Are ambient intelligent applications more universally accessible?

The emergent HCI literature shows universal accessibility and ambient intelligence as growth hot spots. If so, it is important to ask if the latter can contribute to the former. One approach, taken here, is to evaluate the accessibility of ambient intelligent systems. To answer this question a sample of 200 papers were generated from the ACM Digital Library and six papers were selected for in-depth evaluation. Surprisingly, the data showed that, whilst they were rated well for accessibility, they were significantly less so for system smartness or user satisfaction. Usability was also rated more highly than user satisfaction and smartness

The potential of the BCI for accessible and smart e-learning

The brain computer interface (BCI) should be the accessibility solution “par excellence” for interactive and e-learning systems. There is a substantial tradition of research on the human electro encephalogram (EEG) and on BCI systems that are based, inter alia, on EEG measurement. We have not yet seen a viable BCI for e-learning. For many users for a BCI based interface is their first choice for good quality interaction, such as those with major psychomotor or cognitive impairments. However, there are many more for whom the BCI would be an attractive option given an acceptable learning overhead, including less severe disabilities and safety critical conditions where cognitive overload or limited responses are likely. Recent progress has been modest as there are many technical and accessibility problems to overcome. We present these issues and report a survey of fifty papers to capture the state-of-the-art in BCI and the implications for e-learning

Creating smart and accessible ubiquitous knowledge environments

Digital libraries offer substantial volumes of declarative knowledge to the information society. This paper explores the extent to which current and future digital libraries, also known as ubiquitous knowledge environments, can be made sufficiently usable, accessible and smart to support an inclusive information society and the aspiration of universal access. Using a range of converging methods to evaluate a random sample of such digital library websites, it is concluded that, whilst they act as substantial and functional repositories for knowledge, there is potential to improve, particularly in accessibility and smartness. The current methods are validated through the substantial statistical significance levels and by the meaningful patterns found in the resulting data. A new measure of system smartness is introduced and found to provide a useful metric for present purposes, though it is clear that further work will be needed