| Information technology systems accessibility | | BIB | DOI | 1-3 | |
| Eleanor T. Loiacono; Scott McCoy; Nicholas C. Romano | |||
| AudioBrowser: a mobile browsable information access for the visually impaired | | BIBAK | DOI | 4-22 | |
| Xiaoyu Chen; Marilyn Tremaine; Robert Lutz; Jae-woo Chung; Patrick Lacsina | |||
| Although a large amount of research has been conducted on building
interfaces for the visually impaired that allows users to read web pages and
generate and access information on computers, little development addresses two
problems faced by the blind users. First, sighted users can rapidly browse and
select information they find useful, and second, sighted users can make much
useful information portable through the recent proliferation of personal
digital assistants (PDAs). These possibilities are not currently available for
blind users. This paper describes an interface that has been built on a
standard PDA and allows its user to browse the information stored on it through
a combination of screen touches coupled with auditory feedback. The system also
supports the storage and management of personal information so that addresses,
music, directions, and other supportive information can be readily created and
then accessed anytime and anywhere by the PDA user. The paper describes the
system along with the related design choices and design rationale. A user study
is also reported. Keywords: Information accessibility - Mobile information browser - AudioBrowser -
Non-visual interfaces for the blind and the visually impaired - Audio-tactile
interface | |||
| Improving search engine interfaces for blind users: a case study | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 23-40 | |
| Patrizia Andronico; Marina Buzzi; Carlos Castillo; Barbara Leporini | |||
| This article describes a research project aimed at improving search engine
usability for sightless persons who use assistive technology to navigate the
web. At the beginning of this research, a preliminary study was performed
concerning accessibility and usability of search tools, and eight guidelines
were formulated for designing search engine user interfaces. Then, the derived
guidelines were applied in modifying the source code of Google's interface,
while maintaining the same look and feel, in order to demonstrate that with
very little effort it is possible to make interaction easier, more efficient,
and less frustrating for sightless individuals. After providing a general
overview of the project, the paper focuses on interface design and
implementation. Keywords: Accessibility - Usability - User interface - Blind users - Search engine | |||
| An exploratory study of the accessibility of state government Web sites | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 41-50 | |
| Tanya Goette; Caroline Collier; Jennifer Daniels White | |||
| This paper focuses on Web accessibility. Relevant legislation and judicial
decisions are reviewed, and prior empirical research is presented. This study
presents the results from the Web accessibility analysis of the home pages of
the 50 states and the District of Columbia. It found that twenty-nine percent
of the home pages do not meet the requirements for Conformance Level A Web
accessibility. Only one state meets Conformance Level AA standards, which are
the minimum standards recommended for Web accessibility, and no state meets
Conformance Level AAA standards. This paper also discusses how to address
common accessibility problems. Keywords: Web site accessibility - State Web sites | |||
| Developing inclusive e-learning systems | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 51-72 | |
| Anthony Savidis; Dimitris Grammenos; Constantine Stephanidis | |||
| The requirement for e-inclusion relates to the employment of appropriate
development strategies for software applications and services so as to
accomplish accessibility and increased interaction quality at deployment time.
