UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities

"The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights treaty of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities.

There are eight guiding principles that underlie the Convention:

1. Respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy including the freedom to make one's own choices, and independence of persons
2. Non-discrimination
3. Full and effective participation and inclusion in society
4. Respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity
5. Equality of opportunity
6. Accessibility
7. Equality between men and women
8. Respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities"

http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Rights_of_Persons_with_Disabilities

Identity and functional variations

"McQueen made this ensemble with carved prosthetic legs for Aimee Mullins. Mullins is a world-class Paralympic athlete, and she modeled the boots for his 1999 show, No. 13. (Source)"

Article at Oddee about prosthetic limbs

Paper prototypes of interface graphics

“Material is not just a style but a way of thinking about designing interfaces,”

Google designers made paper models to figure out layering and shadows. 

Make them more visually prominent. Treating pixels as paper. 

"Material design may have been conceived in service of users, but it’s also intended to help designers. It’s meant to steer them away from making muddled or confusing products, and in this regard, it’s one of the most comprehensive frameworks for interactive design we’ve seen yet.
As Duarte points out, in terms of conveying information in two-dimensions, design is a pretty mature craft.

If you’re going to create a schedule for a train station, for instance, there are guidelines for what kind of typography you should use, how much structure you need to use, how to size and space things. This is the stuff you learn in design school."


Read more at wired.com


 
 

Progressive enhancement

"Progressive Enhancement consists of the following core principles:

• basic content should be accessible to all web browsers
• basic functionality should be accessible to all web browsers
• sparse, semantic markup contains all content
• enhanced layout is provided by externally linked CSS
• enhanced behavior is provided by unobtrusive, externally linked JavaScript
• end-user web browser preferences are respected

Progressive enhancement is a strategy for web design that emphasizes accessibility, semantic HTML markup, and external stylesheet and scripting technologies. Progressive enhancement uses web technologies in a layered fashion that allows everyone to access the basic content and functionality of a web page, using any browser or Internet connection, while also providing an enhanced version of the page to those with more advanced browser software or greater bandwidth.

The strategy is an evolution of a previous web design strategy known as "graceful degradation", wherein designers would create Web pages for the latest browsers that would also work well in older versions of browser software. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_enhancement

Pretotyping

Make sure you are building the right thing before you build it right....

http://www.pretotyping.org/

This I would say, is the thing that skilled industrial, product, interaction, service- designers do. It might not be called pretotyping, but it is part of the design process. It is divergent processes feeding into convergence processes that ensure that a successful solution will come out. And what kind of perspectives, studies, data, trends that you add in that first phase will affect the result.

Lean UX

Experiences from the interaction design process at SVTi.

Lean UX at SVTi

Teaching styles...

" Discussing: This is the case method of teaching, pioneered by HBS since 1908.  Students are presented with an uncertain business scenario, and spend time discussing possible solutions.  Good for people comfortable with debate and who enjoy it as a learning tool.  Not ideal for less vocal people, or those who enjoy a more practical learning process

Listening: This is the more traditional lecture-based teaching model, where students sit in class and listen to the professor.  It works well for theoretical thinkers and auditory learners, but can spell failure for people who learn by doing or who are easily distracted

Doing: This includes experiential courses, group projects, simulations, and basically any setting where practical hands-on experience (actual or simulated) is used as a teaching tool.  This is ideal for people who learn by doing, or who need to see concepts applied in practice in order to best understand them.  Yet it can be frustrating for people looking for clear concepts to learn and apply."

Read more at

Apple in the sky

Risker på jobbet/ greart work environments

Great work-environemetns have:

1. Good ergonomics
2. Good lighting, air quality and soundlevel
3. People work regular hours, rather than overtime
4. People have ok workload
5. Conflicts are solved and people treat each other as friends
6. Good leadership

. Bristande ergonomi
2. Fysisk arbetsmiljö, så som belysning, luftkvalitet och ljudnivå
3. Övertid
4. För hög arbetsbelastning – utbrändhet
5. Konflikter och mobbing
6. Dåligt ledarskap

Källa: Arbetsmiljöverket

 

How is accessibility in Sweden 2014?

People with disabilities use internet as much as everyone else...

Personer med funktionsnedsättning använder datorer och internet i lika hög utsträckning som övriga.

Digital solutions that are not accessible creates problems...

"Många upplever nya hinder då mer utförs genom digitala lösningar. Webbplatser som inte är tillgängliga är ett exempel på onödiga hinder. Generellt sett ökar svårigheterna att använda digitala lösningar med ålder, något som blir en extra utmaning vid både en funktionsnedsättning och en högre ålder. Denna grupp löper extra stor risk att exkluderas."

From myndighetet för delaktighet (in swedish) 

Blur testing

Google shares the design ideas behind Google maps. For example they used a blur test...

