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[W4] Accessibility

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W4 | Accessibility
 
Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. More specifically, it means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that  they can contribute to the Web. Web accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging.
  
Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and  neurological disabilities.        
     
Millions of people have disabilities that affect their use of the Web. Currently most Web sites and Web software have accessibility barriers  that make it difficult or impossible for many people with disabilities to use the Web. As more accessible Web sites and  software become available, people  with disabilities are able to use and contribute to the Web more  effectively.
 
Web accessibility also benefits people without disabilities. For example, a key principle of Web accessibility is designing Web sites and software that are flexible to meet different  user needs, preferences, and situations. This flexibility also benefits people without  disabilities in certain situations, such as people using a slow  Internet connection, people with "temporary disabilities" such as a broken arm, and people with changing abilities due to aging.  [1]
 
W4 | Universal Design
Universal Design (a.k.a. Total Design, Design for All) is a term used to define product solutions that are adequate both for users with disabilities as well as people with standard ergonomical indexes, preferably without the need of adapting the installation from user-to-user. Together with Ergonomics itself, Universality considers body characteristics as height, weight, movement radius, vision, hearing and other senses and members utilization when developing interaction solutions.
Much has been discussed about the utopic characteristic of this definition. How is it able to properly accomodate all of the users of a system? A more realistic approach would be "the most users accomodated, the better". 
 
Think of automatic sliding doors. Let's decompose it into a checklist:
- Usable by people with standard locomotion characteristics: yes;
- Usable by people on wheelchairs: yes;
- Usable by deaf people: yes;
- Usable by blind people: yes (sound feedback appreciated);
- Usable by the elderly people: yes;
- Usable by children: yes;
- Usable by people with different heights: yes;
- Usable by people with different weights: yes;
- Hypothetical use by non-humans (pets, etc): yes.
 
By this, we can conclude that sliding doors are Universal. Do you agree? Can you see any other examples of everyday things that fit this same checklist?
To give you some more arguments before answering, we recommend these links:
[2], [3], [4].
 
Note:  In 2004, the World Health Organization estimated a world population of 6.5 billion people, of those nearly 100  million people were estimated to be moderately or severely disabled.
 
W4 | Common solutions
Coming back to Webdesign and User Experience Design, there are some practical steps that can be taken in order to improve Usability (making elements easier to use) and consequently improve Accessibility (universality of access). 
We must evolve our thinking as designers to not only develop virtual environments or propose models of real world metaphors, but to make sure that there are universally-accessible paths all over the environment - being it with navigation, visual coherence or   descriptions to facilitate human and machine reading or understanding. For instance, we're achieving more accessible pages with the use of semantic HTML + CSS. Separating visual aspects from descriptive (semantic) code facilitates the recognition of specific items in the   markup. New tags presented in HTML5 as <nav>, <article>, etc, are really simple to implement and of much help for people with special needs.
As a further reading article for this topic, we recommend link [5] and [6].
 
W4 | Personas
Last year, during our "Designing for Education" course on P2PU, we discussed a lot about Personas as an efficient tool for Interaction Design. Some of the conclusions we got were:
- A Persona, when referring to the Design methodology, is the mental model of a character that represents a specif kind of user or a group  he/she belongs to. As of a mean to facilitate the design process, the  Personas-based exercises can be ludic - you can give names, build  fictitious scenarios or define general traces of personality.
- Designers are free to define the depths of detail you want about your Persona. Sometimes, the more complete doesn't mean better. Having a short and objetive profile can prove to be more efficient, speciallly because you may have to study lots of different personas. Be sure to add specific characteristics that allow you to distinguish the personas in relation with your real target audience.
- An fantasious example: "Peter is a young lad who lives in downtown Toronto. He's starting his college studies about Music. Even having some limitations to his hearing abilities because a recent health problem, he is determined to study Classical Music. His university is in Japan. He'll have to live there and adapt himself to the new language and culture.
- What did we learn from this persona: He's in transit (so it would be nice  to have digital classes available online, from desktop to mobile), he  studies music (so he needs listening activities), he has an specific disability (so we need to improve usability tests), he would get better adapted if there were minimal linguistic obstacles (as English x  Japanese aren't related gramatically speaking).
 
W4 | Activity
The exercises we've been doing have helped us to develop our critical sense, based on various different theories on interactive and cognitive processes. Now, we take a leap forward. As our next lesson will be "User Experience Design", we want to foster experimental thinking on a ludic manner: how would you make accessible, digitally, to the greatest amout of users possible, the experience of gift-giving? Let's say, receiving a  chocolate bar from a friend or relative. Which emotional characteristics should we simulte or stimulate to make this an accessible experience? Share your ideas with us - they'll be important to the next lessons of our course.
 
As a complimentary exercise, share your thoughts about the checklist in  "Universal Design", trying to find another applicable examples.
 