Inclusive e-learning is the outcome from the application of e-inclusion design
and implementation methods in the context of e-learning systems. This paper
reports consolidated development experience from the construction of the
following e-learning systems: (a) training applications for hand-motor impaired
users and for people with cognitive disabilities; (b) learner-adapted
courseware and (c) a universally accessible educational computer game. In this
context, the primary emphasis is placed on the reporting of the design and
implementation aspects to accommodate the inclusive system characteristics,
rather than on the typical e-learning software engineering approaches. Keywords: Inclusive e-learning - Accessible training applications - Learner-adapted
courseware - Universally accessible computer games | |||
| Odd Job Jack described: a universal design approach to described video | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 73-81 | |
| D. I. Fels; J. P. Udo; P. Ting; J. E. Diamond; J. I. Diamond | |||
| People who are blind or have low vision have only recently begun to enjoy
greater access to television and video through a new technology, called
descriptive video information (DVI). Two styles of DVI production for animated
comedy content were compared. The first model used a conventional description
style, and the second used a first person narrative style. In addition, the
first person narrative style was produced by the original animation creation
team. Results from blind participants show that using the first person
narrative style shows promise, especially since all participants seemed to have
positive entertainment experiences with the first person narrative DVI version
of the content. Keywords: Described video - Described audio - Production models | |||
| Automatic inspection-based support for obtaining usable Web sites for vision-impaired users | | BIBAK | DOI | 82-95 | |
| Francesco Correani; Barbara Leporini; Fabio Paternò | |||
| The aim of this work is to provide designers and developers of Web
applications with support to obtain systems that are usable for vision-impaired
users. To this end, a number of design criteria to improve Web site navigation
through screen readers or other similar devices have been defined. A user test
by blind and vision-impaired subjects showed that such criteria improve Web
site usability both qualitatively and quantitatively. An inspection-based tool
has been developed to ease the application of the defined criteria. Its main
features are presented in this article along with examples of applications and
related discussion. Keywords: Usability and accessibility - Automatic inspection - Vision-impaired users -
Guidelines - Tools | |||
| Ambient multimodality: towards advancing computer accessibility and assisted living | | BIBAK | DOI | 96-104 | |
| Noëlle Carbonell | |||
| The aim of this paper is to point out the benefits that can be derived from
research advances while implementing concepts such as ambient intelligence and
ubiquitous/pervasive computing for promoting universal access in the
information society, that is, for contributing to enable everybody, especially
people with physical disabilities, to have easy access to all computing
resources and information services that the upcoming worldwide information
society will soon make available to the general public as well as to expert
users. Following definitions of basic concepts relating to multimodal
interaction, the significant contribution of multimodality to developing
universal access is briefly discussed. Then, a short state of the art in
ambient intelligence research is presented, including references to some major
research projects either in progress or recently completed. The last section is
devoted to bringing out the potential contribution of advances in ambient
intelligence research and technology to the improvement of computer access for
physically disabled people, hence, to the implementation of universal access.
This claim is mainly supported by the following observations: (1) most projects
are aiming at implementing ambient intelligence focus research efforts on the
design of new interaction modalities and flexible/adaptive multimodal user
interfaces; outcomes of these projects may contribute to improving computer
access for users with physical disabilities; (2) such projects target
applications meant to support users in a wide range of daily activities which
will have to be performed simultaneously with the related supporting computing
tasks; therefore, users will be placed in situational contexts where they will
be confronted with similar difficulties to those encountered by physically
disabled users, since they will have to share out their perceptual and motor
capabilities between one or several daily activities and the computing tasks
meant to support them; (3) ambient intelligence applications being intended for
the general public, a wide range of interaction devices supporting a great
variety of input and output modalities will be available, making it possible to
provide physically disabled users with appropriate human-computer interaction
means tailored to their individual needs at a reasonable expense. Keywords: Ambient intelligence - Universal access - Assisted living - Multimodal
interaction | |||
| White Paper: promoting Design for All and e-Accessibility in Europe | | BIBA | Full-Text | 105-119 | |
| Iosif Klironomos; Margherita Antona; Ioannis Basdekis; Constantine Stephanidis | |||
