An Accessible Web CAPTCHA Design for Visually Impaired Users

In the realm of computing, CAPTCHAs are used to determine if a user engaging with a system is a person or a bot. The most common CAPTCHAs are visual in nature, requiring users to recognize images comprising distorted characters or objects. For people with visual impairments, audio CAPTCHAs are accessible alternatives to standard visual CAPTCHAs. Users are required to enter or say the words in an audio-clip when using Audio CAPTCHAs. However, this approach is time-consuming and vulnerable to machine learning algorithms, since automated speech recognition (ASR) systems could eventually understand the content of audio with the improvement of the technique. While adding background noise may deceive ASR systems temporarily, it may cause people to have difficulties de- ciphering the information, thus reducing usability. To address this, we designed a more secure and accessible web CAPTCHA based on the capabilities of people with visually impairments, obviating the need for sight via the use of audio and movement, while also using object detection techniques to enhance the accessibility of the CAPTCHA

Human-powered smartphone assistance for blind people

Mobile devices are fundamental tools for inclusion and independence. Yet, there are still many open research issues in smartphone accessibility for blind people (Grussenmeyer and Folmer 2017). Currently, learning how to use a smartphone is non-trivial, especially when we consider that the need to learn new apps and accommodate to updates never ceases. When first transitioning from a basic feature-phone, people have to adapt to new paradigms of interaction. Where feature phones had a finite set of applications and functions, users can extend the possible functions and uses of a smartphone by installing new 3rd party applications. Moreover, the interconnectivity of these applications means that users can explore a seemingly endless set of workflows across applications. To that end, the fragmented nature of development on these devices results in users needing to create different mental models for each application. These characteristics make smartphone adoption a demanding task, as we found from our eight-week longitudinal study on smartphone adoption by blind people. We conducted multiple studies to characterize the smartphone challenges that blind people face, and found people often require synchronous, co-located assistance from family, peers, friends, and even strangers to overcome the different barriers they face. However, help is not always available, especially when we consider the disparity in each barrier, individual support network and current location. In this dissertation we investigated if and how in-context human-powered solutions can be leveraged to improve current smartphone accessibility and ease of use. Building on a comprehensive knowledge of the smartphone challenges faced and coping mechanisms employed by blind people, we explored how human-powered assistive technologies can facilitate use. The thesis of this dissertation is: Human-powered smartphone assistance by non-experts is effective and impacts perceptions of self-efficacy

Aplicación dos produtos de apoio de alta tecnoloxía no desempeño ocupacional das persoas con discapacidade visual: scoping review

