| Applying qualitative content analysis to study online support communities | | BIBAK | Web Page | 1-16 | |
| Ulrike Pfeil; Panayiotis Zaphiris | |||
| With the increasing popularity of online support communities for people with
disabilities and older people, the research domain of online communities is
gaining more and more research potential in the area of inclusive design. There
are many studies that investigate social interactions within online
communities. However, researchers seem to apply a variety of different methods
in very different ways. This makes it often difficult to decide on the
appropriate method. In order to provide guidance to researchers in the area of
inclusive design, this paper reviews past research in this area and presents a
self-contained methodology that is based on qualitative content analysis for
studying social interactions in online support communities for people with
special needs. A case study from an online community for older people is
presented in order to set the theory into context. Keywords: Online communication; Qualitative content analysis; Methodology; Support
communities | |||
| Accessibility and interoperability in e-government systems: outlining an inclusive development process | | BIBAK | Web Page | 17-33 | |
| Rodrigo Bonacin; Amanda M. Melo; Carlos A. C. Simoni; M. Cecília C. Baranauskas | |||
| The multidisciplinary nature of e-government demands a research agenda that
includes issues related to social inclusion, universal accessibility,
interoperability, privacy, security, and citizen participation, to name a few.
Understanding the underlying cultural context, the involvement of citizens in
the proposal and evaluation of services, and the promotion of quality in use
are aspects that need special consideration in the development of systems to
support government. This paper provides an outline for a process model for
promoting the identification and specification of accessible e-government
services with the participation of the interested parties. A socially shared
perspective is adopted toward the comprehension of the involved problems and
the elaboration of potential solutions. The proposed model is a result of
practice in the domain, using organizational semiotics artifacts to stimulate
participation and discussion. Keywords: e-Government; Accessibility; Interoperability; Organizational semiotics;
Participatory design; Process model | |||
| Managing accessibility in local e-government websites through end-user development: a case study | | BIBAK | Web Page | 35-50 | |
| Daniela Fogli; Sergio Colosio; Matteo Sacco | |||
| This work discusses accessibility problems concerning content creation and
publication on e-government websites, and proposes an approach based on
end-user development (EUD) techniques to overcome them. To deal with the huge
and diverse amount of documentation to be published, content management systems
(CMSs) are usually adopted in government institutions to support content
creation by a large set of publishers, who typically have no competencies in
information technology. This paper proposes the integration of EUD techniques
in CMSs in order to limit CMS personalization and, at the same time, relieve
publishers from managing the low-level details of content representation. To
demonstrate the validity of the approach, a case study research has been
performed by involving some employees of the Brescia Municipality in Italy. The
results of the study confirm the positive impact of EUD techniques on content
accessibility and publishers' work practice, and suggest their possible use in
more sophisticated tasks. Keywords: e-Government website; End-user development; Accessibility; Content
management system | |||
| Accessibility and findability of local e-government websites in the Czech Republic | | BIBAK | Web Page | 51-61 | |
| Hana Kopackova; Karel Michalek; Karel Cejna | |||
| This article focuses on the accessibility of local e-government web pages.
Accessibility is herein considered in a broader perspective, taking also into
account that information must be findable within the Internet through
conventional fulltext search engines. Based on this assumption, an analysis of
39 local e-government websites in the Czech Republic was carried out in two
testing periods (March 2006 and April 2008). The web pages were analysed both
from a citizen's point of view (with disadvantage due to disability or to
technical equipment) and from the point of view of fulltext search engines. In
the analysis of results, there is an overall evaluation and comparison between
testing periods and recommendations for improvement of the current conditions. Keywords: Local government websites; Accessibility; Disabled users; XHTML; Fulltext
search engines | |||
| Re-fashioning fashion: an exploratory study of a live audio-described fashion show | | BIBAK | Web Page | 63-75 | |
| J. P. Udo; D. I. Fels | |||
| This paper presents a process and its analysis for live audio description of
a fashion show that contained only music and no dialogue. The findings of this
work suggest that using a content expert with a process that combines
conventional audio-description techniques with colour commentary techniques to
allow emotion and excitement, as well as description of the important visual
elements, is enjoyable and entertaining for blind, low-vision and sighted
audiences. Following the proposed process, about 60% of the content of the live
show could be described in a timely manner. Finally, it was found that the
describer added about three times as many descriptions from a prepared script
as were omitted. Keywords: Live audio description; Access to live content for people with vision
impairments | |||
| GOMS analysis as a tool to investigate the usability of web units for disabled users | | BIBAK | Web Page | 77-86 | |
| Martin Schrepp | |||
| Guideline compliance is a necessary but not sufficient condition to
guarantee the usability of web units by disabled users, since
efficiency-related issues can be as exclusive for disabled users as violations
to basic guidelines. This paper shows that Goals, Operators, Methods and
Selection rules (GOMS) analysis, which is an established method in user
interface design, can be adapted to evaluate the efficiency of interface
designs for disabled users. As examples, several GOMS models for the
interaction behavior of disabled users with web units are described, showing
how such models can be used to answer concrete accessibility-related questions.