| This White Paper results from the collaboration of Design for All (DfA) and e-Accessibility expert bodies representing the European Union member states [ref: the coordination centres of the national European Design for All e-Accessibility network (EDeAN) in 23 European Union Member States, in this document referred to as NCCs]. The objectives of this White Paper are threefold: (1) to present the current state of affairs of EDeAN, active since 2002 as part of the European Commission's action line supporting the development of the European Information Society; (2) to outline a roadmap for future initiatives, actively reflecting views of the EDeAN network in specific domains related to DfA, e-Accessibility and e-Inclusion; and (3) to bring forward a set of suggestions and recommendations regarding the activities of the network, aiming to support the creation of a fully inclusive European Information Society. The paper is organised as follows: Section 1 provides a short introduction to DfA and Accessibility in Information Society (IS) and Information Society Technology (IST) developments in Europe. Section 2 provides an overview of policy as well as R&D activities related to DfA and accessibility in IST in Europe. Section 3 briefly describes the role of EDeAN and the new challenges that emerge as a result of the changing European policy environment. Section 4 presents current challenges that emerge in five domains directly related to DfA and accessibility, such as policy and legislation, industry, monitoring and evaluation -- benchmarking, standardisation, R&D, and education and training. Finally, Sect. 5 puts forward a number of recommendations with regard to future activities for EDeAN. The contents of this paper reflect results from the open discussion forums supported in the EDeAN website (ref: EDeAN Special Interest Groups, SIGs). The draft paper was written by the EDeAN Secretariat for 2005, FORTH-ICS (Greece), and completed with the support of all NCCs. Support was also provided by the European Commission DG Information Society and Media and by the D4ALLnet project (ref: an EC funded project with the code IST-2001-38833). | |||
| Augmentative and alternative communication: the future of text on the move | | BIBA | Full-Text | 125-149 | |
| Anders Sewerin Johansen; John Paulin Hansen | |||
| The methods currently available for text entry on small mobile devices exhibit poor performance in terms of input speed, which presents a potential barrier to acceptance and growth. This paper presents an analysis of mobile text entry indicating that the likely solution is a combination of the use of language modelling and careful interaction design and verification. The paper argues that research in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is highly relevant to the mobile text entry problem and vice versa, and offers the opportunity to research solutions that will be feasible to implement on future generations of mobile devices. In the design of the system presented in this paper, fewer input buttons, natural language processing (NLP) and multimodal inputs are techniques that have been evaluated and applied. Contrary to initial expectations, analysis and evaluation showed that usability and human factors often are more significant factors in performance than the efficiency of the input method. In the conducted study, simplifications of a text-to-talk system increased productivity by 15%. This provides a strong indication that the best way to increase text production rates in realistic scenarios is to strive for simplicity and clarity in the interaction and user interface, rather than opting for including every possible time-saving feature in the system. Empirical validations of potential simplifications are therefore advocated as a general design methodology. | |||
| A proposal toward the development of accessible e-learning content by human involvement | | BIBAK | DOI | 150-169 | |
| Maria De Marsico; Stephen Kimani; Valeria Mirabella; Kent L. Norman; Tiziana Catarci | |||
| Most of the existing efforts for supporting the design, preparation, and
deployment of accessible e-learning applications propose guidelines that
primarily address technical accessibility issues. Little, if any, consideration
is given to the real actors involved in the learning experience, such as
didactical experts and disabled learners. Moreover, implementing artifacts
addressed to the e-learning world requires a wide range of particular skills
which are related not only to technical but also to didactical, pedagogical,
usability, and accessibility aspects of the produced material. This paper
argues that the know-how of a number of stakeholders should be blended into a
joint design activity, and that it should be possible to determine the role of
each participant in the successive phases of the development lifecycle of
e-learning applications. The paper sketches the methodological guidelines of a
design framework based on involving the users with disabilities, as well as
pedagogical experts, in the development process. The novelty of this proposal
mainly stems from being built up around the core of strategies and choices
specifically bound to accessibility requirements. Characteristic elements of
learner-centered design are then further integrated into processes and
methodologies which are typical of participatory and contextual design
approaches. Following such guidelines, it will be possible to gain a deeper
understanding of the requirements and of the operational context of people
needing accessible material, either as learners or educators. The underlying
objective is to increase the potential to realize learning systems that better
meet different user needs and that provide a more satisfying learning
