Jenny S. Darzentas

A descriptive reference framework for the personalisation of e-business applications

Personalisation is widely considered as a critical element of contemporary electronic businesses. However, despite the wealth of scientific work on personalisation, the definition of the term remains blurred with as consequence a lack of clarity as to what to design or evaluate when it comes to this area of an e-business. E-business stakeholders, including designers, managers and customers, need to understand the significance of personalisation features for many reasons including: guidance for design and evaluation, user appeal and implications for e-business functionality. The paper introduces a descriptive framework for personalisation aspects of e-businesses, in business-to-consumer (B2C) situations, that is related to typical e-business functionality. The proposed framework classifies previous research and extends it to provide e-commerce stakeholders with a vocabulary for analysing e-businesses, for comparing personalisation features, and for explaining e-business commerce evaluation results. The framework is applied to the evaluation of the personalisation features of contemporary clothing e-businesses, and conclusions are drawn for the readiness of this sector to adopt personalisation requirements.

Design for all in information technology: a universal concern

The concept of Design for All is not well understood, and the issues of accessibility and inclusion are often relegated to specialists and dedicated conferences. This paper introduces the concept of Design for All dispelling some of the misunderstandings that surround it, and situating it within the Information Technology context, as distinct from wider considerations such accessibility in the built environment. Some of the reasons for undertaking Design for All are discussed, and, making use of the analogy of the printed book, the paper then shows how Design for All in combination with Information technologies are enablers in the widest sense of the term. Finally, it is noted that Design for All is a process, not a product, and while there are people who specialise in eAccessibility, the research agenda demands more involvement from information technologists of all kinds. These are issues that concern us all, in our roles as designers and implementers of information technology, as well as in our role as consumers of information and participants in the Information Society.

Facilitating user-system interaction: the GAIA interaction agent

This paper presents the identification, design and implementation of a user interface to a brokerage system and the conceptual architecture and functional behaviour of an intelligent interaction agent that supports and enhances the interaction between the user and the system. The term interaction agent is used in order to describe a particular class of interface agents that function as intelligent personal assistants to users of a computer based system. The interaction agent provides assistance to the user in two contexts. On the user interface level it assists users to comprehend and manipulate the user interface. On the domain of application level, it provides users with information and advice according to their preferences. This work is being carried out in the context of an ACTS (AC 221) project GAIA (Generic Architecture for Information Availability).

The Usability of Web Accessibility Guidelines: An Approach for Evaluation

This paper aims at contributing to the evaluation of web accessibility and thus promoting design for all, considering the design process as an iterative process containing evaluation as a fundamental component. More specifically, the paper: 1) rethinks Web Accessibility Evaluation notion and its abstract requirements, 2) investigates the usability of W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0 and WCAG 2.0), and 3) proposes an approach for an evaluation of the usability of accessibility guidelines.

Towards Integration of Learning Objects Metadata and Learner Profiles Design: Lessons Learnt from GESTALT

Within the context of learning technology environments, there is much effort on one hand, at defining metadata for educational content, and on the other, at specifying learner user profiles. However, less attention has been paid to the understanding of the relationship between these two areas of research, in terms of semantic and structural correlations. Based on an implementation of learning object metadata and learner profiles in a learning technology system undertaken in the Getting Education Systems Talking Across Leading Edge Technologies (GESTALT) project, this paper argues that the definition of a metadata schema and a User Profile should be a joint effort due to the complementary nature of these two descriptions in regard to the critical functions of the educational process.

Designing a Designers' Decision Aiding System (DDAS)

ABSTRACT An approach for designing and developing decision aiding systems is presented through the design and definition of the architecture of a system, corresponding to a real problem: that of providing aid to designers. The purpose of the decision aid is to provide assistance to computer system designers tackling interface usability problems and needing to know which modelling techniques out of an array would be more appropriate to apply. Different aspects of the design problem may call for different modelling techniques to be recruited. The design of the DDAS accommodates that reality. The architecture of DDAS is based on principles of systems thinking, in particular soft systems methodology, for eliciting and structuring knowledge relevant to a generic design space, and on fuzzy sets through test score semantics for representing and evaluating the meaning of relationships between components of the design problem and the modelling techniques. The advantage of this architecture is that it could be used...

The eaccess+ network: enhancing the take-up of eaccessibility in europe

This short paper introduces the idea, the main tool and the work of the EU-supported eAccess+ network (www.eaccessplus.eu) for fostering the uptake of eAccessibility in Europe. The rationale for the network starts from the fact that a considerable and elaborated body of knowledge, established in the eAccessibility and Assistive Technology domain, exists but is rarely implemented in mainstream design. There are many reasons for this situation and the network is working to identify and address them and to start processes to remedy the situation.

Accessibility of internet portals in ambient intelligent scenarios: re-thinking their design and implementation

Internet portals are gateways to the World Wide Web, which offer an amalgamation of services, like search engines, online shopping information, email, news, weather reports, stock quotes, community forums, maps, travel information, etc. Furthermore, with the arrival of the Mobile Web, they are also frequently used in Ambient Intelligence scenarios. This paper will discuss basic design considerations inspired by systems theory fundamental principles, where the portal as a whole and its components (known as portlets) are analyzed. This analysis also includes a set of user requirements for people with special needs gathered in previous user studies from the authors.

IDCnet: Inclusive Design Curriculum Network – First Results

This paper presents the preliminary results of the IDCnet Thematic Network in regard to the development of curriculum recommendations for Higher Education institutions in the area of ICT that include Design for All. These recommendations are based upon discussion with relevant actors in industry and academia to identify core knowledge sets and skills.

Technology for Older People: A Critical Review

We will present the results of a critical review of research published in a range of peer-reviewed conferences in the period 2005 - 2012 on the use of technology to support older people. We explore what problems faced by older people are being addressed by the research; whether the research is motivated by user needs; the methodologies used; the levels of target user involvement in the research; and the outcomes achieved. Eight major topics of research have been identified: mobility and wayfinding; communication and social interaction; interaction with technology; using the web; access to and exploration of information; education; support for daily living; and games and play. In addition, we have categorized the research into four main types: research that proposes technologies for older people; research to understand the use of technology by older people and their attitudes to technology; research on guidelines, standards or other information to support developers and researchers; and research that on methodologies for working with older people in the development of new technological solutions. Important gaps and weaknesses in the current research portfolio are explored. The review will provide an overview of the state of the art of technologies for promoting independent living and wellbeing of older people, which should be useful for researchers, developers and practitioners in the field.