Philosophy of HCI. Self-Assessment and Tools Used

What I’ve learned from “Philosophy of HCI” course:

I must admit that out of all components of the course I liked the discussion part the most. As a person who likes to “take sides” it was very exciting to listen to other people opinions that were also well-reasoned and sound and came from professionals working in IT-sector or related field. I guess this was the biggest lesson I’ve learnt — there can be two absolutely different opinions and each will be quite legit in it’s own way.

By chance, flow of the course overlapped with some readings (“The circle” novel), TV-series (“Black Mirror”) and movies (“Transcendence”, “Her”) related to the technology and it’s role in our lives. Naturally, as with every artistic artefact, narration of all those pieces was building on expression of a solid and often quite one-sided opinion about the issue. And of course after finishing a book or another episode, I wanted to discuss it, hear other people opinions and share mine.
It was quite refreshing and interesting to come back to those topics during the lectures, because participants were less biased and I could compare two parallel discussions that were unwrapping simultaneously in my life — one in academic setting and one in my personal life, “kitchen-philosophy” as we call it in Russian (referring to national habit of drinking tea (or else) in the kitchen for hours while speculating on various philosophical, moral and ethical topics).

I feel like what made our lessons unique is the fact that there were no censorship or “right” and “wrong” answers and therefore everyone got to express personal opinion as well as learn something from opinions of other students. I often found myself continuing inner dialogue with somebody from my class even hours or days after the lecture (while also challenging my friends and loved ones to the same discussion in order to confirm that I was right and my point of view is more genuine).

I might add that now, when the course is over, I often wish to experience this atmosphere again, especially when I stumble upon some new interesting topics that we haven’t discussed because of time limits or those being out of the course’s scope. I am sure some of those subjects would become a topic-starters for very exciting and controversial polemics and could give another fair share of food for thoughts.

The tools I’ve used:

When I started to recall “tools” that I’ve used throughout the course I came to realisation that I actually used very little physical tools. Basically two: my desktop computer to write down the “experiencements” and my smartphone to sketch some thoughts and to seek/check information on certain topics during the lectures. I also used my iPhone for experiencement that included collecting photos, because I opted for doing and collecting my own photos rather then collecting ready-made pictures from internet.
I was planning to use iPad for taking notes during the lecturing parts of our classes, but I lost interest quite soon because listening to the actual lecture was way more productive than taking dry notes.
I am not a big fan of “old school” tools as pen and notebook since my handwriting is awful and once I forget the context of the lecture I fail to understand my own notes.

When it comes to a non physical tools, there were plenty.
I have a habit of writing everything in notepad before posting it to blog or mail or anything, this way I feel more freedom and also a little bit more save from accidental posting or mailing half-finished draft. So I guess a TextEdit application for Mac was one of my primary tools.

Since we had several home tasks I decided to go for the blogging format and post them on WordPress platform that I host my study blog on. This worked quite well because I like to keep everything study related in my blog plus, even if for a moment, it got a little bit more alive compared to the winter period of stagnation. It also had some pre-ready tags from last semesters that I could use for tagging content and familiar layout, so no urge to use a new platform or opt for e-mailing home assignments etc.

I’ve used Instagram for experiencements related to visuals and collecting photos and it was one of my favourite home assignments because it let me to continue doing what I was already doing (make a photo that somehow summarise my day or happy moment etc) but look at this process from another angle and try some other approaches (like instead of making literal illustrations of the day try to capture it’s metaphorical essence and build a narrative based on that).

I gladly used Facebook group and to be honest I feel sorry that people were less active that one could expect. But in practical sense it was really nice tool both for reaching out for your colleagues and for following course progress (in case of missed lectures). In missed lecture case it also helped me to feel like I’m still participating in a class a bit while sitting at home with severe flu, but posting to the group simultaneously with my colleagues who were sitting in the university in a very same moment.

Experiencement 4

Before starting to reflect on Experiencement 2 I must admit it was one of my favourite assignments of the course, since it addressed the whole set of different dimensions of perception: at the first sight it was absolutely visual but there was also a narrative hidden in the pictures and partially an artistic potential of self-expression (because no matter how practical the selection might be in someone cases, it’s still a creation process).

When selecting pictures I mostly was led by the inner feeling that a certain pictures go together (not aesthetic wise, but message wise) and that they fit the diary concept and compose some kind of narrative. The process, of course, wasn’t about literal illustration of “how I spent my last two weeks” but rather tried to reflect my own perception of this 2-week period of my life. Therefore the final collage probably makes zero sense to the outer viewer, but it sure makes sense to me — and since it’s visual diary(so something kept for yourself in the first place), I think it’s quite OK.

I use Instagram for the same purpose, but in a more literal way, so the experience wasn’t new for me. But the feeling of being able to select pictures without thinking about the “message” that is sent to the final audience — this was new.
Usually, when it comes to posting pictures, social networks calibrate us for inner dialogue with multiple people and it gets reflected on the visual content that we post and produce ( because with this set of mind pictures are often selected as some kind of topic starters, something that evokes interest and discussion urge in audience), but this time it was different —  I was free of that inner pressure since initially I was my own audience.