W4 | References
João Menezes's picture
João Menezes
Thu, 2011-02-17 16:32

[PT]

W4 | Acessibilidade

Acessibilidade na internet significa que pessoas com necessidades especiais podem usar a Web. Mais especificamente, significa que as pessoas com necessidades especiais podem perceber, entender, navegar e interagir com a Web, e que eles podem contribuir com a Web. Acessibilidade na internet também beneficia os outros perfis de usuário, como pessoas mais velhas por exemplo.
Acessibilidade está relacionada com as deficiências que normalmente impediriam o uso da internet, num escopo auditivo, físico, de fala, cognitivo e neurológico.
Milhares de pessoas tem deficiências que afetam a maneira com que eles interagem com a Web. Atualmente a maioria dos sites e softwares tem barreiras de acessibilidade que tornam difícil ou impossível fazer tarefas comuns nestes ambientes. A medida que o pensamento da acessibilidade se expande, novas oportunidades surgem para este público.
Acessibilidade na web também beneficia pessoas sem deficiências. Por exemplo, um princípio-chave da Acessibilidade na internet é projetar sites e softwares flexíveis às diferentes necessidades de usuários, suas preferências e situações. Essa flexibilidade também beneficia pessoas sem deficiências, como pessoas que utilizam internet lenta, pessoas com bloqueios temporários (como um braço quebrado) e pessoas mais velhas. [1]

W4 | Design Universal
Design Universal (também conhecido como Design total ou Design para todos) é um termo usado para definir soluções em produtos que são adequadas para usuários com deficiências assim como para pessoas com índices ergonômicos (percentis) padrão, preferencialmente sem a necessidade de adaptação da instalação de usuário para usuário. Junto à Ergonomia, a Universalidade considera características corpóreas como altura, peso, alcance de movimento, visão, audição e outros sentidos e membros, para gerar alternativas de Design.
Muito discute-se sobre a natureza utópica desta definição. Como é possível acomodar todos os usuários de um sistema? Uma aproximação mais realista seria "quanto mais usuários possível, melhor".

Pensemos em portas automáticas. Vamos decompô-las em um checklist:
- Usável por pessoas com características padrão de locomoção: sim;
- Usável por pessoas com cadeiras de rodas: sim;
- Usável por surdos: sim;
- Usável por cegos: sim (feedback sonoro);
- Usável por pessoas mais velhas: sim;
- Usável por crianças: sim;
- Usável por pessoas de diferentes alturas: sim;
- Usável por pessoas de diferentes pesos: sim;
- Uso hipotético por não-humanos (animais de estimação, etc): sim.

Com isso, podemos definir que portas automáticas são universais. Você concorda? Consegues pensar em outros exemplos do dia-a-dia? Para prover mais argumentos, recomendamos a leitura dos links [2], [3]. [4].
Nota: Em 2004, a OMS estimou que das 6.5 bilhões de pessoas no planeta, aproximadamente 100 milhões possuem deficiências intermediárias a avançadas.

W4 | Soluções comuns
Pensando novamente em Webdesign e Design de Experiência de Design, há alguns passos práticos que podem ser tomados para melhorar a Usabilidade (fazer com que elementos sejam mais fáceis de usar) assim como a Acessibilidade (universalidade de acesso).
Devemos evoluir nosso raciocínio como designers para não somente desenvolver ambientes virtuais or propor metáforas com modelos reais - devemos nos certificar que há caminhos universalmente acessíveis em todo o ambiente - seja com navegação, coerência visual or descrições que facilitam a leitura em máquinas. Por exemplo, estamos alcançando páginas web mais acessíveis com o uso de HTML semântico + CSS. Separar elementos visuais do código descritivo (semântico) facilita o reconhecimento de itens específicos do markup. Novas tags apresentadas no HTML5 como , , etc, são realmente simples para implementar e de muita ajuda a pessoas com necessidades especiais.
Como leitura complementar recomendamos os links [5] e [6].

W4 | Personas
Ano passado, durante nosso curso de "Design para a Educação" na P2PU, discutimos bastante sobre o uso de Personas como uma metodologia de Design de Interação. Algumas das conclusões as quais chegamos foram:
- Uma Persona, quando no escopo do Design, é um modelo mental de um personagem que representa um tipo específico de usuário ou grupo a qual ele/ela pertence. Para facilitar o processo de Design, os exercícios de Personas podem ser lúdicos - dá-se nomes, cenários fictícios e definições gerais de personalidade.
- Os designers são livres para definir o nível de profundidade dos detalhes. Às vezes torna-se mais eficiente optar por perfil mais curtos e objetivos - ser completo não significa ser "melhor". Descrever um perfil rápido pode mostrar-se eficiente, especialmente pois você talvez tenha de estudar vários tipos de personas. Certifique-se de adicionar características que permitam distinguir as personas de seu público-alvo verdadeiro.
- Um exemplo fantasioso: "Peter é um jovem que mora no centro de Toronto. Ele está começando sua faculdade de Música. Mesmo tempo algumas limitações de audição por conta de um problema de saúde recente, ele está determinado a estudar Música Clássica. Sua universidade é no Japão. Ele terá de viver lá e adaptar-se a uma nova língua e cultura".
- O que aprendemos com essa persona: ele está em trânsito (seria interessante ter aulas online disponíveis, compatíveis com dispositivos móveis); ele estuda música (exercícios sonoros/musicais são eficientes); ele tem um deficiência específica (testes de usabilidade teriam de ter maior complexidade); ele se adaptaria melhor se houvessem obstáculos linguísticos mínimos (principalmente por inglês e japonês terem raízes léxicas diferentes).

