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© Novática Information Technologies for Visually Impaired People Thus the great challenge was to gather user requirements that could be used to guide the development of these tools in the knowledge that users had no idea of what those tools were going to be like. It was like "let’s play at inventing" a means of interaction. In order to limit the scope of the problem, user requirements were ascertained by asking users to talk about the known reality and therefore about their present day access problems. Thus by identifying, with the aid of the users, the areas of improvement which we needed to focus on, it was the project’s job to come up with innovative ideas or approaches to address these problems. Below we show two examples: Exploration of 3D figures with haptic devices 1 (see Figure 2) and the creation and insertion of vectorial graphics (SVG) annotated to Excel spreadsheets (see Figure 3). 3 Lessons Learned As we had already anticipated, the first lesson is that users need to play a key role in the process. For this reason, in both projects we used an iterative and incremental model, alternating the release of various versions of the tools with evaluation periods. The data gathered from each evaluation is standardized by the experts who took part in the user requirements gathering process, and are converted into recommendations for future versions of the tools. In the case of ENABLED, prototypes were also used to enable concept tests to be performed to check whether the chosen way was the right one before incorporating new features to more advanced developments. With regard to the evaluation of prototypes, in both cases predefined scenarios were evaluated in order to be able to compare results with subsequent evaluations, and to involve the user in what was to be a day to day use of the tool. From the evaluations performed in the two projects by users and experts we can deduce a list of desirable features that any accessible interface should have regardless of its purpose or future use: Visibility of system status: the system should always keep the user informed about what is going on by appropriate means (speech synthesis, text, etc.) Match between the system and real world: avoid using technical terms to refer to real world entities. Use concepts that are familiar to the user rather than systemoriented concepts. User control: the user should have control over the application at all times, and be able to undo, repeat, or return to a previous state whenever he or she so desires. Consistency and standards: the user should not be made to wonder whether different actions, terms, or situations mean the same. The conventions established for each platform should always be observed. Error prevention: the system should prevent users from making a mistake due to the incorrect use of the interface. 1 . Do not rely on recall: the user should not always have to be remembering what to do. The instructions for use of the system should be visible and intuitive. Flexibility and efficiency: the system should be tailored to the experience of the user so that more experienced users can use shortcuts to actions that they are familiar with. Less is more: avoid including irrelevant information in user dialogues or any extraneous information that will be rarely needed. Any unnecessary information competes with information that is really important, with the risk that the user may miss the part that is really important. Help recognize, detect, and solve errors: error messages should be expressed in natural language indicating what to do next to solve the problem. Help and documentation: necessary help and documentation should be provided so as to explain to users in natural language the steps required to carry out any particular task. Translation by Steve Turpin References [1] W3C. Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines. . [2] W3C. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. . [3] C. Rebate, A. Fernández del Viso et al. "ConPalabras". Novática, no. 161, January-February 2003, pp 38-42. [4 C. Rebate, A. Fernández del Viso et al.. "A web voice solution: ConPalabras". Upgrade, Vol. IV, no. 1, February 2003, pp 65-70. [5] SourceForge. . [6] ENABLED Project. . [7] C. Rebate, A. Fernández del Viso. "Technical notes: Accessibility". Interview on Intereconomía TV, December 12 , 2006. UPGRADE Vol. VIII, No. 2, April 2007 83
ICT Prospective UPENET Inline or Online? Steve Kennedy © 2007 ITNOW This paper was first published by ITNOW (Volume 49, issue # 3, May 2007, pp. 8-9). ITNOW, a UPENET partner, is the member magazine for the British Computer Society (BCS), published, in English, by Oxford University Press on behalf of the BCS, . The full May 2007 issue of ITNOW is available to read at . (Keywords added by the Chief Editor of ITNOW.) It’s five years in the future and more and more people are working from home. It can be cheaper for businesses as they now don’t have to rent expensive offices just to seat people. Of course there can be hidden expenses that can increase costs considerably (a company basing an employee from home has to ensure that their working environment is similar to the workplace environment, including all the health and safety requirements), but, ignoring those aspects, what technologies will be at use? Keywords: Future, Homeworking, Network, Wireless. 21st Century Network BT should have pretty much rolled out its 21st century network (aka 21CN), the all IP network going into the home and business. Initially the home worker won’t notice anything different, their BT phone line won’t change (though in the background as soon as the analogue call goes into the local exchange it gets converted to Voice over IP). As part of 21CN, ADSL2+ will also be introduced, allowing 24Mb/s download speeds (to urban areas at least). BT is also considering putting DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) equipment into the green boxes in the street, which will then be connected using fibre back to BT’s core network and using technologies such as VDSL2 or VDSL2+ where speeds of up to 100Mb/s can be delivered. With these kinds of bandwidths available, delivering voice as an analogue service becomes irrelevant, so it’s likely BT will just package a router into every house and the customer just gets an ethernet/LAN connection into which they can plug their PC, IP phone and so on. Delivering all kinds of service over a single IP fabric means BT will need to provide quality of service (QoS) or voice calls will degrade when the user watches a video, for example. BT’s 21CN core already provides this (using internet protocol/multi-protocol label switching) and end-user QoS can be provided in the DSL router. So everything will come into the home over a single IP connection with QoS enabled. You’ll be able to have multiple lines, watch video and do video conferencing all using the same connection. Of course if you want QoS, BT currently want you to use BT’s services to guarantee that QoS. You’ll be able to use anybody else’s VoIP or IPTV service too, it’s just unlikely to have QoS over BT’s network. Author Steve Kennedy is currently a consultant (NetTek Ltd) specialising in Internet, telecoms, wireless and mobile. He also freelances (journalism) for various trade publications and web sites. Until March 2005 he was employed by THUS Plc as Head of Product/Technology Futures. Mr Kennedy had overall responsibility for evaluating and providing technical insight into future technologies (both in the Internet and voice/data areas) and how they could be utilised in the development of new products and services. He also owned THUS’s product roadmap. Mr Kennedy’s previous experience includes over ten years in a variety of internal and external consultancy roles in electronic, software and network engineering. Mr Kennedy holds a BSc in Microelectronics and Information Processing. He is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), the British Computer Society (BCS), the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE, US) and a Fellow of the Royal Institution. . 84 UPGRADE Vol. VIII, No. 2, April 2007 © CEPIS
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