Philosophy of HCI: Moral (or sentimental) artefacts

Before writing this post, I was doubtful about what is exactly “moral artefact” — since the classical definition of “moral” concept deals with phenomena that is “concerned with the principles of right and wrong behaviour” (thank you, wiki!) and so it implies passive judging while also somehow linking it to the ICT field. So I re-phrased it for me as “sentimental artefact” — the digital (or physical, but facilitating interaction with digital) artefact that I perceive beyond it’s functional attributes. (for example I use the alarm clock as functional artefact, but if I ask Siri to call someone while I’m driving, there is a hint of sentimental relationship beyond this rational interaction)

Initially,I wanted to list each and every moral artefact separately, but then I came to realisation that some of them actually have one thing in common —my iPhone. So, without any doubts, the main moral artefact in my life is my smartphone.

Funny enough, I don’t use my phone as real phone that much — it is always in silent mode and I don’t respond to the call, if the number is unfamiliar to me. Actually I rarely do any calls at all. I also don’t really use SMS or MMS feature, because I use Facebook chats and WhatsApp for text communication… so why is my phone so important?

First of all it’s chatting and communication via WhatsApp.

During last year I have established new sort of communication style, which is pretty much “endless chat” with few of my friends. This doesn’t mean literally endless chatting, of course, but with time our communication format has changed from episodes to an endless flow: we don’t say “hi” or “bye” anymore, we don’t excuse ourselves if we were absent for couple of hours… we just talk though the day, day by day and week by week.

Why is it moral artefact to me? In some sense it feels like being telepathically linked to someone, because you feel this connection 24/7, even when your phone is silent. It gives the sense of being loved and being cared about and when I can’t catch up with my friends during the week because of being busy it still gives the feeling of attachment and participation.

Another moral artefact is the one that supports my artsy side and one that I am extremely attached to — Instagram.

It started as an extension to my photographer’s ambitions and with time grew in some sort of a project meant to share at least one beautiful/positive/meaningful thing that happened to me during the day: a good sketch, or a nice meal with friends, or coffee at mom’s place or traveling somewhere… It’s sort of a visual diary that you share with the world on a daily basis.

It also has a nostalgic function — when I get sad or tired or demotivated, I start to scroll back and remember all the happy moments and it gives me a reason to go on.

To sum up, my phone gives me the luxury of of knowing where I am, what is my plan for the day, gives me the opportunity to document anything I need and to connect with anyone I want to connect… my moral attachment to this device is endless and I am not ashamed to admit it.

Another moral artefact is the diary of my Master Thesis progress.

It was initially started as part of academic research to which I was happy to contribute but with time, I developed a personal interest in maintaining this blog (meaning if the research would be stopped for some reason, I would still continue to write the diary just for myself).

It helps me to stay unbiased about my work and to actually see my progress and how fast/slow I am moving with writing. Surprisingly, it also helps me to interact with my supervisors — when we negotiate the meetings I always have the best reasoning about the date of our last meeting and what we ere doing/planning to do during those hours.

I also have little silly motivating image of me writing the last post to the diary on a day of my graduation. No matter how naive it is, it helps me to continue my MT work.

There are of course a lot of other moral artefacts that come unnoticed or too small and trivial to list, so I’m stopping myself here and hoping I got the task right.

Phylosophy of HCI: “Experiencement” 1, Gaps of inactivity.

My relation towards so-called “gaps of inactivity” has been changing for several times during last few years and sliding from complete frustration to acceptance: I disliked it, I tried to find something to like in it, I’ve tried to enjoy being unproductive and then I’ve tried to be productive as much as I can and as my surroundings allow me to.
Currently I am somewhere in between, depending on the type of inactivity gap, conditions and duration of the event.

Apparently I have some time of so-called ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) because my attention spans are really short and I constantly need to switch and distribute my attention between several objects. Considering this, short gaps of inactivity (like riding in elevator, waiting for the tram, riding one short stop in a bus etc. 2-5 min activities) used to drive me crazy because I had to do nothing without possibility to jangle with mind-tasks or any activities.
Since I basically have my fingers sticked to the mobile phone all the time, I decided to turn those gaps into small activities and perform stuff I keep postponing, because it’s somehow unpleasant for me. Writing a formal answer or “thank you” letter, making a doctor/dentist appointment, cancelling a meeting etc. It would take me hours of procrastination in a usual home setting to pick up the phone and make the call or write a letter, but in a limited time frame I have no time to reflect — there is a simple goal to make the task done during next 3 minutes, and this rush eases the tension and anxiety.

So my small gaps are now productive and keep my mind busy.

Medium duration gaps are nice to experience “as is” and I can handle them with no problems. Those are 30-40 min runs, meditation during yoga class, time before sleep etc — I reflect on some life episodes, plan some future activities etc.
I have no urge to play with my mobile phone, so those are my favourite times in some sense.

Long gaps, such as time in a plane, bus or train are pretty rare and I try to make them rather busy but in other way. I don’t say “productive” deliberately, because I don’t produce anything during those long hours of inactivity, I mostly consume.
But if I consume, I pick some activity that I would not experience in any other circumstances: movie, which is too shallow to go to a cinema for, optional but educational book, or oppositely cheesy book I would never spend my time on in a “real” life.