Advantages and limitations of GOMS analysis are also discussed. Keywords: GOMS analysis; Efficiency; Usability; Accessibility | |||
| A web accessibility assessment on the Texas public school system | | BIBAK | Web Page | 87-96 | |
| Shane May; Qi Zhu | |||
| As the World Wide Web becomes one of the main communication channels between
school districts and their community of stakeholders, the need to provide equal
access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities is no longer just an
ethical issue, but also a legal obligation. This communication reports on
testing the 1,117 entities within the Texas public school system using the
Bobby Software. The results show that most of the web sites fail to meet the
minimum required standards: Section 508 guidelines and Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines priorities. Each violation is counted, a breakdown of
the data is given, and finally a global approach for designing the web sites is
proposed for the Texas public school system to enhance its web accessibility. Keywords: Web accessibility; Web development | |||
| Accessible presentation of information for people with visual disabilities | | BIBA | Web Page | 97-119 | |
| Christopher Power; Helmut Jürgensen | |||
| Personal computers, palm top computers, media players and cell phones provide instant access to information from around the world. There are a wide variety of options available to make that information available to people with visual disabilities, so many that choosing one for use in any given context can often feel daunting to someone new to the field of accessibility. This paper reviews tools and techniques for the presentation of textual, graphic, mathematic and web documents through audio and haptic modalities to people with visual disabilities. | |||
| Understanding barriers to online experience for people with physical and sensory disabilities using discursive social psychology | | BIBAK | Web Page | 121-136 | |
| Natilene I. Bowker | |||
| Using social psychology, this study discursively explores barriers limiting
the online experiences of people with disabilities. Twenty-one people in New
Zealand with physical and sensory disabilities volunteered to participate in an
online interview. Data demonstrated a disabling differentials repertoire
(pattern), comprising four linguistic resources: negative reactions (when
disability was disclosed), exclusion, gatekeeping, and disability costs. In
addition to the technology alone, human values embedded in the construction of
online technology, and participants' cultural competency, as well as
stereotyped attitudes and economic factors prevalent offline, define and
restrain people with disabilities' online experience. The social identity model
of deindividuation is discussed. Keywords: Users with disabilities; Barriers; Online experience; Accessibility; Social
psychology Note: This paper comprises some of the research findings of a Ph.D. thesis carried out in the School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. | |||
| Cognitive impairments and Web 2.0 | | BIBAK | Web Page | 137-146 | |
| Peter Fairweather; Shari Trewin | |||
| This paper illustrates how some of the human-computer interaction patterns
associated with Web 2.0 can degrade the user experience of those with
particular cognitive disabilities. It also shows how changes to computer
technology often do not threaten accessibility directly and immediately, but,
rather, indirectly, by spawning new user interaction patterns that compromise
access. Web 2.0 interaction pattern technologies, such as mashups, dynamic page
updates, social networking and user-created content demand specific perceptual
abilities in addition to basic visual and auditory sensation. For example,
computer users may have cognitive impairments that affect their abilities to
group visual elements into patterns, recognize faces, build effective mental
representations of perceptual or conceptual spaces, or retrieve linguistic
representations during composition and comprehension. Because of these
disabilities, they may find that certain forms of interaction associated with
Web 2.0 diminish their access to this critical technology. Similarly, cognitive
disabilities that disrupt social interactions may narrow users' participation
in the socially intensive environment of Web 2.0. For areas of cognition that
involve perception, social interaction, and critical supporting processes such
as attention, the impact of Web 2.0 interaction patterns is discussed,
suggesting potential solutions, design guidelines and research needs. The
identification and description of the ways particular cognitive disabilities
limit access to technology, particularly within the context of new, recently
invented patterns of user interaction, underscores the need to extend Web
design and development guidelines beyond the domains of sensory and movement
disabilities. Designers and developers should learn to recognize how the
different ways people think, learn, perceive, or plan can jeopardize access to
