Perceptions of Web Accessibility Guidelines by Student Website and App Developers

Websites and applications (apps) have become an essential part of daily life. However, pervious research has shown that many people have trouble experiencing websites and apps fully due to accessibility issues. One of the reasons often cited for inaccessible websites and apps is related to training, or a lack thereof. Many developers are not educated, or even exposed, to Web accessibility guidelines. Thus, understanding the extent to which student website and app developers are exposed to accessibility in their college courses is a critical first step in determining how to increase their use of accessibility guidelines. This mixed methods research in progress aims to better understand the influence of education and training on the perceptions of Web accessibility guidelines by student website and app developers. This research promises theoretical and practical contributions with regard to student website and app developers

Feature info : improving the visualization and usability of GIS background information in the context of a mobile tourist application

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Geospatial TechnologiesFeature info is an interactive map tool that allows viewing background information about a map feature in response to a user action. Mobile devices come with a number of limitations, e.g. small screen real estate and the variety of screen sizes, that can affect map and feature info usability. Existing recommendations for feature info design [1], [2], [3] focus mostly on content, i.e. effective communication of data, leaving the “interaction design” aspect overlooked. This Master’s Thesis attempts at improving the visualization and usability of feature info interfaces in the context of mobile tourist applications and presents nine feature info design guidelines that address specific usability problems. The problems were identified through heuristic evaluation of five tourist applications and a user interview. Literature survey and two usability experts provided ideas regarding how several of these problems can be resolved. Three guidelines were evaluated in a lab-based usability test with twenty participants. On average, assessed guidelines demonstrated a significant positive effect on feature info usability by decreasing task completion time by 33% and increasing task completion rate and System Usability Scale (SUS) score by 26% and 28% respectively. Proposed guidelines are not restricted by any specific use case and can be applied to other application domains. Researchers and business practitioners can use the guidelines as a reference in their daily work

How to make privacy policies both GDPR-compliant and usable

It is important for organisations to ensure that their privacy policies are General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant, and this has to be done by the May 2018 deadline. However, it is also important for these policies to be designed with the needs of the human recipient in mind. We carried out an investigation to find out how best to achieve this.We commenced by synthesising the GDPR requirements into a checklist-type format. We then derived a list of usability design guidelines for privacy notifications from the research literature. We augmented the recommendations with other findings reported in the research literature, in order to confirm the guidelines. We conclude by providing a usable and GDPR-compliant privacy policy template for the benefit of policy writers

SuppFriends: Empowering Friends, Changing Culture

Without the proper education, responding to disclosure of sexual assault can be an experience for which many people feel entirely unprepared to handle – no matter how much they care about and want to help their friends. SuppFriends seeks to empower members of the WashU community to respond supportively and effectively to peer disclosures, as well as to understand their own experiences and take care of themselves in the process. In exploring what interventions already exist for the above stated problem, we searched for interventions that specifically addressed the issue of empowering friends of survivors, interventions that encompassed the idea of empowering friends of survivors within a larger context of prevention, education, and response, and interventions with infrastructures that could be adapted to address this issue. Below we look more closely at three of these specific interventions: one with robust infrastructure, one with exemplary trauma-informed content, and one in the pipeline that attempts to integrate these pieces. We argue that while existing resources do have specific pieces of the necessary intervention, there are no resources that currently integrate infrastructure, information, and trauma-informed principles

Get yourself connected: conceptualising the role of digital technologies in Norwegian career guidance

This report outlines the role of digital technologies in the provision of career guidance. It was commissioned by the c ommittee on career guidance which is advising the Norwegian Government following a review of the countries skills system by the OECD. In this report we argue that career guidance and online career guidance in particular can support the development of Norwa y’s skills system to help meet the economic challenges that it faces.The expert committee advising Norway’s Career Guidance Initiativ