Anthony Savidis

Universal Access in the Information Society: Methods, Tools, and Interaction Technologies

Abstract.Accessibility and high quality of interaction with products, applications, and services by anyone, anywhere, and at any time are fundamental requirements for universal access in the emerging Information Society. This paper discusses these requirements, and their relation to the concept of automated adaptation of user interfaces. An example application is presented, showing how adaptation can be used to accommodate the requirements of different user categories and contexts of use. This application is then used as a vehicle for discussing a new engineering paradigm appropriate for the development of adaptation-based user interfaces. Finally, the paper investigates issues concerning the interaction technologies required for universal access.

Unified user interface design: designing universally accessible interactions

Abstract Designing universally accessible user interfaces means designing for diversity in end-users and contexts of use, and implies making alternative design decisions, at various levels of the interaction design, inherently leading to diversity in the final design outcomes. Towards this end, a design method leading to the construction of a single interface design instance is inappropriate, as it cannot accommodate for diversity of the resulting dialogue artifacts. Therefore, there is a need for a systematic process in which alternative design decisions for different design parameters may be supported. The outcome of such a design process realizes a design space populated with appropriate designed dialogue patterns, along with their associated design parameters (e.g. user- and usage-context-attribute values). This paper discusses the Unified Interface Design Method , a process-oriented design method enabling the organization of diversity-based design decisions around a single hierarchical structure, and encompassing a variety of techniques such as task analysis, abstract design, design polymorphism and design rationale.

A generic direct-manipulation 3D-auditory environment for hierarchical navigation in non-visual interaction

Auditory presentation methods may significantly enhance the interaction quality during user-computer dialogue. The impact of auditory interaction methods is important in the context of non-visual interaction, where audio is the primary direct perception output modality. In a few cases, 3D-audio output techniques have been employed for providing interaction for blind users. Unfortunately, such developments have been too specialized and do not support re-usability of the implemented approaches and techniques in different contexts, where non-visual interaction needs to be realized. A generic re-usable environment has been implemented, based on 3D audio, 3D pointing, hand gestures and voice input, which is applicable in all cases that interactive hierarchically structured selections from sets of alternatives must be handled. This environment has been used to implement the hierarchical navigation dialogue in a multi- media non-visual toolkit currently under development. It is composed of a set of modules implementing re-usable functionality with which interaction for non-visual hierarchical navigation can be realized within any non-visual interaction toolkit.

Designing universally accessible games

Today, computer games are one of the major sources of entertainment. Computer games are usually far more demanding than typical interactive applications in terms of motor and sensory skills needed for interaction control, due to special-purpose input devices, complicated interaction techniques, and the primary emphasis on visual control and attention. This renders computer games inaccessible to a large percentage of people with disabilities. This article introduces the concept of universally accessible games, that is, games proactively designed to optimally fit and adapt to individual gamer characteristics and to be concurrently played among people with diverse abilities, without requiring particular adjustments or modifications. The concept is elaborated and tested through four case studies: a web-based chess game (UA-Chess), an action game (Access Invaders), a universally inaccessible game (Game Over!) used as an interactive educational tool, and an improved version of Access Invaders (Terrestrial Invaders). For all cases, key design and evaluation findings are discussed, reporting consolidated know-how and experience. Finally, the research challenge of creating multiplayer universally accessible games is further elaborated, proposing the novel concept of Parallel Game Universes as a potential solution.

Encapsulating intelligent interactive behaviour in unified user interface artefacts

Abstract Intelligence at the level of the user interface is currently being supported through a number of prevalent strands, including adaptive user interfaces, model-based user interface development and interface agents. Moreover, the term intelligent user interface typically implies the notion of dynamically enhancing the interaction with a single implemented artefact to suit different usage patterns, user groups, or contexts of use. This article extends this notion and describes how unified design artefacts can support the development of accessible and high quality user interfaces exhibiting the characteristics of multiple metaphor environments. To this effect, the article outlines the principles of unified user interface development and discusses how it can be used to advance Intelligent Interface Technology to account for diverse user requirements and interaction contexts.

