Accessible user interface support for multi-device ubiquitous applications: architectural modifiability considerations

The market for personal computing devices is rapidly expanding from PC, to mobile, home entertainment systems, and even the automotive industry. When developing software targeting such ubiquitous devices, the balance between development costs and market coverage has turned out to be a challenging issue. With the rise of Web technology and the Internet of things, ubiquitous applications have become a reality. Nonetheless, the diversity of presentation and interaction modalities still drastically limit the number of targetable devices and the accessibility toward end users. This paper presents webinos, a multi-device application middleware platform founded on the Future Internet infrastructure. Hereto, the platform's architectural modifiability considerations are described and evaluated as a generic enabler for supporting applications, which are executed in ubiquitous computing environments

Keynote talk: Augmented, adaptive, accessible, and inclusive things

In this new age of the Internet of Things (IoT) people and things are increasingly immersed in a computing environment that is aimed to simplify and improve daily activities. The Web of Things (WoT) is near to become a W3C Recommendation with the aim to support semantic interoperability across IoT platforms by providing a common interaction model independent of the underlying protocols. In this talk, I will illustrate the main principles of the WoT paradigm and then I will discuss the issue of Accessibility. Following on from the WoT concept of Things as virtual representations of physical digital things and also non-digital things, I will introduce an approach where we envision an Adaptive Web of Things as a mean to increase accessibility and usability of real world objects. The idea is that through the virtualization of physical objects, even objects which are not natively accessible can be augmented to become accessible and inclusive if proper adaptations are performed in order to fit the user\u2019s needs

Web Standards to Enable an Accessible and Inclusive Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to have an unprecedented impact on our daily lives. In particular, “smart environments” will change how we interact with our surrounding and with each other, including at home, in public spaces, and at the work place. This provides an opportunity to ensure equal access for people with disabilities. For example, operating doors, windows, and physical objects through voice makes such environments more accessible to people with physical disabilities and inclusive to more. Yet there are still many challenges to address, without which the Internet of Things (IoT) threatens to be more of a disabler than an enabler. In particular, the current lack of interoperability makes it hard for assistive technologies to easily tap into IoT systems.Web standards could extend the open web platform to resolve many of these issues, much as it did on the traditional internet. This Web of Things (WoT) provides a robust application layer for innovation to thrive on the underlying Internet of Things (IoT). This paper outlines the relevance of IoT for people with disabilities and the specific challenges it currently poses. It then discusses how the Web of Things (WoT) could help address these challenges, and highlights research questions that still need to be tackled

The future challenge of the ADA: Shaping humanity’s transformation

Through a meta-review of global trends and the contextualization of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the author proposes that a change of strategy and focus is required to achieve the ADA’s aspirations. The argument is made that the disability community and inclusion effort must participate in a leadership role in shaping the current transformation of society, including three broad systemic factors: (a) design and development, (b) research and evidence, and (c) education and learning, to avert widening disparity and address risks that affect all members of the global society

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

Do We Need Application Profiles? Reflections and Suggestions from Work in DCMI and ISO/IEC

In this paper, the authors question the role and naming of 'application profiles' (APs). It is not a research paper but aims to foster a discussion that the authors think is pertinent. Both have been involved in the development and use of application profiles for some considerable time. This paper does not provide answers but aims to raise issues for others' consideration. Essentially, the issues show that communities can share work easily through the interchange of APs but suggests that greater precision in their naming would be useful, and they may not always be necessary given the current state of RDF technologies

Building a Methodological Framework for Establishing a Socio-Economic Business Case for Inclusion: The Curb Cut Effect of Accessibility Accommodations as a Confounding Variable and a Criterion Variable

Establishing a business case for accessibility based on field research has not been attempted so far. This report presents the outcomes, and lessons learned, from an exploratory study on the topic. The most significant finding is that the invariable curb-cut advantage accruing to businesses from accessibility accommodations might prove to be a confounding variable in assessing the economic benefits arising exclusively from the disability market. However, this also implies that there is more benefit to businesses through accessibility accommodations than intended, thus establishing the curb-cut effect as a criterion variable in future research. Ethical and social benefits, which are not easily monetizable, are also found to be important outcomes. An Accessibility Benefits-to-Cost (ABC) matrix is proposed as a business decision support tool for Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs). A Methodological Framework is developed for future researchers to expand this new academic niche. The findings suggest overall that shifting the focus of disability from personal impairments of clients to a mismatch between client needs and design of the business offerings might help make a good business case by positioning accessibility accommodation as an absolute strategy for business enhancement