Of course, sometimes I can fall into mind-wondering and spend hour reflecting on some thoughts without really noticing it, so the whole system of activities is not something I do as a rule, but rather as a set of habits that I became aware of.

Despite the fact that I’ve mentioned “before going to sleep” as a mid-duration gap of inactivity, I suppose it doesn’t really belong there. Gaps of inactivity usually are uncontrollable events that are given by circumstances and controlled by random chance. Time of rest is deliberate slot of inactivity and excludes the inner urge to “kill time” or use it somehow productively.

Practice Report

My University practice project was a work as a graphic designer on “Touch the Exchange” project, which is a physical installation located in an environment of new study library of Astra Building in Tallinn University and it’s aimed to create innovative and creative way to introduce the scope of international activities of Tallinn University as a multicultural education unit. The practical use of the project is to introduce mobility possibilities for university students, researchers, teaching staff and non-academic staff. Application as well will serve as a branding tool showed university guest and therefore has to be both user-friendly and aesthetically attractive.

Application contains united data from all academic units and funds that deal with international mobility, education and exchange, providing introductory information about partner universities, scholarship application processes and on-site orientation. There is a possibility to favoriting data that might be useful and later sending this data to personal e-mail as well as contacting scholarship program representative in case there are any questions.

Since main target audience is consists of a multicultural student group, all information is provided in English…

…Final Practice Report is available here.

Design for All. Opportunities and Threats Workshop

Introduction

In this Workshop I decided not to concentrate on major disabilities, since they will most like get a lot of attention from other course members, but to pick a minor disability which, despite being almost completely unnoticeable to others, can be very upsetting and life changing for it’s bearer.

The persona for this task is myself, as I suffer from CTS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) for almost three year and my life has changed quite a bit since then. Despite various needs that were affected and problems caused by the CTS condition my main goal remains the same for all three years — do everything to avoid, or, at least postpone the surgery of carpal tunnel of my right hand.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome —  a condition in which there is excessive pressure on the median nerve. This is the nerve in the wrist that allows feeling and movement to parts of the hand. Carpal tunnel syndrome can lead to numbness, tingling, weakness, or muscle damage in the hand and fingers. (A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopaedia.)

In other world CTS is liming wrist and hand mobility. In some cases only fingers and wrist are affected, in some — wrist to elbow (my case) and in more severe conditions — wrist to shoulder. Usually the first to be affected is “work-hand” whether it’s right for right-handed people or left for lefties.

Most common reason for getting CTS is exposure to hand-arm vibrations and exposure to a combination of repetitive hand use and the use of hand force may be causal agents. ( Palmer KT, Harris EC, Coggon D, Occup Med, 2007)
In other words people who use their wrists and hands on daily basis are more vulnerable to this condition, than others. This includes people working with computers, typing machines, drivers, sewing industry etc.

Abilities affected in the first place are the Reach&Stretch and Dexterity.
People loose partial control over affected hand, fine motor skills as well as wrist and fingers flexibility. This affects their life dramatically since this means limiting or quitting some sports (like tennis, heavy lifting etc), daily discomfort on a routine basis (opening bottle of water, opening heavy doors, turning key in a stiff keyhole) and constant dull pain in the wrist as a result of this discomfort.

Treatment of CTS and taking it under control

In some cases, CTS will improve after a few months without treatment. Moving your hand or shaking your wrist can often help relieve the symptoms. When sleeping, hanging the affected arm over the side of the bed can also help.

There are also chronic stages of CTS and each can be treated in different ways.
In mild to moderate cases of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), treatments such as wrist splints and corticosteroid injections are often recommended. (HNS.com)
There are numerous designs on wrist splints available on the market and each can find one that suits his need and comfort level the best. There are splints that need to be worn all day long or can be worn only during the night time. (side effect of CPS is so-called “graphospasmus” or “violin player” pose, when during the night wrist curls and bends towards the hand, as the person is going to play a violin. This causes more pressure on the nerve and therefore hand needs to be fixated in the wrist in order not to bend)

Surgery is usually only recommended for severe cases of CTS, when symptoms last for more than six months or other treatments have not been effective, or when chronic condition starts to get worse and affect person lifestyle.
Surgery for CTS is known as carpal tunnel decompression or carpal tunnel release surgery and is performed on an outpatient basis, which means you will not have to stay in hospital overnight. During surgery the roof of the carpal tunnel, known as the carpal ligament, is cut to reduce pressure on the median nerve in the wrist. (HNS.com)

Hand and wrist exercises may help to ease the symptoms of CTS and postpone the operation and as well prevent the disease and reduce the risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome. Isometric and stretching exercises can strengthen the muscles in the wrists and hands, as well as in the neck and shoulders, improving blood flow to these areas. Performing the simple exercises described below for 4 – 5 minutes every hour may be helpful.

Possible solution for IT sector workers

With the development of technology more and more people start to use computers on a daily basis. For the majority of those, working with computer is their not the matter of choice but their occupation and the way of providing to their families.
Interacting regularly with computer keyboard, digital tablet or mouse can cause CTS or make the existing disease to worsen.

