### Assessing Usability for People with Disabilities Through Remote Evaluation and Critical Incident Reporting -- Mike Paciello, Founder, WebABLE.

The key reason why most technology -- current or emerging -- is not
suitable or usable by people with disabilities is simple -- users/people
with disabilities are rarely, if ever, integrated into the conceptual
design of a product.

In order to ensure the vision of a flexible, pervasive accessibility
technology, researchers and usability specialists need to devise
evaluation methods that easily and effectively engage people with
disabilities in the processes of user interface design and usability
testing.

This executive summary suggests that one solution involves the creation
of a web-based, virtual usability testing center that employs remote
evaluation and critical incident reporting methodologies.

## **The Facility**

A virtual web usability center provides the accommodation mechanism
required to devise remote evaluation and critical incident reporting
protocols. A virtual center allows users with disabilities to be easily
integrated in the user interface design phase of emerging
telecommunications and information technology products.

Currently, industry and usability testing organizations are faced with
the challenge of accommodating users with disabilities on several
levels:

1.  Providing physical test space

2.  Ensuring that peripheral or interactive IT systems and interfaces
    are accessible to and for a variety of disability-related user
    scenarios

3.  Developing relationships with the various communities of people with
    disabilities and their supporting organizations

4.  Managing a reasonable and affordable budget

The advantage of setting up and establishing an accredited, non-profit
virtual center for accessibility is that it resolves all of these
questions AND provides an means to "lease" and/or "rent" the virtual
space to electronic and information corporations interested OR mandated
by law to implement accessibility in core products.

## 

## **Testing Methodologies**

Today, it is painfully obvious that the IT industry at-large lacks
accessibility focus. Interestingly, the key to user interface
accessibility is to focus on the principles of user centered design
(UCD) -- a design standard that encompasses holistic usability design
methods. However, and in spite of the apparent focus on "usability for
all users," UCD case studies and testing methods themselves lack data or
standards of measure that include people with disabilities. Much of this
can be attributed to the reasons previously mentioned.

The ideal then is to broaden the scope of user inclusiveness by engaging
users with disabilities through a variety of usability testing methods
and iterative test cycles, including:

-   Participatory design

-   Rapid prototyping

-   Contextual inquiry

-   Critical incident reporting

-   Remote evaluation

To achieve this goal, we must create a user environment that easily and
effectively accommodates users with disabilities. Creating a web-based,
virtual usability testing center could be an answer. There are several
advantages to the employment of this facility. To list a few:

-   Able to conduct evaluations with representative users (disabled)

-   Internet/Web provide infrastructure for international and larger
    user base

-   Cost effective - travel, assistive technology

-   Expeditious accessibility usability reports back to industry

The advantages of remote evaluations and critical incident reporting are
also numerous:

-   Interviewer cannot influence subject

-   Subjects have same "experience"

-   Singular subject focus (subject to computer)

-   Third party evaluations possible

    -   Portable usability evaluation

-   User reported, form oriented (can be)

-   Well scripted, focused

-   Keyboard and Mouse tracking software (no voice yet)

-   Quick feedback mechanisms

-   Automated data collection

Additionally, remote evaluations and usability measurements can also be
captured using unattended and network subjective usability testing
methods, for example:

-   Live or collaborative remote evaluations via video conference
    (desktop/Web Cam)

-   Remote questionnaire or surveys

-   Remote control (computer to computer)

## Summary

To summarize, Emerging IT lacks accessibility focus - we must build
awareness. True user accessibility requires usability methodology based
on user centered design that requires investment in all users,
regardless of ability. This is the essence of user
inclusiveness/integration.

Remote evaluation usability provides the framework for disabilities
inclusion. Launching an international collaborative to create a virtual
usability center for accessibility on the web is a potential means for
ensuring accessibility of emerging electronic and information
technology.