamic Bayesian Networks | |||
| Designing desirability in an augmentative and alternative communication device | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 135-145 | |
| Jonathon Allen | |||
| This paper discusses work carried in the context of a study addressing the
design and development of a wearable communication aid for people who are
illiterate and cannot speak. People with such disabilities often depend on
electronic augmentative and alternative communication devices for interpersonal
communication. A central theme of the paper, however, is that such products,
and products intended for people with disabilities more generally, have
characteristics that inadequately attend to users needs -- in particular many
devices pay insufficient regard to the psychological and sociological impact
the devices have upon their users. The paper briefly discusses an empirical
case study targeted to design and develop the Portland Communication Aid (PCA).
The process of establishing user requirements, and in particular the notion of
designer-facilitated participatory design, is discussed. The resulting
prototype of the PCA is briefly explained along with a discussion of the
importance of product semantics in the design of assistive technology. Keywords: Disability - Product semantics - Augmentative and alternative communication
(AAC) - Industrial design | |||
| Robots in a domestic setting: a psychological approach | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 146-155 | |
| Massimiliano Scopelliti; Maria Vittoria Giuliani; Ferdinando Fornara | |||
| The study presented in this paper aims at improving the current
understanding of human-robot interaction by adopting a psychological approach.
The acceptability of robotic devices in home settings, especially by elderly
people, does not depend only on the practical benefits they can provide, but on
complex relationships between the cognitive, affective and emotional components
of peoples images of robots. This study has investigated the main dimensions of
these representations, by comparing the attitudes towards technology in
general, and domestic robots in particular, held by people at different stages
of the lifespan. The results confirm that age is a critical variable. Keywords: Human-robot interaction - Affective response - Cognitive representation -
Lifespan | |||
| The design of smart homes for people with dementia -- user-interface aspects | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 156-164 | |
| R. Orpwood; C. Gibbs; T. Adlam; R. Faulkner; D. Meegahawatte | |||
| This paper reports on the user requirements analysis, design and evaluation
of smart home solutions for people with dementia. In order to be appropriate
for people with dementia, smart home technologies should keep interaction with
users to a minimum. In the work presented in this paper, discussions with
carers, as well as a more formal user-survey, provided a good understanding of
the issues that are faced by this group, and useful indications of potential
design solutions. This preliminary survey work led to a design approach that
used carer emulation, familiarity of appearance, incorporation of verbal
prompts and reminders, and careful user-monitoring, to achieve effective
devices. This design approach is illustrated through several examples of
specific designs. Evaluations of stand-alone systems were carried out prior to
smart home installation, and illustrated the complex interface that exists
between assistive technology and people with dementia. Keywords: People with dementia - Smart homes - Needs surveys - User-led design | |||
| Collaborative Control of the Manus Manipulator | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 165-173 | |
| B. J. F. Driessen; T. K. Ten. Kate; F. Liefhebber; A. H. G. Versluis; J. A. van. Woerden | |||
| The Manus manipulator is a wheelchair mounted assistive device for severely
motor disabled persons. It is a six degrees of freedom rehabilitation robot
(excluding external lift and gripper), the control of which can be improved,
especially for users with very limited rest functionality. The approach
presented in this paper combines autonomous vision based control with direct
user control resulting in a collaborative controller. Results of preliminary
user trials show that this technique allows severely disabled persons to
manipulate objects more easily. Keywords: Visual Servoing - Collaborative Control - Manus - Rehabilitation Robotics -
Sensor Fusion | |||
| Special UAIS issue on "User-centered interaction paradigms for universal access in the information society" | | BIB | Full-Text | 175-176 | |
| Christian Stary | |||
| Augmented reality navigation systems | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 177-187 | |
| Wolfgang Narzt; Gustav Pomberger; Alois Ferscha; Dieter Kolb; Reiner Muller; Jan Wieghardt; Horst Hortner; Christopher Lindinger | |||
| The augmented reality (AR) research community has been developing a manifold
of ideas and concepts to improve the depiction of virtual objects in a real
scene. In contrast, current AR applications require the use of unwieldy
equipment which discourages their use. In order to essentially ease the
perception of digital information and to naturally interact with the pervasive
computing landscape, the required AR equipment has to be seamlessly integrated
into the user's natural environment. Considering this basic principle, this
paper proposes the car as an AR apparatus and presents an innovative
visualization paradigm for navigation systems that is anticipated to enhance
user interaction. Keywords: Augmented reality - Navigation systems - Visualization paradigms - User
interaction | |||
| Text prediction systems: a survey | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 188-203 | |
| Nestor Garay-Vitoria; Julio Abascal | |||
| Text prediction is one of the most widely used techniques to enhance the
communication rate in augmentative and alternative communication. Prediction
systems are traditionally used by people with disabilities (e.g. people with
motor and speech impairments). However, new applications, such as writing short
text messages via mobile phones, have recently appeared. A vast amount of
heterogeneous text prediction methods and techniques can be found in
literature. Their heterogeneity makes it difficult to understand and compare
them, in order to select the most convenient technique for a specific design.