One of the most effective, inexpensive and effortless methods to prevent CTS development and/or progression is wrist exercising every hour or every two hours, depending on occupancy and level of the CTS.
There are various methodologies of exercising which mostly include systematic extending, stretching, bending and swirling wrists for 5-10 minutes. Sometimes additional equipment such as soft rubber ball or side of the table can be used.

(image credit: Clinical Reference Systems)

The problem with this method is only one simple issue — people tend to forget.
There is always something that needs our attention, we tend to postpone things and despite that we know we need to perform certain activities regularly in order to benefit from them, we end up forgetting about those.

In order to avoid it I came with a potentially helpful solution — computer application that can be set to a certain time period and by the end of this period the computer goes to block and asks user to perform several exercises. The duration of one session might vary from 5 to 10 minutes and several sessions should be performed during the day.

The control over exercising is conducted over motion-sensor such as Kinect, Leap Motion or other motion sensing input devices. Additionally, a computer mouse can be user to perform “drawing” wrists exercises on the table surface.
After all exercises are finished and the estimated time is over computer goes back to the working mode.

Conclusion

Despite surgery being the most effective treatment for severe cases of CTS, I feel that each has to do whatever it is in their powers to postpone the surgery and/or injections/taking medications since they have a list of side-effects and give great amount of stress on kidneys and liver.
Relieving the symptoms and preventing the disease itself in ICT sector can be achieved by regularly performed series of exercises and offered solution can be developed into well functioning system, helping to benefit from series of simple motor tasks.

References

1. A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia. (2013) A.D.A.M., Inc.

2. Palmer KT, Harris EC, Coggon D, Occup Med (Lond). 2007. Review Carpal tunnel syndrome and its relation to occupation: a systematic literature review. Jan; 57(1):57-66.

3. NHS Choises, 2012. Treating carpal tunnel syndrome.
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Carpal-tunnel-syndrome/Pages/Treatment.aspx

4. Thomsen JF, Gerr F, Atroshi I. Carpal tunnel syndrome and the use of computer mouse and keyboard: a systematic review. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2008 Oct6;9:134

5. Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc. (2007)  Carpal tunnel syndrome. University of Maryland Medical Centre.

Design for All | Inclusive Tourism Essay

“Inclusive Tourism” Essay for Design for All Course

 Darja Tokranova

HCI Master Program, Institute of Informatics, Tallinn University, Estonia

Introduction

As a person who travels a lot I have had very different experiences during my trips. Traveling usually has a variety of aspects which can ether complicate life or, on a contrary, make it a lot more easier. Considering the fact that even a healthy and fully capable person sometimes gets confused, mislead and mistaken during the trips, it isn’t hard to imagine how challenging the traveling process can be for someone with disabilities.

My personal experience of traveling both with and without disabled person makes it easy to compare both cases and reflect on a certain issues that I have faced during those trips.

Here’s when a term of “Inclusive Tourism” comes into the game. Inclusive, or, accessible tourism is ongoing trend that aims on tourist destinations, accommodations, attractions and services to be available to everyone regardless of their physical capabilities or limitations. In the end, accessible tourism benefits everyone because more people can use the opportunity to travel and therefore the industry has more income, tourist attractions get more visitors and become less reliant on seasonal tides of activity and more job opportunities on a tourist market occur as a result.

What exactly is “Inclusive tourism”?

According to ENAT, the European Network for Accessible Tourism, as of 2008, there were more than 50 million persons with disabilities in Europe, and more than 600 million around the world. When expanded to include all beneficiaries of accessible tourism, as defined above, the number grows to some 130 million people affected in Europe alone. (ENAT, 2008)

Inclusive tourism, also termed as “barrier-free” or “accessible” tourism, is a form of tourism that aspires to ensure that holiday destinations, as well as related products and services are inclusive of everybody — regardless of impairment (Anne-Marie Callus, Gordon C. Cardona; 2013).

In other worlds it is the same tourist industry which is aware and using 7 Principles of Universal Design (by Ronald L. Mace) and makes an effort on doing visiting experience equally accessible and positive to everybody.

Accessibility deals with a lot of aspects yet the most common one is of course physical access. The vast majority of accessibility issues have something to do with touristic attractions or services lacking physical access and therefore affecting tourist experience in a very unpleasant way. This is both upsetting for a tourist as a client and as well for a tourist attraction as a service provider, since not disabled person nor relatives or people assisting this person won’t be coming back to the spot, where that had a negative experience, again.

The United Nations estimates that there are over 10 million disabled people living worldwide. With advancement in medicine and provided healthcare people are living longer. However, longer life expectancy doesn’t necessarily mean an impairment-free life, with the number of disabled people, especially among senior citizens, set to rise. There is therefore a lot of untapped potential in making holidays accessible to all, even more so when one considers that most people don’t holiday on their own (Anne-Marie Callus, Gordon C. Cardona; 2013.)

Inclusive tourism involves a circle of interdependencies, communication and interaction between travellers, tourist industry professionals, policy makers, designers and builders, as a stakeholders in the best possible outcome for all. That outcome is the service of high quality that is predictable and understandable by a customer. (Scott Rains,2009).

In addition to the social benefits, the market represents an opportunity for new investment and new service requirements, rarely provided by key players in the tourism sector.