experience. Moreover, when people get involved in the development process, they
gain a sense of ownership of the system and are therefore more likely to accept
and "promote" it. Keywords: E-learning - Universal accessibility - Disability - Usability - Software
development lifecycle | |||
| Website design attributes for retrieving health information by older adults: an application of architectural criteria | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 170-179 | |
| Laxman Nayak; Lee Priest; Ian Stuart-Hamilton; Allan White | |||
| The objectives of this research were to identify design attributes to
develop easy-to-use websites for older adults. Forty-one males and 58 females
(age range 58-90) were asked to retrieve information on a health-related topic
from the NHS Direct and Medicdirect websites, and were asked to fill in a
website evaluation questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis of data
identified navigation/search usability, link usability, usefulness and colour
as important dimensions of a senior-friendly website. A two-stage,
three-component regression model with these dimensions as predictor variables
and the satisfaction level in using a website as the dependent variable has
been proposed. Keywords: Older adults - Website usability - Health information - World Wide Web | |||
| On the efficiency of keyboard navigation in Web sites | | BIBAK | DOI | 180-188 | |
| Martin Schrepp | |||
| An efficient keyboard access to Web sites is highly important for many
groups of disabled users. However, the current design of most Web sites makes
the efficient keyboard navigation nearly impossible. This paper investigates
the performance of the keyboard and mouse navigation in Web pages. The
comparison is based on the theoretical arguments and on two small studies. The
results show that the current amount of keyboard support in common Web sites is
far from being sufficient. Typical problems concerning keyboard support in Web
sites are discussed, along with possible solutions and the related constraints. Keywords: Accessibility - Universal design - Web sites - Keyboard navigation | |||
| An alternative approach to strengthening tactile memory for sensory disabled people | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 189-198 | |
| Tatiana G. Evreinova; Grigori Evreinov; Roope Raisamo | |||
| Deaf and hearing-impaired people need special educational and developmental
tools to support their social inclusion. Research in vibro-tactile pattern
perception has shown that tactile memory could be a crucial aspect in coding
and imaging semantic information for users with sensory limitations. This paper
describes a simple matching game designed to facilitate the learning process of
27 vibro-tactile composite patterns (tactons) which can be produced with the
Logitech tactile feedback mouse. The underlying assumption was that a
particular framework and game intrigue would induce a player to mobilize the
perceptive skills and deploy individual playing tactics to recall the tactons
when progressing through the game. The performance of ten subjects using
soundproof headphones was investigated in terms of the number of repetitions
required to memorize and learn the mono-frequency, bi-frequency and
three-frequency tactons, and in terms of the selection time needed to match the
tactons in the game script. The analysis of the data collected indicated that
the novice-to-expert transition was significantly above chance when the results
obtained in the first and the last test sessions were statistically analyzed
and compared. There was also a significant difference between mean selection
times needed to match the composite patterns depending of their complexity in
the first and the last test sessions. Upon learning and training within game,
the tactons may be employed to assign alphabet characters or symbols to
communicate textual or symbolic information. Keywords: Sensory disabled - Hearing-impaired - Game training methodology -
Vibro-tactile feedback - Tactile memory - Tactons | |||
| Effects of feedback and dwell time on eye typing speed and accuracy | | BIBAK | DOI | 199-208 | |
| Päivi Majaranta; I. Scott MacKenzie; Anne Aula; Kari-Jouko Räihä | |||
| Eye typing provides a means of communication that is especially useful for
people with disabilities. However, most related research addresses technical
issues in eye typing systems, and largely ignores design issues. This paper
reports experiments studying the impact of auditory and visual feedback on user
performance and experience. Results show that feedback impacts typing speed,
accuracy, gaze behavior, and subjective experience. Also, the feedback should
be matched with the dwell time. Short dwell times require simplified feedback
to support the typing rhythm, whereas long dwell times allow extra information
on the eye typing process. Both short and long dwell times benefit from
combined visual and auditory feedback. Six guidelines for designing feedback
for gaze-based text entry are provided. Keywords: Eye typing - Text entry - Feedback modalities - People with disabilities | |||
| User interface evaluation of interactive TV: a media studies perspective | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 209-218 | |
| Konstantinos Chorianopoulos; Diomidis Spinellis | |||
| A diverse user population employs interactive TV (ITV) applications in a
leisure context for entertainment purposes. The traditional user interface (UI)
evaluation paradigm involving efficiency and task completion may not be
adequate for the assessment of such applications. In this paper, we argue that