W4 | Atividade
Os exercícios das semanas anteriores nos ajudaram a desenvolver nosso senso crítico, fundamentado em diversas teorias sobre o processo interativo e cognitivo humano. Agora, daremos um passo a frente. Como nossa próxima lição será "Experiência de Usuário", queremos provocar o raciocínio experimental de uma maneira lúdica: como você tornaria acessível, digitalmente, para o maior número de usuários possível, a experiência de trocar presentes? Digamos, receber uma barra de chocolate de um amigo ou familiar. Que características emocionais deveríamos simular ou estimular para tornar essa experiência acessível? Compartilhe suas ideias conosco - elas serão importantes para os próximos passos do curso.
Como exercício complementar, compartilhe sua opinião a respeito da checklist postada no tópico "Design Universal", tentando encontar outros exemplo aplicáveis.

W4 | Referências
[1] http://www.w3.org/WAI/
[2] http://www.ncsu.edu/www/ncsu/design/sod5/cud/about_ud/udprinciplestext.htm
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_design
[4] http://www.udeducation.org/resources/63.html
[5] http://designshack.co.uk/articles/accessibility/12-tips-for-a-more-acces...
[6] http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/einclusion/policy/acc...

João Menezes's picture
João Menezes
Thu, 2011-02-17 16:32

[ESP]

W4 | Accesibilidad
(13 Feb - 20 Feb)
Accesibilidad web se refiere a la posibilidad de las personas con discapacidades para usar la Web. Más específicamente, se refiere a la posibilidad de las personas con discapacidades para percibir, entender, navegar, e interactura con la Web, y además puedan contribuir con ella. La accesibilidad web también beneficia a otros, incluyendo personas mayores con habilidades que cambian debido a la edad.
La accesibilidad web abarca todas las formas de discapacidad que afectan el acceso a la Web, incluyendo discapacidad visual, audtiva, física, del habla, cognitiva y neurológica.
Millones de personas poseen discapacidades que afectan su uso de la Web. Actualmente, la mayoría de los sitios web y software tienen barreras de accesibilidad que hacen díficil o imposible su uso para muchas personas con discapacidaddes. Mientras más accesibles sean los sitios y aplicaciones, más personas con discapacidades podrán hacer uso de ellos y contribuir a la Web más efectivamente.

La accesibilidad web también beneficia a personas sin discapacidades físicas. Por ejemplo, un principio clave de la accesibilidad es diseñar sitio web y software que sean flexibles para satisfacer las necesidades de los usuarios, preferencias y situaciones. Esta flexibilidad también beneficia a las personas sin discapacidades en ciertas situaciones, como, por ej., personas con una conexión a internet lenta, personas con "discapacidades temporales" como un brazo roto, y personas cuyas habilidades varían debido a la edad.

S4 | Diseño Universal
El Diseño Universal (también conocido como Diseño Total, Diseño para Todos) es un término usado para definir soluciones de producto que son adecuadas tanto para usuarios con discapacidades como para personas con índices ergonómicos comunes, preferentemente sin la necesidad de adaptar la instalación de usuario-a-usuario. Junto a la Ergonomía, la Universalidad considera características del cuerpo como altura, peso, radio de movimiento, visión, audición y otros sentidos y utilización de miembros cuando se desarrollan soluciones de interacción.
Se ha discutido bastante acerca de la característica utópica de esta definición. Cómo se puede adaptar apropiadamente a todos los usuarios de un sistema? Un enfoque más realista sería "mientras mayor sea la cantidad de usuarios adaptados, mejor".

Piensa en las puertas deslizables. Vamos a descomponer sus características en una lista:
- Usable por personas con características comunes de locomoción: Si;
- Usable por personas con sillas de ruedas: Si;
- Usable por personas con problemas de audición: Si;
- Usable por personas ciegas: Si (mucho mejor si contiene retroalimentación sonora);
- Usable por personas mayores: Si;
- Usable por chicos: Si;
- Usable por personas con diferente altura: Si;
- Usable por personas con diferente peso: Si;
- Hipetéticamente usables por no-humanos (mascotas, etc.): Si.

De esta manera, podemos concluir que las puertas deslizables son Universales. ¿Estás de acuerdo? ¿Puedes ver algún otro ejemplo de cosas diarias cuyas características coincidan con la lista?.
Para darte más argumentos antes de responder, recomendamos la lectura de estos enlaces: [2], [3], [4] (en inglés).
Nota: En 2004, la Organización Mundial de la Salud estimó la población mundial de 6.5 billones de personas de las cuales, aproximadamente, 100 millones de personas fueron estimadas con discapacidades moderadas o severas.

S4 | Soluciones Comunes
Volviendo al Diseño Web y el diseño de Experiencia de Usuario, existen algunos pasos prácticos que pueden ser tomados en orden a mejorar la Usabilidad (hacer elementos más fáciles de usar) y consecuentemente mejorar la Accesibilidad (acceso universal).
Debemos evolucionar en nuestro pensamiento como diseñadores para no sólo desarrollar ambientes virtuales o proponer modelos de metáforas del mundo real, sino también asegurarnos que sean universalmente accesibles- desde la navegación, coherencia visual o descripciones- que faciliten el entendimiento y lectura por parte de humanos y máquinas. Por ejemplo, existen cada vez más sitios web más accesibles gracias al uso de la semántica HTML + CSS (Hojas de estilo en cascada). Al separar aspectos visuales del código descriptivo (semántica) facilitamos el reconocimiento de items específicos en el marcado. Nuevas etiquetas presentadas en HTML5 como , , etc, son realmente simples de implementar y de mucha ayuda para personas con necesidades especiales.
Para mayor información, recomendamos estos enlaces [5] y [6].

