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CUU Fellows Workshop

ArlingtonNovember 15th 2000

ACM Conference on Universal Usability

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Usability + Universality

=

explosive mix of concerns

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Purpose of the workshop

To elicit and organize

a bouquet of insights

on the problems and prospects

of universal usability

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How ?

Bringing together people who represent human diversity: – needs and expectations

– international community

A call for participation in a one-day workshop

Participation was based on statements of interest and personal experience as a user, complementarily, and commitment to group goals.

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The CUU Workshop Fellows

Selected Fellows Cearbhall E. O Meadhra, IR Deane Robert Larkman, AU Marlo Wilson, USA Quan T. Tran, Vietnam in

USA Wong Chui Yin, Malaysia Adelaide Edelson, USA Queen Esther Booker, USA Cristina Chisalita, Romania

Invited fellows Diane Murray, UK Allen Newell, UK Dong Thi Bich Thuy, Vietnam Taylor McConnaughhay, USA

Programme committee Penny Collings, Au Clare-Marie Karat, USA Mary Beth Rosson, USA Joëlle Coutaz, France

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The CUU Workshop Fellows

Geographic, economic, political, cultural, linguistic, racial diversity– Northern and Southern hemispheres

– Developed and developing countries

Age diversity– 25-60+ years of age

Disabilities– Blind, significantly motor-impaired

– Everyday limitations

Professional backgrounds– Retired, government staff, musician, architect, programmer,

school teacher, rehabilitation specialist,graduate students, low-income and disadvantaged community development

– HCI professionals

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During the workshop

Political diversity

Technical diversity

Social diversity

Economic diversity

Environmental diversity

Human diversity

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Goal of this panel

Make sure that anyone involved in Information Technology does not exclude particular groups of people

Stakeholders– Designers

– Academics

– Managers of software companies

– Social policy makers

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How?

Recommendations to raise public awareness

Three representative stories from the fellows– Addie’s shoe (USA)

– Deane’s desire for independence (Australia)

– The fisherman’s son (Vietnam)

For each story– A fellow will tell the story

– Alan Newell will extract the recommendations

– Taylor McConnaughhay will moderate questions from the audience

Marlo Wilson (a user’s voice) will summarize

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Story 1: Addie’s shoe (USA)

User task focus

Iterative design

Total solution/multiple disability

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Story 2: Deane’s Desire for Independence (Australia)

The promise of technology– Tremendously empowering

– Changed lifestyle

– Getting back what was taken away

– Can’t live without it

– Can’t it be better

– Reliability /recovery

– Graceful degradation

The decision to use enabling technology.– Opportunity for choice

– Maintain self image

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Story 3: The Fisherman’s Son (Vietnam)

Preparing the son for the new age of information: buying a computer– Social norms

Non-accessible system:– English system software

– Metaphor & icons used not fitted to his usual way of thinking in everyday life

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The Voice of Diverse Users

– Passion

– Courage

– Creativity

– What will you do?

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Next Steps

Build awareness– Written report of Fellows Workshop

– Individual actions

– Interviews with the media

International research projects

Build on Fellows Workshop at Next CUU

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Sponsors

We want to thank our sponsors for providing the resources for the CUU Fellows Workshop– America Online

– The Morino Institute

– Intel

– Oracle

– Motorola

– Sun Microsystems

– US NIST Information Technology Laboratory

– US NSF

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Thank you !

Political diversity

Technical diversity

Social diversity

Economic diversity

Environmental diversity

Human diversity