INDATA Project: Improving Access to a

Disability-Related Media Platform Greg Oppman

Final Project Report

Human-Computer Interaction Master of Science Program

IUPUI School of Informatics and Computing

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Executive Summary

Easterseals Crossroads (ESC) is interested in a new interface for their Accessibility Channel

media website (http://www.eastersealstech.com) that will facilitate the way in which people

access blogs, videos, and podcasts that are created and posted by ESC. This project focused on

researching the problem space, designing and prototyping a solution, evaluating the solution,

and discussing opportunities to improve the solution.

Interviews of current consumers of ESC content who are visually impaired indicated that the

Victor Reader is effective for accessing the ESC content. Interview participants also reported

that their friends and family members are in need of information related to their disability and

therefore potential consumers of ESC content.

Based on these results, I based my design concept on the information architecture of the Victor

Reader, while being centered on different types of individuals seeking specific content to meet

their needs. Knowing that the interview participants did not use desktop applications, I created

a responsive design and evaluated this design using a prototype running on a smartphone.

User testing of a high-fidelity prototype produced promising results. Nevertheless, there is a

need to improve readability by improving the level of color contrast between text and the

background. Participants utilized scrolling and swiping to access content rather than using the

search bar or hamburger menu.

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Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………...4

Problem Space………………………...4

Stakeholder Interviews ……………….6

Literature Review……………………...6

Analysis of User Research Data………..12

Conceptual Designs……………………17

High Fidelity Design……………………20

Evaluation……………………………...23

Conclusion……………………………..30

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Introduction Easterseals Crossroads (ESC) is interested in a new interface for their Accessibility Channel

media website that will facilitate the way in which people access blogs, videos, and podcasts.

The findings from research in this project were used to design a responsive website solution

that provides a modern and efficient user experience via a desktop browser or mobile device.

This solution is expected to address the needs for individuals with and without vision

impairments.

This project utilized a standard design thinking process that involves exploratory research,

defining with analysis and modeling, ideation concepts, prototyping, and finally a usability

evaluation of the prototype. This process allowed me to understand the constraints, needs,

goals, and objectives for target users of the product. Incorporating people and stakeholders

that are involved in the use and management of this product assists in allowing this design to

meet their needs.

Problem Space Business Requirements

Easterseals Crossroads (ESC) currently provides an “Accessibility Channel” as a section of their

website (http://www.eastersealstech.com/on-air/accessibility-channel/). The Accessibility

Channel provides access to a variety of media files – including podcasts, videos, and blogs – that

are created and posted by ESC employees on a weekly basis. Figure 1 provides an example of a

current Accessibility Channel screen.

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Figure 1. Example screen from current Accessibility Channel

ESC is interested in improving the “discoverability” of the Accessibility Channel media files. The

current site does not allow users to search for and consume multiple forms of content. It also

does not allow for detailed analysis of the patterns that users follow in consuming this media.

The primary goal of Easterseals for this project is creating a digital experience that aggregates

access to all of their media files and improves the accessibility of this content. This website

should be able to provide media of interest to the user while hiding less relevant medial (e.g.,

older files)

Other important goals for this project are:

(1) The site needs to meet the standards of individuals with disabilities who use other

digital technologies to access the ESC content.

(2) A new site should not interrupt the current workflow for creating and uploading media

files, because this workflow is already reasonably optimized.

Interviews with ESC Content Producers One group of key stakeholders for this project was the content producers for ESC podcasts,

videos, and blog posts. I conducted a semi-structured interview with a group of two content

producers and a manager who also creates content to collect information about the internal

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operations that are used for content creation. The interviews focused on what producers do

daily, how they create content, how they market and push their content, and the type of

content they produce. This behavioral information provided information about how

stakeholders interact within ESC.

Results from these interviews what the internal process of how the stakeholders create content

the amount of content they create and the publishing amount of each type of content created.

This is a cycle that is adhered and allowed me to understand why they have so much content on

their site. The content creators have a list of ideas and of content they want to focus on or

create content on. Also people who consume their content send requests with questions and

topics they would like to have a the creators focus on.

