Week 6

In this week we had a discussion on acessibility and it's uses. We began with a thinking session on how interface could benefit us and how impactful design could be, especially to the people with bad vision.

We then moved on to the different types of impairments:

1) Cognitive impairments poor memory, loss of short-term memory, low literacy, learning difficulties

2) Motor impairments movement difficulties, rapid fatigue, hypokinetic impairment

3) Perceptual impairments cataract, retinitis pigmentosa, myopia

There are people with multiple impairments, so it's more than possible that solutions tailored to one individual will not be suitable to another.

We then segued over to assistive techonlogies, that can aid people with such impairments, and learnt about some plug-ins and add-ons which may do just that, such as braille browsers, screen readers, tracker-balls and switch interface controls.

We we then moved on to compare good and bad designs:

-Good design (helps people with grip and identifying the buttons)

-Bad design (all buttons look and feel the same and the shape is comparitively harder to grip)

More inclusive designs should be incorperated in tech.

Then there are specialist technology which are responsible for assited living such as Stephen Hawking and the Intel Connected Wheelchair.

We then began our first activity,

ACTIVITY 1

REAL USERS

1) Blindness: A fantasy device that I think would benefit those struggling with sight would be earphones/headsets which would enable the user to utilize echolocation to help them be aware of their surroundings. And if they are struggling with hearing as well there could be a wrist or waist band that would vibrate at specific levels depending on how close the individual is to an object or person.

2) Anosmia: A fantasy device that could help people with anosmia (loss of smell) could be a brain implant that could stimulate the olfactory cortex to artificially enable the sense of smell.

3) Ageusia: A device could be latched on to the roof of the tongue to emulate taste buds to artificially perceive flavours.

4) Anaphia: For the people who can’t feel touch, there could be an implant attached to the part of the body unable to feel touch that connects to their nerves that could reverse engineer how touch normally works and simulate the feeling of touch.

5) Deafness: A device that could be useful to those suffering deafness would be a palm attachment that would caption conversations into braille so that the deaf can read what the other individual is saying.

We then had a discussion on a specific assistive technology, screen readers, and tried out NVDA's screen reader on our systems and reflected on different types of assistive technologies in our next actiivity:

Activity 2

1) To be able to control a computer, I would say all you need is to know how to operate a mouse and keyboard, and be able to follow instructions on an interface. That would cover the basic uses of anyone of all ages for a PC.

2) To get information out of a computer one must be fluent in his/her understanding of a web applications interface and how the internet works (web pages, google, apps etc.).

3) The computer is the most powerful GPS in the world. It can pinpoint locations effortlessly and can help people along their journeys, every step of the way (See costs, available, book stays, distance and length of trip, traffic information, weather conditions, etc.)

4) A computer interface should be able to be perceived easily by a vast majority of users. It should be easy to access different features and customizable enough to suit unique niches and cater to those struggling with accessibility issues.

5) A mobile interface should have the same goal as a computer interface as in it should be easily accessible to a vast majority of people, have features that would help different disabilities like a high contrast mode or a bluelight filter that could help the visually impaired.