S4 | Personas
El año pasado, durante nuestro curso de "Diseño para Educación" de P2PU, discutimos mucho acerca de "Personas" como una herramienta eficiente para el Diseño Interacción. Algunas de las conclusiones a las que llegamos son las siguientes:
- Una "Persona", cuando nos referimos a herramientas de Diseño, es un modelo mental de un personaje que representa un tipo específico de usuario o grupo al cual pertenece. Como una forma de facilitar el proceso de diseño, los ejercicios basados en Personas pueden ser lúdicos, puedes darles nombres, construir escenarios ficticios o definir huellas generales de la personalidad.
- Los diseñadores son libres de definir en profundidad de detalles las Personas. Mientras más completas, no significa que sean mejores. Tener un perfil corto y objetivo puede ser más eficiente, especialmente porque puedes llegar a tener que estudar muchas Personas. Asegúrate de incluir características distintivas en tus Personas, siempre teniendo en cuenta tu grupo de usuarios objetivo.
- Un ejemplo: "Peter es un joven que vive en el centro de Toronto. Está comenzando sus estudios universitarios de Música. Incluso teniendo algunas limitaciones en sus habilidades auditivas debido a un problema de salud reciente, está determinado a estudiar Música Clásica. Su universidad está en Japón. Tendrá que vivir allí y adaptarse al nuevo lenguaje y cultura."
- Lo que aprendimos de esta Persona: Está en tránsito (sería bueno tener clases online, desde el escritorio o móvil), estudia música (necesita actividades auditivas), tiene una discapacidad específica (necesitamos mejorar los tests de usabilidad), se adaptaría mejor si existiesen obstáculos mínimos de lenguaje (ya que el Inglés y Japonés no están gramaticalmente relaciones)

S4 | Actividad
Los ejercicios que hicimos nos ayudaron a desarrollar nuestro sentido crítico, basados en diferentes teorías de procesos interactivos y cognitivos. Ahora, daremos un paso más. Como nuestra próxima lección será "Diseño de Experiencia de Usuario", queremos difundir el pensamiento de una manera experimental y lúdica: ¿cómo harías accesible digitalmente, a la mayora cantidad de usuarios posibles, la experiencia de dar un regalo? Digamos, recibir una barra de chocolate de un amigo o pariente. Qué características emocionales debemos simular o estimular para hacerlo una experiencia accesible? Comparte tus ideas con nosotros - serán importantes para las próximas lecciones en el curso.
Como ejercicio complementario, comparte tus ideas acerca de la lista de características de "Diseño Universal", tratando de encontrar otros ejemplos aplicables.

S4 | Referencias
[1] http://www.w3.org/WAI/
[2] http://www.ncsu.edu/www/ncsu/design/sod5/cud/about_ud/udprinciplestext.htm
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_design
[4] http://www.udeducation.org/resources/63.html
[5] http://designshack.co.uk/articles/accessibility/12-tips-for-a-more-acces...
[6] http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/einclusion/policy/acc...

Pauline Dizon's picture
Pauline Dizon
Fri, 2011-02-18 10:17

Hello!

Just to clear up the question, the gift being given is real, but the gift-receiving experience will be aided by digital design?

Thanks!

João Menezes's picture
João Menezes
Tue, 2011-02-22 01:10

Let's say you're far from home and you want to give your mother a present. You'll "send" it digitally - this gift doesn't have a physical form, it's available only digitally. So, this makes necessary to think of the means to transmit this gift as well as the digital representation of the gift itself.

For instance, I could send my mother a link with an illustration of a closed pack of chocolate. She can do specific mouse movements to slowly open the package, then when she finds out what's the chocolate's flavor, a feedback message shows up. She can have a bite and an action shows up - like a video of mine, a photo from child memories... It's up to you to define how this interaction occurs! :)

Lucica Ibanescu's picture
Lucica Ibanescu
Fri, 2011-02-18 21:51

I am glad you touched this topic in this course mainly because as a developer coding designs received from designers I had a lot of problems trying to explain accessibility to them and convince them that this is more important that some visual concepts that they were trying to impose. In my opinion a true designer is the one who is capable of creating products that can be used by everybody. It is fundamental that designers acquire more skills than the mere use of Adobe products and more related to accessibility as part of the user interaction process.

Now back to what you said. Indeed HTML5 brings us more semantic elements but be careful when using them cause they are not accessible (yet). Combined with old school tricks and ARIA you can produce an accessible HTML5 website, but for now these cannot be used as standalone tags. They have no value yet.

Also the definition of accessibility given in this document is incomplete. Accessibility is not only about people with disabilities. Accessibility means you should be able to access a website from any device (old mobile phone, smartphone, laptop, your smart-fridge - in the future, etc), independent of the internet connection you might have (some still use modems and it should't take forever to load a simple page). It also should be able to interact with people who are using mouse, keyboard only, special devices for people without hands maybe, and so on.

So designing an accessible website is more than making sure it is WCAG2 compliant - designers need to have in mind all the time that they should design for everybody (blind, dyslexic or old) and the purpose of the site is not to be admired as a work of art - but transmit useful information and bring ROI.

Euge Ortiz's picture
Euge Ortiz
Fri, 2011-02-18 23:51

Thanks Lucica for your feedback! And thanks for completing the concept of accessibility, the part when we say "people without disabilities" goes in that direction, but I agree with you: today (maybe more than ever) we need to design (in this case websites) for everybody.
Cheers! :)

João Menezes's picture
João Menezes
Sat, 2011-02-19 02:00

The idea of "universality of access" covers these aspects, but thanks for sharing your expertise with us, Lucica! The new HTML tags aren't standard yet but they were a very positive vision over web coding - and I'm sure all of us are really willing to see them working properly.