In addition to how they create content we asked them to share from their opinion how people

discover Easterseals and then receive the item or solution they came to Easterseals for. This

gave me insight to the overall path an individual path a person takes when engaging with

Easterseals. Discovery is through a referral by a medical professional, counselor, or teacher and

or they discover the organization through a public event or conference. Once they discover

they seek information on what they are needing. They typically learn that Easterseals does not

give technology to people however they assist each person with loans to purchase or loan

equipment from Easterseals. Finally, the individual receives the technology and content to

guide them in using it.

Literature Review

A literature review identified several articles that provide information relevant to this project.

These articles are summarized below.

Designing User Interfaces for Severely Handicapped Persons (João, 2001)

While designing accessible applications, it is essential to understand the spectrum of disability

within which you are working. João (2001) addresses people who have a severe handicap and

the attributes that you must be considered when designing for people with these traits. It also

describes how there comparable considerations when designing for older users. The topics

discussed include: Supporting a wide variety of input modes, creating user interfaces that

recognize that some users may require richer interfaces, and allow for a tutoring agent when

users become confused with a specific interface.

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The importance of these topics is in understanding your target user audience, and who will be

most affected by your design. Elements of your design should take into account people that

may have difficulty with various sensory input, so items need to be sized, colored, toned, and

emphasized with this in mind.

AcceSS: Accessibility through Simplification & Summarization (Parmanto et al., 2005)

Visual scanning of a website is a primary way that users with normal sight navigate a site and

identify the content of interest. This type of scanning often allows a user to understand a web

page instantaneously. Individuals with visual impairments are unable to scan a website visually

and must rely on assistive technology to parse the website’s content. Due to this difference,

“web clutter” or unnecessary elements on a web page, which can be readily ignored by sighted

users, can result in significant issues for users with visual impairments. By designing websites in

a minimalistic way and by eliminating unnecessary page elements, a website’s accessibility can

increase significantly for users with vision impairments..

Measuring Website Usability for Visually Impaired People - A Modified GOMS Analysis

(EichStandt, 2006)

Do stakeholders know the level or severity of the accessibility issues on the website they

manage? EichStandt’s (2006) paper, “Measuring Website Usability for Visually Impaired People

- A Modified GOMS Analysis,” focuses on how a modified GOMS method (Goals, Operators,

Methods, Selection Rules) can be adjusted to measure a website's accessibility. Knowing the

metrics for accessibility can allow future designs to be accommodating for people with

accessibility needs. The parameters discussed in this paper are microscopic navigation, choices,

acquiring content, activating elements, homing, and text entry. Time on task is the primary

evaluative measurable during an accessibility assessment. The amount of time it takes a

participant to go through each of with a set of designated tasks provides an indication of the

usability of a site.

A Tool to Support the Web Accessibility Evaluation Process for Novices (Pearson, 2011)

The majority of people who design and develop websites and applications do not have a

background in human-computer interaction (HCI) and are unfamiliar with the research that falls

under this discipline. This article describes an accessibility evaluation for websites and

applications to be used by novice usability professionals. WCAG (web content accessibility

guidelines) is also a useful evaluation tool to teach designers and developers tha how to make

sure their product is accessible to every person.

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“With most of it being pictures now, I rarely use it”: Understanding Twitter’s Evolving

Accessibility to Blind Users (Morris et al., 2016)

Twitter was once a favorite social platform for blind individuals but has become increasingly

difficult to use as people frequently communicate using image-based media. The mass adoption

of smartphones has led to Twitter’s increased reliance on photos or videos given the ease in

which users can capture and upload this type of data. Image-based media rely on associated

accessibility tags to be used by blind individuals. These accessibility tags are recognized by

screen reader software and converted to either audio or refreshable Braille. In many cases,

accessibility tags for media files are left empty or have insufficient data.

One suggestion in this article to improve Twitter is to show on each profile what percentage of

their tweets are image-based. This would allow blind individuals to decide whether a profile is

worth following or not. Others have suggested allowing users to add alt tag content to their

tweets without it affecting the tweet character limit or adding the ability to flag another

person’s tweet to request an alt tag to be provided by Twitter.

