Ethics and Design in the Brazilian Context

Often driven by practical and immediate requirements, more and more people are incorporating technology into a variety of aspects of their lives, often without reflecting on the consequences of using them. On the other hand, studies on interactive system development that lead to behavioral change have been gaining ground on the agenda of large HCI conferences. This movement brings to the forefront the fundamental issues of ethics in design and technology use. A designer’s intentions, when directing certain actions or behaviors, are not always explicit or desired by the stakeholders affected by the use of the technology. Systems that induce an undesired purchase, or even those that use conditioning strategies to cause a behavioral change are examples of such intentions. The challenge proposed is therefore about the relationship between design and personal freedom in a way that these technology users do not become victims, either passively or submissively, of the effects of its use. This advance allows for the redefinition of the relationship between man and technology, and the application of new forms of designing and developing interactive systems that take into account the ethical aspects of this relationship

Internet Architecture and Disability

The Internet is essential for education, employment, information, and cultural and democratic participation. For tens of millions of people with disabilities in the United States, barriers to accessing the Internet—including the visual presentation of information to people who are blind or visually impaired, the aural presentation of information to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and the persistence of Internet technology, interfaces, and content without regard to prohibitive cognitive load for people with cognitive and intellectual disabilities—collectively pose one of the most significant civil rights issues of the information age. Yet disability law lacks a comprehensive theoretical approach for fully facilitating Internet accessibility. The prevailing doctrinal approach to Internet accessibility seeks to treat websites as metaphorical “places” subject to Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires places of public accommodations to be accessible to people with disabilities. While this place-centric approach to Title III has succeeded to a significant degree in making websites accessible over the last two decades, large swaths of the Internet—more broadly construed to include Internet technologies beyond websites—remain inaccessible to millions of people with a variety of disabilities. As limitations of a place-based approach to Title III become clearer, a new framework for disability law is needed in an increasingly intermediated Internet. Leveraging the Internet-law literature on perspectives, this article recognizes the place-centric approach to Title III as normatively and doctrinally “internal,” in the terminology of Internet-law scholars. It offers a framework for supplementing this internal approach with an external approach that contemplates the layered architecture of the Internet, including its constituent content, web and non-web applications, access networks operated by Internet service providers, and devices and the role of disability and other bodies of law, particularly including telecommunications law and attendant policy issues, such as net neutrality, in making them accessible

Internet Architecture and Disability

The Internet is essential for education, employment, information, and cultural and democratic participation. For tens of millions of people with disabilities in the United States, barriers to accessing the Internet—including the visual presentation of information to people who are blind or visually impaired, the aural presentation of information to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and the persistence of Internet technology, interfaces, and content without regard to prohibitive cognitive load for people with cognitive and intellectual disabilities—collectively pose one of the most significant civil rights issues of the information age. Yet disability law lacks a comprehensive theoretical approach for fully facilitating Internet accessibility. The prevailing doctrinal approach to Internet accessibility seeks to treat websites as metaphorical “places” subject to Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires places of public accommodations to be accessible to people with disabilities. While this place-centric approach to Title III has succeeded to a significant degree in making websites accessible over the last two decades, large swaths of the Internet—more broadly construed to include Internet technologies beyond websites—remain inaccessible to millions of people with a variety of disabilities. As limitations of a place-based approach to Title III become clearer, a new framework for disability law is needed in an increasingly intermediated Internet. Leveraging the Internet-law literature on perspectives, this article recognizes the place-centric approach to Title III as normatively and doctrinally “internal,” in the terminology of Internet-law scholars. It offers a framework for supplementing this internal approach with an external approach that contemplates the layered architecture of the Internet, including its constituent content, web and non-web applications, access networks operated by Internet service providers, and devices and the role of disability and other bodies of law, particularly including telecommunications law and attendant policy issues, such as net neutrality, in making them accessible

Translating Scientific Content into Accessible Formats with Visually Impaired Learners: Recommendations and a Decision Aid Based on Haptic Rules of Perception

Students with visual impairments (VI) miss out on science because of inaccessible visual graphics (such as pictures and diagrams) of the phenomena that are the focus of curricula. My project examines how efforts to translate these into non-visual representations, such as raised line graphics, tend to be less effective than expected because they are perceived using “rules” of haptic perception by VI learners but developed using “rules”' of visual perception by sighted designers. In response, I introduce my recommendations, in the form of a decision aid, informed by a series of interlinked concatenated studies consisting of user testing, workshops, and co-design sessions composed of multi-disciplinary teams that included VI educators, learners, inclusive designers, musicians, and domain experts from engineering and the cognitive neuroscience

Dostępność strony internetowej Wydziału Filologicznego Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego w świetle badań własnych

Tematyka dostępności stron internetowych cieszy się coraz większą popularnością wśród specjalistów w dziedzinie produktów cyfrowych. Na przestrzeni lat świadomość społeczna dotycząca potrzeb osób zmagających się z niepełnosprawnościami i innymi utrudnieniami znacznie wzrosła, co przekłada się na chęć tworzenia rozwiązań odpowiadających tymże potrzebom. Celem artykułu było zbadanie stopnia dostępności cyfrowej strony internetowej Wydziału Filologicznego Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego. Posłużono się metodą techniczną. Przeprowadzone badania wykazały, że analizowana strona jest dostępna cyfrowo w średnim stopniu. Pomimo spełniania wielu podstawowych kryteriów, brakuje na niej wielu ważnych rozwiązań ułatwiających korzystanie osobom z niepełnosprawnościami oraz seniorom

Tiny robots in our pockets: a critical exploration of podcasts

Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2015This project is an exploration of the audio platform of podcasting. It is in three parts. The first part is an initial introduction to the medium of podcasting and an introduction to a critical theory of media studies in regard to popular culture. The second part is an exploration of the educational and academic applications of podcasting as well as an examination of aural learning as an important cultural mode of discourse. There are pedagogical implications and examples of utilizing both popular culture and podcasting in the classroom. The third part is a critical examination of selected podcasts that feature discussions of popular culture and how those discussions fit into the critical modes, genres and discourses outlined in the first two parts of this project. This discussion focuses mostly on the critical examination of science fiction films in podcasting. There is a conclusion that wraps up the main ideas and critical theories discussed in the project as well as an epilogue that addresses concerns raised at the defense of this project regarding pedagogy and accessibility. This is the transcript of this project. The actual thesis artifact is a series of three podcasts that are available through the University of Alaska Fairbanks Graduate School Archive and through the website SoundCloud. (https://soundcloud.com/quinn-dreasler/sets/quinns-thesis

Proceedings of the International Workshop “Re-Thinking Technology in Museums: towards a new understanding of people’s experience in museums"

Proceedings of the International Workshop “Re-Thinking Technology in Museums: towards a new understanding of people’s experience in museums

Principles of Human Computer Interaction Design: HCI Design

This book covers the design, evaluation and development process for interactive human computer interfaces including user interface design principles, task analysis, interface design methods, auditory interfaces, haptics, user interface evaluation, usability testing prototyping, issues in interface construction, interface evaluation, World Wide Web and mobile device interface issues.The book is ideal for the student that wants to learn how to use prototyping tools as part of the interface design and how to evaluate an interface and its interaction quality by using usability testing techniques