IS101Y/CMSC101

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IS101Y/CMSC101

• Dr. Ravi Kuber
• Importance of Accessibility
• rkuber_at_umbc.edu

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Universal Usability

• Universal usability refers to design of
  information and communications products and
  services that are both accessible and usable by
  all
• Ideally, this should come at no additional cost
  to the user
• Relates to the disabled community

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Disabilities

• Visible disabilities
• Blind
• Deaf hard of hearing
• Physical disabilities
• Invisible disabilities
• Color blindness
• Learning disabilities
• Speech or language disabilities

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Question

• Why should we take into account the needs of
  disabled communities when developing systems?

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Why accessibility is important?

• We are good people and want everyone to benefit
  from our systems, at no additional expense
• We want to enable everyone to do tasks
  independently, with minimal reliance on others

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Why accessibility is important?

• Statistics for unemployment among disabled groups
• 17.8 of individuals with disabilities were
  employed in 2012
• 63.9 of people without a disability were
  employed in 2012
• Source Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012

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Why accessibility is important?

• Legislation
• Section 508
• Designed to eliminate barriers to technology
• Federal web sites need to be accessible to people
  of all abilities
• Law suits filed
• Target (2009)
• More recently Penn State University

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So what can I do?

• Careers in accessibility consultancy
• Examine web sites or applications within
  organizations
• Identify the barriers faced by disabled users
• Try to rectify these through redesign using
  Section 508 guidelines
• Extensively test systems with disabled users

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So what can I do?

• Careers in research
• Examine the challenges affecting disabled groups
• Build new technologies to support them
• Keep the user at the center of the design process

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Research to Support Blind Users

• Assistive camera technology (Jayant et al., 2011)
• PortraitFramer (Android)
• Number of faces detected voiced by mobile app
• Vibrations presented to help user identify
  position of faces

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Research to Support Blind Users

• Money detector
• UMCP developed system where cell phone takes
  pictures of bills
• Presents them in speech format
• More information at http//src.acm.org/liu/liu.ht
  ml

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Research to Support Blind Users

• Color Detectors
• Color Teller (Brytech www.brytech.com)
• Handheld device detects colors, tints and shades
• Color is spoken out to user
• Can also tell you if lights are on in room or not

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Research to Support Blind Users

• Games include RockBand, GuitarHero Check out
  the ASSETS Conference for more papers

Folmer, E. (2011) Human Computer Interaction of
Video Games Game Accessibility
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Research to Support Physical Disabilities

• Can help with guidance to hyperlinks or various
  items within a document
• For users with tremor, spasm, muscle weakness,
  partial paralysis, or poor

Hwang et al. (2003) Multiple Haptic Targets for
Motion-Impaired Users. Proceedings of CHI03.
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Research to Support Physical Disabilities

• Alternative entry devices

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Research to Support Cognitive Disabilities

• Carelli et al. (2011)
• Study conducted to understand route planning by
  older adults
• Virtual Reality mazes created

Carelli L., Rusconi M.L., Scarabelli C.,
Stampatori C., Mattioli F., Riva G. The transfer
from survey (map-like) to route representations
into Virtual Reality Mazes effect of age and
cerebral lesion Journal of NeuroEngineering and
Rehabilitation, (2011),
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Research to Support Behavioral Disorders

• Lanyi et al. 2006
• Virtual classroom developed
• Aim is to improve confidence in virtual school
  environment to transfer to real school
• Public speakingWorking with others

Lanyi et al. (2006) Virtual Reality in Special
Needs Early Education. International Journal of
Virtual Reality, 2006, 5(4)55-68
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Research to Support Speech and Language Disorders

• VR has been used
• Aphasia (to name common items in the house)

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Research to Support Rehabilitation

• Motek - http//www.motekmedical.com
• Users can interact with virtual worlds
• Improve physical and cognitive abilities
• Treatment for head injury, stroke, multiple
  sclerosis, motor neuron disease, cerebral palsy
  and muscular dystrophy
• Game (below) requires user to steer the dragon
  around an environment, testing orientation skills

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Research to Support Rehabilitation

• Motek - http//www.motekmedical.com
• Patient mimics posture of an avatar to balance on
  the boat
• Waves are presented, so participant should stay
  in control

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Research to Support Rehabilitation

• Simone Concepts simoneconcepts.com
• Retraining users with TBIs to drive again
• Simulation presented
• Distracting tasks given
• Checking participants behavior over time

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Biggest Challenges

• Accessibility is not always prioritized
• How to use low-cost technologies
• Designing for multiple disabilities

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Biggest Challenges

• Design for an aging population

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Biggest Challenges

• Supporting disabled kids in the classroom
• Facilitating collaboration between disabled and
  non-disabled individuals

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Practical Challenges

• Obtaining participants
• Communication

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What can I do?

• Take IS303 for a stronger background in
  Human-Centered Computing
• Look at the proceedings of the ASSETS conference
  (http//assets13.sigaccess.org/)
• Think about getting involved in research at UMBC
• Volunteer to participate in research studies
• Work with faculty on projects
• URA

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Recruiting an undergraduate student for two
semesters

• Project looking at intellectual disabilities
• Student needed to
• Review technologies developed
• Develop a simple mobile application
• Test this with target population
• Can be registered as an independent study
  (IS400/469)

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Recruiting an undergraduate student for two
semesters

• Requirements
• Programming knowledge (IS147/CMSC201 is fine)
• Mobile development experience is good, but not
  essential
• Able to analyze data and write-up findings
• Student must be within first four semesters at
  UMBC
• If interested, please contact Dr. Kuber
  (rkuber_at_umbc.edu).

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