This paper presents a survey on text prediction techniques with the intention
to provide a systematic view of this field. Prediction applications and related
features, such as block size, dictionary structure, prediction method, user
interface, etc., are examined. In addition, prediction measurement parameters
and published results are compared. A large number of factors that may
influence prediction results, including the acceptance of the system by the
users, are reviewed, and their influence on the performance and usability of
the system is discussed. Keywords: Text prediction - Word prediction - Anticipative interfaces - Augmentative
and alternative communication - Communication speed enhancement | |||
| Augmenting interaction and cognition using agent architectures and technology inspired by psychology and social worlds | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 204-222 | |
| Steve Goschnick; Connor Graham | |||
| Intelligent agents can play a pivotal role in providing both software
systems and augmented interfaces, to individual users from all walks of life,
to utilise the Internet 24 h a day, 7 days a week (24x7), including interaction
with other users, over both wireless and broadband infrastructures. However,
traditional approaches to user modelling are not adequate for this purpose, as
they mainly account for a generic, approximate, idealised user. New user models
are therefore required to be adaptable for each individual and flexible enough
to represent the diversity of all users using information technology. Such
models should be able to cover all aspects of an individual's life -- those
aspects of most interest to the individual user themselves. This paper
describes a novel intelligent agent architecture and methodology both called
ShadowBoard, based on a complex user model drawn from analytical psychology. An
equally novel software tool, called the DigitalFriend based on ShadowBoard, is
also introduced. This paper illustrates how aspects of user cognition can be
outsourced, using, for example, an internationalised book price quoting agent.
The Locales Framework from Computer Supported Co-operative Work is then used to
understand the problematic aspects of interaction involved in complex social
spaces, identifying specific needs for technology intervention in such social
spaces, and to understand how interactions amongst mobile users with different
abilities might be technically assisted in such spaces. In this context, the
single user-centred multi-agent technology demonstrated in the DigitalFriend is
adapted to a multi-user system dubbed ShadowPlaces. The aim of ShadowPlaces is
to outsource some of the interaction necessary, for a group of mobile
individuals with different abilities to interact cooperatively and effectively
in a social world, supported by wireless networks and backed by broadband
Internet services. An overview of the user model, the architecture and
methodology (ShadowBoard) and the resulting software tool (the DigitalFriend)
is presented, and progress on ShadowPlaces -- the multi-user version -- is
outlined. Keywords: User model - User agent - Universal interface | |||
| Symbol design: a user-centered method to design pen-based interfaces and extend the functionality of pointer input devices | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 223-236 | |
| Margrit Betke; Oleg Gusyatin; Mikhail Urinson | |||
| A method called "SymbolDesign" is proposed that can be used to design
user-centered interfaces for pen-based input devices. It can also extend the
functionality of pointer input devices, such as the traditional computer mouse
or the Camera Mouse, a camera-based computer interface. Users can create their
own interfaces by choosing single-stroke movement patterns that are convenient
to draw with the selected input device, and by mapping them to a desired set of
commands. A pattern could be the trace of a moving finger detected with the
Camera Mouse or a symbol drawn with an optical pen. The core of the
SymbolDesign system is a dynamically created classifier, in the current
implementation an artificial neural network. The architecture of the neural
network automatically adjusts according to the complexity of the classification
task. In experiments, subjects used the SymbolDesign method to design and test
the interfaces they created, for example, to browse the web. The experiments
demonstrated good recognition accuracy and responsiveness of the user
interfaces. The method provided an easily-designed and easily-used computer
input mechanism for people without physical limitations, and, with some
modifications, has the potential to become a computer access tool for people
