Universal Access in the Information Society: Achievements, Challenges and Promises

1
Universal Access in the Information Society
Achievements, Challenges and Promises

• Constantine Stephanidis
• Institute of Computer Science Foundation for
  Research and Technology-HellasHeraklion, Crete,
  Greecee-mail cs_at_ics.forth.gr
• Department of Computer ScienceUniversity of
  Crete

2
Overview

• Universal Access in the Information Society
• User Interfaces for All
• Policy initiatives, standardisation, legislation
• A roadmap towards an Information Society for All
• Conclusions

3
The Information Society
FUSION
4
Towards an Information Society
Programming techniques
AI Techniques
i 3
Direct Manipulation
Multimodal Interface
Keyboard
Commands
Metaphor (GUI)
Hypermedia
Software Architecture
Intuitive Information Processing
Hardware Architecture
Fast Computation
Productivity Enhancement
Support for Social activities
Scientists tool
Tool for Business work
Tool for access in the IS
Specialists
Business Users
Personal users
60s-70s
80s - 90s
90s - 21 century
5
Technological paradigm shift

• Characteristics of a changing paradigm
• interaction-intensive
• collaboration intensive
• group-centred
• distributed (across the Global Internet)

50s-60s
70s-80s
80s-90s
21st century
Calculation-based in scientific applications
Data-based / forms processing for
business applications
Personal productivity tools in business applicatio
ns
Group-centred and communication- centred
computing / interaction intensive
6
Critical trends
People become more and more dependent on computer
technology
Users are not necessarily computer experts (as
opposed to users of previous generations of
computers)
Computers penetrate all life situations
(work, entertainment, education)
There is a need for systems for all, access for
all and high interaction quality
Computer applications and services provide an
ever increasing functionality and complexity for
everyday tasks
Computer users have diverse abilities, skills,
requirements and preferences
7
Challenges in the Information Society

• The Information Society has the potential to
  improve the quality of life of citizens, the
  efficiency of our social and economic
  organisation and to reinforce cohesion.
• But also,
• May lead to the creation of a two-tier society of
  have and have-nots, in which only a part of
  the population has access to the new technology,
  is comfortable using it and can fully enjoy the
  benefits.
• There is a danger that ordinary citizens may
  reject the new information culture and its
  instruments.

8
Acceptability of Information Society Technologies

• Acceptability of the emerging Information Society
  by all citizens ultimately depends on the
  accessibility and usability of the associated
  technologies.
• Therefore, it is important
• to develop high quality user interfaces,
  accessible and usable by a diverse user
  population with different abilities, skills,
  requirements and preferences,
• in a variety of contexts of use, and through a
  variety of interaction technologies.

9
Users and context of use
10
Interaction platforms beyond the desktop

• shift towards non-desktop support systems
• mobile and wearable devices
• information and communication support
• essential system characteristics
• intuitive, multi-modal interaction
• tailorability / self-adaptation
• intelligence
• reliability and robustness

11
Universal Access

• Universal Access concerns the right of all
  citizens to obtain and maintain access to a
  society-wide pool of information resources and
  interpersonal communication facilities, given the
  varieties of context of use.
• To this end, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has
  a critical and catalytic role to play.

12
Universal Design (or Design for All )

• Universal Design in the Information Society is
• the conscious and systematic effort to
  proactively apply principles and methods, and
  employ appropriate tools,
• in order to develop ITT products and services
  which are accessible and usable by all citizens,
• thus avoiding the need for a posteriori
  adaptations, or specialised design.

13
Universal Design levels of concern
Design for All
PC
TV
Mobile phones
User Interface Level
Kiosks
Communication protocols
Telecommunications Infrastructure
Bandwidth
Satellite links
Web
Application Domain Services Level
Work
Education
Social
Healthcare
Entertainment
Accommodating Diversity
14
Universal Design in HCI

• Recognises, respects, values and attempts to
  accommodate the broadest possible range of human
  abilities, requirements and preferences
• Eliminates the need for special features and
  fosters individualisation and end-user
  acceptability
• Fosters a pro-active strategy, postulating that
  accessibility and quality of interaction need to
  be embedded into a product at design time

15
Introducing the concept of UI4All
UI4ALL User Interfaces for All
Meet Individual Requirements, Abilities
Preferences
Citizens in the Information Society
Universal Access
User Interface Accessibility
U2I
HCI
Design for All
anybody
anytime
anywhere
Quality of Interaction
16
User Interfaces for All (1/2)

• The concept of User Interfaces for All was
  introduced in 1995 as a new perspective into HCI
• It provides a principled and systematic approach
  towards proactively coping with diversity in the
  user population, the nature of work, the contexts
  of use and the user access media by providing
  appropriate (multiple) solutions tailored to the
  individual user needs and context of use
• It is not a single solution for everybody!