computers in the same fashion as do the different ways they see, hear, or move. Keywords: Accessibility; Cognitive impairment; Web 2.0; Technology change | |||
| What we know about dyslexia and Web accessibility: a research review | | BIBAK | Web Page | 147-152 | |
| Jacob E. McCarthy; Sarah J. Swierenga | |||
| Compared to the online interaction behavior of other users, little is known
about the difficulties dyslexic Web users encounter online. This paper reviews
existing literature at the intersection of dyslexia and accessibility research
to determine what useful knowledge exists regarding this important and
relatively large group of users. This review uncovers that, although there are
few published usability tests with dyslexic users, there is a considerable body
of knowledge on dyslexia as well as many design guidelines for authoring
dyslexic-accessible interfaces. Through a comparison of existing accessibility
guidelines for dyslexic and non-dyslexic users and discussion of the plain
language movement, it is argued that dyslexic-accessible practices may redress
difficulties encountered by all Internet users. This conclusion suggests that
usability testing yielding a clearer profile of the dyslexic user would further
inform the practice of universal design, but also that enough knowledge is
already available to allow doing more to increase accessibility for dyslexic
Internet users. Keywords: Dyslexia; Accessibility; Disabilities; Usability; Interface design;
Universal design | |||
| Developing multimedia interfaces for speech therapy | | BIBAK | Web Page | 153-167 | |
| Jennifer George; Paul Gnanayutham | |||
| Multimedia has been used creatively to entertain and educate, and can also
be used for therapeutic and medical purposes. This paper addressed this issue
by incorporating multimedia to design and develop an assistive device to help
disabled children with speech impairments in mainstream education. The
appropriate methodology for developing such an interface was investigated.
Relevant multimedia, psychology, social and educational theories were taken
into account. Based on this literature review, interfaces to enhance
pronunciation were designed, developed and tested. Keywords: Phonological disorders; HCI; Inclusive design; Assistive technology | |||
| Auditory universal accessibility of data tables using naturally derived prosody specification | | BIBAK | Web Page | 169-183 | |
| Dimitris Spiliotopoulos; Gerasimos Xydas; Georgios Kouroupetroglou; Vasilios Argyropoulos; Kalliopi Ikospentaki | |||
| Text documents usually embody visually oriented meta-information in the form
of complex visual structures, such as tables. The semantics involved in such
objects result in poor and ambiguous text-to-speech synthesis. Although most
speech synthesis frameworks allow the consistent control of an abundance of
parameters, such as prosodic cues, through appropriate markup, there is no
actual prosodic specification to speech-enable visual elements. This paper
presents a method for the acoustic specification modelling of simple and
complex data tables, derived from the human paradigm. A series of
psychoacoustic experiments were set up for providing speech properties obtained
from prosodic analysis of natural spoken descriptions of data tables. Thirty
blind and 30 sighted listeners selected the most prominent natural rendition.
The derived prosodic phrase accent and pause break placement vectors were
modelled using the ToBI semiotic system to successfully convey semantically
important visual information through prosody control. The quality of the
information provision of speech-synthesized tables when utilizing the proposed
prosody specification was evaluated by first-time listeners. The results show a
significant increase (from 14 to 20% depending on the table type) of the user
subjective understanding (overall impression, listening effort and acceptance)
of the table data semantic structure compared to the traditional linearized
speech synthesis of tables. Furthermore, it is proven that successful prosody
manipulation can be applied to data tables using generic specification sets for
certain table types and browsing techniques, resulting in improved data
comprehension. Keywords: Data tables; Universal accessibility; Acoustic rendition; Auditory
interfaces; Text-to-speech | |||
| An overview of web accessibility in Greece: a comparative study 2004-2008 | | BIBAK | Web Page | 185-190 | |
| Ioannis Basdekis; Iosif Klironomos; Ioannis Metaxas; Constantine Stephanidis | |||
| This communication reports on the results of a web accessibility audit of
public Web sites in Greece. The audit was conducted in 2008 by the Human
Computer Interaction Laboratory of the Institute of Computer Science of FORTH,
in its capacity as the Greek National Contact Centre of the European Design for
All e-Accessibility Network. In an earlier e-Accessibility study in 2004, that
evaluated approximately 250 public and commercial Web sites in Greece, 73% of
the sample failed to meet the most basic requirements for web accessibility
(http://www.infosoc.gr/NR/rdonlyres/0B306F9C-A819-4F96-ABB1-A21945D1D2B3/1092/final_report.pdf).