Felipe Saldanha's picture
Felipe Saldanha
Sun, 2011-02-20 21:54

Um sistema online de troca de presentes poderia prever as seguintes características, entre outas:
- Upload e visualização de fotos e vídeos dos presentes, com possibilidade de adicionar descrição ou audiodescrição
- Possibilidade de aceitar ou rejeitar o presente
- Presentes virtuais (simbólicos) e vale-presentes
- Rede social disponibilizando perfis aos usuários (nos quais poderiam constar as preferências por tipo de presente) e promovendo conexões, mostrando quem cada um presenteou e de quem cada um ganhou presentes
- Listas de desejos
- Agendamento de amigos secretos, com sorteio online e possibilidade de revelação por conferência
- Integração com e-commerce de lojas para aquisição dos presentes e de empresas de transporte para envio e recebimento
- Agenda de aniversários, datas comemorativas e outros eventos promovidos por amigos, como casamentos e chás de cozinha
- Dicas e artigos sobre como acertar no presente ou como organizar um evento comemorativo
- Troca de presentes, conectando-se automaticamente às lojas para verificar se há outras opções ou tamanhos ou identificando usuários dispostos a trocar seus presentes com outros
- Avaliação do presente (enviada à loja e/ou ao amigo, podendo ser pública ou privada)
- Lista dos presentes mais populares
- Integração com redes sociais
- HTML e CSS válidos
- Várias possibilidades de língua
- Versões em alto constraste, somente texto e em áudio

Espero não ter saído muito do escopo da aula. Quanto ao checklist, acrescentaria: "Usável por pessoas excepcionais".

Rafael França's picture
Rafael França
Mon, 2011-02-21 16:24

Obrigado pelo seu comentário Felipe, concordo plenamente com tudo que você disse e acrescento mais, a interface deveria ser simples, sem deixar de ser completa, ao estilo twitter, para que uma pessoa que esteja usando pela primeira vez um site, não fique assustada, assim como uma pessoa impaciente, consiga usar o site sem estresse.. resumindo.. a facilidade iria permitir que mais pessoas usassem o site, e indicassem a outras.

O site poderia ter configurações, algumas até um pouco avançadas, contudo, auto-explicativas..

Eu sugiro também um sistema que faça uma leitura das mensagens que são passadas pelas redes sociais, e com base nessas, juntamente com os comentários a respeito dos presentes que recebeu, e que ele mesmo deu.

Além do exemplo que o Felipe deu, eu acrescentaria, "Usável por pessoas que não tem muito tempo" e até mesmo "Usável por pessoas que não tem muito tempo para acessar a internet" e "Usável ao ponto que as pessoas se apaixonem pela simplicidade do site", e 'roubando' a ideia de Lucica, "Usável por pessoas que possuem a internet lenta".

Por enquanto eu acho que é só isso.. =D

Felipe Saldanha's picture
Felipe Saldanha
Sun, 2011-02-27 15:06

Eu é que agradeço Rafael, também concordo inteiramente com as suas considerações!

João Menezes's picture
João Menezes
Tue, 2011-02-22 01:10

I answered Pauline's question up above, please read it to clarify about this week's assignment.

Bill Ferris's picture
Bill Ferris
Wed, 2011-02-23 03:34

Something João touched on with the chocolate bar example is the concept of unwrapping. We unwrap presents for Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, and ohter gift-giving occasions. The unwrapping component evokes surprise and anticipation, two characteristics that make gift-giving much more fun. Since the value of a itself is determined by the recipient, I'll focus on the unwrapping portion, since that's more about the *experience* of receiving the gift than the gift itself.

To make that sort of experience accessible, I'd incorporate progressive enhancement as refered to in the article, "12 Tips for a More Accessible Website" (http://designshack.co.uk/articles/accessibility/12-tips-for-a-more-acces...). There would, of course, be the fancy version for folks with fast internet connections and without disabilities--simply point and click on a picture of a wrapped digital gift to tear off a piece of wrapping paper until it reveals the entire gift.

For folks with disabilities or a slow connection, I'd make it more text-based, or use simple images in addition to text. Since the feelings I want to evoke are surprise and anticipation, I need to figure out how to "wrap" a textual represenation of a gift. I could do that a number of ways. For example, I could write the name of the gift, but rearrange all the letters. The user would then "unwrap" the name of the gift by rearranging the letters. (I realize that unscrambling letters isn't really like unwrapping a present, but I do think it stays true to the general idea of unwrapping a present--overcoming a simple obstacle in a fun way to gain access to an item of value. It both preserves user curiosity and the effort involved in achieving the goal.)

What I like about the prinicples of universal design is that they're applicable to all types of design, not just graphic and web design. An example of universal design in action would be the handicapped stall in restrooms. The toilets are low to the ground to accommodate people in wheelchairs, but can obviously still be used by the non-disabled.

João Menezes's picture
João Menezes
Wed, 2011-02-23 16:55

Great post, Bill! You got the purpure of the activity very well.

Bill Ferris's picture
Bill Ferris
Wed, 2011-02-23 17:49

Thanks João. It was a fun activity!