with severe paralysis. Keywords: Universal access - Assistive technology - Universal interfaces - User
interfaces - Camera interfaces - Pen-based interfaces - Video-based
human-computer interfaces - Dynamic neural networks | |||
| Acoustic control of mouse pointer | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 237-245 | |
| Adam J. Sporka; Sri H. Kurniawan; Pavel Slavik | |||
| This paper describes the design and implementation of a system for
controlling mouse pointer using non-verbal sounds such as whistling and
humming. Two control modes have been implemented -- an orthogonal mode (where
the pointer moves with variable speed either horizontally or vertically at any
one time) and a melodic mode (where the pointer moves with fixed speed in any
direction). A preliminary user study with four users indicates that the
orthogonal control was easier to operate and that the humming was less tiring
for the users than whistling. The developed system may contribute as an
inexpensive, alternative pointing device for people with motor disabilities. Keywords: Pointing devices - Motor disabilities - Acoustic input - Assistive
technologies - Melodic interaction | |||
| Motion does matter: an examination of speech-based text entry on the move | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 246-257 | |
| Kathleen J. Price; Min Lin; Jinjuan Feng; Rich Goldman; Andrew Sears; Julie A. Jacko | |||
| Desktop interaction solutions are often inappropriate for mobile devices due
to small screen size and portability needs. Speech recognition can improve
interactions by providing a relatively hands-free solution that can be used in
various situations. While mobile systems are designed to be transportable, few
have examined the effects of motion on mobile interactions. This paper
investigates the effect of motion on automatic speech recognition (ASR) input
for mobile devices. Speech recognition error rates (RER) have been examined
with subjects walking or seated, while performing text input tasks and the
effect of ASR enrollment conditions on RER. The obtained results suggest
changes in user training of ASR systems for mobile and seated usage. Keywords: Mobile device - Automatic speech recognition - Speech-based data entry -
Motion - Speech recognition errors | |||
| Individual differences and behavioral metrics involved in modeling web navigation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 258-269 | |
| Ion Juvina; Herre van Oostendorp | |||
| This paper presents an empirical study aiming at investigating individual
differences and behavioral metrics involved in modeling web navigation. Factors
that have an influence on web navigation behavior were identified with the aid
of task analysis, and their relevance in predicting task outcomes (performance,
satisfaction, perceived disorientation) was tested with the aid of multiple
regression analysis. Several types of navigation metrics were calculated based
on web logging data and used as indicators of user characteristics and task
outcomes. Results show that spatial-semantic cognitive mechanisms seem to be
crucial in adequately performing web navigation tasks. The fact that user
characteristics and task outcomes can be estimated with reasonable accuracy
based on navigation metrics suggests the possibility of building adaptive
navigation support in web applications. Keywords: Web navigation - Individual differences - Navigation metrics | |||
| An approach to usability evaluation of e-learning applications | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 270-283 | |
| C. Ardito; M. F. Costabile; M. De Marsico; R. Lanzilotti; S. Levialdi; T. Roselli; V. Rossano | |||
| Despite recent advances of electronic technologies in e-learning, a
consolidated evaluation methodology for e-learning applications is not
available. The evaluation of educational software must consider its usability
and more in general its accessibility, as well as its didactic effectiveness.
This work is a first step towards the definition of a methodology for
evaluating e-learning applications. Specific usability attributes capturing the
peculiar features of these applications are identified. A preliminary user
study involving a group of e-students, observed during their interaction with
an e-learning application in a real situation, is reported. Then, the proposal
is put forward to adapt to the e-learning domain a methodology for systematic
usability evaluation, called SUE. Specifically, evaluation patterns are
proposed that are able to drive the evaluators in the analysis of an e-learning
application. Keywords: E-learning - Learner-centered design - Usability evaluation | |||