Model Assisted Creativity Sessions for the Design of Mixed Interactive Systems: a Protocol Analysis

Part 1: Long and Short Papers (Continued)International audienceTo help designers face the complexity of mixed interaction and identifying original and adapted solutions, we developed and evaluated an original approach to interaction design. This approach, called MACS, aims to combine the best elements of both a model of mixed interaction, and a collaborative and creative session. The objective is twofold: to support the exploration of the design space, and to establish a common language between participants. To assess the viability of this approach, we relied on a protocol analysis technique on the verbal recordings of two existing design situations. Results show that the model has a strong impact on the generation of ideas and that participants use the model concepts to share their thoughts during the session

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

Estudio y desarrollo de un asistente (wizard) para la generación de interfaces de usuario abstractas en entornos ubicuos.

En el presente proyecto se pretende desarrollar una herramienta, que tiene como objetivo asistir a diseñadores de servicios ubicuos en el proceso de generación de interfaces abstractas de usuario para entornos ubicuos. Esta herramienta facilita la tarea a los diseñadores eliminando la necesidad de que conozcan la sintaxis UIML de descripción de interfaces de usuario, ya que el documento que guarda dicha descripción se genera automáticamente tras la utilización del asistente. Este asistente permite también, enriquecer dichas descripciones ofreciendo la posibilidad de asociar a los diferentes objetos abstractos de interacción que componen la interfaz, distintos tipos de recursos multimedia. El documento UIML generado se integra en el sistema Egoki, proporcionándole la entrada necesaria para generar interfaces de usuario accesibles y adaptadas a las necesidades de las personas que desean utilizar los servicios ubicuos