unless ITV applications are evaluated with consideration for the ordinary TV
viewer, they are going to be appropriate only for the computer literate user,
thus excluding the TV audience from easy access to information society
services. The field of media studies has accumulated an extensive theory of TV
and associated methods. We applied the corresponding findings in the domain of
ITV to examine how universal access to ITV applications can be obtained. By
combining these results with emerging affective quality theories for
interactive products, we propose a UI evaluation framework for ITV
applications. Keywords: Interactive television - User interface - Affective quality - Media studies
- Evaluation - Methodology | |||
| Five qualitative research methods to make iTV applications universally accessible | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 219-238 | |
| Leena Eronen | |||
| Television is a powerful media with a strong influence on the lives of the
individuals and their behaviour. As new interactive technologies are being
developed and marketed with the home as the main market, this creates an effect
on domestic activities. This paper is a description of five qualitative
research methods applied to the field of interactive television (iTV)
application design and evaluation. Overall, the reported work is unique in the
young field of iTV, due to the range and variety of the applied methods, some
of which are quite novel. The aim of the conducted research was to find
techniques to meet TV viewers' future needs and to provide examples of future
product concepts. Several techniques were used, including user study based on
the "cultural probes" method, interviews, focus groups, design sessions,
usability testing, and storytelling. The methods have been applied to average
users not concentrating on specific user groups such as the children or the
elderly, but these same methods when applied to specific user groups can help
finding out about accessibility problems in the quest to achieve universally
accessible iTV applications. There are also valuable results from including a
group of TV producers in the design sessions to find new concepts of iTV
programs. The implications of this paper for the HCI community concern
gathering the user data and transforming the results into new product concepts. Keywords: Interactive television - User research - Concept design - Qualitative
methods - Usability | |||
| Diversified users' satisfaction with advanced mobile phone features | | BIBAK | DOI | 239-249 | |
| Chen Ling; Wonil Hwang; Gavriel Salvendy | |||
| Mobile phones are widely used all over the world, and with their increasing
number of value-added features, they are becoming far more than a mere mobile
voice communication device. Rather, they provide a powerful platform for
accessing information universally. This paper reports a study which scrutinized
users' preference levels with five new mobile phone design features
facilitating universal information access through mobile phones: camera, colour
screen, voice-activated dialling, Internet browsing, and wireless connectivity
(e.g. Bluetooth, infrared, etc.). The survey study involved college students
and investigated the degree to which each of the above features impacts the
users' overall satisfaction and enhances the potential of mobile phones to
contribute to different aspects of universal access. Our results show that
colour screen, voice-activated dialling, and Internet browsing feature can
strongly predict users' satisfaction level, and their preference levels
together account for 22.7% of the variance of the users' overall satisfaction.
Users' satisfaction levels are significantly different between models with
colour screen feature and those without, and models with Internet browsing
features and those without. Since mobile phone design needs to accommodate the
needs and preferences of diversified user groups, the performed study also
investigated the difference in users' preference levels of the five new
features for different ethnic groups, and difference in mobile phone owned by
different genders. The result indicates that Asian female users in the U.S.
market have higher preference level on colour screen feature than Caucasian
female users. Significantly higher percentage of male users own phones with
camera, Internet browsing, and wireless connectivity features than female
users. The empirical study reported in this paper provides a comprehensive
picture of how new design features can enhance the mobile phone as a universal
access device, and what impact they have brought about. It can also help
manufacturers adopt a universal design perspective in view of the differences
in preference levels of users with different ethnicity and genders. Keywords: Mobile phone - New feature - Users' satisfaction - Ethnic difference -
Gender difference | |||
| Consilience in research methods for HCI and universal access | | BIB | Full-Text | 251-252 | |
| Ray Adams | |||
| Consilience for universal design: the emergence of a third culture | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 253-268 | |
| Darren Dalcher | |||
| Consilience offers a powerful mechanism for borrowing from other
disciplines, thereby extending the scope of what can be known. This paper looks
at the foundations of the activity of design as a means of providing IT systems
that cater for diverse needs. Developing systems that are expected to satisfy
needs continuously (i.e., systems that are expected to evolve) calls for a
dynamic activity of design that is responsive to changes in the environment.
