49,499 research outputs found
Challenges in Developing Applications for Aging Populations
Elderly individuals can greatly benefit from the use of computer applications, which can assist in monitoring health conditions, staying in contact with friends and family, and even learning new things. However, developing accessible applications for an elderly user can be a daunting task for developers. Since the advent of the personal computer, the benefits and challenges of developing applications for older adults have been a hot topic of discussion. In this chapter, the authors discuss the various challenges developers who wish to create applications for the elderly computer user face, including age-related impairments, generational differences in computer use, and the hardware constraints mobile devices pose for application developers. Although these challenges are concerning, each can be overcome after being properly identified
Weaving Lighthouses and Stitching Stories: Blind and Visually Impaired People Designing E-textiles
We describe our experience of working with blind and visually impaired people to create interactive art objects that are personal to them, through a participatory making process using electronic textiles (e-textiles) and hands-on crafting techniques. The research addresses both the practical considerations about how to structure hands-on making workshops in a way which is accessible to participants of varying experience and abilities, and how effective the approach was in enabling participants to tell their own stories and feel in control of the design and making process. The results of our analysis is the offering of insights in how to run e-textile making sessions in such a way for them to be more accessible and inclusive to a wider community of participants
Exploring the Front Touch Interface for Virtual Reality Headsets
In this paper, we propose a new interface for virtual reality headset: a
touchpad in front of the headset. To demonstrate the feasibility of the front
touch interface, we built a prototype device, explored VR UI design space
expansion, and performed various user studies. We started with preliminary
tests to see how intuitively and accurately people can interact with the front
touchpad. Then, we further experimented various user interfaces such as a
binary selection, a typical menu layout, and a keyboard. Two-Finger and
Drag-n-Tap were also explored to find the appropriate selection technique. As a
low-cost, light-weight, and in low power budget technology, a touch sensor can
make an ideal interface for mobile headset. Also, front touch area can be large
enough to allow wide range of interaction types such as multi-finger
interactions. With this novel front touch interface, we paved a way to new
virtual reality interaction methods
Stressing the Boundaries of Mobile Accessibility
Mobile devices gather the communication capabilities as no other gadget.
Plus, they now comprise a wider set of applications while still maintaining
reduced size and weight. They have started to include accessibility features
that enable the inclusion of disabled people. However, these inclusive efforts
still fall short considering the possibilities of such devices. This is mainly
due to the lack of interoperability and extensibility of current mobile
operating systems (OS). In this paper, we present a case study of a
multi-impaired person where access to basic mobile applications was provided in
an applicational basis. We outline the main flaws in current mobile OS and
suggest how these could further empower developers to provide accessibility
components. These could then be compounded to provide system-wide inclusion to
a wider range of (multi)-impairments.Comment: 3 pages, two figures, ACM CHI 2013 Mobile Accessibility Worksho
- …