Humanistic values

- Holistic perspectives
- Culture is important
- Human rights are global
- Beyond technical and industrial innovation
...

Humanistic values, in Swedish:
http://humanismkunskap.org/humanismen/humanismens-vardegrund/

Who are your target users?

For example. Is your target users webdesigners? Do you think that all of them are fully funtional? None has any hearing or sight disability, nor dyslexia or cognitive impairment? 

Think again:

"For me being online is everything. It's my hi-fi, my source of income, my supermarket, my telephone. It's my way in."
Lynn Holdsworth, screen reader user, Web Developer and Programmer

"I think a blind designer is totally do-able. In my art class in college we had a blind sculptor and painter who did great work. A blind designer could use basic logic of CSS to design very functional and accessible sites. I think it's a great idea and goal."

"Actually, I've just been thinking again about this issue. Who is better qualified to design a site for someone with a VI? I'd say a designer with VI!" 

"But being disabled definately gives me a passion for accessiblity and by extension, usability too. So I would say that my disability has made me a better developer. Thats not to say of course that fully sighted people can't be be a lot better!"

Quotes from:
accessify forum

Arranged collections

Arrangements of collections support people to make sense and enjoy collections. It is a kind of story telling.  It does not to concern only things, but also information.

Some collections are explicitly made to make it easier to make a envionmentally sustainable decision.

Gröna listan is another arranged collection (to find eko furniture and make environements accessible):

http://epi.vgregion.se/sv/gronalistan/

Normcritical design (in swedish)

En sajt med ett integrerat normkritiskt perspektiv

• undviker att reproducera normer
• ifrågasätter normer
• synliggör både personer och grupper som befinner sig inom och utanför normen, inkluderar utan att fokusera på problem eller avvikelser
• tar upp skillnader i förutsättningar för olika grupper där det är relevant
• har alltid ett rättighetsperspektiv
• främjar aktivt likabehandling genom ett respektfullt förhållningssätt gentemot målgruppen
• låter andra typer av källor och kunskap än traditionellt vetenskapliga komma fram, som personliga erfarenheter, vardagskunskap
• uppmanar användare att hjälpa till genom att skicka in kritik och synpunkter på sajtens innehåll.   

Examples of normcritical perspectices given by
http://www.umo.se/Om-Umo/Sa-arbetar-vi/Normkritiskt-angrepssatt/

the home as an biological machine....

A different perspective in understanding the kitchen environment. Almost like a living organism...

Sensing things? - testing is the future.

Multisensor handheld device:
http://www.pki-electronic.com/products/police-customs-and-military-equipment/multi-sensor-handheld-detector-for-gamma-radiation-chemical-warfare-agents-toxic-chemicals/

Sensing what is on your plate:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tellspec-what-s-in-your-food

Checking the quality of water:
http://poolandspareview.com.au/content/maintenance/product/scuba-next-generation-electronic-pool-testers-261225375

Handheld biosensor:
artphone-cradle-and-app-detect-toxins-bacteria-for-people-with-allergies/
 

Hands are different.

Lovely illustration of hands from Science fiction.
Imagine designing an interface that would fit all of these!
 

Accessibility is a human right and inclusive design is our effort to get there.

Sandi Wassmer  described this difference 13 dec, 2011.

"Web accessibility is about human rights. Inclusive design is about making a product fit for purpose. Big difference. More so, Web Accessibility in its current guise seems determined to make every last bit of technology accessible to every human being on earth. It asserts rights on behalf of disabled people and puts these before regular folk and before technical innovation. So, what's happening is that regular folk and technical innovation have moved on swiftly without Accessibility. To quote Ian Pouncey, "Accessibility is for everyone. It's just that 80% of people get it for free". I agree with Ian wholeheartedly. However, what most people understand Accessibility to be is how it is defined by the W3C, which is that "Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web". But that's not all. What about Design? Design is about creating products and services that people can use and since websites and web applications are things that people use and interact with, things that change and adapt through this use and interaction, Inclusive Design and not just Access is what is desperately needed."


 Read more at action for blind people.

Lovely representation of the design process

 

Squiggle by Damien Newman. He could have had this as a tattoo. IDEO has this on their T-shirts.
  
http://v2.centralstory.com/about/squiggle/

Unaccessible experience design

Spotify faced challenges when updateing their service to an improved look. Despite the great interface, people with reduced sight can no longer use the sevice.

Read more at aftonbladet news article (in Swedish):
http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/article18712503.ab

Accessibility is a democratic challenge, and media needs to be accessible. This was discussed during Mg2014, in Gothenburg. (Mediadagarna) (In Swedish):
 http://www.dyslexi.org/tidningen-las-skriv/medier-vem

There is already great competence availible to support accessibility. Begripsam, a project about cognitive accessibility, is funded by Arvsfonden. In this project, people with cognitive disabilties are paid to contribute with the their knowledge to international and swedish standards.  (In swedish).
 http://www.dyslexi.org/tidningen-las-skriv/vi-vill-ha-en-begripligare-varld-9772

Innovation and accessibility

I find it fascinating to think about how society can address grand challenges. One common approach appears to be to have a competition. 

