The technical and social challenges of implementing an accessibility adaptation framework that detects age-related capability decline and makes appropriate adaptations, allowing continued use of the Web and ICTs for older people.

1. The potential of adaptive
interfaces as an accessibility
aid for older web users
David Sloan, University of Dundee, UK
Matthew Tylee Atkinson, Colin
Machin, Yunqiu Li
Loughborough University, UK
W4A 2010, Raleigh, NC, April 27th 2010

2. Outline
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 Barriers to progress in how web accessibility
advancements can support age-related decline
 Adaptations and accessibility
 The SuS-IT project and our approach to an
adaptivity framework for accessibility
 Early results of user engagement

3. Web accessibility developments and age-
related decline
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 Progress in:
 Web content accessibility
 Assistive technology development
 Increasing effort paid to supporting the needs of
older web users
 Understanding accessibility/usability issues (WAI-AGE
project and others)
 Simplified browsers/computers
 Work on understanding how to educate older people to
be more informed web users

4. Age-related capability decline – barriers to
web use
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 Age-related capability decline might take place in:
 Vision, hearing, dexterity,
 Fluid intelligence: short term memory, decision-
making
 Decline is dynamic
 Nature and effect is unpredictable
 If unaddressed, the outcome may lead to
compromised used of the Web/ICT… or
abandonment

5. Age-related capability decline – barriers to
web use
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 Why might current accessibility developments not
benefit someone experiencing age-related
capability decline?
 Lack of awareness of one‟s changing (increasing)
accessibility needs
 The paradox of discoverability of access solutions –
from advice to tools
 Negative attitude to use of assistive technology

6. Adaptation for accessibility
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 Adaptive interfaces have a long history of
involvement in accessibility R&D
 Adaptation acknowledges that „universal design‟
can mean different solutions benefit different
needs
 Requires two conditions to be fulfilled:
 Accurate detection of a person‟s accessibility
needs
 Appropriate selection and implementation of
adaptation(s) that accommodate these needs as
helpfully and unobtrusively as possible

7. Adaptation for accessibility: related
work
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 Notable work includes:
 IBM Web Adaptation Technology
 Accessmonkey
 AEGIS project
 But…work may be limited to:
 single applications (e.g. browser)
 single impairments
 severe impairments

8. User profiling
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 Critical part of adaptivity for accessibility
 WHO International Classification of Functioning,
Disability and Health
 CC/PP
 ISO 24751 – accessibility metadata for people and
resources, from an e-learning context
 We need:
 Profiles that can be easily populated and kept up-to-
date
 Profiles that bridge human characteristics and
functional capabilities

9. Ethical issues
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 Relating to the sensitive nature of data gathered
that reveals the extent of age-related decline.
 (How) should we make that data available to the
user?
 How should we manage the impact on personal well-
being of a user on discovering extent of capability
decline?
 (How) should we make that data available to
others who might need to know (clinicians,
family)?
 If data gathered revealed some underlying medical
issue?

10. SuS-IT project and accessibility
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adaptations for older people
 SuS-IT is a multi-disciplinary project aim to
explore role of IT in sustaining independence
for older people…
 …and minimising negative impact of age-
related decline
 Our contribution:
 To develop an accessibility adaptation framework
 To explore how it can accommodate age-related
capability decline

11. Technical work
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Developing and evaluating effectiveness of a
framework that offers:
 a library of adaptations that match specific
accessibility needs
 Detection of capability change (implicit or
explicitly recorded)
 Reasoning system to choose appropriate
adaptations and apply them to relevant
applications
 Retention and modification of
capability/adaptation profile over time

12. Early user engagement
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 Used theatre to present early concepts in a
prototype to group of older people (n=32)
 Two groups, one novice users, one more experienced
 Script designed to expose automated adaptations
based on detected capability change, and
characters reaction to these changes
 Deliberately exaggerated adaptations to
emphasise effects on interface - and on user(!)
 Acts paused at strategic moments to provoke
discussion on reaction to issues raised

13. Key observations
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 Absence of negative reaction to adaptations
from both groups
 Tendency of both groups to see system as being
for those less capable than themselves: “would
be really helpful for older people…”
 Shared suspicion of storage, use, and sharing of
capability data
 “would my optician find out my eyesight had
decreased?”

14. Ongoing challenges
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 Technical testing of accessibility adaptation
framework:
 Accuracy of capability change detection
 Accuracy of applying appropriate adaptations
 User-acceptance
 Establishment of appropriate levels of
obtrusiveness of the monitoring system;
 Data curation/access
 Longitudinal studies
 Exploring to what extent a system such as this
successfully sustains ICT access and use by older
people?

15. Thankyou!
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http://sus-it.lboro.ac.uk