Using multimedia to enhance the accessibility of the learning environment for disabled students: reflections from the Skills for Access project

As educators' awareness of their responsibilities towards ensuring the accessibility of the learning environment to disabled students increases, significant debate surrounds the implications of accessibility requirements on educational multimedia. There would appear to be widespread concern that the fundamental principles of creating accessible web‐based materials seem at odds with the creative and innovative use of multimedia to support learning and teaching, as well as concerns over the time and cost of providing accessibility features that can hold back resource development and application. Yet, effective use of multimedia offers a way of enhancing the accessibility of the learning environment for many groups of disabled students. Using the development of ‘Skills for Access’, a web resource supporting the dual aims of creating optimally accessible multimedia for learning, as an example, the attitudinal, practical and technical challenges facing the effective use of multimedia as an accessibility aid in a learning environment will be explored. Reasons why a holistic approach to accessibility may be the most effective in ensuring that multimedia reaches its full potential in enabling and supporting students in learning, regardless of any disability they may have, will be outlined and discussed

Virtual Reality Games for Motor Rehabilitation

This paper presents a fuzzy logic based method to track user satisfaction without the need for devices to monitor users physiological conditions. User satisfaction is the key to any product’s acceptance; computer applications and video games provide a unique opportunity to provide a tailored environment for each user to better suit their needs. We have implemented a non-adaptive fuzzy logic model of emotion, based on the emotional component of the Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotion (FLAME) proposed by El-Nasr, to estimate player emotion in UnrealTournament 2004. In this paper we describe the implementation of this system and present the results of one of several play tests. Our research contradicts the current literature that suggests physiological measurements are needed. We show that it is possible to use a software only method to estimate user emotion

Dynamic optimization of the quality of experience during mobile video watching

Mobile video consumption through streaming is becoming increasingly popular. The video parameters for an optimal quality are often automatically determined based on device and network conditions. Current mobile video services typically decide on these parameters before starting the video streaming and stick to these parameters during video playback. However in a mobile environment, conditions may change significantly during video playback. Therefore, this paper proposes a dynamic optimization of the quality taking into account real-time data regarding network, device, and user movement during video playback. The optimization method is able to change the video quality level during playback if changing conditions require this. Through a user test, the dynamic optimization is compared with a traditional, static, quality optimization method. The results showed that our optimization can improve the perceived playback and video quality, especially under varying network conditions

SMIL State: an architecture and implementation for adaptive time-based web applications

In this paper we examine adaptive time-based web applications (or presentations). These are interactive presentations where time dictates which parts of the application are presented (providing the major structuring paradigm), and that require interactivity and other dynamic adaptation. We investigate the current technologies available to create such presentations and their shortcomings, and suggest a mechanism for addressing these shortcomings. This mechanism, SMIL State, can be used to add user-defined state to declarative time-based languages such as SMIL or SVG animation, thereby enabling the author to create control flows that are difficult to realize within the temporal containment model of the host languages. In addition, SMIL State can be used as a bridging mechanism between languages, enabling easy integration of external components into the web application. Finally, SMIL State enables richer expressions for content control. This paper defines SMIL State in terms of an introductory example, followed by a detailed specification of the State model. Next, the implementation of this model is discussed. We conclude with a set of potential use cases, including dynamic content adaptation and delayed insertion of custom content such as advertisements. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

An Approach to User Interface Design of an Accessible User Agent

Proceeding of: Conference on Software Development for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Info-exclusion (DSAI 2012), took place 19-22 July, 2012, in Douro Region, Portugal. The event web site is http://dsai2012.utad.pt/The increase in rich and interactive content on the web has allowed the growth of the number and type of users that access them. This implies that such content should be accessible to anyone, including people with disabilities. Therefore, it should be accompanied with media alternatives (captions, audio description), which should be handled by an accessible user agent that provides support for them. This paper presents: 1) an approach with accessibility requirements following standards to include accessibility in a user agent for delivering accessible multimedia content, and based on it, 2) a conceptualization that provides an abstract user interface model with the ability to be integrated into the development process.This research work is supported by the Research Network MAVIR (S2009/TIC-1542 (www.mavir.net/)). We thank the European project ITEA UsiXML to provide the documentation of the UsiXML specification.Publicad

Web Accessibility Requirements for Media Players

Video Content continues to strenghten on the Web, because of that fact, it is neccessary to include video content with suitable accessibility requirements to be used by all people. User Agent (such as player, browser), also have to include accessibility requirements. In this paper a set of basic guidelines is included for professionals who want to embed video players on their Web.This research work is supported by the Research Network MAVIR (S2009/TIC-1542 (see wwwmavir.net/)), and GEMMA (TSI-020302-2010-141) and SAGAS (TSI-020100-2010-184) research projects

Towards Multi-Modal Interactions in Virtual Environments: A Case Study

We present research on visualization and interaction in a realistic model of an existing theatre. This existing ‘Muziek¬centrum’ offers its visitors information about performances by means of a yearly brochure. In addition, it is possible to get information at an information desk in the theatre (during office hours), to get information by phone (by talking to a human or by using IVR). The database of the theater holds the information that is available at the beginning of the ‘theatre season’. Our aim is to make this information more accessible by using multi-modal accessible multi-media web pages. A more general aim is to do research in the area of web-based services, in particu¬lar interactions in virtual environments

Physically inspired interactive music machines: making contemporary composition accessible?

Much of what we might call "high-art music" occupies the difficult end of listening for contemporary audiences. Concepts such as pitch, meter and even musical instruments often have little to do with such music, where all sound is typically considered as possessing musical potential. As a result, such music can be challenging to educationalists, for students have few familiar pointers in discovering and understanding the gestures, relationships and structures in these works. This paper describes on-going projects at the University of Hertfordshire that adopt an approach of mapping interactions within visual spaces onto musical sound. These provide a causal explanation for the patterns and sequences heard, whilst incorporating web interoperability thus enabling potential for distance learning applications. While so far these have mainly driven pitch-based events using MIDI or audio files, it is hoped to extend the ideas using appropriate technology into fully developed composition tools, aiding the teaching of both appreciation/analysis and composition of contemporary music

A Study of Accessibility Requirements for Media Players on the Web

Proceedings of: The 6th International Conference on Universal Access in Human–Computer Interaction (UAHCI 2011), held as part of The 14th International Conference on Human–Computer Interaction (HCI International 2011), Orlando (FL, USA), July 9-14, 2011Multimedia content covers the Web, and we should provide access to all people. For this reason, we must consider including accessibility requirements in a synchronized manner with the alternative resources such as caption and audio description among others. In addition, it is very important to take into account accessibility requirements in the player to avoid barriers and to ensure access to this multimedia content as well as their resources. This paper presents an overall study on standards and players with accessibility requirements. Moreover, solutions to improve the accessibility features in the YouTube player are presented. Based on this study, we have distinguished a set of guidelines to take into account for including accessibility requirements in players. Furthermore, we suggest an agile evaluation process which indicates the order of accessibility guidelines to check. Finally, the proposed evaluation method is put into practice with a case study: accessibility features are evaluated in three widely used players.This research work is supported by the Research Network MAVIR (S2009/TIC-1542 (see www.mavir.net/)), and GEMMA (TSI-020302-2010-141) and SAGAS (TSI-020100-2010-184) research project