17
User Interfaces for All (2/2)

• Diversity concerns
• users
• with different cultural, educational, training
  and employment background
• novice and experienced
• very young and elderly
• with different types of disabilities
• using different interaction platforms
• in different contexts and scenarios of use

18
Shortcomings in the current generation of UIST
(1/2)

• Assumptions about the end-user of an interactive
  application
• Able-bodied
• Possessing immediate access to the computer
• Narrow context of use
• Predetermined usage patterns
• Assumptions about target platforms
• Visual embodiment of the desktop
• Limited interaction styles

19
Shortcomings in the current generation of UIST
(2/2)

• User interface development remains a
  programming-intensive as opposed to
  design-intensive task
• Single-artefact orientation as opposed to
  polymorphic design

20
The case of people with disabilities

• Traditionally under-served by technological
  developments
• Early accessibility efforts were largely based on
  a reactive approach
• Post-development modifications
• Ad-hoc adaptations
• No possibility for generalisation, or
  reusability
• High costs in terms of development

21
Accessibility approaches

• Reactive approach
• aims to adapt products so as to build the
  required accessibility features
• Assistive Technology solutions address problems
  introduced by a previous generation of technology
• Proactive approach
• aims to proactively account for accessibility by
  taking appropriate actions during the early
  phases of a product's life cycle
• Active Accessibility initiative (by Microsoft)
• JavaTM Accessibility (by Sun)
• Unified User Interface development platform (EC
  ACCESS consortium)

22
Attaining User Interfaces for All

• The concept of Unified User Interfaces was
  introduced in 1995
• Unified User Interface Development Method
• a new user interface development process
• Unified User Interface Architecture
• a new architectural framework for engineering
  self-adapting user interfaces
• Unified User Interface Development Environment
• a new set of tools supporting the user interface
  development life-cycle (requirements capture,
  design, implementation, evaluation)

23
The concept of a Unified User Interface
U2I
User context Information
adaptation process
User
Accessibility High Quality of Interaction

• A unified interface comprises a single (i.e.
  unified) interface implementation, encompassing
  alternative interactive behaviours and
  sub-dialogues suitable for different user groups.

24
Unified User Interface development platform
Requirements Analysis
Polymorphic task decomposition
Design
Prototyping Implementation
Evaluation
25
Unified User Interfaces in practice the AVANTI
Web browser
26
Typical Browser Instance
27
Adaptability

• Adaptability refers to self-adaptation which is
  based on knowledge (concerning the user, the
  environment, the context of use, etc.) available
  to (or, acquired by) the system prior to the
  initiation of interaction, and which leads to
  adaptations that also precede the commencement of
  interaction.

28
Instances of Adaptability (1/4)
Feedback on operation completion (here, bookmark
addition)
Links presented as buttons
Link replication and structure overview pane
29
Instances of Adaptability (2/4)
Interaction for motor- impaired automatically
scanned window manipulation toolbar
Interaction for motor- impaired automatically
scanned HTML elements (including image-maps)
Interaction for motor- impaired all GUI
objects accessible through automatic scanning
30
Instances of Adaptability (3/4)
Interaction for motor- impaired
on-screen keyboard for text input
Interaction for motor- impaired keyboard layouts
that speed up interaction (e.g. by following
letter- frequency criteria)
31
Instances of Adaptability (4/4)
Adapting to the context of use kiosk mode
operation
32
Adaptivity

• Adaptivity refers to self-adaptation which is
  based on knowledge (concerning the user, the
  environment, the context of use, etc.) that is
  acquired and / or maintained by the system during
  interactive sessions (e.g., through monitoring
  techniques), and which leads to adaptations that
  take place while the user is interacting with the
  system.

