Getting connected- at what cost? Some ethical issues on mobile HCI

The large scale deployment of mobile applications inevitably affects our daily lives and the whole culture. Not all of these effects are desirable. In a market economy, ethical issues are not the foremost drivers in the development of technology. In this paper, we ask whether the mobile human-computer interaction community could take an active role in discussing the issues which really matter in the development of technology for human beings, rather than concentrating on the fine tuning of emerging gadgets

A case study using a methodological approach to developing user interfaces for elderly and disabled people

In this paper, we present a case study on the development of interfaces for elderly and disabled users. The domain of the case study was situated in the home environment, where we focused on producing affordable technologies to enable users to interact with and to control home appliances. We have developed ambient user interfaces that are integrated in familiar home artefacts, such as televisions and digital picture frames. These interfaces are connected remotely to a home network and are adaptive to users’ expected increasing physical and cognitive needs. To support the development of the project, we created a novel methodology that is grounded in the ethical issues associated with a project of this nature. Our success with it has led to us presenting it here as a practical approach to developing user interfaces for a range of interactive applications, especially where there may be diverse user populations. This paper describes our journey through this project, how the methodology has been used throughout and the development of our user interfaces and their evaluation

Reflections on the role of the ‘users’: challenges in a multi-disciplinary context of learner-centred design for children on the autism spectrum

Technology design in the field of human–computer interaction has developed a continuum of participatory research methods, closely mirroring methodological approaches and epistemological discussions in other fields. This paper positions such approaches as examples of inclusive research (to varying degrees) within education, and illustrates the complexity of navigating and involving different user groups in the context of multi-disciplinary research projects. We illustrate this complexity with examples from our recent work, involving children on the autism spectrum and their teachers. Both groups were involved in learner-centred design processes to develop technologies to support social conversation and collaboration. We conceptualize this complexity as a triple-decker ‘sandwich’ representing Theory, Technologies and Thoughts and argue that all three layers need to be appropriately aligned for a good quality ‘product’ or outcome. However, the challenge lies in navigating and negotiating all three layers at the same time, including the views and experiences of the learners. We question the extent to which it may be possible to combine co-operative, empowering approaches to participatory design with an outcome-focused agenda that seeks to develop a robust learning technology for use in real classrooms

A Universalist strategy for the design of Assistive Technology

Assistive Technologies are specialized products aiming to partly compensate for the loss of autonomy experienced by disabled people. Because they address special needs in a highly-segmented market, they are often considered as niche products. To improve their design and make them tend to Universality, we propose the EMFASIS framework (Extended Modularity, Functional Accessibility, and Social Integration Strategy). We first elaborate on how this strategy conciliates niche and Universalist views, which may appear conflicting at first sight. We then present three examples illustrating its application for designing Assistive Technologies: the design of an overbed table, an upper-limb powered orthose and a powered wheelchair. We conclude on the expected outcomes of our strategy for the social integration and participation of disabled people

Foregrounding accessibility for user experience design

textI am interested in creating generative tools and techniques for designing accessible user experiences for end users. As a user experience designer, I am working on embracing the web accessibility standards and guidelines and including them from the beginning of the User Experience (UX) design process. My projects are directed at facilitating design students and professionals to understand two things: that the broad concept of web accessibility is important, and how they can embed web accessibility into the UX design process at a very early stage. To do this, I used different media (website, posters and videos etc.) to create awareness and educate designers in an interesting, simple and engaging way. In this report, I will discuss the definition and role of accessible design, identify limitations in existing tools and methods, and demonstrate how future designers might research, prototype, analyze, and implement their designs for all users.Desig

Accessibility in Housing Design: A Critical Review of Prefabricated Housing, Tirana Albania

The main aim of the present research is to advance the state of the art of the accessibility in housing design. It addresses how to include the category of disabled people in the design process. In addition, the research includes the accessibility issues at different stages or completely accessible with different functions. The paper explores the key concepts via an in-depth theoretical background towards a barrier-free building design. Statistical evidences of the disabled people in Albania are illustrated. As case study, prefabricated buildings adopted in the early ’80 s are used to illustrate the accessibility limitations in housing design and to explore the modularity of the structure and the corresponding plan layouts. The results showed that prefabricated housing design is rather limited to accessibility, adaptability and universal design strategies

Looking across digital divides: possible interventions in inclusive and accessible service design

Traversing the numerous studies of minority groups and the access to technology highlights the necessity of rethinking the popular notion of ‘digital divides’ by which particular communities are considered disadvantaged in their access to the Internet. The research points to pervasive technological determinism in the ways that services are designed to push users online regardless of the evidence that an array of minority groups prefer and use other means of communicating and seeking information. The ‘digital divide’ is evidence that information services have not been designed to be inclusive of a significant proportion of the wider community. It is also an inadequate model for conceptualising the diversity of technologies that are now used, as well as the literacies required to access them. Instead of dichotomising user groups, with minorities representing those who are disadvantaged and deprived of computers, there are persuasive business, regulatory and legal arguments for compelling service providers to consider their users as part of a spectrum of affordabilities, literacies and technologies through which their services are accessed

Designing for ethical innovation:a case study on ELSI co-design in emergency

The ever more pervasive ‘informationalization’ of crisis management and response brings both unprecedented opportunities and challenges. Recent years have seen the emergence of attention to ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) in the field of Information and Communication Technology. However, disclosing (and addressing) ELSI issues in design is still a challenge because they are inherently relational, arising from interactions between people, the material and design of the artifact, and the context. In this article, we discuss approaches for addressing such ‘deeper’ and ‘wider’ political implications, values and ethical, legal and social implications that arise between practices, people and technology. Based on a case study from the BRIDGE project, which has provided the opportunity for deep engagement with these issues through the concrete exploration and experimentation with technologically augmented practices of emergency response, we present insights from our interdisciplinary work aiming to make design and innovation projects ELSI-aware. Crucially, we have seen in our study a need for a shift from privacy by design towards designing for privacy, collaboration, trust, accessibility, ownership, transparency etc., acknowledging that these are emergent practices that we cannot control by design, but rather that we can help to design for—calling for approaches that allow to make ELSI issues explicit and addressable in design-time

Blinded by Simplicity: Locating the Social Dimension in Software Development Process Literature

The software development process is a complex human, intellectual and labor-intensive activity and human related factors have shown to be the most significant contributors to software system failures. Lacking the ability to identify or quantify these factors, software practitioners will not learn from the failures caused by them. Although, social factors give rise to high failure rates in software development projects they tend to be ignored. Business continues as usual. The inability for software engineers to attain a holistic and inclusive approach will leave the social dimension out and undermine the realization of a fully sustainable software development process.This paper builds on the master’s thesis with the same title completed in December 2019 at Stockholm University. The thesis demonstrates how research literature on software development processes addresses (or not) the social dimension of sustainability from a holistic point of view. The results indicate that the practice of dealing holistically with complexity including the social dimension is still underdeveloped. Further research is suggested regarding the development of adequate supporting tools, social skills, and managerial attitudes and behaviors

Digital technologies for supporting the informed consent of children and young people in research: the potential for transforming current research ethics practice

Much research at the intersection of technology and ethics focuses on the impact of technological developments and innovation on wider society. This discussion considers the intersection of ethics and technology from the opposite direction; that is, how technology itself can support the ethical participation of people – particularly children and young people – in research. Our central argument is that the use of digital technologies (laptops, PCs, tablet devices, smartphones) offers the potential to support the presentation of information about research topics and methodologies, and children’s decision-making about their own participation, more effectively than by traditional, often paper-based, methods