The human controller : usability and accessibility in video game interfaces

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 41-43).Despite the advances in user interfaces and the new gaming genres, not all people can play all games - disabled people are frequently excluded from game play experiences. On the one hand this adds to the list of discriminations disabled people face in our society, while on the other hand actively including them potentially results in games that are better for everyone. The largest hurdle to involvement is the user interface, or how a player interacts with the game. Analyzing usability and adhering to accessibility design principles makes it both possible and practical to develop fun and engaging game user interfaces that a broader range of the population can play. To demonstrate these principles we created AudiOdyssey, a PC rhythm game that is accessible to both sighted and non-sighted audiences. By following accessibility guidelines we incorporated a novel combination of features resulting in a similar play experience for both groups. Testing AudiOdyssey yielded useful insights into which interface elements work and which don't work for all users. Finally a case is made for considering accessibility when designing future versions of gaming user interfaces, and speculative scenarios are presented for what such interfaces might look like.by Eitan M. Glinert.M.Eng

Sviluppo e sperimentazione di un ambiente interattivo per il potenziamento della coordinazione visuo-motoria in bambini con ipovisione grave

In una società moderna basata sull'abilità del vedere, la vista gioca un ruolo critico in ogni momento e fase della vita di una persona. Purtroppo, non tutti "vedono" allo stesso modo. Con un team multidisciplinare che comprendeva ingegneri informatici e terapisti della Fondazione Robert Hollman, sono stati progettati e sviluppati una serie di mini giochi digitali esplicitamente rivolti a bambini con problemi di vista e che mirano a migliorare le loro abilità cognitive e/o motorio-sensoriali. Questa tesi analizza i requisiti dei giochi che hanno necessitato di un'attenta e dettagliata progettazione che tenesse conto delle caratteristiche e dei bisogni degli operatori (terapisti) e dei giocatori. Descrive anche i dettagli sull'implementazione di tre giochi. Questi si basano su un large-scale interactive environment e vengono giocati proiettando il campo sul pavimento. Sopra quest'area viene posto un sistema di motion capture che permette di tracciare la posizione dei bambini. I movimenti dei giocatori all'interno del campo vengono usati per farli interagire con gli elementi del gioco, producendo output visivi e uditivi adeguati. Infine, vengono discussi l'usabilità e la funzionalità del sistema tramite l'analisi dei dati raccolti durante uno studio pilota. Quattro terapisti e undici bambini sono stati coinvolti facendo utilizzare loro il sistema in un ambiente appositamente predisposto. I risultati hanno permesso al team di migliorare il prodotto e di definire una serie di linee guida utili a terapisti, progettisti e sviluppatori.In a modern society based on the ability to see, vision plays a critical role in every moment and stage of a person's life. Unfortunately, not everyone "sees" in the same way. With a multidisciplinary team including computer engineers and therapists from the Robert Hollman Foundation, a series of digital mini-games, explicitly aimed at children with visual impairment, were designed and developed with the aim of improving their cognitive and/or motor-sensory skills. This thesis analyses the design requirements of the games, which needed a careful and detailed design that took into account the characteristics and needs of the operators (therapists) and players. It also details the implementation of three games based on a large-scale interactive environment that are played by projecting the field onto the floor. Above this area a motion capture system is placed to track the position of the children. The players' movements within the field are used to make them interact with the game elements, producing appropriate visual and auditory outputs. Finally, the usability and functionality of the system are discussed through the analysis of data collected during a pilot study. Four therapists and eleven children has been involved making them use the system in a specially designed environment. The results allowed the team to improve the final product and to define a set of guidelines useful for designers, developers, and therapists

