178 research outputs found

    Engaging older adults with age-related macular degeneration in the design and evaluation of mobile assistive technologies

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    Ongoing advances in technology are undoubtedly increasing the scope for enhancing and supporting older adults’ daily living. The digital divide between older and younger adults, however, raises concerns about the suitability of technological solutions for older adults, especially for those with impairments. Taking older adults with Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) – a progressive and degenerative disease of the eye – as a case study, the research reported in this dissertation considers how best to engage older adults in the design and evaluation of mobile assistive technologies to achieve sympathetic design of such technologies. Recognising the importance of good nutrition and the challenges involved in designing for people with AMD, this research followed a participatory and user-centred design (UCD) approach to develop a proof–of–concept diet diary application for people with AMD. Findings from initial knowledge elicitation activities contribute to the growing debate surrounding the issues on how older adults’ participation is initiated, planned and managed. Reflections on the application of the participatory design method highlighted a number of key strategies that can be applied to maintain empathic participatory design rapport with older adults and, subsequently, lead to the formulation of participatory design guidelines for effectively engaging older adults in design activities. Taking a novel approach, the final evaluation study contributed to the gap in the knowledge on how to bring closure to the participatory process in as positive a way as possible, cognisant of the potential negative effect that withdrawal of the participatory process may have on individuals. Based on the results of this study, we ascertain that (a) sympathetic design of technology with older adults will maximise technology acceptance and shows strong indicators for affecting behaviour change; and (b) being involved in the design and development of such technologies has the capacity to significantly improve the quality of life of older adults (with AMD)

    The Social Network: How People with Visual Impairment use Mobile Phones in Kibera, Kenya

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    Living in an informal settlement with a visual impairment can be very challenging resulting in social exclusion. Mobile phones have been shown to be hugely beneficial to people with sight loss in formal and high-income settings. However, little is known about whether these results hold true for people with visual impairment (VIPs) in informal settlements. We present the findings of a case study of mobile technology use by VIPs in Kibera, an informal settlement in Nairobi. We used contextual interviews, ethnographic observations and a co-design workshop to explore how VIPs use mobile phones in their daily lives, and how this use influences the social infrastructure of VIPs. Our findings suggest that mobile technology supports and shapes the creation of social infrastructure. However, this is only made possible through the existing support networks of the VIPs, which are mediated through four types of interaction: direct, supported, dependent and restricted

    An expectation-based editing interface for OpenStreetMap

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    Building an open-source world map was one of the main reasons OpenStreetMap (OSM) was founded. Over 1.3 million contributors participate in editing the the world map collaboratively. Unfortunately, there is no support or any assistive technology solutions that helps blind and visually impaired users to blend into the OSM community. The aim of this thesis is to provide them with an assistive OSM editing application with an adaptive user interface that matches their needs. A mobile application for OSM editing was developed with an assistive recommendation system that helps predicting changes users might need to commit. The thesis describes in details the application design, decisions made, workflow and modularity

    Case Study in Modeling Accessibility for Online Instruction.

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    Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2017

    A competencies framework of visual impairments for enabling shared understanding in design