To sum it up, inclusive tourism is an industry phenomena that benefits everyone in moral and ethical, financial and cultural aspects and therefore deserves a lot more attention from the society.

Existing problems and сhallenges

Each of us encountered various problems during the trips and travels, ether during orientation in transport terminals, long walks in the cities or challenging activities that required a lot more physical effort that we were initially prepared for. It’s not hard to guess that people with disabilities experience all of the above in a very magnified manner and deal with a lot more problems that we can imagine. Everyday and routine tasks can be challenging and hard to perform, not to mention some non/daily activities.

According to disabled-world.com, specific problems found by the disabled tourist when booking a holiday include:

• Lack of well-adapted hotel rooms
• Lack of accessible airport transfer
• Lack of wheelchair accessible vehicles
• Lack of accessible restaurants, bars, etc.
• Inaccessible, or only partly accessible, web sites
• Lack of adapted toilets in restaurants and public places
• Inaccessible streets (cars parking on the sidewalk, etc.)
• Lack of professional staff capable of informing and advising about accessibility issues
• Lack of disability equipment (wheelchairs, bath chairs, toilet raisers, electric scooters)
• Lack of reliable information about a specific attraction’s level of accessibility (church, castle, exhibition, etc.)

There are as well places inaccessible to mobility devices users because of their hardly adjustable nature, such as hiking trails in some national parks, steep and narrow staircases in old buildings and other constructions which are quite challenging even for a fully capable person.

Despite of that, majority or attractions, accommodation and entertainment services can be adjusted to provide a decent level of accessibility to everyone.

Issues to be addresed

Mobility and motor function disorders
When talking about accessibility first thing that comes to mind is a mobility and motor system issues and therefore, inclusive design for access of wheelchairs, automatic scooters, canes and walkers. The use of mobility devices has grown in recent years (LaPlante, Hendershot, and Moss, 1992), with the populations using wheelchairs and walkers doubling from 1980 to 1990. The nature of the devices makes the person’s disability obvious and visible and they have even become the symbol of the concept of disability, therefore this group is the first one who’s interests are usually catered in all industries, including tourist industry.

The issue is relatively well covered if to be compared with other disabilities. There are numerous websites dedicated to organisation and providing information about accessible tourist venues as well as organising “wheelchair friendly holidays” travel agencies (for example, UK based agency http://www.disabledaccessholidays.com/, specialising on European and Caribbean holiday destinations or US based agency http://www.disabilitytravel.com/, working with more exotic locations like Russia, Peru, Chile and US homeland).

When traveling in this fashion, mobility device user knows what to expect and ensured that he will get the exact amount of access to the tourist spots and services he was promised and the staff responsible for the organisation is well aware of person’s mobility issues.

To solve the problem of access to wheelchair users on sight it is usually enough to install wide ramps or staircase skids for mobility devices and provide elevators to the spots where ramps are not an option ether because of limited space or long distance. Automatic doors has now became common and now can hardly be viewed as equipment specially addressing accessibility problem.

Vision, speech or hearing impairment 
People with vision, speech and hearing impairments as well represent quite a big social group.
For example, more than a 5 millions people in US have troubles wither with hearing, speech or vision. Among those 1 million unable to hear conversation, 1.8 million unable to see printed words, 2.5 million have difficulty having their speech understood. (B. Ability, 2011)).

The most challenging part of the journey for this group is orientation in transportation terminal and usage of transportation services. For improving their travel experience various methods and practices are to be used in order to provide this group with safe and enjoyable journey. Most common ones are:

• Meeting and Assisting in the airport upon arrival.
• Visual Aids for hassle free check-in to ensure understanding of safety regulations.
• Staff, capable of articulation for lip-reading, providing tools for those who prefer communicate with writing or prepared to speak louder.
• Flight arrival and departure screens are visible throughout the airport terminal and are kept up-to-date with any flight time or gate changes – announcements with this information are also made for vision impaired guests.
• Letting airport and aircraft staff know about any of impairments, so the crew would be aware of person’s location in the aircraft.
• Braille and large print safety instruction manuals onboard aircraft.

(http://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/plan/special-needs-assistance/vision-hearing-impairments/)

When on location, it is important for person with hearing, vision or speech disabilities to communicate effectively with people who can provide help or information, such as store personnel, bus drivers, police, and pedestrians.

For example, one useful communication technique is to use a card with a message written on it. For example, to communicate the need to get across a street, deaf and blind people can use a street-crossing card:

Many newer digital hearing aids can be re-programmed to magnify speech and eliminate background noise, which can make it more difficult to identify and localise traffic sounds and other environmental “orientation clues” during the trips.  (D. Sauerburger, 2013).

For visual impaired people, Braille print is currently becomes widely used in travel venues, hotels and attractions as well as possibility of renting an audio guide with improved sound quality and it’s adjustment is gaining popularity even among non-impaired users.

Long canes are also widely in use, allowing them to communicate with the surrounding and feel the obstacles that are on their way. They can be taken to the aircraft from home as well as rented on sight in some destinations.

Guide dogs can help people with a visual impairment get around, providing both a sense of independence and companionship. During the trip, guide dogs are allowed to cabin by the most of aircraft companies.