33
Instances of Adaptivity (1/3)
The interfaces response to the detection of the
fact that the user seems incapable to complete
the task of selecting a link from the Link Bar
34
Instances of Adaptivity (2/3)
A simple dialog from which the user selects and
loads previously visited documents...
35
Instances of Adaptivity (3/3)
... gets converted to the same dialogue with
integrated guidance, if the user seems to be
unable to comprehend its use.
36
Comparing traditional and unified interface design
Design aspect Traditional development paradigm Unified User Interface development
Focus Single artifact that fits all Analytical insights to populate design spaces
Outcome Single object hierarchy Polymorphic task hierarchy
Process Top down or bottom up Middle out
Scope of design representation Implicitly bound to the object hierarchy Bound to rationalized design spaces explicit in the run-time behavior
37
Comparing traditional and unified interface
development
Development aspect Traditional development paradigm Unified User Interface development
Implementation model Programming as the basis for generating the user interface implementation Generation from specifications
Premise of run-time code Making direct calls to a platform Linking to the platform
Platform utilisation Multi-platform environments Multiple toolkit environment
Platform independence Generalisation across platform properties Platform abstraction mechanism
38
User Interfaces for All -Concepts, Methods, and
Tools

• Published by LEA (2001)
• hardbound, 760 pages, 30 chapters
• a comprehensive overview of the state of the art
  in the field, including
• contributions from a variety of theoretical and
  applied disciplines
• research, development and policy efforts
  worldwide
• a detailed account of, and rationale for, the
  Unified User Interface Development methodology
  and tool platform
• open and future research issues

http//www.erlbaum.com/Books/searchintro/BookDetai
lscvr.cfm?ISBN0-8058-2967-9
39
Impediments to Universal Design

• Current status of the mainstream industry
• Assistive Technology prevalent practice
• Attitude of consumers

40
What is still needed?

• Additional RD to facilitate a sound research
  base for Design for All in the Information
  Society
• Support measures which ensure diffusion and
  adoption
• International collaboration to facilitate
• knowledge exchange
• experience sharing

41
Policy options

• Three main policy options
• Standardisation
• Legislation
• Collaborative RD
• It is likely that none of the above by itself is
  sufficient to ensure the desirable results

42
Analytical criteria

• Each option will need to be analysed in terms of
• target objective
• pre-requisites
• potential shortcomings
• the role of non-market institutions

43
Standardisation (1/2)

• Target
• consolidation of knowledge
• guidance
• Pre-requisites
• solid RD base
• timely intervention

44
Standardisation (2/2)

• Shortcomings
• lock on effect
• appropriate recommendations
• user involvement
• industrial participation
• not possible in highly competitive industries
• Role of non-market institutions
• funding standardisation activities
• dissemination of knowledge

45
International standards

• ISO SC4 WG5
• ISO TS 16071 (Draft) in press
• W3C-WAI guidelines (de facto standard)

46
HCI Standardisation

• Introduction of a new work item within ISO 9241
  TC 159 / WG 5 / SC 4 (Software Ergonomics)
  pertaining to the issue of accessibility of
  interactive applications and telematic services
  by user groups with different abilities and
  requirements (e.g., people with disabilities)

47
US National Standards

• Electronic and Information Technology
  Accessibility Standards, Final Rule, under
  Section 508 of Rehabilitation Act Amendments of
  1998
• ANSI/HFES 200 (Accessibility)

48
EU member states standardisation initiatives

• Nordic Initiative on Standards for Disabled and
  Elderly people (NORDICT)
• Health Informatics Computer Applications for
  People with disabilities Accessibility
  requirements for Computer platforms, (AENOR,
  Spain)

49
European Union Standards

• ICTSB Project
• No standards on Design for all
• Identification of future standardisation needs
  for ICT
• CEN/TC 293 Technical aids for disabled persons

50
W3C-WAI

• Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), in
  coordination with organizations around the world,
  pursues accessibility of the Web through five
  primary areas of work
• technology,
• guidelines,
• tools,
• education and outreach,and
• research and development.
• http//www.w3.org/WAI/

