World Wide AAC: Developing Internet Services for People using AAC

1. World Wide AAC: Developing Internet Services for People using AAC Michael Clarke and Andrew Lysley, ACE Centre Advisory Trust, Oxford, England Colette Nicolle and David Poulson, Research School in Ergonomics and Human Factors,Loughborough University, England

2. WWAAC Consortium Commercial Organisations • Handicom, The Netherlands • Modemo, Finland • MITC, Denmark • Femtio Procent, Sweden Service Providers • DART, Sweden • ACE Centre, England Research Institutes • KTH University, Sweden • Loughborough University, England

3. This presentation will: • Introduce the WWAAC project • Outline some developments in Internet accessibility and usability • Summarise requirements for future developments identified by people using AAC and service providers • Highlight the WWAAC project response to these requirements

4. WWAAC Aim To make Internet services more accessible to and usable by people using AAC Email Discussion fora Echat Web browsing

5. Taming the Internet

7. Website design • www.papunet.net • http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/meldreth

12. What we wanted to know • How are people that use AAC accessingInternet services? • What do people using AAC and Service Providers think of Internet services? • What are the requirements for improved accessibility to and usability of Internet services?

13. 52 Service providers 24 England 14 Sweden 7 Netherlands 3 Finland 3 Denmark 1 Spain 29 people using AAC (age range 12- 42 years, median18 years) 17 England 4 Sweden 2 Finland 6 Spain Participants

14. Service providers Interviews People using AAC Observation Interviews - Rich pictures - Symbol based Measures

15. Rich Pictures 1

16. Rich Pictures 2

17. Rich Pictures 3

18. Rich Pictures 4

19. Rich Pictures 5

22. Service Providers: experience of Internet services • 78% substantial or better experience of email • 82% moderate or better experience of web browsing • Only 10% of their clients were using Internet services

23. AAC users: experience of Email 25/29 knew about email 41% Supported use Watching others 53% No use 6%

24. 7% 18% 75% AAC users: experience of Web browsing 28/29 knew about web browsing Supported use Watching others No use

25. Barriers to Internet services • Physical access to technology • Complexity of user interface • Expense of time spent online particularly for home users • A perception of limited availability of specialist software • Limited technical support and training • Understanding and handling information

26. Despite the barriers AAC users reported: • Strong desire for more use • Strong desire for independent use

27. Future requirements Internet services • Integrated support within applications • e.g. Wizards to support set-up and maintenance of email accounts • Easier integration between applications • e.g. dedicated AAC devices with computers

28. Future requirements Internet Services • Symbol based websites • Simple text • Keyword representation • Symbol - text - symbol transformationof email and for interaction with websites • Text to symbol transformation of web based information • Web browsers and search engines • Text to speech • Audio prompting

29. Summary • Common issues across European national boundaries • Physical access - some problems identified reflect difficulties with access to technology in general • Managing information - critical to successful Internet use

30. Priorities for WWAAC 1a. Adapted utilities for browsing 1b. Guidelines for web designers 1c. Authoring tools for web developers 2. Email 3. Discussion fora and echat

35. Table of Content Document URL www.Worldcup2002 Keywords Beckham, Ferguson, World cup, match Summary

36. Michael Clarke clarke@ace-centre.org.uk The ACE Centre 92 Windmill Road Headington Oxford OX3 7DR England Tel: +44 (0)1865 759 800 Fax: +44 (0)1865 759 810 www.wwaac.org