[Resumo] Introdución: As persoas con discapacidade visual poden experimentar dificultades na realización de diferentes ocupacións cotiás. A tecnoloxía de apoio (TA) debe actuar coma un facilitador na participación desta poboación en actividades desexadas. Obxectivo: Coñecer se os produtos de apoio de alta tecnoloxía dan resposta ás dificultades no desempeño ocupacional coas que se atopan máis frecuentemente as persoas con discapacidade visual no seu día a día. Metodoloxía: Seguiuse unha metodoloxía de revisión de alcance. A busca bibliográfica foi levada a cabo nas bases de datos CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus e Web of Science. As variables temáticas establecéronse seguindo os compoñentes propostos polo Modelo da Actividade Humana e da Tecnoloxía de Apoio. Para a súa análise empregouse un enfoque mixto. Resultados: Na mostra incluíronse un total de 44 estudos. En moitos casos, non se especificou certa información relativa ás persoas participantes. A TA analizada centrouse principalmente na detección e na evitación de obstáculos, facilitando a mobilidade funcional. Os dispositivos reciben a información mediante sistemas de cámaras para transmitirlla á persoa por son. A TA está deseñada para contextos tanto interiores coma exteriores da vida diaria, e foi testada maiormente en ambientes reais. Conclusión: Os produtos de apoio de alta tecnoloxía están dirixidos principalmente a facilitar a mobilidade funcional, a participación social, e a lectura das persoas con discapacidade visual. En menor medida, abordaron a educación, o deporte e as tarefas do fogar. Así, non se centraron noutras actividades relevantes como a condución ou o emprego.[Resumen] Introducción: Las personas con discapacidad visual pueden experimentan dificultades en la realización de diferentes ocupaciones cotidianas. La tecnología de apoyo (TA) debe actuar como un facilitador en la participación de esta población en actividades deseadas. Objetivo: Conocer si los productos de apoyo de alta tecnología dan respuesta a las dificultades en el desempeño ocupacional con las que se encuentran más frecuentemente las personas con discapacidad visual en su día a día. Metodología: Se siguió una metodología de revisión de alcance. La búsqueda bibliográfica se llevó a cabo en las bases de datos CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus y Web of Science. Las variables temáticas se establecieron siguiendo los componentes propuestos por el Modelo de la Actividad Humana y la Tecnología de Apoyo. Para su análisis se empleó un enfoque mixto. Resultados: En la muestra se incluyeron un total de 44 estudios. En muchos casos, no se especificó cierta información relativa a las personas participantes. La TA analizada se centró principalmente en la detección y evitación de obstáculos, facilitando la movilidad funcional. Los dispositivos reciben la información mediante sistemas de cámaras para transmitírsela a la persona por audio. La TA está diseñada para contextos tanto interiores como exteriores de la vida diaria, y fue testada mayormente en ambientes reales. Conclusión: Los productos de apoyo de alta tecnología están dirigidos principalmente a facilitar la movilidad funcional, la participación social, y la lectura de las personas con discapacidad visual. En menor medida, abordaron la educación, el deporte, o las tareas del hogar. Así, no se centraron en otras actividades relevantes como la conducción o el empleo.[Abstract] Background: People with visual impairment can have difficulties in performing different daily occupations. Assistive technology (AT) should be an enabler in the participation of these population’s desired activities. Aim: To know if high-tech assistive devices respond to difficulties in the occupational performance that people with visual impairment most frequently experiment in their day-to-day lives. Methodology: A methodology of Scoping Review was used. The bibliographic search was carried out in the databases CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus y Web of Science. Thematic variables were established following the components proposed by the Human Activity Assistive Technology Model. For their analyses, a mixed methods approach was used. Results: A total of 44 studies were included in the sample. In many cases, certain information regarding the participants was not specified. The analyzed AT focused mainly on the detection and avoidance of obstacles, facilitating functional mobility. The devices receive the information through camera systems to transmit it to the person by audio. The AT is designed for indoor and outdoor contexts of everyday life, and it was mostly tested in real-world environments. Conclusion: The high-tech assistive devices are primarily aimed at facilitating the functional mobility, social participation, and reading of people with visual impairment. To a lesser extent, they addressed education, sports, or housework. However, they did not focus on other relevant activities such as driving or working.Traballo fin de mestrado (UDC.FCS). Asistencia e investigación sanitaria. Especialidade en Reeducación Funcional, Autonomía Persoal e Calidade de Vida. Curso 2020-202

