Programme of Events
Links to the presentations will be added to the website as they become available.
The conference will be held at Langwith College.
Monday 22nd September
The workshop will be held in the Upper Junior Common Room (JCR) of Langwith College.
- 9:00am - Registration (Upper Junior Common Room (JCR), Langwith College)
- Workshop:
- 10:00am - 4:30pm - An integrated approach to evaluating web accessibility – automated, manual and user based-based testing
Helen Petrie, Chris Power & David Swallow (University of York, UK)
Gerhard Weber (Technical University of Dresden, Germany)Building accessible sites that are vibrant, dynamic and very usable requires the deployment of good technologies and the careful evaluation. This workshop will discuss a variety of methods for testing web accessibility. Through practical exercises attendees will learn how to conduct automatic, manual and user testing.
- 10:00am - 4:30pm - An integrated approach to evaluating web accessibility – automated, manual and user based-based testing
- 6:00pm - Welcome drinks and Registration (Upper Junior Common Room (JCR), Langwith College)
Tuesday 23rd September
The sessions will be held in the Upper Junior Common Room (JCR) of Langwith College.
- 8:30am - Welcome
- Keynote presentation I
- 8:45am - Digital Stories: The Voice that Motivates Action
Mike Paciello (President, The Paciello Group, USA)Over a decade ago noted disability researcher and advocate Dr. Marcia Scherer coined the phrase, "Living in the state of stuck". Never could a phrase more accurately describe the current state of ICT accessibility. Why? Why, in spite of significant leaps in technology and the prevelance of accessibility laws, mandates and guidelines, do we only see miniscule improvements?
I contend that our primary challenge isn't the ability to enhance ICT for accessibility but rather our inability to clearly and effectively communicate -- on a number of levels -- the issues, concerns, and problems to be resolved. I believe to be greater influencers of change, we need to increase our voice and motivate action.
This presentation seeks to demonstrate how the use of Digital Stories -- short, meaningful and effective communication vignettes that clearly communicate the needs of users with disabilities -- are being used to increase voice, communicate need, and influence change.
- 8:45am - Digital Stories: The Voice that Motivates Action
- Web accessibility I – long term solutions and frameworks
- 9:30am - Towards a sustainable web accessibility
Giorgio Brajnik (University of Udine, Italy)Much uncertainty currently surrounds accessibility management, which hinders establishement of effective engineering processes. The paper discusses the role of accessibility models and outlines the key processes that could lead to sustainable accessibility practices.
- 10:00am - Redefining accessibility for a Web 2.0 World
Brian Kelly (UKOLN, UK) & David Sloan (University of Dundee, UK)This paper describes the evolution of a holistic, blended approach to Web accessibility, developed by researchers and practitioners in the UK as a framework for applying WCAG in policy and practice.
- 10:30am - Coffee break
- 11:00am - How web accessibility guidelines apply to design for the ageing population
Andrew Arch & Shadi Abou-Zhara (World Wide Web Consortium, France)An extensive literature review carried out through the WAI-AGE Project concludes that the W3C WAI Guidelines address the accessibility needs of older users as well as people with disabilities.
- 11:30am - Education and training for accessible web design
Jonathan Willson, Jenny Craven & Richard Eskins (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)The web access project is developing a European curriculum and study programme in accessible web design to raise the status and understanding of web accessibility through formal education and training.
- 12:00pm - Web Accessibility 3.0: Learning From The Past, Planning For The Future
Brian Kelly (UKOLN, UK) & Liddy Nevile (LaTrobe University, Australia)In this paper the authors think afresh about the problems of social inclusion and argue that "accessibility 3.0" must be very different from the WAI WCAG 1.0 and holistic accessibility approaches if it is ever to be effective.
- 12:30pm - WCAG2.0 - A new accessibility standard in a new millennium
David MacDonald (E-Ramp Inc., Canada – WCAG 2.0 committee invited expert)WCAG 2.0 is approaching candidate recommendation, written as technology independent to reflect the changes in the web, we will summarize the document and provide how's and why's behind some of the new concepts.
- 9:30am - Towards a sustainable web accessibility
- 1:00pm - Lunch break
- Keynote presentation II
- 2:00pm - Beyond guidelines – making accessibility business as usual in a large organisation
Graeme Whippy (LloydsTSB, UK)People often express frustration at large companies that apparently don’t “get it” when it comes accessibility. However, the truth is that making accessibility a business as usual practice in a large organisation can be complex and challenging as there’s more to it than simply following off the shelf accessibility guidelines. In this presentation I will explain how Lloyds TSB has moved beyond guidelines to become an “accessibility confident” organisation and some of the lessons we’ve learned along the way.
- 2:00pm - Beyond guidelines – making accessibility business as usual in a large organisation
- Web accessibility II – specific research issues and solutions
- 2:30pm - Barriers to accessibility for the small business
Suzette Keith (Middlesex University, UK)We reviewed source code for clues about how small business websites were created. The results suggest that ‘easy to use’ webhosting services and authoring tools are not yet supporting accessibility.