João Menezes's picture
João Menezes
Wed, 2011-02-23 18:09

*correcting my typo: purpose

Rosa Torguet's picture
Rosa Torguet
Wed, 2011-02-23 23:36

ok, this is my try in this case:

I totally agree with Bill about the unwrapping process, I will call it surprise factor.
The good thing about being a 'digital gift' is that it is easier to hide details such as who is responsible, so it can be used to emphasize the so called 'surprise factor'.

To improve the user experience I would try to make the user being part of the discovering process, not only by clicking and following a fixed process but also giving the option of completing tasks as part of guessing who is behind this gift, what it is..

To summarize: I would focus on the experience when the user is ignoring everything to obtain step by step all the information that finally allows the user to access the gift.

It is important to keep in mind that when people use digital gifts is either to enhance the 'surprise factor' or because it is not possible for them to do it personally.

Thao Vo's picture
Thao Vo
Thu, 2011-02-24 02:38

I'd like to add to BIll and Rosa's input about the emotions of surprise and anticipation in unwrapping a gift in digital form.

To take into account the user experience and accessibility of digital gift-giving, I would incorporate auditory output that supplements the information on the visual display. For example, when using the mouse to unwrap the digital chocolate bar, there could be an audio clip replicating the sound of a paper or plastic being unwrapped.

Here's an audio clip of such an activity: http://www.pond5.com/sound-effect/210201/wrapping-paper.html

The sound clip could accompany the action of unwrapping the chocolate bar on-screen; the audio could be sped up if the user is frantically unwrapping the virtual gift, or slowed down if the user is taking his time; vice versa, the visual output should be redundant with the information in the auditory output. Aligning the audio with the visuals makes the experience more intuitive or more consistent with the user's expectations in real life. Unwrapping a present in real life can be noisy, and we can preserve some of that quality and anticipation digitally with audio-visual output.

Text-to-speech systems convert normal language text into speech, and accommodates a number of demographics. They allow people with visual impairments or reading disabilities to listen instead of having to read words on a computer. This system is accessible to all, but especially helps blind people, elderly people, and children.

dj zero's picture
dj zero
Thu, 2011-02-24 03:51

I totally agree with Thao, there should definitely be an audio component to the gift giving. Not only should it act as a "supplement to the visual" but it can also be part of the emotive content. As a sound designer, I'm often astounded of how much people tend to favor the visual. Sound elicits an emotional response, don't believe me? try watching something like Nightmare on Elm St (http://www.nightmareonelmstreet.com/dvd/) without the sound. Suddenly you will realize how much our brains "trick" us, Freddy's mask becomes plastic and you will relinquish your "suspension of disbelief". That being said, the audio component allows sighted visitors a complementary experience to the non-sighted visitors. Additionally, I would add a voice beside the wrapping paper sound. Perhaps the gift giver could specify this voice (they would be given choices of different voices) so that the gift recipient's narrator would sound somewhat familiar, and comforting. For some recipients the gift opening could have cheers and for others just a familiar voice. I really like what everyone has said so far, this is a really interesting question. I think that the audio component could be used as a primary force in this experience. Of course I don't think it should be the only component because the experience must be able to be enjoyed by those who are deaf as well.

Vanessa Gennarelli's picture
Vanessa Gennarelli
Thu, 2011-02-24 04:15

What about integrating the ability for the giftee to choose their gift? We offer content in different formats--audio, print, web--why not consider a gift in several formats as well, with the giftee being the ultimate selector?

I suppose for chocolate bar that might get a little figurative--but isn't that the same as the warm fuzzy feelings Joao mentioned!

Pauline Dizon's picture
Pauline Dizon
Thu, 2011-02-24 06:53

I'm imagining some sort of mobile interactive sequence. I believe using mobile communication as the medium for delivering digital chocolate will be the most far-reaching. There are mobile phone users in areas where there isn't even any electricity [1][2]. So this would make digital chocolate "useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities", whether they own a tablet, a smartphone, or a simple SMS/voice mobile phone. Furthermore, many mobile devices are designed for use with minimal physical effort, so that covers "can be used efficiently and comfortably and with a minimum of fatigue" and "use regardless of user's body size, posture, or mobility" - but feel free to disagree!
I was thinking of some multimodal way to send digital chocolate through mobile devices.[3] But failing that, I just thought of how digital chocolate interaction could be presented via audio-visual, SMS text, or audio. I'll assume that the sender will shoulder any service costs involved. It's not a gift if you have to pay to receive it, right?

Audio-visual version
Please look at the uploaded file chocolate_audiovisual.jpg for the planned interaction. The receiving person can open the box right away, or can listen to an streamed audio file from the sender. After one action is chosen, the next one will be shown as an option. The receiving person will be invited to send digital chocolate to the sender to thank him or her.
Ideally, the sender will have options on what the box image and chocolate image will look like (colors, flavor, etc.).
Also, would be nice to have a multi-language version.
This audio-visual version would be ideal with full-featured mobile devices, for most non-disabled persons or for children with adult assistance. Possible to view it on a desktop computer as well.

SMS text version
This will be like an SMS "choose your own adventure" interaction.[4][5]. As you can see in chocolate_sms.jpg, the interaction is almost parallel to the audio-visual version, except that everything is in text. Again, it would be nice to have a multi-language version.
This version would be suitable for sending digital chocolate to people whose devices are limited in screen size, or have mobile content limitations. Those who are hearing-impaired but otherwise literate could receive chocolate in this manner also.