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    Existing work in Human Computer Interaction and accessibility research has long sought to investigate the experiences of people with visual impairments in order to address their needs through technology design and integrate their participation into different stages of the design process. Yet challenges remain regarding how disabilities are framed in technology design and the extent of involvement of disabled people within it. Furthermore, accessibility is often considered a specialised job and misunderstandings or assumptions about visually impaired people’s experiences and needs occur outside dedicated fields. This thesis presents an ethnomethodology-informed design critique for supporting awareness and shared understanding of visual impairments and accessibility that centres on their experiences, abilities, and participation in early-stage design. This work is rooted in an in-depth empirical investigation of the interactional competencies that people with visual impairments exhibit through their use of technology, which informs and shapes the concept of a Competencies Framework of Visual Impairments. Although past research has established stances for considering the individual abilities of disabled people and other social and relational factors in technology design, by drawing on ethnomethodology and its interest in situated competence this thesis employs an interactional perspective to investigate the practical accomplishments of visually impaired people. Thus, this thesis frames visual impairments in terms of competencies to be considered in the design process, rather than a deficiency or problem to be fixed through technology. Accordingly, this work favours supporting awareness and reflection rather than the design of particular solutions, which are also strongly needed for advancing accessible design at large. This PhD thesis comprises two main empirical studies branched into three different investigations. The first and second investigations are based on a four-month ethnographic study with visually impaired participants examining their everyday technology practices. The third investigation comprises the design and implementation of a workshop study developed to include people with and without visual impairments in collaborative reflections about technology and accessibility. As such, each investigation informed the ones that followed, revisiting and refining concepts and design materials throughout the thesis. Although ethnomethodology is the overarching approach running through this PhD project, each investigation has a different focus of enquiry: ‱ The first is focused on analysing participants’ technology practices and unearthing the interactional competencies enabling them. ‱ The second is focused on analysing technology demonstrations, which were a pervasive phenomenon recorded during fieldwork, and the work of demonstrating as exhibited by visually impaired participants. ‱ Lastly, the third investigation defines a workshop approach employing video demonstrations and a deck of reflective design cards as building blocks for enabling shared understanding among people with and without visual impairments from different technology backgrounds; that is, users, technologists, designers, and researchers. Overall, this thesis makes several contributions to audiences within and outside academia, such as the detailed accounts of some of the main technology practices of people with visual impairments and the methodological analysis of demonstrations in empirical Human Computer Interaction and accessibility research. Moreover, the main contribution lies in the conceptualisation of a Competencies Framework of Visual Impairments from the empirical analysis of interactional competencies and their practical exhibition through demonstrations, as well as the creation and use of a deck of cards that encapsulates the competencies and external elements involved in the everyday interactional accomplishments of people with visual impairments. All these contributions are lastly brought together in the implementation of the workshop approach that enabled participants to interact with and learn from each other. Thus, this thesis builds upon and advances contemporary strands of work in Human Computer Interaction that call for re-orienting how visual impairments and, overall, disabilities are framed in technology design, and ultimately for re-shaping the design practice itself

    A competencies framework of visual impairments for enabling shared understanding in design

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    Existing work in Human Computer Interaction and accessibility research has long sought to investigate the experiences of people with visual impairments in order to address their needs through technology design and integrate their participation into different stages of the design process. Yet challenges remain regarding how disabilities are framed in technology design and the extent of involvement of disabled people within it. Furthermore, accessibility is often considered a specialised job and misunderstandings or assumptions about visually impaired people’s experiences and needs occur outside dedicated fields. This thesis presents an ethnomethodology-informed design critique for supporting awareness and shared understanding of visual impairments and accessibility that centres on their experiences, abilities, and participation in early-stage design. This work is rooted in an in-depth empirical investigation of the interactional competencies that people with visual impairments exhibit through their use of technology, which informs and shapes the concept of a Competencies Framework of Visual Impairments. Although past research has established stances for considering the individual abilities of disabled people and other social and relational factors in technology design, by drawing on ethnomethodology and its interest in situated competence this thesis employs an interactional perspective to investigate the practical accomplishments of visually impaired people. Thus, this thesis frames visual impairments in terms of competencies to be considered in the design process, rather than a deficiency or problem to be fixed through technology. Accordingly, this work favours supporting awareness and reflection rather than the design of particular solutions, which are also strongly needed for advancing accessible design at large. This PhD thesis comprises two main empirical studies branched into three different investigations. The first and second investigations are based on a four-month ethnographic study with visually impaired participants examining their everyday technology practices. The third investigation comprises the design and implementation of a workshop study developed to include people with and without visual impairments in collaborative reflections about technology and accessibility. As such, each investigation informed the ones that followed, revisiting and refining concepts and design materials throughout the thesis. Although ethnomethodology is the overarching approach running through this PhD project, each investigation has a different focus of enquiry: ‱ The first is focused on analysing participants’ technology practices and unearthing the interactional competencies enabling them. ‱ The second is focused on analysing technology demonstrations, which were a pervasive phenomenon recorded during fieldwork, and the work of demonstrating as exhibited by visually impaired participants. ‱ Lastly, the third investigation defines a workshop approach employing video demonstrations and a deck of reflective design cards as building blocks for enabling shared understanding among people with and without visual impairments from different technology backgrounds; that is, users, technologists, designers, and researchers. Overall, this thesis makes several contributions to audiences within and outside academia, such as the detailed accounts of some of the main technology practices of people with visual impairments and the methodological analysis of demonstrations in empirical Human Computer Interaction and accessibility research. Moreover, the main contribution lies in the conceptualisation of a Competencies Framework of Visual Impairments from the empirical analysis of interactional competencies and their practical exhibition through demonstrations, as well as the creation and use of a deck of cards that encapsulates the competencies and external elements involved in the everyday interactional accomplishments of people with visual impairments. All these contributions are lastly brought together in the implementation of the workshop approach that enabled participants to interact with and learn from each other. Thus, this thesis builds upon and advances contemporary strands of work in Human Computer Interaction that call for re-orienting how visual impairments and, overall, disabilities are framed in technology design, and ultimately for re-shaping the design practice itself