This article helped us understand the blind community and their preferences for media

consumption. Many times, the things designers view as ”enhancements” to content can be

detractions for users with disabilities.

The State of Corporate Website Accessibility (Loiacono, 2009)

Accessibility is not typically thought of for people without any accessibility problems or needs.

The paper “The State of Corporate Website Accessibility” notes that many corporate websites

saw accessibility as an afterthought to the design of their website. It isn’t that the companies

do not like people with disabilities or do not want to cater to them. The problems stem from

them not understanding what these people need or how to provide it. Devices used by

disabled people allow them to read the text, image transcription, and video transcription. The

sites that scored low in rankings for accessibility had many of these related issues such as

broken links, no descriptive text, no search tags, alt tags, broken anchors, no stylesheet, no

description, and no title.

Evaluation of Techniques Defined in WCAG 2.0 With Older People (Sayago & Comancho,

2009)

This article address how older generations are often left out of the equation in regards to

accessibility design, even under the standards of the new 2.0 WCAG . The authors of this paper

created a couple of different prototypes to test how older people interact with designs, and

where they have difficulty communicating with those models. Consistency is one of the most

significant issues, as older people may not be aware of current design trends, particularly

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regarding hyperlinks and their purpose. Among some of the statements were people saying

that they did not understand what would happen after clicking a specific hyperlink. These

people reported that they didn’t know if they would be redirected to another web page, or if a

word document would appear. The paper ended by saying that older generations “aspire to use

the same technologies as other people” so improvements could be targeted towards helping

these people achieve their technological goals, while also avoiding creating a feeling of

separation from younger audiences.

While the results of this paper don’t directly speak about those with a disability, it seems

essential to keep these design recommendations in mind. It is safe to assume that those with a

disability who are consuming Easterseals media may be older, and could benefit from these

suggestions.

Web Accessibility for People with Cognitive Disabilities (Small et al., 2005)

Individuals with developmental cognitive disabilities (DCD) are often overlooked when

accessibility is taken into account for a website or platform. In fact, a primary use of a mouse

and a browser’s URL input presented significant challenges to the user sample. It was found

that navigation plays a central role in the usability of a website for individuals with DCD. To

improve navigation systems, it is suggested that a web site’s navigation confirmation must be

explicit, navigation must be consistent, interaction techniques must be standardized, and

interactive elements must be made obvious to end-users.

Many services Easterseals provides are for individuals with cognitive disabilities. Although

these individuals do not compose a large user segment for the Accessibility Channel, it is

important to still keep their needs in mind when considering the usability of our proposed

application.

Improving WCAG for Elderly Web Accessibility (Affonso de Lara, Watanabe, & Beletato, 2010)

The authors speak about basic principles regarding web accessibility and reinforce the

standards addressed in WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). Of particular note, was in

how they treated the way cognitive processes change as one gets older. Processing speed and

working memory were one of the core factors that diminish with age, and they spoke about

how designs should incorporate this knowledge. Mainly, reading large portions of the text was

a hang-up for many older people (those over the age of 50). It could be a source of frustration,

and even lead users into scenarios where they did not want to end up. The visual selection also

declines with age as a person scans a web page. They concluded by saying that some

mechanisms may be needed to put in place to direct attention towards specific desired actions

on web pages. This is a crucial aspect of Easterseals’ accessibility channel. Visuals need to be

limited to only the most important elements so as not to hinder users who may be visually

impaired or of an older age.

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User Research

Survey

We created a 10-question web-based survey (see Appendix 4) to understand broadly how users

currently engage with existing Accessibility Channel content. This survey was disseminated

through The Accessibility Channel’s blog and podcasts. The survey was completed by 22

participants. Participants were invited at the bottom of the survey to indicate if they were

interested in further participation through interviews.

Interviews I used interviews to collect information to help understand target users for an updated

Accessibility Channel page. I conducted phone interviews with four participants. These

participants all considered themselves blind and were older than fifty years of age. Even

though they are disabled they still enjoy media content and shared how they access the

content they enjoy in their daily life. Two of the participants became blind later in life. The

participants were regular readers, listeners, and consumers of ESC content. The goal for these

interviews (see Appendix 2) was to gather user stories about how people first discovered the

ESC website, the content of the site that they found most interesting, and how they interacted

with the available content in their daily lives.