Audio version
I'm thinking some sort of voicemail/IVR medium being used. Refer to chocolate_audio.jpg for this. Ideally, the sender would be asked to record the parts enclosed in <> using their own voice.A "template" voicemail would be sent to the receiving person, informing them to "pick up" the digital chocolate by calling up an IVR number. There would be sounds to indicate opening the box, a clear description of the chocolate, and a recorded message from the sender. Not sure how to encourage the receiving person to thank the sender, but I guess they could call the person.

This would be a chcolate delivery method for the visually impaired who have a voice-dialling mobile device, or operator-assisted dialling like the GreatCall Jitterbug[6].

Summary
Overall, what I want to do is to make the receiving person curious about the gift, and after receiving it, make an action of reciprocating or thanking the sender - which is a usual interaction sequence with real gifts.

References:
[1] http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2009/07/024071.htm
[2] http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2007/09/017161.htm
[3] http://www2.research.att.com/~johnston/
[4] http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.03/muds.html?pg=3
[5] http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-10/07/kindle-games-adventure-text
[6] http://www.yourtechreport.com/2010/10/14/the-jitterbug-j-simply-making-l...

Felipe Saldanha's picture
Felipe Saldanha
Sun, 2011-02-27 15:11

I've liked very much your system! Very creative! Congratulations!

Pauline Dizon's picture
Pauline Dizon
Mon, 2011-02-28 04:11

Thank you Felipe for your comment!
Well I'm not sure if all the ideas can be made in reality hehe. It was a good challenge to make the chocolate work for as many people as possible, including the physically impaired and also children and older people.

dj zero's picture
dj zero
Fri, 2011-02-25 06:00

I just wanted to note this interesting article about being blind and reading. http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/the-bli...

Be sure to "read more", there is a video of blind person using JAWS.

I also wanted to mention that I got my first Universal Design spec yesterday from a client, so awesome how this happened right after I did this week's readings! So Cool!

João Menezes's picture
João Menezes
Fri, 2011-02-25 13:33

Congrats, great to have contributed to that!

Wei-Ching Shyu's picture
Wei-Ching Shyu
Fri, 2011-02-25 08:08

I would like to focus on the selectivity. Motion graphics and sounds are both great ways to enhance experience, but I think digital form is a good way to meet people’s desires.
For example, you can choose which gift you are going to receive. Maybe the one with a ribbon on top, or the one covered with polka dot wrapping paper. Then you discover there is a chocolate bar inside, now you can choose the flavor and shape you like.
Someone might say this is not the real gift receiving process. But how many times when you open a gift and you actually like it, not every time for sure. Yes, you appreciate the effort but the gift might be something you do not like or simply not suit for you. We have expectations, so we look forward to open gifts to see what are inside.
Giving choices, we can have better matches for our expectations, if not the best. I think digital form is easier to achieve this desire, and you can repeat the process many times to have some fun.

Mela S.'s picture
Mela S.
Sat, 2011-02-26 05:32

I'm going to narrow down on the scenario of receiving a chocolate bar. I'm working on the assumption that this gift is random -- versus gift-giving at Christmastime or on birthdays in which gifts are, in a way, "expected" of close family and friends.

The emotional characteristics I'd like to simulate are:
- surprise. I think this kind of emotion is best conveyed by information that is pushed to the user (in other words, push technology.) This kind of information would preferably be pushed to a mobile device which the user typically has on himself 24/7 and where the user can see the gift right away.

- a personal connection (AKA warm fuzzy feelings towards the gift-giver.) With the exception of the rare present that gets sent through post, most gifts -- especially ones as small as a candy bar -- are usually personally handed to the receiver. To simulate this, I'd like to go one step further (building on the suggestions above) and to have the sender record an audio file that will be played. Or where they can upload a photo of themselves (and do something like ElfYourself) or a video that can be played.

- anticipation. I'm sure I'm not the only one who tries to figure out what's in a package before opening it. :P So maybe you can have a model of the present which is a bit indicative of what's inside. (Ex. not having something shaped like a bike, and it turning out to be a stuffed toy.) Then the user can zoom in, zoom out, view the present from different angles, stuff like that.

I agree with the other posters above with regards to unwrapping. I think the unwrapping component is pretty important in gift giving. You could also add an option of double-wrapping a gift to add to the anticipation (and frustration.)

Daniel Rios's picture
Daniel Rios
Sun, 2011-02-27 12:07

W4 [ESP] Accesibilidad.

La accesibilidad no es solo para los discapacitados. Es para todos.

Es interesante analizar las áreas que existen entre los principios, por ejemplo, un ejemplo son los botones de los teléfonos inteligentes que por ser tan tos y tan “prácticos” ayudan a ingresar la información rápidamente.

Pero… En un planeta que se caracteriza por personas subiendo de peso y dedos gordos, son el diseño más apropiado, ¿nuca te has equivocado al teclear?

Otro ejemplo, en Latinoamérica las mujeres que trabajan en oficinas suelen llevar las uñas largas y/o postizas y he visto el caos al tratar de teclear algo largo o complejo.

Este es un área entre los principios de No.1 “Uso equiparable”, No.2 “tolerancia al error” y No.3 “Información perceptible”. los principios no están aislados es importante velar por el balance y esto puede hacerse implementando múltiples formas de realizar las cosas.

Recuerdo lo útil que resultan los quizá poco intuitivos comandos de teclado de Microsoft Word cuando se quiere avanzar rápidamente sin dejar el teclado para utilizar el ratón y activar (o desactivar) negrillas, cursivas u otro tipo de efecto de letra.