Four years later, in the context of a re-audit, a similar sample was examined
for compliance with the same web accessibility standard (WCAG 1.0), as set by
the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium. The
accessibility checks were conducted during the period from March to September
2008. A comparison of the results indicates that although new web development
technologies may have been employed, instead of improving the overall status of
e-accessibility, this has resulted in a serious deterioration in overall
accessibility levels. Such findings -- 85% of sites failed to comply with Level
A -- suggest that Greek Web sites are likely to present even more significant
access barriers to people with disability than in the past. As Web
Accessibility is poorly understood and, until today, new platforms have failed
to deliver products that conform to WCAG, the need emerges for a concrete
legislative framework to set accessibility specifications for all public Web
sites in Greece. Keywords: Web accessibility; Benchmarking; Accessibility evaluation | |||
| Designing inclusive futures | | BIB | Web Page | 191-193 | |
| Patrick Langdon; John Clarkson; Peter Robinson | |||
| Using disability data to estimate design exclusion | | BIBAK | Web Page | 195-207 | |
| S. D. Waller; P. M. Langdon; P. J. Clarkson | |||
| Exclusion auditing is a process that can quantitatively evaluate the
inclusive merit of different products, or alternative design decisions. The
results from such an audit can provide prioritised directions for product
improvement and support the business case for reducing the capability levels
required to use mainstream products. The 1996/1997 disability follow-up survey,
conducted by the Office of National Statistics, is currently the most
comprehensive data source for estimating design exclusion in the UK. In this
paper, the data source is explained in detail, and a method is presented that
uses this data to estimate the exclusion associated with several tasks that
occur in series or in parallel, illustrated through worked examples. Having
evaluated how many people are excluded, one can investigate why they were
excluded, thus generating design insights into how they could be included. Data
from the survey is also converted to a series of stylised graphs, which are
intended to inspire designers to think about the relationship between the
demands required to use a product and the resulting levels of population
exclusion. Keywords: Inclusive design; Usability data; Product assessment | |||
| Prior experience in the use of domestic product interfaces | | BIBAK | Web Page | 209-225 | |
| P. M. Langdon; T. Lewis; P. J. Clarkson | |||
| Interaction design and usability has focussed on instantaneous interaction,
but the effects of prior experience are evidently important. Extant theories
debate the nature of mental models or knowledge structures and their content,
but less emphasis has been given to the effects of the various contributors to
"unconscious" prior experience and their interaction with capability during
real-time use of products. As a first step towards understanding product
learning for inclusive design, this paper examines the role of prior
experience, age and cognitive capability in individuals' performance with daily
living products. Two microwave ovens were tested that had the same underlying
functionality, but with the interface variations of dial or button control. The
differences in performance were such that dials were found to be easier to use
for both younger users and also those with higher cognitive ability. This was
not related to prior experience as measured in a product knowledge
questionnaire. However, it was possible that users possessed some degree of
prior experience with specific interface elements and their use. Hence, in a
second training-transfer experiment with DAB radios, participants were trained
to a criterion of low error with a common base product to investigate the
performance impact that subsequently resulted from switching to two further
interfaces that varied in known interface properties. Transfer gave rise to a
significant increase in time to complete set tasks proportional to the degree
of difference. Small variations of interface function and appearance led to
specific time-consuming misperceptions and trial-and-error exploration of
interface functionality. Detailed error analysis further suggested the
misapplication of specific sequences learnt with the original training. Both
studies clearly indicate a general reduction of performance with increasing age
and with reduced cognitive capability, but they also suggest that users were
able to learn new interface sequences more effectively when they possessed
higher cognitive capability. The results were not consistent with an
interpretation in which knowledge-based mental models of the underlying
functions of daily living products were dominating interaction effectiveness.