In USA, challenge.gov is asking students or others to contribute to different challenges. It's conducted as a competition, and in some cases this also includes accessibility issues.

In Sweden we have a similar approach for accessibility: "Innovation for all" is a competiton where the Swedish Post and Telecom (PTS) authority fund projects that can produce innovations in the area of Accessibility in Information communicaation technology (ICT) and related areas.

We are currently funded by PTS and is contributing to Innovation for all. We are working on a service that will support webdesigners to understand accessibility challenges, and how to work with tools such as Web Content Accessability Guidelines (WCAG). PTS is supporting participants with various workshops to address business modelling and launch of services. Thay also have insight in the design process.

• On which levels are the solutions that students and others come up with with limited funding?
• How can we raise the effect that a certain solution gives?
• How can governments or other stakeholder successfully gather the right competence to solve grand challenges?
• How are ideas taken up on? Do they become working services?

Discrimination law

In Sweden, there is a proposal of a new law concerning discrimination. This is intented to  adress services that lack accessibility for people with a disability.

The discrimination law proposal

Computer suggesting tastes

Computers can support creativity, also in the kitchen! 
I think this is a great example of how computers can support creativity, and still make creativity something fun and essentially human. Its is like computational music composition that support musicians to try new sounds as a startingpoint for their creativity. Computational support can extend peoples mind and speed up the road to new associations? Distributed cognition it is? :-)

TV and accessibility

Swedish Television is working on various aspects of accessibility on their Play site. We hope that other organisations that communicate with video will follow. One day this will be standard. And there will be lots of use, also useful for people without disabilities.

The video is in swedish.

Myths are always refreshing!

uxmyths.com/

Service jam in Gothenburg!

48 hours to change the world...
March 7 to March 9, 2014

Its like a jam session with Jazz, but here you do it with services. Create and explore future services for a sustainable society!

How do you navigate on the web and in real life?

Braillesign found at an exit on a train in Sweden

In real life, braille signs are not necessarily readable by seeing people. Why is it so? And how do blind people know to where to find the signs? How do they know when they not should look for a sign?

Measuring user experience

This is a reference list, but also an overview of resarch that concerns methods and perspectives for understanding user engagement. It is created by the reseracher Mounia Palmas at Yahoo.

I haven't gone through it yet...  but it may include some delighters.

DIY: A braille printer made by lego...

And it is much cheaper than a regular braille printer....
 It is not fast, but it is a proof of concept.

"I waited almost 20 years to be able to take a picture,"

"I simply can't imagine anything more useful to me."

Because - who is perfect?

Everyone is perfect. 

http://blog.petflow.com/this-is-so-touching-everyone-should-watch-this-at-least-once/

What is your default behaviur?

What you set a certain function as default, this is likely to increase a certain behaviour - for good or bad.  For example double page printing as a default setting have shown to support organisations to save lots of money. Induviduals may have money automatically transferred to a savingsaccount each month, supporting them to save as default.  Default setting are functions that makes a certain behaviour more likely.

Wikipedia writes about this as the default effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_effect_%28psychology%29

Communicating research

I think we need to look into alternative forms of  communicating research...

Infographics
Infographic movies
Kick-starter research 
Exhibitions
Workshops
Pecha-kucha
more...

Trends in information visualization

* storytelling
* automated infographics
* news graphics
* accidental art
*emotive visualization
*ThumbsUpViz



http://eagereyes.org/blog/2014/the-state-of-information-visualization-2014

Come on girls, work on your design philosophy contribution!

The list below is stating the philosophers of design, or philosophers relevant to the philosophical study of design on Wikipedia:

• Roland Barthes
• Jean Baudrillard
• Albert Borgmann
• Vilém Flusser
• Tony Fry
• Martin Heidegger
• Don Ihde
• Bruno Latour
• Karl Marx
• Marshal McLuhan
• Victor Papanek
• Bernard Stiegler
• Umberto Eco

Where are all the female thinkers?!!!

We all know that it is much more difficult to be female researcher, as the work done by men does not have to pass the same eye of a needle to be approved by other men and women. Considering that we do live in related but different realities, this means that there is a whole lot of perspectives that we are missing.

So, let's do someting about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_design

Inspiration from marginal practices...

.... that may be apprechiated by a wide audience.

Design reserach lab has a nice blog, where interaction designers take inspiration from people with disabilities.

Design in HCI and outside HCI

Is HCI solving problems for the real world or are we developing solutions that fit our field of interests more than it solves the real problem?

What do we include in our methods in HCI and what do we exclude? Do we know our own limitations? What do we miss by not fully being trained as designers?

A thougthful article about a design school...