51
Legislation (1/2)

• Target
• reinforcement
• Pre-requisites
• demand already articulated
• commitment

52
Legislation (2/2)

• Potential shortcomings
• difficult due to industry opposition and tendency
  to by-pass
• lack of user demand
• lack of awareness
• Role of non-market institutions
• initiate
• sustain
• monitor

53
Legislation North America

• USA
• Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (section 504)
• Americans with Disability Act (1990)
• Telecommunications Act of 1996 (section 255)
• Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 (section
  508)
• Canada
• Canadian Human Rights Act of 1977
• Universal Access Project
• (http//www.fis.utoronto.ca/research/iprp/ua/)

54
Legislation - Australia

• Disability Discrimination Act 1992
• http//www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act
  /dda1992264/
• New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Act 1997
• http//www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act
  /aa1977204/

55
Legislation - Europe

• United Kingdom
• Disability Discrimination Act of 1995
• Portugal
• Report and Resolution by the Parliament of
  Portugal regarding Web Accessibility
• http//www.acessibilidade.net/petition/parliament
  _report.html
• Scandinavia
• Legislation of the Nordic countries

56
Collaborative RD (1/3)

• Target
• establish common RD agenda
• provide a solid basis of RD results
• promote cohesion
• Pre-requisites
• cross-industry focus
• reciprocal investments
• willingness and commitment
• favourable conditions for transfer

57
Collaborative RD (2/3)

• Potential shortcomings
• it does not guarantee exploitation
• technology must be emerging
• special conditions of sources and recipients

58
Collaborative RD (3/3)

• Role of non-market institutions
• funding of RD work
• facilitating collaboration
• offering guidance
• undertaking technological forecasting
• provision of incentives
• establishing favourable conditions

59
Information Society Technologies Programme (IST)

• Creating a User Friendly Information Society
• European Union's Fifth RTD Framework Programme
  (1998-2002)
• Integrated research programme that builds on the
  convergence of information processing,
  communications and media technologies
• IST has an indicative budget of 3.6 billion Euro,
  and is managed by the Information Society DG of
  the European Commission

60
NSF-funded projects on Universal Access

• http//www.interact.nsf.gov/cise/html.nsf/html/acc
  ess?OpenDocument
• a number of projects have been funded by NSF
  under the call multi-year research focus on
  Universal Access beginning in 1999, conducted
  jointly by the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
  and the Knowledge and Cognitive Systems (KCS)
  Programs within the Information and Intelligent
  Systems Division

61
ISF Information Society for AlL 1997 - 2000 (1/2)

• First step towards the establishment of a
  favourable environment for the creation of an
  Information Society accessible and acceptable by
  all citizens
• network for collaboration and exchange
• 1st meeting and workshop, San Francisco, USA,
  August 29, 1997
• 2nd meeting and workshop, Crete, Greece, June
  15-16, 1998
• 3rd meeting and workshop, Munich, Germany,
  August 22-23, 1999

62
ISF Information Society for All 1997 - 2000 (2/2)

• White Papers
• Toward an Information Society for All An
  International RD Agenda by Stephanidis C. (Ed.),
  Salvendy, G., Akoumianakis, D., Bevan, N.,
  Brewer, J., Emiliani, P.L., Galetsas, A.,
  Haataja, S., Iakovidis, I., Jacko, J., Jenkins,
  P., Karshmer, A., Korn, P., Marcus, A., Murphy,
  H., Stary, C., Vanderheiden, G., Weber, G.,
  Ziegler, J. (1998). In International Journal of
  Human-Computer Interaction, 10 (2), 107-134.
• http//www.ics.forth.gr/proj/at-hci/files/white_p
  aper_1998.pdf
• Toward an Information Society for All HCI
  challenges and RD recommendations by
  Stephanidis, C. (Ed.), Salvendy, G.,
  Akoumianakis, D., Arnold, A., Bevan, N.,
  Dardailler, D., Emiliani, P.L., Iakovidis, I.,
  Jenkins, P., Karshmer, A., Korn, P., Marcus, A.,
  Murphy, H., Oppermann, C., Stary, C., Tamura, H.,
  Tscheligi, M., Ueda, H., Weber, G., Ziegler, J.
  (1999). In International Journal of
  Human-Computer Interaction, 11 (1), 1-28.
• http//www.ics.forth.gr/proj/at-hci/files/white_p
  aper_1999.pdf

