Invisible publics: higher education and digital exclusion

Teaching in public involves reducing barriers to access and nowhere is this more appropriate than with the subject of electronic resources and the delivery of virtual learning opportunities. The future of the university, in a time of resurgence of neo-liberal values, the primacy of market forces and an increasing emphasis on private rather than public provision, has become the subject of much debate. Insufficient attention, however, is being paid to the possibility of exclusion, which is the inevitable result of increasing digital pedagogies and practices. This chapter focuses on the role of the university in ensuring equitable access to digital technology. Over the last decade, the possibilities of virtual learning have included pportunities for widening participation, increasing student numbers and opening up world trades in professional and academic expertise, thereby sustaining the globalization of education. This chapter addresses the limitations to these opportunities, in particular the failure to prioritize issues of digital inclusion and the divisive consequences of digital discrimination. The chapter is in two parts: the first examines the adoption of virtual learning within higher education, in particular, the ability of the technology to both enable and deny access. The second looks at the wider implications of this duality when set against the background of an increasingly digital society, and how inclusive practices are failing to have inclusive results

APFEL Web: a web-based application for the graphical visualization of parton distribution functions

We present APFEL Web, a web-based application designed to provide a flexible user-friendly tool for the graphical visualization of parton distribution functions (PDFs). In this note we describe the technical design of the APFEL Web application, motivating the choices and the framework used for the development of this project. We document the basic usage of APFEL Web and show how it can be used to provide useful input for a variety of collider phenomenological studies. Finally we provide some examples showing the output generated by the application.Comment: Final version, matches published version in JPhysG. Web-application available from http://apfel.mi.infn.it

Towards more effective visualisations in climate services: good practices and recommendations

Visualisations are often the entry point to information that supports stakeholders’ decision- and policy-making processes. Visual displays can employ either static, dynamic or interactive formats as well as various types of representations and visual encodings, which differently affect the attention, recognition and working memory of users. Despite being well-suited for expert audiences, current climate data visualisations need to be further improved to make communication of climate information more inclusive for broader audiences, including people with disabilities. However, the lack of evidence-based guidelines and tools makes the creation of accessible visualisations challenging, potentially leading to misunderstanding and misuse of climate information by users. Taking stock of visualisation challenges identified in a workshop by climate service providers, we review good practices commonly applied by other visualisation-related disciplines strongly based on users’ needs that could be applied to the climate services context. We show how lessons learned in the fields of user experience, data visualisation, graphic design and psychology make useful recommendations for the development of more effective climate service visualisations. This includes applying a user-centred design approach, using interaction in a suitable way in visualisations, paying attention to information architecture or selecting the right type of representation and visual encoding. The recommendations proposed here can help climate service providers reduce users’ cognitive load and improve their overall experience when using a service. These recommendations can be useful for the development of the next generation of climate services, increasing their usability while ensuring that their visual components are inclusive and do not leave anyone behind.The research leading to these results received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreements no. 689029 (Climateurope), 776787 (S2S4E), 776467 (MED-GOLD) and 869565 (VitiGEOSS).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Improving public services through open data: public toilets

Bichard’s work for the TACT3 project (Bichard REF Output 3) found that UK toilet provision is not centrally collated and no national map or database of toilets exists. In contrast, the UK government’s white paper Open Public Services (2011) emphasised its commitment to incorporating the use of Open Data in public services provision that could be tailored to community preferences, and therefore be more sustainable. Incorporating Open Data on public toilet provision, Bichard and Knight (RCA) developed The Great British Public Toilet Map (GBPTM). Whilst a number of other websites and applications map toilets by ‘crowd surfing’, GBPTM is entirely populated by Open Data, and not only uses the data as information for users, but informs members of the public that such information is available and accessible for their use. This paper presents the development of the GBPTM, including inclusive design research and studies that compare accuracy of information directly provided by users with Open Data collected by local authorities. It suggests that, to meet the health and well-being of an ageing population, a sustainable and cost-effective solution must be found for ‘publicly accessible’ toilet provision, including opening up provision beyond that ‘for customers only’ and providing accurate information on current public provision. The paper highlights the barriers encountered in the production of Open Data by local authorities. A review of the paper in the journal Civil Engineering (May 2013) described the design of the GBPTM as a ‘simple and elegant solution’. The development of a digital output and an understanding of digitally based research led to Bichard’s successful submission to an EPSRC Digital Economy sandpit, in which she developed an interdisciplinary project with the Universities of Newcastle, Bournemouth and the West of England. The project, Family Rituals 2.0, secured £750,000 in research funding with Bichard as co-investigator (2013–15)

Investigating heuristic evaluation as a methodology for evaluating pedagogical software: An analysis employing three case studies

This paper looks specifically at how to develop light weight methods of evaluating pedagogically motivated software. Whilst we value traditional usability testing methods this paper will look at how Heuristic Evaluation can be used as both a driving force of Software Engineering Iterative Refinement and end of project Evaluation. We present three case studies in the area of Pedagogical Software and show how we have used this technique in a variety of ways. The paper presents results and reflections on what we have learned. We conclude with a discussion on how this technique might inform on the latest developments on delivery of distance learning. © 2014 Springer International Publishing