Bright lightning in hotel rooms and rented apartments helps people with partially existing vision to orientate in a closed space better. They are especially important in the areas with higher level of possible traumas, such as staircases or kitchen. Despite speculative talks that this move will rase the price of electricity, fluorescent bulbs produce the most light and tend to be cheaper in the long term than conventional bulbs.

There are currently GPS technologies that are accessible for use of blind people. GPS devices are available as stand-alone units that can be programmed using a Braille keyboard, which tell person his current location and directions to where he-she wishes to go. (NHS.uk, 20013)

Moral aspect of Inclusive Tourism
Besides taking care of the physical aspects of the inclusive tourism, it is also important to keep in mind ethical side of the question. People with disabilities often being treated with a wrong attitude from staff, who is making person they interact with to feel uncomfortable and awkward.

To avoid that, staff and personnel which is directly or passively involved into providing disabled tourists with a services need to have a basic training in how to carry themselves in order to be able to provide corresponding quality of services to their disabled clients on a level that would meet their expectations and wishes. (Anne-Marie Callus, Gordon C. Cardona; 2013.)

It is also important to provide all possible information about the level of accessibility of a certain service, facility or attraction on a company website which can be checked by potential clients and who will be more likely to visit the attraction once they are know what to expect from it. It reduces the level of unexpected problems as well as prepares a client for upcoming experience.

Conclusion

During last few years the level of attention to the problem of inclusive tourism has indeed been raised.

More and more hotels consider 7 Principles of Universal Design when doing re-construction of their amenities, travel agencies provide special tours for handicapped people, several airlines offer special services on-board for disabled people and some even start to pay attention to the most complicated cases of disabilities such as cognitive disabilities (for example, australian airline Northwest), not to mention tourist spots which are only about to be constructed and most likely will have good coverage of accessibility problem.

But inclusive tourism doesn’t only include official services, companies and businesses.
When going on vacation inclusive tourism can be also part of our job, as a fellow-tourists, to provide people around us with empathy, positive attitude and readiness to help and assist. This is exactly the case when by making little things all of us can make one big thing to happen — include and accept people around us as they are and share the joy of journey with each and every.

References.

1. Anne-Marie Callus, Gordon C. Cardona (2013). The (untapped) potential of inclusive tourism. Insider, Special Edition pp.62-63.

http://www.knpd.org/pubs/pdf/InclusiveTourism.pdf

2. Rosemarie Rossetti (2006). The seven principles of universal design. Action Magazine, United Spinal Association.

3. Scott Rains (2009). What is Inclusive Tourism? “Success & ABILITY” Magazine by Ability Foundation India.

4. Soni Somarajan (2009). Creating an Inclusive Travel Product: Challenges in India. Design for All Institute of India.

5. LaPlante, M.P., Hendershot, G.E., & Moss, A.J. (1992). Assistive Technology Devices and Home Accessibility Features: Prevalence, Payment, Need and Trends. Advance Data from Vital and Health Statistics, 217. Hyattsville, Maryland: National Center for Health Statistics.

6.H. Stephen Kaye, Ph.D., Taewoon Kang, Ph.D., Mitchell P. LaPlante, Ph.D. (2000) Mobility Device Use in the United States. Disability Statistics Center, Institute for Health and Aging, University of California, San Francisco, California.

7. B. Ability. (Dec 01, 2011) Disability in America Infographic.

8. D. Sauerburger (2013). Learning to Travel with Both Hearing and Vision Loss. American Foundation for the Blind® | Reader’s Digest Partners for Sight.

9. NHS.uk (2013), Help and support if you have a visual impairment.

(http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Visual-impairment/Pages/Help-and-support.aspx)

10. “ENAT – European Network for Accessible Tourism”. (20 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-04.)

Design for All: Feedback about the Course

• Was the previous exercise of finding the way in the University building useful for following understanding DfA issues in this HCI examples exercise? How?

For me this exercise was useful, interesting and engaging.
I developed more empathy for people who struggle with routine things on a daily basis but also, as a designer, I started to think about possible solutions here and there. So this exercise triggered an inspirational aspect as well, because when I see a problem I take it as a challenge and automatically start thinking how it could be fixed or, at least, improved with minimum amount of resources while getting the maximum effect/functionality.
The task is also was somewhat reassuring in my guesses that even now, when

• Was the previous exercise  good examples of real life DfA artefacts around you useful for following understanding DfA issues in this HCI examples exercise? How?

Definitely useful in terms of better understanding what exactly is DfA.
For me the main and most precious (meaning I will definitely use this in future work, so it’s a passive contribution to my qualification) was the realisation of a simple fact that “good design” is not design well serving special needs of special people, but serving equally to everybody, without making distinction or exceptions.
Things designed with some special target group in mind usually have limitations for other group or their aesthetic features are sacrificed for the sake of functionality (like elevator for disabled people in our Terra building is made with annoying lightning and noisy), therefore they cannot be considered “well designed”.
From now on I will keep this aspect in mind and as a designer, try to make things that maybe a bit on a simple side, yet can be used by nearly everybody.

