Inclusive design guidelines for HCI

Let us say you wish to design and develop a new product or technology. You want to ensure that as many people as possible are able to use it—not only is it politically and in some countries legally correct but with our ageing population it makes good economic sense. You want to follow existing design advice, of which you have been told there is much around. But where is the best place to look, and who do you go to for more specific information? You may decide to look for published materials, such as design guidelines. However, when you find guidelines, you cannot always be sure that they will be applicable to your specific product or technology. If you follow these guidelines, can you be sure that your product will be usable by more people

A practical EMG-based human-computer interface for users with motor disabilities

In line with the mission of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998 (ATA), this study proposes an integrated assistive real-time system which affirms that technology is a valuable tool that can be used to improve the lives of people with disabilities . An assistive technology device is defined by the ATA as any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities . The purpose of this study is to design and develop an alternate input device that can be used even by individuals with severe motor disabilities . This real-time system design utilizes electromyographic (EMG) biosignals from cranial muscles and electroencephalographic (EEG) biosignals from the cerebrum\u27s occipital lobe, which are transformed into controls for two-dimensional (2-D) cursor movement, the left-click (Enter) command, and an ON/OFF switch for the cursor-control functions . This HCI system classifies biosignals into mouse functions by applying amplitude thresholds and performing power spectral density (PSD) estimations on discrete windows of data. Spectral power summations are aggregated over several frequency bands between 8 and 500 Hz and then compared to produce the correct classification . The result is an affordable DSP-based system that, when combined with an on-screen keyboard, enables the user to fully operate a computer without using any extremities

Access audit on universal design: the case of Kota Kinabalu water front

Most developed countries have enforced the use of “Universal Design” in any physical development of their cities, for the purpose of eliminating discrimination among the society members towards the unfortunate handicapped persons. Nevertheless, in many developing countries, the awareness and inclusion of Universal Design is still in its initial stage. Cities’ authorities have not fully enforced the requirement of providing access to people with disability in their built environment; neither in public nor private spaces. The Department of Standard Malaysia (SIRIM) had initiated the publication of Malaysian Standards as guidelines for designers; architects, city planners, landscape architects, interior designers, and others who are involved in the construction of physical development with Universal Design. The Ministry also commissioned researchers to do access audit on various public spaces in several cities, to examine whether or not the cities’ public spaces are built in compliance of the Universal Design or not. This research describes the procedures, process and findings of the access audit done in the city of Kota Kinabalu. Simulation of the access audit utilised five (5) people, each with different type of disability such as: fully impaired vision, partially impaired vision, hearing impaired, wheel-chair bound, and a crutch user. With guidance from the researchers, the disabled respondents simulated their movements at the water front area of the city stretching about one (1) kilometre in length and 200 metres wide. The access audit done in Kota Kinabalu concluded that the water front area was designed without consideration of Universal Design, and renovation of the built environment is urgently needed to comply with the Malaysian standard requirements

Using fNIRS in usability testing: understanding the effect of web form layout on mental workload

Amongst the many tasks in our lives, we encounter web forms on a regular basis, whether they are mundane like registering for a website, or complex and important like tax returns. There are many aspects of Usability, but one concern for user interfaces is to reduce mental workload and error rates. Whilst most assessment of mental workload is subjective and retrospective reporting by users, we examine the potential of functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a tool for objectively and concurrently measuring mental workload during usability testing. We use this technology to evaluate the design of three different form layouts for a car insurance claim process, and show that a form divided into subforms increases mental workload, contrary to our expectations. We conclude that fNIRS is highly suitable for objectively examining mental workload during usability testing, and will therefore be able to provide more detailed insight than summative retrospective assessments. Further, for the fNIRS community, we show that the technology can easily move beyond typical psychology tasks, and be used for more natural study tasks