They are, however, consistent with accounts of interaction that propose that in
the absence of an adequate previously acquired mental model, users primarily
resort to the application of skill-based or rule-based schemas to achieve task
goals with everyday products (Freudenthal in Learning to use interactive
devices: age differences in the reasoning process. Eindhoven University of
Technology, Eindhoven, 1998; Blackler in Intuitive interaction with complex
artefacts. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, 2006; Langdon et al.
in Univers. Access Inf. Soc., 6(2): 179-191, 2007). Keywords: Inclusive design; Product design; Cognition; Training; Working memory;
Learning | |||
| Policy development and access to wireless technologies for people with disabilities: results of policy Delphi research | | BIBAK | Web Page | 227-237 | |
| Paul M. A. Baker; Nathan W. Moon | |||
| This paper discusses the relationship between policy research and policy
change, and it provides examples of the policy research outcomes informed by
the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Mobile Wireless Technologies
for People with Disabilities' (Wireless RERC) policy research process. In 2005
and 2006, the center conducted empirical research, using the policy Delphi
polling methodology, to probe key stakeholders' opinions on the most
significant issues surrounding the adoption and use of wireless communication
and information technologies by people with disabilities. Drawing on the
results of three rounds of polling, the Wireless RERC developed a set of policy
options, and "fine-tuned" them using participating stakeholders from the
disability community, wireless industry, and policymakers. Keywords: Policy Delphi; Wireless technologies; Technology access; Assistive
technology; People with disabilities; Public policy Note: A preliminary version of this article was presented at the 2008 Cambridge Workshop Series on Universal Access and Assistive Technology (CWUAAT), held at Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge, April 14-16, 2008. | |||
| Accessible privacy and security: a universally usable human-interaction proof tool | | BIBAK | Web Page | 239-248 | |
| Graig Sauer; Jonathan Holman; Jonathan Lazar; Harry Hochheiser; Jinjuan Feng | |||
| Despite growing interest in designing usable systems for managing privacy
and security, recent efforts have generally failed to address the needs of
users with disabilities. As security and privacy tools often rely upon subtle
visual cues or other potentially inaccessible indicators, users with perceptual
limitations might find such tools particularly challenging. To understand the
needs of an important group of users with disabilities, a focus group was
conducted with blind users to determine their perceptions of security-related
challenges. Human-interaction proof (HIP) tools, commonly known as CAPTCHAs,
are used by web pages to defeat robots and were identified in the focus group
as a major concern. Therefore, a usability test was conducted to see how well
blind users were able to use audio equivalents of these graphical tools.
Finally, an accessible HIP tool was developed which combines audio and matching
images, supporting both visual and audio output. Encouraging results from a
small usability evaluation of the prototype with five sighted users and five
blind users show that this new form of HIP is preferred by both blind and
visual users to previous forms of text-based HIPs. Future directions for
research are also discussed. Keywords: CAPTCHA; Blind users; Security; HIP; Universal usability | |||
| Designing technology to improve quality of life for people with dementia: user-led approaches | | BIBAK | Web Page | 249-259 | |
| R. Orpwood; J. Chadd; D. Howcroft; A. Sixsmith; J. Torrington; G. Gibson; G. Chalfont | |||
| This paper addresses the design of assistive technology that specifically
aims to support an improvement in the quality of life of people with dementia.
Starting from interviews with users, a grounded theory approach was used to
compile a wish list of issues important for maintaining quality of life. A
large list of potential technologies that could address these issues was
generated, and four were selected for initial development: a music player, a
device to reduce social isolation, a conversation prompter, and a device to
support sequences of tasks. The music player and social isolation device are
described in this paper in detail. A user-led approach to their design was
followed, including approaches to finding control interfaces that were
intuitive for people with dementia. The paper concludes with a list of
recommendations for designers looking to develop equipment of this kind. Keywords: Dementia; Quality of life; User-led design; Intuitive control interfaces;
Music playing | |||
| Gaze interaction with virtual on-line communities: levelling the playing field for disabled users | | BIBAK | Web Page | 261-272 | |
| R. Bates; S. Vickers; H. O. Istance | |||
| This paper introduces the concept of enabling gaze-based interaction for
users with high-level motor disabilities to control an avatar in a first-person
perspective on-line community. An example community, Second Life, is introduced
that could offer disabled users the same virtual freedom as any other user, and
so allow disabled users to be able-bodied (should they wish) within the virtual
world. A survey of the control demands for Second Life and a subsequent
preliminary experiment show that gaze control has inherent problems
particularly for locomotion and camera movement. These problems result in a
lack of effective gaze control of Second Life, such that control is not
practical and show that disabled users who interact using gaze will have
difficulties in controlling Second Life (and similar environments). This
suggests that these users could once again become disabled in the virtual world
by the difficulties in effectively controlling their avatars, and their
'disability privacy', or the right to control an avatar as effectively as an
able bodied user, and so appear virtually able bodied, will be compromised.