Designing a visible city for visually impaired users

This paper reports on an ongoing doctoral research project which aims to identify the main barriers to access within the built environment for persons with a visual impairment. The research seeks to investigate whether these barriers are common for all types of visual impairment and degree of vision loss and if so, what inclusive design solutions can accommodate the needs of the majority of visually impaired users. An access audit has been conducted within Glasgow city centre which sought to quantify the number and type of hazards present within a typical built environment. This was followed up by a questionnaire which asked participants to rate factors which may prevent them from making independent visits to their nearest city centre including psychological factors, physical features and obstructions resulting from the presence of street furniture. Participants also indicated the colours and contrasts which they find easiest to detect within the built environment. These findings will be used to inform the creation of a new set of design guidelines to assist designers, architects and urban planners as to how they can provide more accessible and inclusive environments for the visually impaired population

Writing Centers and Disability: Enabling Writers Through an Inclusive Philosophy

In its Position Statement on Disability and Writing Centers, the International Writing Centers Association (IWCA) recognizes and emphasizes the relationship between writing centers and disability and “encourages scholarship that explores the ways disability intersects with writing center work.” The IWCA further encourages writing centers to be inclusive to all writers by adopting “communication that takes into account various learning styles or ways of processing language.” We too, argue that writing centers should be welcoming environments for all writers and that they should engage with their writers as unique beings, making accessible to them the individuation of instruction and support. Writing centers should be spaces where the multiple barriers that students experience in their writing are addressed and a variety of options are provided.University Writing Cente

Analysis of conceptual metaphors to improve music software: the role of prior experience in inclusive music interaction

An open challenge for interaction designers is to find ways of designing software solutions capable of enhancing the ability of users with differing levels of knowledge and capabilities to perform tasks that normally require specialised domain expertise. This challenge is particularly demanding in areas such as music analysis, where complex, abstract, domain-specific concepts and notations occur. One promising theoretical foundation for this work involves the identification of what are assumed to be conceptual metaphors and image schemas. These constructs are grounded in prior sensory-motor experiences of space, force, orientation and interactions with other bodies and are identified through analysing discourse. These theories have already been applied with some success both to musical concepts and, separately, to user interface design with the intention of creating more intuitive designs through exploiting these prior sensory-motor experiences. However, the present work appears to be the first to combine these hitherto distinct bodies of research. We hypothesise that if we can identify the conceptual metaphors and image schemas used by musical experts to structure their understanding of music, we can utilise this information to develop a general theoretical framework to aid designers in systematically improving their designs, providing a foundation for inclusive music interaction design and thus opening up software normally restricted to domain experts to a wider and more varied user population. A possible methodology for the development of such a framework is discussed along with details of a study to apply the conceptual metaphors and image schemas used by a small group of experienced musicians to an evaluation of Harmony Space

Anthropometrics without numbers!

(Anthropometrics without Numbers! An Investigation of Designers' Use and Preference of People Data By Nickpour F and Dong H) There is still missing knowledge to encourage and support designers in adoption and implementation of inclusive design. Some of this missing knowledge comes in the form of anthropometric data which provides accessible information on users' capabilities and limitations. Support and resources for designers on this type of data seems to be limited and exclusive. This study focuses on evaluating the existing use of anthropometric data by professional designers, aiming to explore means of presenting such data more effectively. Ten UK-based design consultancies were interviewed and completed questionnaires collecting information on designer’s current use of anthropometric data, their suggestions on presentation of that data and their preferences on data tools. It is concluded that the use of anthropometric data sources by designers is very limited and minimal; experienced designers tend to rely mainly on experimental methods such as physical prototyping and engagement with people. The results provide insights into designers' existing approaches to data collection and use. This study highlights the need for development of a highly visual, simple and intuitive data tool based on the interviewed designers’ preferences and suggestions. This has to be done by carefully adopting the designers’ existing approaches to data collection and use and by adapting existing data into that

Sensitivity analysis in a scoping review on police accountability : assessing the feasibility of reporting criteria in mixed studies reviews

In this paper, we report on the findings of a sensitivity analysis that was carried out within a previously conducted scoping review, hoping to contribute to the ongoing debate about how to assess the quality of research in mixed methods reviews. Previous sensitivity analyses mainly concluded that the exclusion of inadequately reported or lower quality studies did not have a significant effect on the results of the synthesis. In this study, we conducted a sensitivity analysis on the basis of reporting criteria with the aims of analysing its impact on the synthesis results and assessing its feasibility. Contrary to some previous studies, our analysis showed that the exclusion of inadequately reported studies had an impact on the results of the thematic synthesis. Initially, we also sought to propose a refinement of reporting criteria based on the literature and our own experiences. In this way, we aimed to facilitate the assessment of reporting criteria and enhance its consistency. However, based on the results of our sensitivity analysis, we opted not to make such a refinement since many publications included in this analysis did not sufficiently report on the methodology. As such, a refinement would not be useful considering that researchers would be unable to assess these (sub-)criteria