Digital Accessibility in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry: Legal and Ethical Considerations

Federal law requires accessibility for public sector websites. What about the web pages and apps of hotels, restaurants, and tourism providers? The Americans with Disabilities Act may cover private sector websites if they are considered a place of public accommodation, but the law is unclear. This Article will provide an overview of the legal responsibilities of operators to provide accessibility to persons with disabilities, discuss the World Wide Web Consortium’s guidelines for web accessibility, and argue that the hospitality and tourism industry has a unique ethical obligation to fill in the gap where the legal system has failed this population

O papel da quarta revolução industrial no turismo acessível: estudo e conceptualização de uma aplicação web

The world is experiencing the beginning of the fourth Industrial Revolution, responsible for implementing a new digitalization era. This revolution originated in manufacturing, with industry 4.0 bringing a new reality to organizations. However, the scope of this new technological revolution is vast, and other sectors can benefit from the new digital era. In the Services Industry, tourism is an example of that, as Tourism 4.0 is the result of the impact of the fourth industrial revolution in this sector. Tourism 4.0 is the result of the impact of the fourth industrial revolution in tourism. An interesting challenge that this technological era brings to tourism is the social inclusion of people with disabilities. The accessible tourism market reveals huge potential, but despite this, this market is still largely ignored. Several technologies that promoted the fourth industrial revolution present capabilities to promote accessible tourism by improving tourism’s access conditions to people with disabilities. The present work developed a study in accessible tourism, understanding the main requirements for this market, and conceptualizing a Web application, for promoting accessibility in tourism. This Web application work as a mediator between the principal stakeholders. To gather requirements for the system, a triangulation matrix was elaborated using three methodological approaches: i) Literature Review; ii) website accessibility analysis of hotels located in the central region of Portugal; and iii) content analysis of some concurrent platforms. The requirements triangulation matrix allowed the identification of what requirements are crucial for the system success, which were used to conceptualize the solution with UML notation. This work intends to demonstrate the technological impacts of the fourth industrial revolution on society, especially on the promotion of a more accessible tourismO mundo encontra-se hoje no início da quarta revolução industrial, responsável pela promoção de uma nova era caracterizada pela digitalização. Apesar desta revolução ter surgido no setor industrial, com o conceito de Indústria 4.0, a sua aplicação é muito mais vasta, existindo outros sectores que podem igualmente beneficiar desta nova era tecnológica. O setor dos serviços, nomeadamente o Turismo, é um exemplo disso, e o conceito de Turismo 4.0 é o resultado do impacto da quarta revolução industrial nesse setor. Um desafio interessante que esta nova era tecnológica traz para o turismo é o da inclusão social, promovendo o turismo para todos. De facto, o mercado do turismo acessível, apesar de ter imenso potencial, tem sido relegado no contexto dos negócios. Por outro lado, o potencial tecnológico associado a esta nova revolução industrial sugere uma grande capacidade na promoção do turismo acessível, na medida em que podem facilitar as condições de acesso ao turismo, por parte de pessoas com algum tipo de incapacidade e ou necessidade especial. O presente trabalho visa conduzir um estudo na área do turismo acessível, por forma compreender os principais requisitos deste tipo de mercado e, consequentemente, conceptualizar uma aplicação Web, com o propósito de promover a acessibilidade no turismo, funcionando como um mediador de informação entre os principais stakeholders. Para a obtenção dos requisitos do sistema foi feita: i) uma revisão da literatura; ii) um estudo que avalia a acessibilidade dos websites dos hotéis da zona centro de Portugal, e, ainda iii) um estudo com base em análise de conteúdo de algumas plataformas potencialmente concorrentes. Os resultados são apresentados na forma de uma matriz de triangulação, onde é possível identificar a fonte dos requisitos identificados, sendo posteriormente utilizados para conceptualizar a solução proposta com recurso à notação UML. Pretende-se com este trabalho demonstrar o potencial e o efeito que as tecnologias existentes na era designada por quarta revolução industrial podem ter na sociedade, nomeadamente na promoção de um turismo para todosMestrado em Engenharia e Gestão Industria