Entonces la accesibilidad no solo te da la posibilidad de inclusión de otros "tipos de usuario", también facilita la posibilidad de hacer las cosas de modos diferentes en diferentes condiciones.

Thao Vo's picture
Thao Vo
Mon, 2011-02-28 10:43

I can relate to the frustration with cell phone buttons when typing on my phone; and I also have friends who have complained the buttons on their cell phones are too small for their fingers, which leads to high inaccuracies and slow speed. This is definitely an accessibility problem.

Luckily, my phone has a SWYPE keyboard system http://www.swypeinc.com/ I think SWYPE is great example of a smartphone input method that makes typing on the phone more accessible to a larger population. It lets users input words by drawing lines from letter to letter instead of inputing letters one-by-one. It's an alternative to the QWERTY keyboard for touchscreen devices, and the program also learns words so the more you use it, the less accurate your input has to be. With SWPYE, the user's accuracy and speed increase; the system is flexible and intuitive. It's also currently available in over 30 languages. More about SWYPE on wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swype

Pippa  Buchanan's picture
Pippa Buchanan
Mon, 2011-02-28 03:59

Hi, It's Pippa from School of Webcraft. I love the idea of digital chocolate or an equivalent gift to demonstrate gratitude and caring.

One interaction which I think would be very interesting would be for gift receivers to be able to "shake" their gift before unwrapping. I know that as a child I'd often sneakily test the presents under the Christmas tree to see if I could hear a clue!

It's a great exercise - I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with!

Daniel Rios's picture
Daniel Rios
Mon, 2011-02-28 10:12

W4 [ESP] Accesibilidad.

El Regalo del chocolate, es interesante ver como para diferentes personas son importantes diferentes cosas.

Entonces haría preguntas orientadas conocer el perfil de la persona y según eso cambiaría la apariencia del regalo.

Garrett Polifka's picture
Garrett Polifka
Wed, 2011-03-02 01:42

This exercise talked about giving a digital gift that is outside the physical world. My idea helps bring the physical world into the equation. If we were to incorporate Augmented Reality ( http://goo.gl/Rq7bc ), we could create a printed piece of paper sent to the hands of the user. Combined with a webcam, we could deliver the allusion of a physical gift in our hands. I understand that this concept may be limiting to some with disabilities. For instance, some one who is blind would not be able to experience this aspect of the gift or someone without a printer/webcam would not have the necessary equipment. As always, there would need to be other options to deliver an experience. This concept may fall short of the ultimate gaol of Universal Design, but it is something I felt was worth sharing.

Roger Davis's picture
Roger Davis
Fri, 2011-03-04 02:28

I really like most of the responses about simulating digitally, the act of gift giving. Most persons have covered all the bases of a good simulation, which include visual and auditory stimuli.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but most persons seemed to have bundled all the sensory stimuli together in one package. What I would do differently is create options on the first page of the Gift Giving application that allows a user to choose the type of Gift Receiving experience that they'd like to experience. For example, I would make an option for persons who only want an auditory experience, another option for persons who only want a visual experience, and a third option for persons who want the full experience that combines all the stimuli. Additionally, I would set up the application to automatically detect whether a user is accessing it using a personal computer, a smart phone, or even a not so smart phone that can only receive SMS messages instead of MMS messages. After detecting this, the Gift Giving application would serve up the version of the program that is compatible with the method that the user is using to access it.

I would allow the Gift Giver to be able to choose the type of gift that he or she would like to give, as well as be able to customize it to their liking. I however, would not allow the Gift Receiver to be able to choose the gift that they'll receive, because I think this would negate the thought, time or creativity that the Gift giver had in mind or used when selecting, customizing and sending the gift. In reality, if someone sends another a box of chocolates for Valentine's Day, upon receiving the gift, the Receiver does not have the option of clicking something and changing the box of chocolates to a dozen red roses, or a heart shaped balloon. I think the purpose of Digital Experiences ideally are to simulate reality as much as possible, so I would try to stick as close to reality as much as possible while designing this experience of gift giving.

Universal Design:

I think the the example of the Automatic Sliding Door is a great example of something that perfectly fits the idea of Universal Design, because it's accessible to a wide variety of persons with varying abilities.

Another example of something that fits the Universal Design principle well are Building Ramps that are not too steep. These are sometimes used to access buildings instead of stairs.

Here's how they match up on the Universal Design Checklist:

- Usable by people with standard locomotion characteristics: yes;
- Usable by people on wheelchairs: yes;
- Usable by deaf people: yes;
- Usable by blind people: yes (With white cane used by many people who are blind or visually impaired,);
- Usable by the elderly people: yes;
- Usable by children: yes;
- Usable by people with different heights: yes;
- Usable by people with different weights: yes;
- Hypothetical use by non-humans (pets, etc): yes.

By this, we can conclude that Building Ramps are Universal.

frontman's picture
frontman
Sat, 2011-03-05 02:36

In my mind you could also have a great user experience by stimulating the actual consumption of the chocolate bar audiovisual. Having that picture in my mind it makes me hungry.
When it's eaten up you could give a feedback - i.e. what is your favorite chocolate bar - so that the sender will know next time visit what sort of chocolate-bar to bring home.
I really like the idea of Universal Design as part of enriching communication (with all senses) and interaction (on the fly).
@Roger - i agree that building ramps is universal - so is building bridges in my mind as another example.