MS patients’ reports of their cognitive functioning: neuropsychological test performance and influence of depression

Background: Cognitive impairment is a leading cause of disability for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. Assessing cognitive impairment on a routine basis can be difficult and there is often a reliance on patients’ own reports of their cognition. Objective: To compare MS patients’ reports of their cognitive functioning with their performance on neuropsychological tests and consider the role of depression. A secondary aim was to expand the subjective cognitive measure, The Perceived Deficits Questionnaire (PDQ), to include questions about processing speed and language. This formed the extended PDQ (PDQ-E), and aimed to provide patients with a broader subjective measure to report their cognitive functioning. Method: 82 MS patients completed a battery of neuropsychological tests to determine cognitive functioning. The PDQ and PDQ-E assessed patients’ subjective cognitive reports, and the Beck Depression Inventory-Fast Screen (BDI-FS) measured levels of depression. Results: A significant difference in PDQ scores was found between patients who were cognitively impaired and unimpaired on neuropsychological tests. A significant relationship between patients’ PDQ score and two specific neuropsychological tests (the Stroop and Digit Span) was also found. Depression highly correlated with PDQ scores, but the effect of neuropsychological test performance on PDQ scores was not significantly different for patients who were depressed and not depressed. Expanding the PDQ did not affect what patients reported, as analyses using the PDQ and PDQ-E were comparable. Subjective processing speed questions added to the PDQ (forming PDQ-E) did however appear relevant to patients’ concerns. Conclusion: Patients’ reports reflect their performance on neuropsychological tests, but correlate more strongly with depression. Services relying on patients subjective cognitive reports should consider depressive symptoms when determining future intervention, as depressed patients are more likely to report problems with their cognition

Developing Accessible Services:Understanding Current Knowledge and Areas for Future Support

When creating digital artefacts, it is important to ensure that the product being made is accessible to as much of the population as is possible. Many guidelines and supporting tools exist to assist reaching this goal. However, little is known about developers’ understanding of accessible practice and the methods that are used to implement this.We present findings from an accessibility design workshop that was carried out with a mixture of 197 developers and digital technology students. We discuss perceptions of accessibility, techniques that are used when designing accessible products, and what areas of accessibility development participants believed were important. We show that there are gaps in the knowledge needed to develop accessible products despite the effort to promote accessible design. Our participants are themselves aware of where these gaps are and have suggested a number of areas where tools, techniques and guidance would improve their practice

How do we speak about algorithms and algorithmic media futures? Using vignettes and scenarios in a citizen council on data-driven media personalisation

‘New’ media and algorithmic rules underlying many emerging technologies present particular challenges in fieldwork, because the opacity of their design, and, sometimes, their real or perceived status as ‘not quite here yet’ – makes speaking about these challenging in the field. In this article, we use insights from a three-stage citizens council investigating citizens’ views on developments in data-driven media personalisation to reflect on the potentials of using future-orientated vignettes and scenarios in data collection on user experiences, expectations and the ethics of algorithms. We present the possibilities and potentials of using vignettes as part of a data collection approach in user-centric algorithm studies which invites users’ contextual experiences of algorithms but also enables more normative reflections on what good looks like in contemporary datafied societies

How do we speak about algorithms and algorithmic media futures? Using vignettes and scenarios in a citizen council on data-driven media personalisation

‘New’ media and algorithmic rules underlying many emerging technologies present particular challenges in fieldwork, because the opacity of their design, and, sometimes, their real or perceived status as ‘not quite here yet’ – makes speaking about these challenging in the field. In this article, we use insights from a three-stage citizens council investigating citizens’ views on developments in data-driven media personalisation to reflect on the potentials of using future-orientated vignettes and scenarios in data collection on user experiences, expectations and the ethics of algorithms. We present the possibilities and potentials of using vignettes as part of a data collection approach in user-centric algorithm studies which invites users’ contextual experiences of algorithms but also enables more normative reflections on what good looks like in contemporary datafied societies

Approaching public perceptions of datafication through the lens of inequality: a case study in public service media

In the emerging field of critical data studies, there is increasing acknowledgement that the negative effects of datafication are not experienced equally by all. Research on data and discrimination in particular has highlighted how already socially unequal populations are discriminated against in data-driven systems. Elsewhere, there is growing interest in public perceptions of datafication, amongst academic researchers interested in producing ‘bottom up’ understandings of the new roles of data in society and non-academic stakeholders keen to establish positive perceptions of data-driven systems. However, research into public perceptions rarely engages with the issue of inequality which is so central in data and discrimination scholarship. Bringing these two issues together, this paper explores public perceptions of datafication through the lens of inequality, focusing on the relationship between understandings and feelings within these perceptions. The paper draws on empirical focus group research into how audiences perceive the data practices that signing in to access BBC digital services enable. The paper shows how inequalities relating to age, dis/ability, poverty and their intersections played a role in shaping perceptions and that these social inequalities informed understandings of and feelings about data practices in complex and diverse ways. It concludes with reflections on the significance of these findings for future research and for data-related policy

The development of a framework for understanding the UX of subtitles

Approximately 10% of the television audience use subtitles (captioning) to support their viewing experience. Subtitles enable viewers to participate in an experience that is often taken for granted by the general audience. However, when reviewing subtitle literature, it is uncommon to find work that examines the user experience of subtitle users. This paper presents work on the development of a framework analysing the user experience of watching subtitled content. The framework is introduced, its usage discussed, and the overall framework is then reflected on