    The cockpit for the 21st century

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    Interactive surfaces are a growing trend in many domains. As one possible manifestation of Mark Weiser’s vision of ubiquitous and disappearing computers in everywhere objects, we see touchsensitive screens in many kinds of devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers and interactive tabletops. More advanced concepts of these have been an active research topic for many years. This has also influenced automotive cockpit development: concept cars and recent market releases show integrated touchscreens, growing in size. To meet the increasing information and interaction needs, interactive surfaces offer context-dependent functionality in combination with a direct input paradigm. However, interfaces in the car need to be operable while driving. Distraction, especially visual distraction from the driving task, can lead to critical situations if the sum of attentional demand emerging from both primary and secondary task overextends the available resources. So far, a touchscreen requires a lot of visual attention since its flat surface does not provide any haptic feedback. There have been approaches to make direct touch interaction accessible while driving for simple tasks. Outside the automotive domain, for example in office environments, concepts for sophisticated handling of large displays have already been introduced. Moreover, technological advances lead to new characteristics for interactive surfaces by enabling arbitrary surface shapes. In cars, two main characteristics for upcoming interactive surfaces are largeness and shape. On the one hand, spatial extension is not only increasing through larger displays, but also by taking objects in the surrounding into account for interaction. On the other hand, the flatness inherent in current screens can be overcome by upcoming technologies, and interactive surfaces can therefore provide haptically distinguishable surfaces. This thesis describes the systematic exploration of large and shaped interactive surfaces and analyzes their potential for interaction while driving. Therefore, different prototypes for each characteristic have been developed and evaluated in test settings suitable for their maturity level. Those prototypes were used to obtain subjective user feedback and objective data, to investigate effects on driving and glance behavior as well as usability and user experience. As a contribution, this thesis provides an analysis of the development of interactive surfaces in the car. Two characteristics, largeness and shape, are identified that can improve the interaction compared to conventional touchscreens. The presented studies show that large interactive surfaces can provide new and improved ways of interaction both in driver-only and driver-passenger situations. Furthermore, studies indicate a positive effect on visual distraction when additional static haptic feedback is provided by shaped interactive surfaces. Overall, various, non-exclusively applicable, interaction concepts prove the potential of interactive surfaces for the use in automotive cockpits, which is expected to be beneficial also in further environments where visual attention needs to be focused on additional tasks.Der Einsatz von interaktiven OberflĂ€chen weitet sich mehr und mehr auf die unterschiedlichsten Lebensbereiche aus. Damit sind sie eine mögliche AusprĂ€gung von Mark Weisers Vision der allgegenwĂ€rtigen Computer, die aus unserer direkten Wahrnehmung verschwinden. Bei einer Vielzahl von technischen GerĂ€ten des tĂ€glichen Lebens, wie Smartphones, Tablets oder interaktiven