Methods for overcoming these difficulties such as the use of gaze aware
on-screen assistive tools could overcome these problems, but games
manufacturers must design inclusively, so that disabled users may have the
right to disability privacy in their Second (virtual) Lives. Keywords: Eye gaze; Assistive technology; On-line communities; Second life; COGAIN | |||
| Understanding the use of tools for opening packaging | | BIBAK | Web Page | 273-281 | |
| A. Yoxall; J. Langley; J. Luxmoore; R. Janson; J. C. Taylor; J. Rowson | |||
| Various tools are available to improve the accessibility or 'openability' of
packaging for those that may have potential difficulty. In this paper, the
authors undertake an assessment of some of the common tools that have been
designed to aid the aged in opening common packaging items with the aim of
understanding their effectiveness. The study used a purpose built torque
testing device embedded in a standard glass jar and asked participants to twist
the lid of the device both unaided and with a tool and the maximum torque
produced was noted. The study indicated that whilst some tools are effective,
most however offer little or no benefit, as they do not overcome issues such as
loss of dexterity and strength amongst the aged population. Keywords: Packaging; Design; Openability | |||
| Designing spaces for every listener | | BIBAK | Web Page | 283-292 | |
| Ann Heylighen; Monika Rychtáriková; Gerrit Vermeir | |||
| Inclusive design aims at objects and environments that are accessible,
usable and comfortable for all people throughout their entire lifespan. In
architecture, this aim is usually associated with physical accessibility. Yet
acoustic qualities may considerably impact usability and comfort as well,
especially in spaces for listening. This case study explores the notion of
acoustic comfort for all in the context of university education. One
auditorium, situated in a historic building and subject to renovation in the
near future, is studied in detail: acoustic obstacles are identified in
collaboration with user/experts and are measured in situ; specific
interventions are proposed in consultation with building professionals,
technicians and conservation specialists and are tested using dedicated
acoustic simulation software. The study draws attention to the importance of
acoustic comfort for all and offers a first view of which solutions are
possible and desirable and how these can be obtained. Keywords: Architecture; Acoustic comfort; Inclusive design | |||
| Accessibility of audio and tactile interfaces for young blind people performing everyday tasks | | BIBAK | Web Page | 297-310 | |
| Yayoi Shimomura; Ebba Thora Hvannberg; Hjalmtyr Hafsteinsson | |||
| Increasingly, computers are becoming tools of communication, information
exploring and studying for young people, regardless of their abilities.
Scientists have been building knowledge on how blind people can substitute
hearing or touch for sight or how the combination of senses, i.e.,
multimodalities, can provide the user with an effective way of exploiting the
power of computers. Evaluation of such multimodal user interfaces in the right
context, i.e., appropriate users, tasks, tools and environment, is essential to
give designers accurate feedback on blind users' needs. This paper presents a
study on how young blind people use computers for everyday tasks with the aids
of assistive technologies, aiming to understand what hindrances they encounter
when interacting with a computer using individual senses, and what supports
them. A common assistive technology is a screen reader, producing output to a
speech synthesizer or a Braille display. Those two modes are often used
together, but the research studied how visually impaired students interact with
computers using either form, i.e., a speech synthesizer or a Braille display. A
usability test has been performed to assess blind grade-school students'
ability to carry out common tasks with the help of a computer, including
solving mathematical problems, navigating the web, communicating with e-mail
and using word processing. During the usability tests, students were allowed to
use either auditory mode or tactile mode. Although blind users most commonly
use a speech synthesizer (audio), the results indicate that this was not always
the most suitable modality. While the effectiveness of the Braille display
(tactile user interface) to accomplish certain tasks was similar to that of the
audio user interface, the users' satisfaction rate was higher. The contribution
of this work lies in answering two research questions by analysing two modes of
interaction (tactile and speech), while carrying out tasks of varying genre,
i.e., web searching, collaboration through e-mail, word processing and
mathematics. A second contribution of this work is the classification of
observations into four categories: usability and accessibility, software fault,
cognitive mechanism and learning method. Observations, practical
recommendations and open research problems are then presented and discussed.
