An approach to the integration of accessibility requirements into a user interface development method

It is a legal requirement in many countries to ensure accessibility for Web applications. Although there are numerous regulations and standards regarding accessibility in the development of user interfaces, accessibility is nevertheless quite difficult to achieve, let alone to maintain at a high level of quality throughout the development process. This difficulty is due to diverse factors including, but not limited to, the lack of proper development methods, authoring tools and accessibility training for user interface development professionals. In an attempt to offer a solution to these difficulties, this paper proposes a methodological approach for the integration of accessibility requirements into a user interface development method based on User Interface Description Language (UIDL) or, more specifically, on the USer Interface eXtensible Markup Language (UsiXML) framework. The proposed strategy involves the integration of accessibility requirements into design primitives of the user interface development method. This paper focuses on accessibility requirements related to navigation in the Task Model, Abstract User Interface Model and Transformation Model. The application of the approach shown for the SPA4USXML tool also includes a proof of concept and validation of the proposal. The study shows that accessibility requirements included at the design stage in the modelling of user interfaces can be systematized through mechanisms such as new transformation rules and the use of support tools such as SPA4USXML. As a result, the quality of accessibility can be guaranteed by taking advantage of developments in technologies based on User Interface Markup Languages such as UsiXML.This research work has been partly funded by the Department of Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Government and by the Research Network MAVIR (S2009/TIC-1542 (www.mavir.net), and MULTIMEDICA Project (TIN2010- 20644-C03-01). In addition, RM enjoys a PhD scholarship from the Research Staff Training Programme of the Department of Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Government. We thank the INREDIS project, which has been the foundation for this work. We also want to thank the members of the ITEA Project for providing us with the documents of the UsiXML specificationPublicad

End-User Composition of Graphical User Interfaces for PalCom Systems

AbstractIn ubiquitous computing, end-user composition allows users to combine multiple single-purpose devices into new, interesting constellations. In PalCom – a ubiquitous middleware – this is achieved without the need to write program code. In this paper we present a solution that in the same way allows users to create Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for such systems without coding. The approach is to focus on presenting functionality in a GUI rather than attaching functionality to manually added components. We see this as an inverted way of working with GUI development. The solution was realized in the form of a graphical editor for a PalCom specific User Interface Description Language. The tool produces platform independent GUI descriptions that can be interpreted on any platform. When compared to another common tool, the presented editor exhibited roughly 10x shorter development times. The learning time for new users was also evaluated with positive outcome, and a scalability evaluation showed that the solution can be used to create professional grade GUIs

A framework for the design, prototyping and evaluation of mobile interfaces for domestic environments

The idea of the smart home has been discussed for over three decades, but it has yet to achieve mass-market adoption. This thesis asks the question Why is my home not smart? It highlights four main areas that are barriers to adoption, and concentrates on a single one of these issues: usability. It presents an investigation that focuses on design, prototyping and evaluation of mobile interfaces for domestic environments resulting in the development of a novel framework. A smart home is the physical realisation of a ubiquitous computing system for domestic living. The research area offers numerous benefits to end-users such as convenience, assistive living, energy saving and improved security and safety. However, these benefits have yet to become accessible due to a lack of usable smart home control interfaces. This issue is considered a key reason for lack of adoption and is the focus for this thesis. Within this thesis, a framework is introduced as a novel approach for the design, prototyping and evaluation of mobile interfaces for domestic environments. Included within this framework are three components. Firstly, the Reconfigurable Multimedia Environment (RME), a physical evaluation and observation space for conducting user centred research. Secondly, Simulated Interactive Devices (SID), a video-based development and control tool for simulating interactive devices commonly found within a smart home. Thirdly, iProto, a tool that facilitates the production and rapid deployment of high fidelity prototypes for mobile touch screen devices. This framework is evaluated as a round-tripping toolchain for prototyping smart home control and found to be an efficient process for facilitating the design and evaluation of such interfaces

Contributions to Web Accessibility: Device-tailored Evaluation, User-tailored Interface Generation and the Interplay with User Experience