- 3:00pm - Colour contrast on the web
Chris Power, Helen Petrie & David Swallow (University of York, UK)Providing good contrast between text and background is important for good readability on the web, for both mainstream and various print disabled readers. A study investigating effective colour contrast is presented.
- 3:30pm - Coffee break
- 4:00pm - Effectively capturing the user experience: select the best methods for user testing of websites
Jenny Craven (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)Drawing on the experience of two research studies and other studies in the field, the paper will consider the most effective ways to conduct and report on the findings of user testing.
- 4:30pm - Accessibility for the unitiated
Mark Palmer (UserVision, UK)Mark will be relaying his experiences of providing training to site administrators and content editors who have no previous experience of accessibility and no real incentive to implement it, looking primarily at the challenges faced by users of content management systems and how to impress the need for accessibility upon these users.
- 5:00pm - I am part of society, but still an individual: a case study about challenges faced by individuals with mobility impairments
Marde Greeff (Meraka Institute, South Africa) & Paula Kotze* (Meraka Institute and University of South Africa, South Africa)The paper focuses on experiences and lessons learned during the usability evaluation, by users with comparable mobility impairments, of an adaptable web portal intended for the entire disability community.
- 2:30pm - Barriers to accessibility for the small business
- Evening - Conference Dinner (St. Williams College, York)
- 6:30pm - Drinks
- 7:30pm - Dinner
Wednesday 24th September
- Keynote presentation III
- 8:30am - Relative Confusion
Alan Newell (University of Dundee, UK) & Maggie Morgan (MM Training, Dundee, UK)A professionally produced narrative video addressing the challenges older people find with technology will be followed by an interactive discussion between the audience, the authors, and a character from the video, to illustrate the use theatre techniques within the design process.
- 8:30am - Relative Confusion
- SESSION A: Concepts, models and theories in accessibility
- 9:30am - Making accessibility accessible
Matthew Atkinson*, Colin Machin (University of Loughborough, UK) & David Sloan (University of Dundee, UK)The need for adaptive design is now understood well, however there are still significant barriers to mainstream adoption of assistive technologies. We reflect on how, together, the AT community can help.
- 10:00am - Modelling user interfaces for special needs
Pradipta Biswas & Peter Robinson (University of Cambridge, UK)We are developing a simulator to help with the design and evaluation of assistive interfaces. In this paper, we have discussed the modelling of visual impairments in the perception model of our simulator.
- 10:30am - Coffee break
- 11:00am - Quality of Experience (QoE) – a chance for accessibility and inclusiveness
Ulrich Reiter (NTNU Trondheim, Norway)The shift of paradigm from Quality of Service (QoS) to Quality of Experience (QoE) in the evaluation of multimedia and communication systems’ quality offers the chance to include individual user models and perceptual situations.
- 11:30am - Applying best practice in accessibility and design in the real world
Gill Whitney (Middlesex University)This paper describes the role that the standardisation process has and will have in the future in identifying and spreading best practise in accessible design.
- 12:00pm - The influence of screen readers on web cognition
Tony Stockman & Oussama Metatla (Queen Mary College, University of London, UK)We report on findings from a survey and an individual and collaborative task-based study to discuss web cognition as experienced by blind users employing screen readers for web interaction.
- 9:30am - Making accessibility accessible
- SESSION B: Education and accessibility
- 9:30am - Reflections on the value of participatory research methods in developing accessible design in higher education
Jane Seale*, Mike Wald & E.A. Draffan (University of Southampton, UK)This paper will reflect on the authors' experience of running the JISC funded LEXDIS project, which used participatory methods to explore the e-learning experiences of disabled learners in Higher Education.
- 10:00am - Requirements for e-services for disabled and older students in further and higher education
Helen Petrie, Chris Power & David Swallow (University of York, UK)
Sharon Bostick (University of Missouri)Higher and further education institutions are rapidly moving towards blended and online learning. Such developments provide interesting opportunities but also substantial barriers to students and staff with disabilities. This paper presents results of two online surveys, one of students with disabilities and one of staff, which explored their experiences in relation to blended learning.
- 10:30am - Coffee break
- 11:00am - Accessible multimedia exams for blind students
Emilia Persoon (Dedicon, The Netherlands)The introduction of computer-based exams in secondary education in the Netherlands calls for the adaptation of new types of assignments. An overview of the first field test with blind candidates will be presented.
- 11:30am - A toolkit for signposting “access for all” based on student experiences of online teaching and learning practices
E.A. Draffan, Mike Wald & Jane Seale (University of Southampton, UK)The LexDis Project has resulted in a flexible toolkit for the creation of alternative formats for disabled students, as well as the development of accessible multimedia and on-line learning materials.
- 12:00pm - Adaptive accessible design as input for runtime personalization in standard-based eLearning scenarios
Olga Santos* & Jesus Boticario (UNED, Spain)We present a recommendations model that can support the definition of recommendations in lifelong learning inclusive scenarios that aims to improve the learning efficiency and the user satisfaction.