• From the point of view of DfA, what commons and differences between the physical objects in environmental context and HCI artefacts you can define?
  

There is indeed a huge difference between environmental objects and HCI artefacts, mainly because one domain is dealing with physical dimension while another is operating in area of mental capabilities and subjective mind perception (oftenly overlapping, but still quite different areas).
I would say that design of physical items is a bit easier because this aspect of design is historically older, problem well raised and area is more developed. There are a lot of ISO standards to stick with and to take into account when designing things, also some knowledge is already on the level of common sense.
HCI domain is a bit more complicated area, since the area is new and less researched. Also, mental capabilities often overlap with physical therefore there are more chances to make a mistake, when designing for HCI. By writing that, I don’t mean the task is completely impossible — following basic rules of design and good taste, as well as checking one’s work with pre-designed accessibility testing tools ( like aChecker, WAVE etc) is a good start.

Design for all: 5 HCI Examples

Accessibility of digital content is currently a hot and lately, also quite well addressed topic. I must admit I myself was totally ignorant about this aspect until the moment when I presented my mother with laptop. As a person with weak vision (-6 both eyes) my mom divided everything in internet into two categories “readable” and “unreadable” and it was a bright example of how important accessibility aspect can be in one’s life.

5 examples that I have chosen for this task are taken both from personal experience and also by feedback from other users. Here goes:

1. Apple iPhone Accessibility Settings

iPhone had a wide range of specially designed settings in it’s “Accessibility” section, which are meant not only for people with some physical disabilities, but also for a new users who initially struggle to use the device.
I find this particular feature especially appealing, since a lot of manufacturers assume that their users will get very familiar with the technology as soon as they have it in their hands, when in reality people have a hard time getting used to the new interface, features and system logic.

2. Read Speaker

Read Speaker makes life easier in many ways and it’s not a ready product per se but a powerful tool for making other products more accessible and user-friendly by integrating a voice module which can convert text content into audible.
This solution has various possibilities for use and can be integrated in websites, documents, mobile applications etc. The only downsider here is the fact that it is fully commercialised therefore lacks empathy a bit. (could include some basic free packages imho)

3. Accessible Music Player (Android Platform)

I don’t use Android platform myself yet was advised to take a look at Google Play Store for Android and the accessible apps they have there. This one was one of the first I’ve found and also one with quite wide list of features.
Developments claim that application has been designed for people who are blind and it is simple, easy and incredibly accessible. The interface is easy, with good contrast, clear fonts used and big, easy-readable letters. There are various possibilities for controlling the application, mostly based on double taps, swiping and tapping.

4. Tallinn.ee website

Our city site has possibility of adjusting size of text, which is a step forward in terms of accessibility.
A little feature in terms of functionality, yet a huge difference for majority of elderly users, who come to Tallinn website really ofter ether to consult with public transport timetable, use e-services that portal offers or just read the latest news. Since a lot of transactions and operations on this portal deal with a certain amount of private data and important information, possibility to read it clearly and understand text better is crucial in many ways.

5. Samsung Smart TV

Samsung’s smart TV is very interesting innovation, involving motion&gesture control, yet it’s still a bit arguable in terms of usability and accessibility.
This July I attended a conference in Washington DC and one talk there featured Samsung innovative approach to this technology and two researches participating in this project shared their experience with the technology and it’s development. The main problem which arouse almost immediately and is yet to be solved — globalisation of gestures. Turned out, each country has it’s own interpretation for most common gestures and the differences can be dramatic (for example gesture appropriate in one country can be very offensive and inappropriate in other).
In terms for accessibility it’s also not that easy. Aiming on solving dexterity issues device control process involves big and dynamic gestures which can be really hard to perform for a person with limited skills. Also, voice control can’t make a distinction between routine speech and commands, therefore it can confuse commands and take actions spontaneously.

Master Thesis: Choosing the stimuli

For my Master thesis experiment, that is aiming to define if there is a correlation between UX and Graphic Design, I needed to pick 10 different music players (including online and offline, for Mac and PC platforms)  with relatively different interfaces. Those will be later serve as stimuli in the experiment and reveal positive or negative emotions that user has towards them and their EU.

My final lists includes 10 products, but some items will be probably discarded or replaced with alternatives, in case they won’t work for upcoming experiment for some reason, so the list is not final.

1. iTunes
iTunes is a media player, but also an a media browser combined with a store, an organiser, storage for downloaded apps and tool for managing data from other devices etc.
It’s interface is beyond simple and cleaned up of any distracting details and enhancements. The colour palette includes shades of grey along with white, pale light-blue and black accents and the only colour splashes are album covers and genre labels. It’s almost a flat design, with very elegant, almost non existent shadows and highlights added here and there.
There are no ADs or promotional materials installed in interface, so nothing distracts user from the perception of UI.

2. Winamp

Winamp has been on the market more than 15 years and still keeps it’s place as one of the most used music players.
It supports more than 60 file formats, it can be used both on Mac OS and PC and it has infinite amount of downloadable skins, so it’s interface can be altered dramatically. Majority of skins look a bit outdated, yet they are very bright, catchy, with shiny Web 2.0 style buttons, 3D panels with lots of realistic shadows and reflections , little non-functional details that are added for the sake of beauty and bright colour palettes to top it all.
Unfortunately, the skin option is only available to PC users, who can download and install ready-made skins or opt for creating their own.
Mac version is made in classic black-white-yellow colour palette and had only basic features, compared to PC version. It can import music from iTunes, which is a nice feature.
There are no ADs or promotional materials installed in interface, so nothing distracts user from the perception of UI.