This provides a framework for similar studies in the future. A third
contribution of this work is the elaboration of practical recommendations for
user interface designers and a research agenda for scientists. Keywords: Learning; Blind; Multimodal; Audio; Tactile; Accessibility; Tasks; Usability | |||
| Making it easier for older people to talk to smart homes: the effect of early help prompts | | BIBAK | Web Page | 311-325 | |
| K. Maria Wolters; Klaus-Peter Engelbrecht; Florian Gödde; Sebastian Möller; Anja Naumann; Robert Schleicher | |||
| It is well known that help prompts shape how users talk to spoken dialogue
systems. This study investigated the effect of help prompt placement on older
users' interaction with a smart home interface. In the dynamic help condition,
help was only given in response to system errors; in the inherent help
condition, it was also given at the start of each task. Fifteen older and
sixteen younger users interacted with a smart home system using two different
scenarios. Each scenario consisted of several tasks. The linguistic style users
employed to communicate with the system (interaction style) was measured using
the ratio of commands to the overall utterance length (keyword ratio) and the
percentage of content words in the user's utterance that could be understood by
the system (shared vocabulary). While the timing of help prompts did not affect
the interaction style of younger users, it was early task-specific help
supported older users in adapting their interaction style to the system's
capabilities. Well-placed help prompts can significantly increase the usability
of spoken dialogue systems for older people. Keywords: Spoken dialogue systems; Usability; Older adults; Smart homes; Help prompts | |||
| User-centered design in universal design resources? | | BIBAK | Web Page | 327-335 | |
| Chris M. Law; Paul T. Jaeger; Elspeth McKay | |||
| Studies have revealed usability problems with universal design resources
(UDRs). In this paper, four UDR development cases are reviewed (Section 508
standards, Web accessibility guidelines, the British Standard on managing
inclusive design, and Irish guidelines on public access terminals). Evidence of
a user-centered design approach was found in only one case. The needs of people
making universally usable products and services in industry are discussed in
the context of the use of UDRs and results of organizational research studies.
Nine recommendations are made on the development of user-centered UDRs and the
setup and management of accessibility teams in organizations. Keywords: Universal design resources; Guidelines; Standards; Usability; User-centered
design | |||
| A unified methodology for the evaluation of accessibility and usability of mobile applications | | BIBAK | Web Page | 337-356 | |
| Marco Billi; Laura Burzagli; Tiziana Catarci; Giuseppe Santucci; Enrico Bertini; Francesco Gabbanini; Enrico Palchetti | |||
| This article reports a unified methodology developed to evaluate the
accessibility and usability of mobile computing applications, which is intended
to guarantee universal access as far as possible. As a basis for the
methodology, this paper presents an analysis of the accessibility guidelines,
conducted to take into account the specificity of mobile systems, as well as a
set of usability heuristics, specifically devised for mobile computing.
Finally, it presents the results of the application of the proposed methodology
to applications that have been semi-automatically developed by the MAIS
Designer, a new design tool that provides applications suited to different
mobile devices. Keywords: Accessibility; Usability; Mobile computing | |||
| Universal access in e-voting for the blind | | BIBAK | Web Page | 357-365 | |
| Juan E. Gilbert; Yolanda McMillian; Ken Rouse; Philicity Williams; Gregory Rogers; Jerome McClendon; Winfred Mitchell; Priyanka Gupta; Idong Mkpong-Ruffin; E. Vincent Cross | |||
| Since the inception of elections and election technologies, all segments of
the voting population have never been granted equal access, privacy and
security to voting. Modern electronic voting systems have made attempts to
include disabled voters but have fallen short. Using recent developments in
technology a secure, user centered, multimodal electronic voting system has
been developed to study a multimodal approach for providing equity in access,
privacy and security in electronic voting. This article will report findings
from a study at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind where more than
thirty-five blind or visually impaired participants used the multimodal voting
system. The findings suggest that the proposed multimodal approach to voting is
easy to use and trustworthy. Keywords: Electronic voting; Accessibility; Privacy; Blind; Prime III | |||
| An application of the technology acceptance model to the level of Internet usage by older adults | | BIBAK | Web Page | 367-374 | |
| Laxman U. S. Nayak; Lee Priest; Allan P. White | |||
| In this cross-sectional study, the principles of a technology acceptance
model were used to identify variables related to the level of Internet usage by
older adults. Community-dwelling older adults aged 60-88 years completed a
postal questionnaire survey that elicited responses on the use of the Internet.