Inclusive University didactics and technological devices: a case study

This paper provides a review of projects related to new technologies used to favour the teaching-learning processes and the inclusive practices in the University context for students with disabilities and with Specific Learning Disorders. Authors present a review of strategies, trajectories and perspectives activated in the national and international scene, aiming to guarantee a significant pedagogical framework of reference. Furthermore, the paper focuses on a meaningful path activated at the University of Macerata, the project Inclusion 3.0, a relevant example of new technologies in support of teaching- learning processes and inclusion practices among all students

Grindr Culture:Intersectional and Socio-Sexual

This research note is based on ethnographic work in the greater Copenhagen area on the socio-sexual networking app Grindr and on interviews with twelve recent immigrants who use this platform. As an online space primarily for gay men, Grindr is a unique subculture in which to conduct research about intersections of sexuality with other socio-cultural categories such as race and migration background, but also gender and ability. I find that user experiences with exclusion and discrimination relate to Grindr’s interface, such as its drop-down menus, to the discourses circulated by Grindr users in profile texts, and to user-to-user interactions in private messages.Cities, Migration and Global Interdependenc

Enhancing visitor experience in museums and monuments through technology: professionals perception and cases in other countrie

This thesis intends to analyze the use of technology in museums and monuments to strengthen the tourism experience, with emphasis on Portugal. Previous literature tackles this subject on a broad basis, an issue this thesis addresses. Hence, how can Turismo de Portugal enhance visitor experience in museums and monuments through technology? This paper advocates for Portugal’s museums and monuments to explore the value of technology in today’s world. By interviewing museum related professionals, this paper demonstrates there is demand for technological enhancements within cultural spaces from providers. The significance of this study is that it informs the theoretical understanding that professionals want to execute technology in cultural sites

Accessibility All Areas? UK live music industry perceptions of current practice and Information and Communication Technology improvements to accessibility for music festival attendees who are Deaf or disabled.

This paper responds to a range of theory and industry reporting, to provide an informed narrative which explores the current state of accessibility at UK festivals for people who are Deaf or disabled and the potential implications of developments in ICT for enhancing design, marketing, operations and performances across all phases of festival delivery, in order to improve inclusivity and accessibility. To this end, the paper addresses the following question: What do representatives of the UK live music industry perceive as barriers to accessibility and exemplars of current best practice for music festival attendees who are Deaf or disabled? What do representatives of the UK live music industry consider as the role of ICT to increase accessibility for music festival attendees who are Deaf or disabled? Primary research focussed on supply side considerations with a sample group of 10 UK live music industry professionals. The scope of the research was limited geographically to England and by artform to open-air music festivals, venues which host some music festival provision, and a Sector Support Organisation. Open questions elucidated qualitative information around; awareness of accessibility & inclusivity initiatives; potential for co-creation; non-digital improvements; current technological influences; and potential digital futures for accessible ‘live’ experiences. A conceptual framework was constructed and semi structured face to face interviews were carried out with 6 respondents and 4 respondents completed a structured, self-administered e-mail questionnaire. Findings include: ICT can facilitate enhanced dialogue with existing and potential audience members who are Deaf or disabled to both; reduce existing social exclusion (Duffy et al 2019) and improve the visitor experience for all attendees. All respondents agreed that physical enhancements are important and some mentioned communications and customer care. Respondents reported increasingly ambitious usages of ICT at music festivals, which may support suggestions of a virtual experience trend (Robertson et al 2015). On-line ticketing systems have potential to grant equal functionality to people who are Deaf or disabled, as recommended by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (2015).Respondents broadly welcomed the potential for positive impacts of ICT on increasingly accessible live experiences at music festivals which retained a sense of authenticity and ‘liveness’. Challenges around ‘as live’ ICT derived experiences were identified including risks of creating second class experiences for Deaf and disabled attendees. The limitations of this case study include the small sample size and limited scope. Promoters should: Consider further developing the co-creation of accessibility initiatives, utilising ICT to both deliver improvements and engage with potential audience members who are Deaf or disabled. Seek to pro-actively recruit staff members who are Deaf or disabled and significantly increase their programming of performers who are Deaf or disabled. Consider reviewing their ticketing processes for music festivals, to identify accessibility challenges for audience members and implement appropriate ICT based solutions. Consider maximising accessibility benefits for audience members who are Deaf or disabled from existing ICT provision on site and explore additional bespoke ICT solutions at music festivals. The ‘snapshot’ of digital aspects of accessibility at UK festivals within this research is of particular value due to paucity of other research in this area and it’s narrative from varied industry professionals. The paper makes recommendations to promoters, academics and public funders; to attempt to advance inclusion (or at least to mitigate current exclusion) and identify directions for future research into accessible digital experiences at music festivals for people who are Deaf or disabled