Scrapbooks: biographical digital scrapbooks for people with dementia

Tese de mestrado, Informática, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2017Demência é o termo utilizado para descrever uma ampla variedade de sintomas, que envolvem um declínio ao nível da memória, linguagem, raciocínio e outras funções cognitivas, e que afetam gravemente a capacidade da pessoa para realizar atividades cotidianas. Os números mais recentes [1] indicam que existem em todo o mundo 47 milhões de pessoas que vivem com demência. Com o envelhecimento natural da população, este número irá praticamente duplicar a cada 20 anos, atingindo mais de 131 milhões em 2050. A estimativa para o custo total mundial com a demência é superior a 733 biliões de euros. A forma mais comum de demência, 60% a 80% dos casos, é a doença de Alzheimer [2]. A doença de Alzheimer geralmente progride lentamente e pode ser dividida em três fases: fase inicial, fase intermédia e fase avançada. Uma vez que esta doença afeta as pessoas de diferentes maneiras, é importante realçar que nem todas as pessoas têm os mesmos sintomas ou passam por todas as fases. Na fase inicial, a pessoa torna-se mais esquecida de detalhes de eventos recentes, apresenta um mau julgamento e toma más decisões. Consciente disso, em geral, a pessoa encobre os seus lapsos de memória e os membros da família não os associam a uma doença. A próxima fase (fase intermédia) geralmente é a mais longa e pode durar anos. Naturalmente, com o progresso da doença, a pessoa exigirá um maior nível de cuidado. Nesta fase a pessoa começa a enfrentar sérios problemas, como esquecer-se de eventos da vida pessoal ou não conseguir lembrar-se da própria morada. Na fase mais avançada, a pessoa, eventualmente, torna-se incapaz de comunicar verbalmente ou cuidar de si mesma, e é necessário um acompanhamento pessoal 24 horas por dia a fim de garantir a maior qualidade de vida possível. Uma vez que não existe cura conhecida, o objetivo dos especialistas é retardar a sua evolução. As intervenções farmacológicas têm benefícios limitados, e os especialistas reconhecem que, na melhor prática, as opções não-farmacológicas devem ser testadas primeiro e os tratamentos farmacológicos devem ser utilizados como uma segunda abordagem [3]. Existem muitos tratamentos não-farmacológicos [4], mas, uma vez que existem várias áreas de sobreposição entre eles, estes tratamentos raramente são realizados isoladamente. A terapia comportamental (que visa encontrar a origem de comportamentos desafiadores das pessoas com demência e elimina-los), a terapia de orientação para a realidade (lembrando as pessoas com demência de factos sobre si e sobre o meio envolvente), a terapia de validação (onde os psicólogos tentam encontrar os sentimentos por detrás do discurso da pessoa com demência), a musicoterapia (onde a pessoa com demência dança, canta ou simplesmente ouve música), a aromaterapia (onde são utilizados óleos vegetais aromáticos para estimulação cognitiva), a terapia de estimulação cognitiva [5] (onde são realizadas atividades, como jogos, para estimular o pensamento, concentração ou memória da pessoa) e a terapia de reminiscência são apenas alguns exemplos. A terapia de reminiscência geralmente envolve a discussão de atividades, eventos e experiências passadas com outra pessoa, ou grupo de pessoas, com a ajuda de imagens, vídeos, lembranças, gravações de música ou de sons para motivar a discussão. O objetivo é elicitar memórias que a pessoa com demência possa ter acerca do seu passado, sendo este um processo em grande parte conversacional. O foco desta tese é a terapia de reminiscência, que tem a vantagem de poder ser adaptada a pessoas com diferentes níveis de demência (mesmo as que não consigam verbalizar podem ouvir música). Esta terapia pode ser executada de duas maneiras diferentes: em grupo, onde os participantes se reúnem para conversar sobre eventos passados; ou em sessões individuais, onde é feita uma revisão de vida na qual a pessoa é guiada cronologicamente através de experiências de vida e pode até produzir um livro de história da sua vida. Os cuidadores, geralmente os familiares mais próximos, também podem estar envolvidos no processo. Vários estudos comprovam alguns dos benefícios importantes da terapia de reminiscência [6] [7], como melhorias ao nível do humor, do bem-estar e do sentido de identidade pessoal; o aumento da socialização e comunicação; e a redução do stress existente nos cuidadores. Os cuidadores, já sobrecarregados com outras atividades diárias das suas vidas, acabam por sacrificar o seu próprio bem-estar em favor da pessoa com demência, ficando eles próprios reféns da doença. Além disso, quando estas atividades de estimulação de memória são realizadas por um psicólogo, estes acabam por não ter o conhecimento necessário sobre a pessoa, levando a uma falta de tópicos de discussão e a que não seja