- 9:30am - Reflections on the value of participatory research methods in developing accessible design in higher education
- Keynote presentation IV
- 12:30pm - The Case for Prosumerism: The Need to Enable Creativity
Kevin Carey (Director, HumanITy, UK)Toffler (1980) posits the digital "Prosumer". The disability sector has reflected public policy and expenditure, concentrating on accessing and processing, but should extend this to creativity.
- 12:30pm - The Case for Prosumerism: The Need to Enable Creativity
- 1:00pm - Lunch break
- SESSION C: The fun stuff: Music, art and games
- 2:00pm - Contrapuntus: Improving the provision of Braille Music across Europe
Neil McKenzie and David Crombie (Dedicon, The Netherlands)CONTRAPUNCTUS is a European project which aims to improve access to Braille Music. It harnesses existing technologies and services and offers a digital process and workflow for Braille Music delivery.
- 2:30pm - Art – an accessibility issue
Romain Clair*, Nicolas Monmarche, Mohamed Slimane (University Francois Rabelais, France)Suggesting art is an important issue for impaired people, we will describe how computers can provide access to new forms of artistic creation for most people.
- 3:00pm - Inclusive technology and community music
Ben Challis & Rob Smith (Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries, UK)A prototype accessible musical ‘instrument’ has been developed for use within community music and improvisation. The rationale behind the project will be discussed along with reflections on our preliminary findings from user testing.
- 3:30pm - Coffee break
- 4:00pm - I-Maestro: Making music tuition technologies accessible
Neil McKenzie & David Crombie (Dedicon, The Netherlands)I-Maestro investigates the use of technology in music education. It provides technological support for traditional methods of teaching. This paper presents the accessibility components of the project.
- 4:30pm - Usability evaluation of accessible games: the adaptation of the heuristic evaluation for accessible games
Roland Ossman, Bernhard Stoger & Klaus Miesenberger (University of Linz, Austria)This work will present a fast, easy to use and cost efficient testing method for accessible computer games. This was fulfilled by an adaptation of Jakob Nielsen’s heuristic evaluation.
- 5:00pm - Making the two-handed interfaces accessible for the one-handed user by using motion sensors
Hamed Hemeda Sad & Franck Poirier (University of Bretagne-Sud, France)Motion sensors, such as tilt sensors and accelerometers, have been used in interaction design in recent years. Their use is usually restricted to simple arrangement as orientation detection and simple scrolling. The purpose of this work is to explore the capabilities of accelerometers that can be exploited in interaction design. Currently, most hand-held device interfaces are based on the stylus and the touch screen. On these interfaces, the user uses the two hands: one for holding the device and the other for controlling the stylus. We study the possibility of using the acceleration based tilt sensor to do the tasks we usually do with the stylus, or direct hand touching, but in using only one hand. In addition to making the interfaces accessible for one-handed users, using one hand doesn’t hide a part of the small screen on handheld devices.
- 2:00pm - Contrapuntus: Improving the provision of Braille Music across Europe
- SESSION D: Information access and convergence
- 2:00pm - Information by design: the design of content
Jenny Darzentas (University of the Aegean, Greece)This reflective paper will discuss the deliberate designing of content to address issues of usability, accessibility and meaningfulness, drawing in work from areas that are not normally part of ‘accessibility’.
- 2:30pm - Integration of Accessible Documents into Digital Libraries of Tomorrow
Gerhard Weber & Alexander Haffner (Technical University of Dresden, Germany)Distribution of digital books is still using traditional channels for distribution. We have developed two different approaches towards a client/server distribution model for an accessible digital library either based on extending DAISY or by extending the MultiReader format.
- 3:00pm - The medically literate patient: the need for a Design for All approach
Jenny & John Darzentas (University of the Aegean, Greece)This paper reviews research carried out, and actual practice, in the area of health education and patient information provision. A Design for All approach may help to prevent some of the problems that are presently attributed to low patient literacy.
- 3:30pm - Coffee break
- 4:00pm - Contextual information system for urban orientation of sighted and non-sighted users
Jason Stewart, Jakob Hilden, Michelle Escobar*, Kumud Bihani, Sara Baumann, & Mark W. Newman (University of Michigan, USA)Talking Points is a community-maintained mobile urban orientation system for sighted and visually impaired individuals based on the idea that an individual's walking journey can be enhanced by unobtrusively providing contextualized information about points of interest (POIs) along their route.
- 4:30pm - ENABLE: Helping elderly people to an independent life
Stefan Parker, Helmut Sonntag, Gerhard Nussbaum, & Franz Puhretmair (KI-I, Linz, Austria)This paper introduces the EC-funded ENABLE project, with the idea of enabling elderly people to live well, independently and at ease. Special focus will be the initial user survey and the ECS.
- 5:00pm - User involvement in the development of an electronic assistive technology produce
Simon Judge, Mark Hawley & Zoe Robertson (Barnsley Hospital, UK)This paper presents the user involvement and user led design of a new speech driven Environmental Control - a high tech piece of Electronic Assistive Technology.
- 2:00pm - Information by design: the design of content
- 5:30pm - Closing Session
- 6:00pm - Close
* Presenter confirmed