The contrast with the scientific assumption of ordered development invokes a
new classification, supported by insights from other disciplines that place the
range of approaches in context. Design is neither orderly nor linear; it
implies a continuous and active search to resolve trade-offs and satisfy
changing constraints. The paper concludes by making a case for design as an
alternative culture that borrows from, and supports, both the scientific and
the literary cultures. Acceptance of the role of practice as an interface
alongside the more traditional cultures enables researchers and practitioners
to access and adopt a larger variety of methods and general approaches
underpinning an even larger corpus of insights. Consilience can occur at
different levels and offer a variety of benefits. Balancing scientific enquiry
with artistic flair and creativity through careful sensemaking that supports
sharing across cultures provides the greatest benefit from learning to look
across rather than blindly focusing inwards. Keywords: Consilience - Design - Design characteristics - Design culture | |||
| Pragmatic research issues confronting HCI practitioners when designing for universal access | | BIBA | DOI | 269-278 | |
| Simeon Keates | |||
| Many HCI products exclude potential users unnecessarily. Such exclusion often arises because of a mismatch between designers' perceptions of the wants and needs of the end-user and their actual wants and needs. Sometimes the mismatch originates from the designer being unaware of the need to design inclusively, or of methods for implementing inclusive design. Other times the mismatch comes from the commissioner of the design, for example the client of a design consultancy. If the design commissioner specifies a target socio-economic group, but does not explicitly recognise that the group consists of users of varying functional capabilities, then the designers will often be given a design brief that overlooks the need to address the wider range of users, beyond simply the able-bodied. In either case, for universal access to be achieved effectively, information is required to identify the need for inclusive design and thus to generate demand, and design guidance is needed to help designers make inclusive design a reality. Currently, that information is largely unavailable to designers in an appropriate off-the-shelf format. This paper investigates methods for researchers to provide the kind of information that HCI designers need to design for universal access. It focuses on the profiling, recruitment and selection of users, along with the interpretation of the data gathered. In many instances, the HCI designer may also be the person performing the research, where specialist researchers are not available. | |||
| Aspects of HCI research for older people | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 279-286 | |
| Mary Zajicek | |||
| HCI research has come of age, and now is a good time to reflect upon the HCI
research processes that have become established over the years. This paper
examines the HCI research process itself with respect to funding opportunities
and the methods used for empirical research, assessing in particular the
efficacy of standard methods for research dissemination. The focus of the paper
is HCI research for older people. The nature of this user group is explored,
and Alexandrian patterns are proposed both as a means of dissemination of
research results and for strengthening the framework of HCI knowledge. Keywords: Human-computer interface research - Older people - Patterns - Guidelines -
Research dissemination | |||
| Enabling people with sensory impairments to participate effectively in research | | BIBAK | DOI | 287-291 | |
| Gill Whitney | |||
| The aim of this paper is to identify and discuss some of the effects that a
person's sensory impairment has on the ways in which they can participate in
research. Sensory impairment will result in a person receiving less sensory
information. This reduction may be uniform across a particular type of sensory
information (like having the volume on the radio turned down or watching things
through a haze) or, more likely, it will have different effects on different
parts of the available information. The result of this information loss will
not be that the person has a partial experience of a situation compared to a
person without a sensory impairment or with a different sensory impairment.
Instead, they will have a full experience based on a different combination of
information, and it is likely that more of the information that they are using
will come from their memory or previous experience. This paper describes ways
of working that acknowledge the different experiences of people with a hearing
or visual impairment with respect to both the object of the research and the
research process. It describes how to design questionnaire, use interviews and
focus groups and carry out evaluations of objects and situations in a way that
acknowledges the effect of the different amounts and types of information
available have on the experiences of people with sensory impairments. Keywords: Sensory impairment - Hearing impairment - Visual impairment - Research
methods | |||
| Universal access through accessible computer educational programs to develop the reading skills of children with autistic spectrum disorders | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 292-298 | |
| Marian Tuedor | |||
| Finding the right research design, method and methodology for research in
universal access can be a daunting process, as there are often no clearly laid
down procedures on how to go about such work (Adams and Langdon, Universal
