IS101Y/CMSC101

1. IS101Y/CMSC101 Dr. Ravi Kuber Importance of Accessibility rkuber@umbc.edu

2. 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

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

4. Question Why should we take into account the needs of disabled communities when developing systems?

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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.html

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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 CHI’03.

15. Research to Support Physical Disabilities • Alternative entry devices

16. 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),

17. 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

18. Research to Support Speech and Language Disorders • VR has been used • Aphasia (to name common items in the house)

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

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

23. Biggest Challenges • Design for an aging population

24. Biggest Challenges • Supporting disabled kids in the classroom • Facilitating collaboration between disabled and non-disabled individuals

25. Practical Challenges • Obtaining participants • Communication

26. 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 26

27. 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) 27

28. 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@umbc.edu). 28