Designing Inclusive Interfaces Through User Modeling and Simulation

Pradipta Biswas, Peter Robinson, Patrick Langdon
2012 International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction  
Elderly and disabled people can be hugely benefited through the advancement of modern electronic devices, as those can help them to engage more fully with the world. However, existing design practices often isolate elderly or disabled users by considering them as users with special needs. This article presents a simulator that can reflect problems faced by elderly and disabled users while they use computer, television, and similar electronic devices. The simulator embodies both the internal
more » ... e of an application and the perceptual, cognitive, and motor processes of its user. It can help interface designers to understand, visualize, and measure the effect of impairment on interaction with an interface. Initially a brief survey of different user modeling techniques is presented, and then the existing models are classified into different categories. In the context of existing modeling approaches the work on user modeling is presented for people with a wide range of abilities. A few applications of the simulator, which shows the predictions are accurate enough to make design choices and point out the implication and limitations of the work, are also discussed. Not only do physically disabled people have experiences which are not available to the able bodied, they are in a better position to transcend cultural mythologies about the body, because they cannot do things the able-bodied feel they must do in order to be happy, "normal," and sane. If disabled people were truly heard, an explosion of knowledge of the human body and psyche would take place. -Susan Wendell (1996, p. 77)
doi:10.1080/10447318.2011.565718 fatcat:skzp3e7zjvhh5hsbyam4ttzahi