Out of a sample of 592 older adults (236 males and 356 females), 50.7% used the
Internet. A multiple linear regression analysis was carried out on the Internet
users sample using the self-reported number of hours of Internet usage per week
as the dependent variable. The results indicated that attitude toward using the
Internet and good health status were statistically significant predictors of
the level of Internet usage. A second multiple regression analysis using
Internet activity as the dependent variable showed that attitude, usefulness,
good health, and gender (males) were significant predictor variables. Keywords: Technology acceptance model; Internet; World Wide Web; Older adults; Digital
divide; Attitudes | |||
| Web popularity: an illusory perception of a qualitative order in information | | BIBAK | Web Page | 375-386 | |
| Stefano Federici; Simone Borsci; Maria Laura Mele; Gianluca Stamerra | |||
| Using a psychotechnological perspective, this study discusses the current
model of information ranking by search engines, based on quantitative Web
Popularity (WP), which binds users to a cognitive adaptation to the rank-system
restrictions. This phenomenon gives rise to a "rich-get-richer" effect on the
Web. This paper claims that such an effect could be limited or reversed by the
introduction of quality factors in ranking, and addresses the case of
accessibility as a fundamental such factor. A study is reported which, through
introducing an accessibility factor in a well-known popularity ranking
algorithm, demonstrates that this transformation allows a qualitative
rearrangement, without modifying or weighing on the properties of the rank. The
overall approach is grounded on two development factors: the analysis of
accessibility through specific tools and the employment of this analysis within
all components used to build up the ranking. The results show that it is
important to reconsider WP as including not only on the number of inbound and
outbound links of a website, but also on its level of accessibility for all
users, and on users' judgment of the website use as efficient, effective, and
satisfactory. Keywords: Accessibility; Ranking model; Web popularity; Human computer interaction Note: The abstract of this article is also presented in the 4th Biennial Disability Studies Conference at Lancaster University, UK 2nd-4th September 2008. | |||
| Worth-centred mobile phone design for older users | | BIBAK | Web Page | 387-403 | |
| Karen Renaud; Judy van Biljon | |||
| The twenty-first century society fights against an inherent tendency to
over-classify and label people. In the case of the aged, despite all efforts,
the perception of the helpless, feeble older person still prevails. The truth
of the matter is that people over sixty often do not fit this profile. The aged
are a heterogeneous group with varying different skills and abilities in many
different areas. This paper challenges prevalent mobile phone design decisions
that appear to have been made based on the erroneous pre-conception of the
incapable elder. Designers currently produce "senior" mobile phones that are,
at best, inadequate and, at worst, insulting to a sector of society that
deserves respect and consideration. Age does indeed influence mobile phone
usage, and people over sixty often have specific and special needs, quite apart
from age-related limitations, that predict their use of mobile phones. Most
mobile phones designed for older users simply reduce the number of features:
the so-called simplification approach. Apart from reducing the effectiveness of
the phone, this approach often incorporates the fatal design flaw of using
numbers or letters, on speed-dial buttons, which requires the user to remember
the button-person mappings. In fact, this design rationale reduces the value of
the phone to the user. This paper argues that mobile phone design for older
users should be worth-centred (Cockton G in Designing worth is worth designing.
In: Proceedings of the 4th Nordic conference on human-computer interaction:
changing roles. Oslo, Norway, pp 165-174, 2006) rather than
simplification-driven. The worth-centred approach maximises worth to the user
of the phone. This is achieved by maximising effectiveness while accommodating
reduced capabilities. To maximise ease of use, and consequent accessibility,
features may have to be reduced in an informed way. To facilitate this, a
mapping process is proposed whereby user needs are linked to uses of the phone,
and then to the features that facilitate these uses. Needs fall into a number
of categories, and each category is characterised by a number of different
uses, which form a usage space. Features can be linked to one or more usage
spaces, and thus be used to support needs. The first step in the conducted
research entailed the identification of the needs of the older mobile phone
user. Then, it was determined whether these needs were indeed being met by the
uses afforded in existing phones. Having concluded that most users' needs were
not being met, the next step was to capture data on the needs, limitations and
expectations of people over the age of sixty. This was achieved by conducting a
series of one-to-one interviews with a number of older mobile phone users and
also supervising a participatory design experiment. Using the findings of the
analysis, a usage space model is proposed, which serves to align feature
inclusion with user needs. Based on this usage space model (the theoretical
contribution), a prototype mobile phone design is presented as the practical
contribution of the paper. Keywords: Mobile phones; Older users; Worth; Accessibility; Ease of use; Effectiveness | |||