63
RD agenda

• 1st White Paper
• Design Process, Methods Tools
• User-oriented challenges
• Input / Output Technology
• User interface architectures
• 2nd White Paper
• Promote the development of environments of use
• Support communities of users
• Extend user centred design to support new
  virtualities
• Accompanying measures

64
Accompanying measures

• Articulating demand for Design for All and
  Universal Access
• Supporting the industry
• Awareness knowledge dissemination
• Technology transfer

65
eEurope An Information Society for All

• EC President Prodi launches eEurope Initiative
  to accelerate Europes transformation into an
  Information Society (press release IP/99/953)
• expected positive impact on employment, growth,
  productivity and social cohesion
• Key objectives
• Bringing every citizen, home, school, business
  and administration on-line
• Creating a digitally literate and entrepreneurial
  Europe
• Ensuring a socially inclusive Information Society

66
From eEurope to eEurope 2002

• eParticipation for the disabled
• eEurope Initiative 1999
• eParticipation for the people with disabilities
• including the elderly and other sectors of the
  population with specific needs
• Progress report for the Special European Council
  Lisbon, 23 and 24 March 2000
• Participation for all in the knowledge-based
  economy
• extended to include access for all disadvantaged
  groups
• eEurope 2002 Draft Action Plan for the European
  Council in Feira 19 and 20 June 2000

67
eEurope 2002 - 11 Priority areas

• A cheaper, faster and secure Internet
• cheaper and faster Internet access
• faster Internet for researchers and students
• secure networks and smart cards
• Investing in people and skills
• European youth into the digital age
• working in the knowledge-based economy
• participation for all in the knowledge-based
  economy
• Stimulate the use of the Internet
• accelerating e-commerce
• government online electronic access to public
  services
• health online
• digital content for global networks
• intelligent transport systems

68
ERCIM Working Group User Interfaces for All,
1995-present

• Aims at planning a path that will bring together
  researchers and teams working in the different
  ERCIM organisations (but also organisations
  beyond ERCIM or the European boundaries), who
• share common interests and aspirations
• would like to contribute to the endeavours
  towards making the emerging Information Society
  equally accessible to all

69
IS4ALL Thematic Network (1/3)

• IST-1999-14101 Programme - IS4ALL, Information
  Society for All (2000 - 2003).
• A three-year IST-funded project which seeks to
  establish on a formal basis a wide,
  interdisciplinary and closely collaborating
  network of experts (Working Group) to provide
  the European Health Telematics industry with a
  comprehensive information package detailing how
  to appropriate the benefits of universal design
• Started 1st of October 2000

70
IS4ALL Thematic Network (2/3)

• Projects focus
• Universal access as a quality attribute with
  functional and non-functional implications
• content organisation and management (in so far as
  it impacts on interaction design)
• user interface development
• the processes involved

71
IS4ALL Thematic Network (3/3)

• Health Telematics specific results
• A process model detailing how universal access
  can be accounted for in Health Telematics
• Prototypical implementations of
  Healthcare-specific artefacts (electronic
  healthcare records) recommendations
• Universal access filters in Health Telematics
• Design rationale and examples

72
Dissemination channels (1/2)

• The 1st International Conference on "Universal
  Access In Human-Computer Interaction" (UAHCI) in
  co-operation with HCI International 2001
• August 5 - 10, 2001
• New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
• http//hcii2001.engr.wisc.edu

73
Dissemination channels (2/2)

• Springer International Journal Universal Access
  in the Information Society
• Editor-in-chief C. Stephanidis
• 1st issue spring 2001
• http//link.springer.de/journals/UAIS

74
Summary conclusions (1/2)

• A continuum of activities, including RTD and
  horizontal actions
• Increasing awareness and appreciation of the
  technical challenges
• International forums and scientific committees
• Conferences and scientific journals
• Need for additional technical work
• Application in new fields of inquiry
• e.g., Health Telematics (IS4ALL),Education
  (SEN-IST-NET)

75
Summary conclusions (2/2)

• We need ...
• Common vocabulary
• International collaboration
• Critical role of non-market institutions