3. MediaMonkey
MediaMonkey is a very interesting player, currently available only for PC users. It it very flexible in terms of UI design and also functionality, because both can be altered significally.
Basically, Media Monkey is more of a media construction kit, than a player with fixed interface. It, of course, has some non-changeable features such as list of songs and player panel itself, yet everything else can be mixed and matched: panels can be placed in a different corners of the screen, there can be added different extra-panels such as module for displaying music lyrics or album cover etc.
In terms of graphic design and aesthetic features MediaMonkey offers a variety of skins. While there is quite wide choice, all of the skins look more or less the same with variations in colour and tones. There are almost no skeumorphistic, 3D-like features and skins are mostly executed in grey palette with rare exceptions.
There are no ADs or promotional materials installed in interface, so nothing distracts user from the perception of UI.

4.VLC Media Player
VLC is quite simple on-demand player and it’s main plus is that he has almost no UI. It has several panels that are disconnected in terms of UI and it also can be reduced to a single elegant bar in the corner of the display so the music can be enjoyed and occasionally altered without operating any bulky and complicated interfaces. Interface colour scheme is very similar to iTunes: shades of grey with a bit of white and pale blue for accentuating details. VLC has no skins.
Despite his visual simplicity VLC can work with almost every file format, which makes it quite mighty tool for listening to music, watching videos, playing CDs and more. It also allows to add tags and manage simple music libraries.
There are no ADs or promotional materials installed in interface, so nothing distracts user from the perception of UI.
5. Spotify

Spotify is indisputably much more than a simple music players, but is still belongs in this list as being one of the most popular music applications at the moment.
The interface is quite complicated feature-wise, yet graphic solution is elegant and simple. Darker colour scheme gives a luxury and sophisticated feeling and there is almost no colour in interface itself, if not to take into account colourful album covers in “Radio”, “Browse” and “Discover” sections.
There is no possibility to change or alter the appearance of the service.
Free version has ADs on the right side of the screen, which is aimed to stimulate user to switch on fee-based and ADs-free version.
6. Fidelia

Fidelia, making it obvious by the name, is an audiophile service aimed of hi-fidelity music sound. As VLC, it’s interface also consists of several separated panels which can be added or discarded.
Graphically it is very specific, realistically executed UI with distinct skeumorphistic features. Basically, the interface mimics hi-end car radio panel, which includes shiny panel with lots of highlights and reflections, big and round sound adjusting switch which is very noticeable from the first sight and also some “wooden” details to add a retro-feeling to UI. The design made with usage of darker background and contrasting pale blue texts.
The player also shows the current track’s waveform and has three separate special effects channels. Fidelia is commercial application, offering a free 15-day trial and expecting $19.99 after the trial end.
7. Vox Music Player

Vox is simple and can be compared with VLC and other simple UI applications. Vox has a clean design that is also easy-to-use. The player is no bigger than a sidebar, and even this can be minimised to a smaller, more compact player. It allows music import from iTunes library. Vox supports many formats, including FLAC and OGG, both of which iTunes does not support. You can also connect your Last.fm account to Vox to import your tracks.

Vox is very attractive, despite being small and laconic. The design is a mix between sceumorphic, ver well drawn 3D details (like logo, launch icon etc) and contemporary flat UI elements. The colour-scheme is very sophisticated and includes contrasty yellow and orange colours mixed with black and dark grey. Nice velvety texture with a subtile “grain” effect adds to the whole positive effect.
There are no ADs or promotional materials installed in interface, so nothing distracts user from the perception of UI.
8. LastFM
Last.fm is somehow similar with Spotify format, playing music based on user’s preferences, friends recommendations etc. It is online service with simple and flat design, which is easy to an eye and non distracting. The colourscheme is quite simple and based on a contrast of striking red and bright grey and white.
There is no possibility for altering interface since it’s predefined by a web design of a page.

There is a small AD placeholder in a right side of interface.

9. SoundCloud

SoundCloud is a music service which heavily relies on a social networking aspect. People share music, people upload their own music, people discuss it.

The interface is simple and plain, with mix of greys, blacks and bright orange to add some contrast and accentuate colours.

Interesting feature of SoundCloud is the visualisation of each track as a sound wave, which can be used for commenting on a certain section of a file. Comments look like avatars placed on a sound wave and can be unwrapped to read a full comment.
Same comments are displayed under the song as comment stream.
10. Windows Media Player

Unfortunately I was unable to test it myself since the programm runs only on Windows 8 (or former Metro System) and yet it is impossible to ignore it completely, considering it’s share on music players market.

The player design is very light and simple, made in pale light blue tones. UI is not flat, there are still shiny buttons typical for Web 2.0 style and by looking at it one can almost immediately say that it is a Windows product.
There are no ADs or promotional materials installed in interface, so nothing distracts user from the perception of UI.