Finding the Needle in a Haystack: On the Automatic Identification of Accessibility User Reviews

In recent years, mobile accessibility has become an important trend with the goal of allowing all users the possibility of using any app without many limitations. User reviews include insights that are useful for app evolution. However, with the increase in the amount of received reviews, manually analyzing them is tedious and time-consuming, especially when searching for accessibility reviews. The goal of this paper is to support the automated identification of accessibility in user reviews, to help technology professionals in prioritizing their handling, and thus, creating more inclusive apps. Particularly, we design a model that takes as input accessibility user reviews, learns their keyword-based features, in order to make a binary decision, for a given review, on whether it is about accessibility or not. The model is evaluated using a total of 5,326 mobile app reviews. The findings show that (1) our model can accurately identify accessibility reviews, outperforming two baselines, namely keyword-based detector and a random classifier; (2) our model achieves an accuracy of 85% with relatively small training dataset; however, the accuracy improves as we increase the size of the training dataset

Design and Development of a Mobile App for Accessible Beach Tourism Information for People with Disabilities

The global increase in the proportion of the population with disabilities has caused a greater awareness toward guaranteeing their use of public services. In particular, there is emphasis on the accessibility and inclusivity of tourism resources, to improve the enjoyment and well-being for people with motor disabilities. This paper presents a case study on accessibility to beaches in the Region of Murcia, Spain, which is one of the main tourist areas in the country. First, the most important elements that allow for the accessible use of beaches are analyzed and exposed in detail. Then, an extensive field-work in the area of interest has been carried out and its results are evaluated. Finally, the development of a new mobile app is described. The objective of this tool is to provide updated, accurate, and reliable accessibility information regarding the beaches. As a result, more than a third of the beaches analyzed had a high level of accessibility, while almost another third are totally inaccessible. The proposed application is a valuable tool, not only to help people with physical and motor disabilities, but also to raise awareness among local authorities to create and improve accessible services.This work was supported by the Spanish MICINN, as well as European Commission FEDER funds, under grants RTI2018-098156-B-C53 and RTI2018-098309-B-C33. The authors thank Manuel García-Hernández and Salvador Parada-Sarabia for their participation in the collection of data of the study, Khalil Merzouki for the contribution in the software development of the proposed system, and the Federation of Associations of People with Physical and Organic Disability of Murcia (FAMDIF) for the extensive support in carrying out this work

VISP: a MALL based app using audio description techniques to improve B1 EFL student's oral competence

The last decade, mobile devices, defined as “any device that is small, autonomous and unobtrusive enough to accompany us in every moment” (Trifonova et al. 2004:3) are a familiar part of most teachers and students’ lives and their integration into learning and teaching is constantly increasing. In this contribution we concentrate on creating learning materials for mobile devices in order to suit the current ‘On Demand Generation’ that wants “anything, anywhere at anytime” (Caudron 2011: 25.). In order to explore the benefits of mobile learning away from the traditional classroom, we designed an app named VISP (VIdeos for SPeaking), which is available in Android operating systems. VISP consists of using audio description (AD) techniques to practice oral language skills. We present here the methodological steps followed in the design of VISP, as well as the first qualitative data obtained, derived from applying it to two Spanish students of English as a foreign language (EFL)