Moving towards inclusive design guidelines for socially and ethically aware HCI

Most people acknowledge that personal computers have enormously enhanced the autonomy and communication capacity of people with special needs. The key factor for accessibility to these opportunities is the adequate design of the user interface which, consequently, has a high impact on the social lives of users with disabilities. The design of universally accessible interfaces has a positive effect over the socialisation of people with disabilities. People with sensory disabilities can profit from computers as a way of personal direct and remote communication. Personal computers can also assist people with severe motor impairments to manipulate their environment and to enhance their mobility by means of, for example, smart wheelchairs. In this way they can become more socially active and productive. Accessible interfaces have become so indispensable for personal autonomy and social inclusion that in several countries special legislation protects people from ‘digital exclusion’. To apply this legislation, inexperienced HCI designers can experience difficulties. They would greatly benefit from inclusive design guidelines in order to be able to implement the ‘design for all’ philosophy. In addition, they need clear criteria to avoid negative social and ethical impact on users. This paper analyses the benefits of the use of inclusive design guidelines in order to facilitate a universal design focus so that social exclusion is avoided. In addition, the need for ethical and social guidelines in order to avoid undesirable side effects for users is discussed. Finally, some preliminary examples of socially and ethically aware guidelines are proposed. q 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Interacting with Computers 17 (2005) 484–505 www.elsevier.com/locate/intcom 0953-5438/$ see front matter q 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.intcom.2005.03.002 * Corresponding author. E-mail address: julio.abascal@ehu.es (J. Abascal). J. Abascal, C. Nicolle / Interacting with Computers 17 (2005) 484–505 485 1. HCI and people with disabilities Most people living in developed countries have direct or indirect relationships with computers in diverse ways. In addition, there exist many tasks that could hardly be performed without computers, leading to a dependence on Information Technology. Moreover, people not having access to computers can suffer the effects of the so-called digital divide (Fitch, 2002), a new type of social exclusion. People with disabilities are one of the user groups with higher computer dependence because, for many of them, the computer is the only way to perform several vital tasks, such as personal and remote communication, control of the environment, assisted mobility, access to telematic networks and services, etc. Digital exclusion for disabled people means not having full access to a socially active and independent lifestyle. In this way, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is playing an important role in the provision of social opportunities to people with disabilities (Abascal and Civit, 2002). 2. HCI and social integration 2.1. Gaining access to computers Computers provide very effective solutions to help people with disabilities to enhance their social integration. For instance, people with severe speech and motor impairments have serious difficulties to communicate with other people and to perform common operations in their close environment (e.g. to handle objects). For them, computers are incredibly useful as alternative communication devices. Messages can be composed using special keyboards (Lesher et al., 1998), scanning with one or two switches, by means of eye tracking (Sibert and Jacob, 2000), etc. Current software techniques also allow the design of methods to enhance the message composition speed. For instance, Artificial Intelligence methods are frequently used to design word prediction aids to assist in the typing of text with minimum effort (Garay et al., 1997). Computers can also assist the disabled user to autonomously control the environment through wireless communication, to drive smart electric powered wheelchairs, to control assistive robotic arms, etc. What is more, the integration of all of these services allows people with disabilities using the same interface to perform all tasks in a similar way (Abascal and Civit, 2001a). This is possible because assistive technologists have devoted much effort to providing disabled people with devices and procedures to enhance or substitute their physical and cognitive functions in order to be able to gain access to computers (Cook and Hussey, 2002). 2.2. Using commercial software When the need of gaining access to a PC is solved, the user faces another problem due to difficulties in using commercial software. Many applications have been designed without taking into account that they can be used by people using Assistive Technology devices, and therefore they may have unnecessary barriers which impede the use of alternative interaction devices. J. Abascal, C. Nicolle / Interacting with Computers 17 (2005) 484–505 486 This is the case for one of the most promising application fields nowadays: the internet. A PC linked to a telematic network opens the door to new remote services that can be crucial for people with disabilities. Services such us tele-teaching, tele-care, tele-working, tele-shopping, etc., may enormously enhance their quality of life. These are just examples of the great interest of gaining access to services provided by means of computers for people with disabilities. However, if these services are not accessible, they are useless for people with disabilities. In addition, even if the services are accessible, that is, the users can actually perform the tasks they wish to, it is also important that users can perform those tasks easily, effectively and efficiently. Usability, therefore, is also a key requirement. 2.3. Social demand for accessibility and usability Two factors, among others, have greatly influenced the social demand for accessible computing. The first factor was the technological revolution produced by the availability of personal computers that became smaller, cheaper, lower in consumption, and easier to use than previous computing machines. In parallel, a social revolution has evolved as a result of the battle against social exclusion ever since disabled people became conscious of their rights and needs. The conjunction of computer technology in the form of inexpensive and powerful personal computers, with the struggle of people with disabilities towards autonomous life and social integration, produced the starting point of a new technological challenge. This trend has been also supported in some countries by laws that prevent technological exclusion of people with disabilities and favour the inclusive use of technology (e.g. the Americans with Disabilities Act in the United States and the Disability Discrimination Act in the United Kingdom). The next sections discuss how this situation influenced the design of user interfaces for people with disabilities. 3. User interfaces for people with disabilities With the popularity of personal computers many technicians realised that they could become an indispensable tool to assist people with disabilities for most necessary tasks. They soon discovered that a key issue was the availability of suitable user interfaces, due to the special requirements of these users. But the variety of needs and the wide diversity of physical, sensory and cognitive characteristics make the design of interfaces very complex. An interesting process has occurred whereby we have moved from a computer ‘patchwork’ situation to the adoption of more structured HCI methodologies. In the next sections, this process is briefly described, highlighting issues that can and should lead to inclusive design guidelines for socially and ethically aware HCI. 1 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Available at http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm, last accessed January 15, 2005. 2 Disabilty Discrimination Act (DDA). Available at http://www.disability.gov.uk/dda/index.html, last accessed January 15, 2005. J. Abascal, C. Nicolle / Interacting with Computers 17 (2005) 484–505 487 3.1. First approach: adaptation of existing systems For years, the main activity of people working in Assistive Technology was the adaptation of commercially available computers to the capabilities of users with disabilities. Existing computer interaction style was mainly based on a standard keyboard and mouse for input, and output was based on a screen for data, a printer for hard copy, and a ‘bell’ for some warnings and signals. This kind of interface takes for granted the fact that users have the following physical skills: enough sight capacity to read the screen, movement control and strength in the hands to handle the standard keyboard, coordination for mouse use, and also hearing capacity for audible warnings. In addition, cognitive capabilities to read, understand, reason, etc., were also assumed. When one or more of these skills were lacking, conscientious designers would try to substitute them by another capability, or an alternative way of communication. For instance, blind users could hear the content of the screen when it was read aloud by a textto-voice translator. Alternatively, output could be directed to a Braille printer, or matrix of pins. Thus, adaptation was done in the following way: first, detecting the barriers to gain access to the computer by a user or a group of users, and then, providing them with an alternative way based on the abilities and skills present in this group of users. This procedure often succeeded, producing very useful alternative ways to use computers. Nevertheless, some drawbacks were detected: † Lack of generality: the smaller the group of users the design is focused on, the better results were obtained. Therefore, different systems had to be designed to fit the needs of us