Tischen, sind berĂŒhrungsempfindliche OberflĂ€chen bereits heute in Benutzung. Schon seit vielen Jahren arbeiten Forscher an einer Weiterentwicklung der Technik, um ihre Vorteile auch in anderen Bereichen, wie beispielsweise der Interaktion zwischen Mensch und Automobil, nutzbar zu machen. Und das mit Erfolg: Interaktive BenutzeroberflĂ€chen werden mittlerweile serienmĂ€ĂŸig in vielen Fahrzeugen eingesetzt. Der Einbau von immer grĂ¶ĂŸeren, in das Cockpit integrierten Touchscreens in Konzeptfahrzeuge zeigt, dass sich diese Entwicklung weiter in vollem Gange befindet. Interaktive OberflĂ€chen ermöglichen das flexible Anzeigen von kontextsensitiven Inhalten und machen eine direkte Interaktion mit den Bildschirminhalten möglich. Auf diese Weise erfĂŒllen sie die sich wandelnden Informations- und InteraktionsbedĂŒrfnisse in besonderem Maße. Beim Einsatz von Bedienschnittstellen im Fahrzeug ist die gefahrlose Benutzbarkeit wĂ€hrend der Fahrt von besonderer Bedeutung. Insbesondere visuelle Ablenkung von der Fahraufgabe kann zu kritischen Situationen fĂŒhren, wenn PrimĂ€r- und SekundĂ€raufgaben mehr als die insgesamt verfĂŒgbare Aufmerksamkeit des Fahrers beanspruchen. Herkömmliche Touchscreens stellen dem Fahrer bisher lediglich eine flache OberflĂ€che bereit, die keinerlei haptische RĂŒckmeldung bietet, weshalb deren Bedienung besonders viel visuelle Aufmerksamkeit erfordert. Verschiedene AnsĂ€tze ermöglichen dem Fahrer, direkte Touchinteraktion fĂŒr einfache Aufgaben wĂ€hrend der Fahrt zu nutzen. Außerhalb der Automobilindustrie, zum Beispiel fĂŒr BĂŒroarbeitsplĂ€tze, wurden bereits verschiedene Konzepte fĂŒr eine komplexere Bedienung großer Bildschirme vorgestellt. DarĂŒber hinaus fĂŒhrt der technologische Fortschritt zu neuen möglichen AusprĂ€gungen interaktiver OberflĂ€chen und erlaubt, diese beliebig zu formen. FĂŒr die nĂ€chste Generation von interaktiven OberflĂ€chen im Fahrzeug wird vor allem an der Modifikation der Kategorien GrĂ¶ĂŸe und Form gearbeitet. Die Bedienschnittstelle wird nicht nur durch grĂ¶ĂŸere Bildschirme erweitert, sondern auch dadurch, dass Objekte wie Dekorleisten in die Interaktion einbezogen werden können. Andererseits heben aktuelle Technologieentwicklungen die Restriktion auf flache OberflĂ€chen auf, so dass Touchscreens kĂŒnftig ertastbare Strukturen aufweisen können. Diese Dissertation beschreibt die systematische Untersuchung großer und nicht-flacher interaktiver OberflĂ€chen und analysiert ihr Potential fĂŒr die Interaktion wĂ€hrend der Fahrt. Dazu wurden fĂŒr jede Charakteristik verschiedene Prototypen entwickelt und in Testumgebungen entsprechend ihres Reifegrads evaluiert. Auf diese Weise konnten subjektives Nutzerfeedback und objektive Daten erhoben, und die Effekte auf Fahr- und Blickverhalten sowie Nutzbarkeit untersucht werden. Diese Dissertation leistet den Beitrag einer Analyse der Entwicklung von interaktiven OberflĂ€chen im Automobilbereich. Weiterhin werden die Aspekte GrĂ¶ĂŸe und Form untersucht, um mit ihrer Hilfe die Interaktion im Vergleich zu herkömmlichen Touchscreens zu verbessern. Die durchgefĂŒhrten Studien belegen, dass große FlĂ€chen neue und verbesserte Bedienmöglichkeiten bieten können. Außerdem zeigt sich ein positiver Effekt auf die visuelle Ablenkung, wenn zusĂ€tzliches statisches, haptisches Feedback durch nicht-flache OberflĂ€chen bereitgestellt wird. Zusammenfassend zeigen verschiedene, untereinander kombinierbare Interaktionskonzepte das Potential interaktiver OberflĂ€chen fĂŒr den automotiven Einsatz. Zudem können die Ergebnisse auch in anderen Bereichen Anwendung finden, in denen visuelle Aufmerksamkeit fĂŒr andere Aufgaben benötigt wird