149 p.AbstractThe Web has an incredible importance in our modern society and for many people it has become a fundamental part of their lives. It enables us to Access a huge amount of information, and use a wide range of services related to diverse areas of our daily activities, which has the potential of making our lives easier. Its ubiquitous nature and advances in mobile devices have led to the possibility of accessing the Web any time and from anywhere. This has numerous and obvious advantages, but at the same time it poses challenges related to the Universal Design (UD), as websites need to adapt to the existing diversity of users, devices and interaction contexts. For instance, to ensure the accessibility of a website, in addition to the human diversity, the features of the existing computing devices with access to the Internet, as well as features of the environment where the interaction will occur have to be considered. Similarly, this information can be used when checking the accessibility of websites, so that evaluations are closer to what users are really experiencing when accessing the websites.In this thesis a device tailored web accessibility evaluation framework and an automated web-based user tailored interface generator are presented. The evaluation framework deals with device specific information. Empiricaldata showed that more accurate and reliable accessibility reports are obtained in comparison to performing evaluations that do not consider device specific information. The interface generator takes into consideration information about users and their interaction context, in order to adapt web based user interfaces. From the conducted case study it was concluded that the automatically generated user tailored user interfaces were fully operable.These two tools can be of great help for web developers to create and maintain accessible content for a wide range of users and interaction contexts. Accessible and adapted user interfaces do not necessarily provide users with an enhanced experience though. With the aim of investigating how accessible user interfaces influence the experience of users and understanding if accessibility is related to a better user experience, a user testing was conducted. In order to investigate this relationship, data from 11 participants was elicited about their subjective accessibility perceptions and their user experience with four websites with different levels of accessibility. Results showed that participants¿ user experience and their perceived web accessibility are closely related. In addition, web accessibility is correlated to three attributes (typical - original, conservative - innovative, lame - exciting) of the hedonic quality stimulation dimension of the user experience. These findings provide the web community with additional knowledge about the interactions between the user experience and web accessibility. LaburpenaWeb-ak izugarrizko garrantzia dauka gure gaur egungo gizartean, eta persona askorentzat beraien bizitzan funtsezkoa bihurtu da. Web-ak informazio kantitate handirako atzipena eta eguneroko ekintzekin erlazionatutako zerbitzu anitz erabiltzea ahalbidetzen du, beraz gure bizitza errazteko ahalmena dauka. Bere nonahiko izaerak eta gailu mugikorretan gertatu diren aurrerakuntzek,Web-a edozein momentutan eta edozein lekuan atzitzeko aukera eragin dute. Honek abantai anitz ditu, baina aldi berean Diseinu Unibertsalarekin zerikusia duten erronkak sortzen ditu. Adibidez, webgune baten irisgarritasuna ziurtatzeko, pertsonen aniztasunaz gain, Interneterako atzipena duten dispositiboen eta elkarrekintza gertatzen den inguruaren ezaugarriak hartu behar dira kontuan. Informazio hori ere erabili daiteke web guneen irisgarritasuna ebaluatzeko, era honetan ebaluazioek, erabiltzaileak web gunea atzitzerakoan duten esperientzarekin antza gehiago izango dute.Tesi honetan, web irisgarritasuna dispositibo mugikorren arabera ebaluatzen duen tresna bat eta erabiltzailei egokitzen diren Web-ean oinarritutako interfazeak automatikoki sortzen dituen sistema bat aurkezten dira. Ebaluazio tresnak dispositibo mugikorren ezaugarrien informazio espezifikoa erabiltzen du. Datu enpirikoen arabera, irisgarritasun ebaluazio txostenak zehatzagoak eta fidagarriagoak dira dispositibo mugikorren inguruko informazio espezifikoa erabiltzen bada irisgarritasun ebaluazioetan. Interfazeak sortzen dituen sistemak, erabiltzaileen eta elkarrekintza gertatzen den inguruneko informazioa erabiltzen du. Burututako ikerketa kasu baten emaitzen arabera, sistemak sortutako erabiltzaileei egokitutako interfazeak guztiz funtzionalak zirela ondorioztatu zen.Bi tresna hauek, eduki irisgarria mantentzeko eta sortzeko oso lagungarriak izan daitezke web garaitzaileentzat. Batez ere erabiltzaile anitz eta elkarrekintza ingurune desberdin ugari existitzen direla kontuan izanda. Interface irisgarri eta egokituek ordea, ez dute beti erabiltzaileen esperientzia hobetzen. Interfaze irisgarriek erabiltzaileen esperientzian duen eragina ikertzeko, eta ea irisgarritasuna erabiltzaileen esperientziaren hobekuntzarekin erlazionatuta dagoen ulertzeko, erabiltzaile proba bat burutu zen. Hamaika erabiltzaileen irisgarritasun pertzepzioa eta erabiltzaile esperentzia aztertu ziren lau web gune ezberdinen inguruan, gune bakoitzak irisgarritasun maila ezberdin bat zuelarik. Emaitzen arabera, erabiltzaileen esperientzia eta irisgarritasun pertzepzioa oso lotuta daude. Gainera web irisgarritasuna, erabiltzaile esperientziaren hiru atributuekin (antigoaleko - original, atzerakoi - berritzaile, aspergarri - interesgarri) erlazionatuta dagoela ikusi zen. Emaitza hauek, web irisgarritasunaren eta erabiltzaile esperientziaren arteko erlazioari buruzko ezagutza gehitzen du web komunitatera. ResumenLa Web tiene una importancia increíble en nuestra sociedad moderna, y para muchas personas se ha convertido en una parte fundamental de sus vidas. Nos posibilita el acceso a una gran cantidad de información, y el uso de un gran abanico de servicios relacionados con diversas áreas de nuestras actividades diarias, lo que tiene el potencial de hacernos la vida más fácil. Su naturaleza ubicua y los avances en los dispositivos móviles han posibilitado el acceso a la Web en cualquier momento y desde cualquier sitio. Esto tiene numerosas y obvias ventajas, pero a su vez plantea retos en relación al Diseño Universal, debido a que los sitios web tienen que estar adaptados a diversos dispositivos y contextos de interacción. Para asegurar la accesibilidad de un sitio web, además de la diversidad humana, hay que tener en cuenta también las características de los dispositivos con acceso a Internet, incluso las del entorno donde ocurre la interacción. De forma similar, esa información se puede usar al evaluar la accesibilidad de los sitios web, de manera que las evaluaciones estén más cerca de lo que los usuarios experimentan al acceder a un sitio web.En esta tesis se presenta una herramienta para evaluar la accesibilidad web a medida de los dispositivos móviles, y un sistema para la generación automática de interfaces web adaptadas al usuario. La herramienta de evaluación automática maneja información específica de dispositivos móviles. Los datos empíricos demuestran que se obtienen informes más precisos y fiables en comparación a realizar evaluaciones donde no se tiene en cuenta información específica de los dispositivos. El sistema generador de interfaces maneja información relativa a los usuarios y su contexto de interacción. Mediante el caso de estudio llevado a cabo, se concluyó que las interfaces generadas automáticamente adaptadas a los usuarios eran completamente operables.Éstas dos herramientas pueden ser de gran ayuda para los desarrolladores web para la creación y mantenimiento del contenido accesible teniendo en cuenta un amplio rango de usuarios y contextos de interacción. Sin embargo, las interfaces accesibles y adaptadas no necesariamente proporcionan una experiencia de usuario mejorada. Con el objetivo de investigar como influyen las interfaces accesibles en la experiencia de los usuarios, y entender si la accesibilidad esta relacionada con una mejora en la experiencia de usuario, se realizó una prueba de usuario. Para investigar esta relación, se analizaron datos de los 11 participantes sobre sus percepciones de accesibilidad y su experiencia de usuario con cuatro sitios web con diferentes niveles de accesibilidad. Los resultados demuestran que la experiencia de usuario y la accesibilidad percibida de los participantes están estrechamente relacionadas. Además, la accesibilidad web está correlacionada con tres atributos (típica - original, conservadora - innovadora, aburrida - interesante) de la cualidad hedónica de la experiencia de usuario. Estos resultados aportan a la comunidad web conocimiento adicional sobre la interacción entre la experiencia de usuario y la accesibilidad web