retirado o máximo proveito possível da terapia. Ao longo dos anos têm sido criadas diversas tecnologias para auxiliar psicólogos, cuidadores e pessoas com demência no combate a esta doença, no entanto a maioria dos psicólogos continua a trabalhar com os métodos tradicionais, maioritariamente com papel e caneta, e com escassez de elementos autobiográficos da pessoa com demência. Após uma análise detalhada do trabalho relacionado, é possível chegar a algumas conclusões. As soluções como os DVDs têm um custo demasiado elevado, demoram demasiado tempo a criar e a sua produção resultará em um filme que exibirá sempre os mesmos conteúdos para a pessoa com demência, levando à existência de memórias que nunca serão exploradas. Alternativamente, as ferramentas de imersão, como ferramentas de realidade virtual, geralmente não utilizam conteúdos autobiográficos, e as que o fazem requerem um grande esforço para criar ambientes virtuais. O uso de ferramentas interativas parece ser o mais aconselhável, no entanto, atualmente, estas ferramentas não exploram todo o seu potencial. A capacidade de recolher e utilizar conteúdos de qualquer tipo de media, aliada à facilidade de recuperar grandes quantidades de dados acerca do passado da pessoa com demência não tem sido explorada. Tendo em conta estes aspetos, o trabalho existente no grupo de investigação onde me inseri, e duas entrevistas preliminares realizadas com dois psicólogos diferentes, foi criado o Scrapbook. O Scrapbook é uma aplicação web destinada a ser utilizada por psicólogos durante sessões de terapia de reminiscência, e que tem como objetivo mitigar alguns dos problemas associados à terapia de reminiscência, nomeadamente a falta de informação biográfica acerca das pessoas com demência. A plataforma faz uso do crescimento constante das redes sociais, mais precisamente do Facebook, para extrair informações e conteúdos pessoais sobre as pessoas com demência, como gostos, locais visitados, fotografias, vídeos, eventos ou familiares, e interagir com os amigos para recolher novos conteúdos. Claro que nem todas as pessoas com demência têm uma conta no Facebook, e como tal o psicólogo tem também a opção de inserir estes dados manualmente. Para além das fotografias e vídeos recolhidos através do Facebook, o sistema é capaz de recolher outros conteúdos, vindos de outras Web APIs, baseados nos interesses das pessoas com demência e que podem também ser utilizados em jogos de estimulação cognitiva. Um estudo de duas semanas realizado em ambiente real de consulta, com uma psicóloga e três pessoas com demência, deixou indicadores que o Scrapbook pode ser útil para os psicólogos e que pode trazer benefícios ao nível da apatia e da deambulação.Dementia is a general term that describes a wide range of symptoms. These symptoms involve decline of memory, language, reasoning and other cognitive skills that affects a person’s ability to perform everyday activities. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer's disease. There are worldwide nearby 47 million people living with dementia and this number will almost double every 20 years reaching more than 131 million in 2050.The total estimated worldwide cost with dementia is more than 733 billion euros. Once there is no known cure, the goal of experts is to slow down its evolution by pharmacological (has limited benefits) or by non-pharmacological (best practice) interventions. One of these non-pharmacological treatments is reminiscence therapy. The main goal of this therapy is to elicit memories that people with dementia have from their past, which can bring improvements in the level of well-being and mood, or delay the evolution of the disease. It involves a caregiver sitting next to the person with dementia showing pictures, keepsakes or music to motivate the discussion. Caregivers, usually already overburdened with other daily activities of their lives, end up sacrificing their own well-being in favour of the person with dementia, being themselves hostages of the disease. Furthermore, when the memory stimulation activities are carried out by a psychologist, they end up not having the necessary knowledge about the person, provoking a lack of discussion topics and, ultimately, ending up not taking full advantage of the therapy. Thus, the goal of this project was to create a web platform that supports the work of psychologists, streamlining the collection of relevant information about people with dementia and using this information as a starting point to perform reminiscence therapy, which involves watching slideshows with images, videos or music. A study, carried out in a real clinical environment, showed that the system was well accepted by psychologists, people with dementia and caregivers, and left indicators that Scrapbook can be truly useful for psychologists and can bring benefits in the level of apathy and ambulation