    Proceedings of the 9th international conference on disability, virtual reality and associated technologies (ICDVRAT 2012)

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    The proceedings of the conferenc

    Tabletop tangible maps and diagrams for visually impaired users

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    En dĂ©pit de leur omniprĂ©sence et de leur rĂŽle essentiel dans nos vies professionnelles et personnelles, les reprĂ©sentations graphiques, qu'elles soient numĂ©riques ou sur papier, ne sont pas accessibles aux personnes dĂ©ficientes visuelles car elles ne fournissent pas d'informations tactiles. Par ailleurs, les inĂ©galitĂ©s d'accĂšs Ă  ces reprĂ©sentations ne cessent de s'accroĂźtre ; grĂące au dĂ©veloppement de reprĂ©sentations graphiques dynamiques et disponibles en ligne, les personnes voyantes peuvent non seulement accĂ©der Ă  de grandes quantitĂ©s de donnĂ©es, mais aussi interagir avec ces donnĂ©es par le biais de fonctionnalitĂ©s avancĂ©es (changement d'Ă©chelle, sĂ©lection des donnĂ©es Ă  afficher, etc.). En revanche, pour les personnes dĂ©ficientes visuelles, les techniques actuellement utilisĂ©es pour rendre accessibles les cartes et les diagrammes nĂ©cessitent l'intervention de spĂ©cialistes et ne permettent pas la crĂ©ation de reprĂ©sentations interactives. Cependant, les rĂ©centes avancĂ©es dans le domaine de l'adaptation automatique de contenus laissent entrevoir, dans les prochaines annĂ©es, une augmentation de la quantitĂ© de contenus adaptĂ©s. Cette augmentation doit aller de pair avec le dĂ©veloppement de dispositifs utilisables et abordables en mesure de supporter l'affichage de reprĂ©sentations interactives et rapidement modifiables, tout en Ă©tant accessibles aux personnes dĂ©ficientes visuelles. Certains prototypes de recherche s'appuient sur une reprĂ©sentation numĂ©rique seulement : ils peuvent ĂȘtre instantanĂ©ment modifiĂ©s mais ne fournissent que trĂšs peu de retour tactile, ce qui rend leur exploration complexe d'un point de vue cognitif et impose de fortes contraintes sur le contenu. D'autres prototypes s'appuient sur une reprĂ©sentation numĂ©rique et physique : bien qu'ils puissent ĂȘtre explorĂ©s tactilement, ce qui est un rĂ©el avantage, ils nĂ©cessitent un support tactile qui empĂȘche toute modification rapide. Quant aux dispositifs similaires Ă  des tablettes Braille, mais avec des milliers de picots, leur coĂ»t est prohibitif. L'objectif de cette thĂšse est de pallier les limitations de ces approches en Ă©tudiant comment dĂ©velopper des cartes et diagrammes interactifs physiques, modifiables et abordables. Pour cela, nous nous appuyons sur un type d'interface qui a rarement Ă©tĂ© Ă©tudiĂ© pour des utilisateurs dĂ©ficients visuels : les interfaces tangibles, et plus particuliĂšrement les interfaces tangibles sur table. Dans ces interfaces, des objets physiques reprĂ©sentent des informations numĂ©riques et peuvent ĂȘtre manipulĂ©s par l'utilisateur pour interagir avec le systĂšme, ou par le systĂšme lui-mĂȘme pour reflĂ©ter un changement du modĂšle numĂ©rique - on parle alors d'interfaces tangibles sur tables animĂ©es, ou actuated. GrĂące Ă  la conception, au dĂ©veloppement et Ă  l'Ă©valuation de trois interfaces tangibles sur table (les Tangible Reels, la Tangible Box et BotMap), nous proposons un ensemble de solutions techniques rĂ©pondant aux spĂ©cificitĂ©s des interfaces tangibles pour des personnes dĂ©ficientes visuelles, ainsi que de nouvelles techniques d'interaction non-visuelles, notamment pour la reconstruction d'une carte ou