A MDD Strategy for developing Context-Aware Pervasive Systems

This master thesis proposes a methodological approach to develop context-aware pervasive systems based on ontologies and the Model-Driven Development (MDD) guidelines.Serral Asensio, E. (2008). A MDD Strategy for developing Context-Aware Pervasive Systems. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/12446Archivo delegad

Context-Aware and Adaptable eLearning Systems

The full text file attached to this record contains a copy of the thesis without the authors publications attached. The list of publications that are attached to the complete thesis can be found on pages 6-7 in the thesis.This thesis proposed solutions to some shortcomings to current eLearning architectures. The proposed DeLC architecture supports context-aware and adaptable provision of eLearning services and electronic content. The architecture is fully distributed and integrates service-oriented development with agent technology. Central to this architecture is that a node is our unit of computation (known as eLearning node) which can have purely service-oriented architecture, agent-oriented architecture or mixed architecture. Three eLeaerning Nodes have been implemented in order to demonstrate the vitality of the DeLC concept. The Mobile eLearning Node uses a three-level communication network, called InfoStations network, supporting mobile service provision. The services, displayed on this node, are to be aware of its context, gather required learning material and adapted to the learner request. This is supported trough a multi-layered hybrid (service- and agent-oriented) architecture whose kernel is implemented as middleware. For testing of the middleware a simulation environment has been developed. In addition, the DeLC development approach is proposed. The second eLearning node has been implemented as Education Portal. The architecture of this node is poorly service-oriented and it adopts a client-server architecture. In the education portal, there are incorporated education services and system services, called engines. The electronic content is kept in Digital Libraries. Furthermore, in order to facilitate content creators in DeLC, the environment Selbo2 was developed. The environment allows for creating new content, editing available content, as well as generating educational units out of preexisting standardized elements. In the last two years, the portal is used in actual education at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, University of Plovdiv. The third eLearning node, known as Agent Village, exhibits a purely agent-oriented architecture. The purpose of this node is to provide intelligent assistance to the services deployed on the Education Pportal. Currently, two kinds of assistants are implemented in the node - eTesting Assistants and Refactoring eLearning Environment (ReLE). A more complex architecture, known as Education Cluster, is presented in this thesis as well. The Education Cluster incorporates two eLearning nodes, namely the Education Portal and the Agent Village. eLearning services and intelligent agents interact in the cluster