Unified user interface development: the software engineering of universally accessible interactions

In the information society, the notion of “computing-platform” encompasses, apart from traditional desktop computers, a wide range of devices, such as public-use terminals, phones, TVs, car consoles, and a variety of home appliances. Today, such computing platforms are mainly delivered with embedded operating systems (such as Windows CE, Embedded/ Personal Java, and Psion Symbian), while their operational capabilities and supplied services are controlled through software. The broad use of such computing platforms in everyday life puts virtually anyone in the position of using interactive software applications in order to carry out a variety of tasks in a variety of contexts of use. Therefore, traditional development processes, targeted towards the elusive “average case”, become clearly inappropriate for the purposes of addressing the new demands for user- and usage-context diversity and for ensuring accessible and high-quality interactions. This paper will introduce the concept of unified user interfaces, which constitutes our theoretical platform for universally accessible interactions, characterized by the capability to self-adapt at run-time, according to the requirements of the individual user and the particular context of use. Then, the unified user interface development process for constructing unified user interfaces will be described, elaborating on the interactive-software engineering strategy to accomplish the run-time self-adaptation behaviour.

Distributed interface bits: dynamic dialogue composition from ambient computing resources

This paper discusses a particular issue in the context of disappearing computing, namely, user mobility. Mobile users may carry with them a variety of wireless gadgets while being immersed in a physical environment encompassing numerous computing devices. In such a situation, it is most likely that the number and type of devices may dynamically vary during interactions. The Voyager development framework supports the implementation of ambient dialogues, i.e., dynamically distributed user Interfaces, which exploit, on-the-fly, the wireless devices available at a given point in time. This paper describes the Voyager implementation, focusing on: device discovery and registry architecture, device-embedded software implementation, ambient dialogue style and corresponding software toolkit development, and a method for dynamic interface adaptation, ensuring dialogue state persistence. Additionally, this paper presents two ambient dialogue applications developed using Voyager, namely, a game and a navigator.

Cognitive and learning difficulties and how they affect access to IT systems

In October 2005, the IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center and T.J. Watson Research Center hosted a symposium on “cognitive and learning difficulties and how they affect access to IT systems”. The central premise of the symposium was the recognition that cognitive and learning difficulties have a profound impact on a person’s ability to interact with information technology (IT) systems, but that little support is currently being offered by those systems. By bringing together internationally renowned experts from a variety of different, but complementary, research fields, the symposium aimed to provide a complete overview of the issues related to this topic. This paper summarises the discussions and findings of the symposium.

Access invaders: developing a universally accessible action game

This paper depicts the notion of Universally Accessible Games and presents the development of a related action game entitled Access Invaders. The design of the games user interface which accommodates concurrently the needs of people with diverse abilities is described, along with the approach followed to adapt the game logic and content to achieve accessibility. In this context, the concept of Parallel Game Universes is introduced and suggested as a solution for the creation of multiplayer universally accessible action games

A DECISION-MAKING SPECIFICATION LANGUAGE FOR VERIFIABLE USER-INTERFACE ADAPTATION LOGIC

In automatic user interface adaptation, developers pursue the delivery of best-fit user interfaces according to the runtime-supplied profiles of individual end users and usage contexts. Software engineering of automatic interface adaptability entails: (a) storage and processing of user and usage-context profiles; (b) design and implementation of alternative interface components, to optimally support the various user activities and interface operations for different users and usage contexts; and (c) runtime decision-making, to choose on the fly the most appropriate alternative interface components, given the particular user and context profile. In automatic interface adaptation, the decision making process plays a key role in optimal on-the-fly interface assembly, engaging consolidated design wisdom in a computable form. A verifiable language has been designed and implemented which is particularly suited for the specification of adaptation-oriented decision-making logic, while also being easily deployable and usable by interface designers. This paper presents the language, its contextual role in adapted interface delivery and the automatic verification method. The employment of the language in an adaptation-design support tool is discussed, the latter automatically generating language rules by relying upon adaptation rule patterns. Finally, the deployment methodology of the language in supporting dynamic interface assembly is discussed, further generalizing towards dynamic software assembly, by introducing architectural contexts and polymorphic architectural containment.