Paper Reading #1: HCI methods for including adults with disabilities in the design of CHAMPION

Comments

TBD

Reference Information

Title:  HCI methods for including adults with disabilities in the design of CHAMPION
Author: Suzanne Prior
Presentation Venue: ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Summary

The article discusses the challenges in designing software that can be made easily accessible and continually usable by individuals with Complex Communication Needs (CCN). Commonly, those individuals with CCN are accustomed to interacting with computer systems using Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices. Since individuals with CCN are not often involved in the design phase of these devices, there is a greater than 50% reported abandonment rate in the use of these devices. It is the goal of the CHAMPION project to increase the level of retention of use of AAC devices for those with CCN.

To date, the project has interacted with individuals with CCN in a focus group setting and received feedback from them. The next stages of the project aim to take the findings into a software design stage. They expect that this exercise will allow them to understand how those with CCN can be more meaningfully involved with software design, as well as how they can contribute to the design of future AAC devices.

Discussion

This paper is significant in that it attempts to address the needs of a growing segment of our population. As the number of those with CCN increase and the prevalence of computer/software systems increase, there will be a greater need to create accommodating infrastructure to allow improved accessibility.

One fault I found was that the focus group seemed possibly too small to get as much meaningful data as could be attained. Additionally, I feel there should have been several trials with different groups to get a broader idea of the needs of those with CCN. The small subset of individuals used may not be enough to adequately represent the needs of the larger population in question.

The future of this work may lead to greater accessibility options and interface capabilities not only for those with CCN, but for the overall population. Everyone is going to age and eventually be less capable of accomplishing the tasks they managed in their youth. As embedded systems integrate more and more into the things of our everyday life, it is important to ensure that it is as accessible as possible to people of all ages and abilities. I feel that the work needs to continue to evolve our existing UIs to make them as user-friendly as possible.