d'un diagramme et l'exploration de cartes de type " Pan & Zoom ". D'un point de vue thĂ©orique, nous proposons aussi une nouvelle classification pour les dispositifs interactifs accessibles.Despite their omnipresence and essential role in our everyday lives, online and printed graphical representations are inaccessible to visually impaired people because they cannot be explored using the sense of touch. The gap between sighted and visually impaired people's access to graphical representations is constantly growing due to the increasing development and availability of online and dynamic representations that not only give sighted people the opportunity to access large amounts of data, but also to interact with them using advanced functionalities such as panning, zooming and filtering. In contrast, the techniques currently used to make maps and diagrams accessible to visually impaired people require the intervention of tactile graphics specialists and result in non-interactive tactile representations. However, based on recent advances in the automatic production of content, we can expect in the coming years a growth in the availability of adapted content, which must go hand-in-hand with the development of affordable and usable devices. In particular, these devices should make full use of visually impaired users' perceptual capacities and support the display of interactive and updatable representations. A number of research prototypes have already been developed. Some rely on digital representation only, and although they have the great advantage of being instantly updatable, they provide very limited tactile feedback, which makes their exploration cognitively demanding and imposes heavy restrictions on content. On the other hand, most prototypes that rely on digital and physical representations allow for a two-handed exploration that is both natural and efficient at retrieving and encoding spatial information, but they are physically limited by the use of a tactile overlay, making them impossible to update. Other alternatives are either extremely expensive (e.g. braille tablets) or offer a slow and limited way to update the representation (e.g. maps that are 3D-printed based on users' inputs). In this thesis, we propose to bridge the gap between these two approaches by investigating how to develop physical interactive maps and diagrams that support two-handed exploration, while at the same time being updatable and affordable. To do so, we build on previous research on Tangible User Interfaces (TUI) and particularly on (actuated) tabletop TUIs, two fields of research that have surprisingly received very little interest concerning visually impaired users. Based on the design, implementation and evaluation of three tabletop TUIs (the Tangible Reels, the Tangible Box and BotMap), we propose innovative non-visual interaction techniques and technical solutions that will hopefully serve as a basis for the design of future TUIs for visually impaired users, and encourage their development and use. We investigate how tangible maps and diagrams can support various tasks, ranging from the (re)construction of diagrams to the exploration of maps by panning and zooming. From a theoretical perspective we contribute to the research on accessible graphical representations by highlighting how research on maps can feed research on diagrams and vice-versa. We also propose a classification and comparison of existing prototypes to deliver a structured overview of current research
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