access in HCI inclusive design in the information society. Lawrence Erlbaum,
Mahwah, 2003). Researchers in the past have looked to other disciplines for
guidance, or have followed the examples of other leading researchers. This
problem is particularly acute when considering groups of individuals with very
demanding and complex requirements. This paper evaluates research aimed at
enabling children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and severe learning
difficulties to acquire early reading skills. In order to carry out research in
this area, which contributes to a better understanding of the issues and to
provide practical benefits, new methods are required to be developed on top of
existing approaches. Keywords: Accessibility - Universal access - Learning - Usability - Research -
Inclusive design - Assistive technology - Children - Autism | |||
| Cross-cultural interface design strategy | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 299-305 | |
| Jainaba Jagne; A. Serengul Guven Smith-Atakan | |||
| This paper addresses the emerging need for an integration of the cultural
and social factors of metaphors into interface design, by creating cultural
models within the context of indigenous users. Current theoretical and
empirical work is reviewed that uses existing cultural models. Finally, an
investigative strategic model is proposed for research in this field that
incorporates all the important components of cultural contexts of metaphors in
interface design. Keywords: Cultural models - Cross-cultural interface design - Investigative strategic
model | |||
| Validation methods for an accessible user interface for a rehabilitation robot | | BIBA | DOI | 306-324 | |
| Bernard Parsons; Anthony White; Peter Warner; Raj Gill | |||
| This paper describes the research methods required for the development and validation of a user interface for a wheelchair mounted manipulator for use by severely disabled persons. It explains the construction of the interface using tasks to define the user interface architecture. It outlines the experiments used to evaluate the user responses and draws conclusions about the effectiveness of the whole system. A systematic procedure is defined to obtain numerical estimates of the effectiveness of task analysis for individual use. This approach marries engineering procedures with a consideration of the human interaction. The prototype robot used several gesture recognition systems to achieve a better level of accessibility and usability than other robots used for rehabilitation at this time. Two different approaches to user interfaces were tested with different input devices. | |||
| Sherry Y. Chen and George D. Magoulas: Adaptable and adaptive hypermedia systems | | BIB | Full-Text | 325 | |
| Marcus Specht | |||
| Special issue on "Cognitive and learning difficulties and how they affect access to IT systems" | | BIB | DOI | 327-328 | |
| Simeon Keates; Philip Varker | |||
| Cognitive and learning difficulties and how they affect access to IT systems | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 329-339 | |
| Simeon Keates; Ray Adams; Cathy Bodine; Sara Czaja; Wayne Gordon; Peter Gregor; Emily Hacker; Vicki Hanson; John Kemp; Mark Laff; Clayton Lewis; Michael Pieper; John Richards; David Rose; Anthony Savidis; Greg Schultz; Paul Snayd; Shari Trewin; Philip Varker | |||
| In October 2005, the IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center and T.J.
Watson Research Center hosted a symposium on "cognitive and learning
difficulties and how they affect access to IT systems". The central premise of
the symposium was the recognition that cognitive and learning difficulties have
a profound impact on a person's ability to interact with information technology
(IT) systems, but that little support is currently being offered by those
systems. By bringing together internationally renowned experts from a variety
of different, but complementary, research fields, the symposium aimed to
provide a complete overview of the issues related to this topic. This paper
summarises the discussions and findings of the symposium. Keywords: Cognitive impairment - Learning difficulties - Design - Cognitive models | |||
| The impact of aging on access to technology | | BIBAK | DOI | 341-349 | |
| Sara J. Czaja; Chin Chin Lee | |||
| The number of people over the age of 65 is increasing worldwide with the
fastest growing subgroup those aged 80+ years. Computer and information
technologies hold promise in terms of increasing the quality of life for older
people. However, successful use of technology by older adults is predicated on
systems that are designed to accommodate the needs and preferences of this user
group. This paper discusses the implications of age-related changes in
cognition for system design. Generally, the existing literature shows that,
although older adults are willing to use technology, many report usability
problems with existing systems and these problems may in part be due to the
cognitive and perceptual demands placed on the user. These findings are
discussed in terms of guidelines for system design. Keywords: Older adults - Use of technology - System design | |||
| Simplicity in cognitive assistive technology: a framework and agenda for research | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 351-361 | |
| Clayton Lewis | |||
| Technology offers substantial benefits to the many people with some form of
cognitive disability. But the power of technology often comes in a package
whose complexity is a barrier to many users, leading to calls for designs, and
especially designs for user interfaces, that are "simple". This paper analyzes