Practical, appropriate, empirically-validated guidelines for designing educational games

There has recently been a great deal of interest in the potential of computer games to function as innovative educational tools. However, there is very little evidence of games fulfilling that potential. Indeed, the process of merging the disparate goals of education and games design appears problematic, and there are currently no practical guidelines for how to do so in a coherent manner. In this paper, we describe the successful, empirically validated teaching methods developed by behavioural psychologists and point out how they are uniquely suited to take advantage of the benefits that games offer to education. We conclude by proposing some practical steps for designing educational games, based on the techniques of Applied Behaviour Analysis. It is intended that this paper can both focus educational games designers on the features of games that are genuinely useful for education, and also introduce a successful form of teaching that this audience may not yet be familiar with

'I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler, I'm a long way from home': exploring participation through music and digital design in dementia care

People with dementia (PWD) living in care are a population commonly termed as ‘vulnerable’, and whose challenging life situations are often described in the literature as being a part of a ‘burden’, both on the part of their families and larger society. The difficult circumstances faced by PWD are often compounded by moving into care, where they can face loneliness, social isolation, and a lack of meaningful experiences. With many millions of people living with the condition worldwide, as well as a lack of available and effective pharmaceutical treatment for dementia, there have been increasing calls for the ‘problem’ of dementia to be addressed through psycho-social pathways, with technological design implicated as one of these. However, the vast majority of extant design research in dementia has focused on alleviating the cognitive problems that come with the condition, leading to a lack of design research that explores experiential aspects of living with dementia. This thesis presents the findings and insights from a three year long, in-depth participatory project carried out in three dementia care settings in the south of Ireland that explored how people with dementia can participate within creative (music) sessions, and how this participation can be folded into an ongoing design process to result in a rich and multi-authored account of experience, as well as in meaningful design processes and objects. This thesis contributes to design research, in particular to experience-centred design approaches, and positions these contributions within the context of their potential when practiced in communities of care. The work outlines an ethnographically-informed design approach which, in this thesis, responds to human potential and creative imagination, and which is realised in an analytic account of an unfolding design process carried out with communities of people with dementia living in care. In particular, the approach describes the potential for design and design processes to be creative and expressive for a population often denied a sense of agency through aspects of living in care settings, as well as through a medicalization of the condition of dementia that persists in the literature surrounding designing for and with this population. The thesis outlines how ethnographic (and later, participatory action research) approaches contribute opportunities for very different community members (e.g., PWD, researchers, artists, carers, nurses – and more) to come together in a process of co-inquiry that utilizes multiple forms of creative imagination and communication. In this thesis, this was achieved through an unfolding process of learning concerning the potential of embodied communication in dementia care and design. The work positions embodied communication as a fruitful way to access and understand the lived experience of participants whose verbal abilities may have waned, but whose ability for communication and expression is still present in alternative ways (such as eye contact, touch, movement, vocalisation, informal chat, gesture, song, and dance), and evidence this with data from my fieldwork. The thesis includes an account of the development and introduction of a design object (SwaytheBand), the creative (and embodied) use of which helps to make visible certain social and communicative processes by participants, and which itself leads to a novel account of creative, spontaneous participation in dementia. Ultimately, the thesis provides a rich analytic account of ways in which people with dementia can communicate and participate within design processes in ways that have not yet been articulated in the design literature surrounding design in dementia, and, positioning itself within this larger literature, indicates a number of ways in which a body of research concerned with the experience and participation of people with dementia may proceed

Homes for Life & Other Stories The Use and Evaluation of Design Fiction as a Means to Understand Sensitive Settings: a Case Study of Exploring Technologies for Dementia Care

Design fictions are used in HCI to position emerging technologies in fictional future worlds, through which the complexities of our relationships with technologies can be represented, explored and experienced. They promise to stimulate discussions about sensitive topics, such as the future of technology-enabled care, a complex area with contrasting emotional, social and practical views and wishes. However, the term design fiction is currently associated with a wide range of uses, and artefacts. It is also linked to contrasting philosophies and frameworks, which are often not made explicit, as I show in an initial survey with practitioners. This makes it difficult to identify what makes a design fiction good or effective for different purposes. This thesis aims to answer the research question: How can design fiction be used and evaluated in understanding sensitive settings? I turn to the Constructive Design Research framework and adapt it to classify how design fiction is used in HCI. I outline how design fiction can be used in the showroom approach, where it is most commonly placed, but also how it can be used as a lab and field approach to gather insights into the responses to design fictions. I developed design fictions and explored how they can be used to further discussions around the use of monitoring technologies in dementia care: an area challenging to research because of ethical issues associated with deployment studies of prototype technologies. The contribution of this thesis is threefold: first, a methodological contribution into the use of design fiction in HCI and an evaluation of the Constructive Design Research framework as a means to classify research through design fiction. Second, insights into participants’ views and wishes about technology-led care in regards to dementia. Third, a design contribution of artefacts that can be used to stimulate further debate around the topic

Student Expectations: The effect of student background and experience

CONTEXT The perspectives and previous experiences that students bring to their programs of study can affect their approaches to study and the depth of learning that they achieve Prosser & Trigwell, 1999; Ramsden, 2003). Graduate outcomes assume the attainment of welldeveloped independent learning skills which can be transferred to the work-place. PURPOSE This 5-year longitudinal study investigates factors influencing students’ approaches to learning in the fields of Engineering, Software Engineering, and Computer Science, at two higher education institutes delivering programs of various levels in Australia and New Zealand. The study aims to track the development of student approaches to learning as they progress through their program. Through increased understanding of students’ approaches, faculty will be better able to design teaching and learning strategies to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student body. This paper reports on the first stage of the project. APPROACH In August 2017, we ran a pilot of our survey using the Revised Study Process Questionnaire(Biggs, Kember, & Leung, 2001) and including some additional questions related to student demographics and motivation for undertaking their current program of study. Data were analysed to evaluate the usefulness of data collected and to understand the demographics of the student cohort. Over the period of the research, data will be collected using the questionnaire and through focus groups and interviews. RESULTS Participants provided a representative sample, and the data collected was reasonable, allowing the questionnaire design to be confirmed. CONCLUSIONS At this preliminary stage, the study has provided insight into the student demographics at both institutes and identified aspects of students’ modes of engagement with learning. Some areas for improvement of the questionnaire have been identified, which will be implemented for the main body of the study