27,242 research outputs found
Designing for designers: Towards the development of accessible ICT products and services using the VERITAS framework
Among key design practices which contribute to the development of inclusive ICT products and services is user testing with people with disabilities. Traditionally, this involves partial or minimal user testing through the usage of standard heuristics, employing external assisting devices, and the direct feedback of impaired users. However, efficiency could be improved if designers could readily analyse the needs of their target audience. The VERITAS framework simulates and systematically analyses how users with various impairments interact with the use of ICT products and services. Findings show that the VERITAS framework is useful to designers, offering an intuitive approach to inclusive design.The work presented in this article forms part of VERITAS, which is funded by the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme (FP7) (grant agreement # 247765 FP7-ICT-2009.7.2)
Multimodal virtual reality versus printed medium in visualization for blind people
In this paper, we describe a study comparing the strengths of a multimodal Virtual Reality (VR) interface against traditional tactile diagrams in conveying information to visually impaired and blind people. The multimodal VR interface consists of a force feedback device (SensAble PHANTOM), synthesized speech and non-speech audio. Potential advantages of the VR technology are well known however its real usability in comparison with the conventional paper-based medium is seldom investigated. We have addressed this issue in our evaluation. The experimental results show benefits from using the multimodal approach in terms of more accurate information about the graphs obtained by users
Chiminey: Reliable Computing and Data Management Platform in the Cloud
The enabling of scientific experiments that are embarrassingly parallel, long
running and data-intensive into a cloud-based execution environment is a
desirable, though complex undertaking for many researchers. The management of
such virtual environments is cumbersome and not necessarily within the core
skill set for scientists and engineers. We present here Chiminey, a software
platform that enables researchers to (i) run applications on both traditional
high-performance computing and cloud-based computing infrastructures, (ii)
handle failure during execution, (iii) curate and visualise execution outputs,
(iv) share such data with collaborators or the public, and (v) search for
publicly available data.Comment: Preprint, ICSE 201
Cloud based testing of business applications and web services
This paper deals with testing of applications based on the principles of cloud computing. It is aimed to describe options of testing business software in clouds (cloud testing). It identifies the needs for cloud testing tools including multi-layer testing; service level agreement (SLA) based testing, large scale simulation, and on-demand test environment. In a cloud-based model, ICT services are distributed and accessed over networks such as intranet or internet, which offer large data centers deliver on demand,
resources as a service, eliminating the need for investments in specific hardware, software, or on data center infrastructure. Businesses can apply those new technologies in the contest of intellectual capital management to lower the cost and increase competitiveness and also earnings. Based on comparison of the testing tools and techniques, the paper further investigates future trend of cloud based testing tools research and development. It is also important to say that this comparison and classification of testing tools describes a new area and it has not yet been done
Assessing Visualization Techniques for the Search Process in Digital Libraries
In this paper we present an overview of several visualization techniques to
support the search process in Digital Libraries (DLs). The search process
typically can be separated into three major phases: query formulation and
refinement, browsing through result lists and viewing and interacting with
documents and their properties. We discuss a selection of popular visualization
techniques that have been developed for the different phases to support the
user during the search process. Along prototypes based on the different
techniques we show how the approaches have been implemented. Although various
visualizations have been developed in prototypical systems very few of these
approaches have been adapted into today's DLs. We conclude that this is most
likely due to the fact that most systems are not evaluated intensely in
real-life scenarios with real information seekers and that results of the
interesting visualization techniques are often not comparable. We can say that
many of the assessed systems did not properly address the information need of
cur-rent users.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures, pre-print to appear in "Wissensorganisation mit
digitalen Technologien" (deGruyter
Engineering of an Extreme Rainfall Detection System using Grid Computing
This paper describes a new approach for intensive rainfall data analysis. ITHACA's Extreme Rainfall Detection System (ERDS) is conceived to provide near real-time alerts related to potential exceptional rainfalls worldwide, which can be used by WFP or other humanitarian assistance organizations to evaluate the event and understand the potentially floodable areas where their assistance is needed. This system is based on precipitation analysis and it uses rainfall data from satellite at worldwide extent. This project uses the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis dataset, a NASA-delivered near real-time product for current rainfall condition monitoring over the world. Considering the great deal of data to process, this paper presents an architectural solution based on Grid Computing techniques. Our focus is on the advantages of using a distributed architecture in terms of performances for this specific purpos
- …