Designing user experiences: a game engine for the blind

Video games experience an ever-increasing interest by society since their inception on the 70’s. This form of computer entertainment may let the player have a great time with family and friends, or it may as well provide immersion into a story full of details and emotional content. Prior to the end user playing a video game, a huge effort is performed in lots of disciplines: screenwriting, scenery design, graphical design, programming, optimization or marketing are but a few examples. This work is done by game studios, where teams of professionals from different backgrounds join forces in the inception of the video game. From the perspective of Human-Computer Interaction, which studies how people interact with computers to complete tasks, a game developer can be regarded as a user whose task is to create the logic of a video game using a computer. One of the main foundations of HCI. is that an in-depth understanding of the user’s needs and preferences is vital for creating a usable piece of technology. This point is important as a single piece of technology (in this case, the set of tools used by a game developer) may – and should have been designed to – be used on the same team by users with different knowledge, abilities and capabilities. Embracing this diversity of users functional capabilities is the core foundation of accessibility, which is tightly related to and studied from the discipline of HCI. The driving force behind this research is a question that came after considering game developers: Could someone develop a video game being fully or partially blind? Would it be possible for these users to be part of a game development team? What should be taken into account to cover their particular needs and preferences so that they could perform this task being comfortable and productive? The goal of this work is to propose a possible solution that can assure inclusion of fully or partially blind users in the context of computer game development. To do this, a Used Centered Design methodology has been followed. This approach is ideal in this case as it starts including people you’re designing for and ends with new solutions that are tailor made to suit their needs. First, previously designed solutions for this problem and related works have been analyzed. Secondly, an exploratory study has been performed to know how should the target user be able to interact with a computer when developing games, and design insights are drawn from both the state of the art analysis and the study results. Next, a solution has been proposed based on the design insights, and a prototype has been implemented. The solution has been evaluated with accessibility guidelines. It has been finally concluded that the proposed solution is accessible for visually impaired users.Ingeniería Informátic

Multisensory learning in adaptive interactive systems

The main purpose of my work is to investigate multisensory perceptual learning and sensory integration in the design and development of adaptive user interfaces for educational purposes. To this aim, starting from renewed understanding from neuroscience and cognitive science on multisensory perceptual learning and sensory integration, I developed a theoretical computational model for designing multimodal learning technologies that take into account these results. Main theoretical foundations of my research are multisensory perceptual learning theories and the research on sensory processing and integration, embodied cognition theories, computational models of non-verbal and emotion communication in full-body movement, and human-computer interaction models. Finally, a computational model was applied in two case studies, based on two EU ICT-H2020 Projects, "weDRAW" and "TELMI", on which I worked during the PhD

Shortages and Challenges in Augmentative Communication through Tangible Interaction Using a User-centered Design and Assessment Process

In this article, we present an assessment process on a tangible interaction application oriented to individuals with complex communication needs, called ACoTI, and details about the main results obtained thus far. The process is based on a set of decisions that have been surveyed as key elements for assessing this type of experiences, based on a background review that was carried out. In addition to that, it has taken into account the contribution of key players from the special education field and it is the foundation for the user-centered and evolutionary design of the application. A number of findings and challenges that open up the door to keep contributing to this specific area was presented. For instance, creating an authoring tool that is available for the educators to be able to generate themselves customized activities for their students, considering the specific needs of each of them.Instituto de Investigación en Informátic

Shortages and challenges in augmentative communication through tangible interaction using a user-centered design and assessment process

In this article, we present an assessment process on a tangible interaction application oriented to individuals with complex communication needs, called ACoTI, and details about the main results obtained thus far. The process is based on a set of decisions that have been surveyed as key elements for assessing this type of experiences, based on a background review that was carried out. In addition to that, it has taken into account the contribution of key players from the special education field and it is the foundation for the user-centered and evolutionary design of the application. A number of findings and challenges that open up the door to keep contributing to this specific area was presented. For instance, creating an authoring tool that is available for the educators to be able to generate themselves customized activities for their students, considering the specific needs of each of them

Shortages and Challenges in Augmentative Communication through Tangible Interaction using a user-centered design and assessment process

In this article, we present an assessment process on a tangible interaction application oriented to individuals with complex communication needs, called ACoTI, and details about the main results obtained thus far. The process is based on a set of decisions that have been surveyed as key elements for assessing this type of experiences, based on a background review that was carried out. In addition to that, it has taken into account the contribution of key players from the special education field and it is the foundation for the user-centered and evolutionary design of the application. A number of findings and challenges that open up the door to keep contributing to this specific area was presented. For instance, creating an authoring tool that is available for the educators to be able to generate themselves customized activities for their students, considering the specific needs of each of them.Fil: Sanz, Cecilia Veronica. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Informática. Instituto de Investigación en Informática Lidi; Argentina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Artola, Verónica. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Informática. Instituto de Investigación en Informática Lidi; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Guisen, Maria Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Marco, Javier. Universidad de Zaragoza; EspañaFil: Cerezo, Eva. Universidad de Zaragoza; EspañaFil: Baldassarri, Sandra Silvia. Universidad de Zaragoza; Españ

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program