the idea of simplicity, and suggests (a) that simplicity in a user interface is
not a unified concept, but rather has distinguishable facets, and (b) that
simplicity must be defined in terms of the cognitive capabilities of a user, so
that what is "simpler" for one user may be "more complex" for another. Despite
(b), the prospects for universal design in this area are good, in that
interface technology with the flexibility needed to produce "simple" interfaces
for a range of users with different cognitive strengths will be of value in
addressing the overall design space of interfaces for a broad audience. While
it is possible to sketch the outlines of a useful theory of simplicity, the
sketch reveals much that is not fully understood. It also reveals opportunities
to rethink the architecture of user interfaces in a way that will benefit user
interface development generally. Keywords: User interface design - Cognitive disabilities | |||
| Decision and stress: cognition and e-accessibility in the information workplace | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 363-379 | |
| Ray Adams | |||
| Cognitive abilities and disabilities are increasingly important in today's
information-based workplace, particularly in relation to the accessibility of
advanced information society technologies. As this paper discusses, new
technologies can create problems for human decision making, stress levels,
general cognition and e-accessibility. Yet it is not easy to identify possible
new e-accessibility solutions to these problems. This is where theories of
cognitive aspects of e-accessibility could be useful to generate solutions to
these problems of HCI in general and of accessibility in particular. The
purpose of this paper is to report a new generative theory (called Simplex 2),
provide validating evidence for it from two meta-analyses and demonstrate a
proof of concept through the application of Simplex to the solution of HCI
problems. Two qualitative meta-analyses are reported for two different samples
(N1 = 90 and N2 = 100) of relevant and contemporary conference
papers. Whilst a few more concepts were identified, only nine cognitive
concepts emerged from both analyses, validating the predictions of Simplex,
which is also used for cognitive user modeling. Given the sample sizes and the
successful replication, it is clear that these nine factors feature prominently
in current research and practice in universal access and inclusive design.
Further support for the value of this theory is found in a consideration of the
requirements of older adult users and from studies of cognitive overload and
augmentation. Uses of Simplex include the evaluation of existing systems,
assessment of user requirements, system development in combination with models
of task, context of use and technology platform and through the concepts of
cognitive augmentation and overload to identify future opportunities for new,
accessible, cognitive solutions. A proof of concept of Simplex is demonstrated
by the treatment of HCI accessibility problems and as a generative theory for
the development of new solutions. Keywords: Cognition - Architecture - Models - e-Accessibility - Workplace - Overload -
Augmentation | |||
| Cognitive difficulties and access to information systems: an interaction design perspective | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 393-400 | |
| Peter Gregor; Anna Dickinson | |||
| People with cognitive difficulties, including memory, sequencing and
attentional difficulties, face barriers to the use of conventionally designed
information systems. This paper explores some of the reasons for these barriers
in terms of the expectations normally placed on the user's cognitive abilities
and background knowledge. In the paper, the design and evaluation of three
information systems are reported. These systems go some way towards overcoming
cognitive barriers, allowing access to the advantages of computers for people
with dyslexia, and for older users with no background in computer use who were
able to access both email and the World Wide Web through specially designed
interfaces. Keywords: Accessibility - Cognitive difficulties - Interface design - Supportive
systems | |||
| Developing inclusive e-learning and e-entertainment to effectively accommodate learning difficulties | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 401-419 | |
| Anthony Savidis; Dimitris Grammenos; Constantine Stephanidis | |||
| The real-life training of people with learning difficulties is a highly
challenging and demanding process that can be effectively improved with the
deployment of special-purpose software instruments. This paper discusses the
development and evaluation of two inclusive training applications and two games
for people with learning difficulties. Namely, the four developed systems are:
(a) a cashier training applications; (b) a sewing training applications; (c) an
accessible pong game; and (d) an accessible action game. The main objective of
the work was to investigate the hypothesis that computer games, as pleasant,
motivating and highly engaging interactive experiences, can have a significant
role on improving the training of people with learning difficulties, such as
attention deficit disorder or Asperger syndrome. The obtained results are very
positive and encouraging, and have led to the identification of new research
directions, blending training and playing, via novel training techniques and
purpose-specific game genres. Keywords: e-Entertainment - e-Learning - Universal access - Learning difficulties -
Game development | |||
| Gavriel Salvendy (Ed.): Handbook of human factors and ergonomics (3rd edn.) | | BIB | DOI | 421 | |
| Don Norman | |||