Two of the individuals indicated that they visited the ESC site only once or not at all. The goal

for that visit was to sign up for their RSS feed. They discovered Easterseals podcasts with their

Victor Reader, which is a digital audio device that allows people to discover, listen, and collect

audio media. These individuals reported that using their Victor Reader and the RSS feed is

more convenient and useful than going to the website to consume their media content.

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Figure 2. Victor Reader device that the participants used in their daily life.

(Source: https://nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/bm/bm08/bm0806/bm080605.htm)

A few participants reported that they occasionally visit the ESC site to receive a list of resources

mentioned on other podcasts.

Interview participants also reported that they share ESC content to educate friends and family

members about their disability, technology, and experiences of people with their disability.

Analysis of User Research Data

After I collected all of this qualitative data of people who access Easterseals for content, we

then analyzed it with affinity diagramming.

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Figure 2. Affinity diagram of user research data

This method allows me to group similar qualitative data, see patterns, and related information.

We then can understand why and how these patterns are connected to each other. The

patterns discovered from analysis are then utilized as constraints for the ideation and designing

solutions. This information was then modeled using personas and experience mapping.

I created three personas to represent people who access Easterseal’s content. The first

persona is an individual with a disability who is highly engaged with Easterseal’s content,

routinely listening to multiple podcast channels, and in many cases engages directly with the

content by phone calls or email. The Podcasts serve more than a pure informational function

for these users, however, as many consider and treat the content as a source of entertainment

and may feel a personal connection with the Podcast hosts. This user segment primarily

consumes content by way of RSS feeds through specialized third-party hardware or software.

Furthermore, a vast majority of individuals use mobile platforms as their sole medium for

engaging with both Easterseal’s content as well as many other sources of distributed content.

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Paul, Disabled Individual

● 78 Years Old

● Disabled Individual who uses assistive technology

● Been living with a disability

● Looking to learn about new assistive technology and

information to share

● Learns of new podcasts and blogs through his assistive reader

technology

Description

Paul is a blind and disabled individual. Earlier on in life his blindness his blindness was not as

severe as it is currently. He is at a stage in his life where he relies on assistive technology to

support his access to information and daily needs. Counselors in the past have directed him to

reader devices and applications for his iPhone to assist him. It has been challenging to find

relevant information because public websites and company sites are not at all accessible. Un

accessible websites can lead to a time-consuming process for Paul to see the technology and

sources of information he needs in his life. Using his reading devices and apps, he can access

podcasts and blogs that give him recommendations of technology that can assist him in his life.

Also, he likes to share this information with nondisabled friends and family to help guide in

appropriate ways how they can assist him in daily activities. There is not a clear understanding

of what it is like to be disabled from people who are not disabled.

Typical Interaction with Podcasts and blogs:

● Uses a Victor Reader to stream and access podcast channels and podcasts

● Uses iPhone with applications that load and download podcasts and blogs to his phone

● Transcribers that write out the whole podcast so that he can share them with others

● Text readers that allow him understand written and visual content on his devices and

iPhone

The second persona represents a caregiver of an individual with a disability. These individuals

seek information related to specific limitations with the goal to find opportunities to improve

the lives of their loved ones. We have seen a higher percentage of users in this demographic

gaining content access from Easterseal’s website than our first persona, and typically they are

doing so through desktop web browsing. Many times these individuals are directed to

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Easterseals through counselors or discover their resources independently through research

done through web searches.

Samantha, Caregiver

● 50 Years Old

● Has a 15 year old son with a visual disability

● Looking to stay updated on technology that can help

her son in daily life and to succeed

● Learned about Easterseals through a support group

Description

Samantha is the mother of a 15-year-old son that was born with blindness. She has been

involved in the disability community ever since and has made friendships with other parents of

children with disabilities through a support group. She acts like her son’s biggest advocate and

is primarily concerned with making sure he has all the tools, technology, and support he needs

to have a happy, successful life.

Typical Interaction with Podcasts and blogs:

● Uses a desktop web browser to access blog and podcasts

● Checks the website every couple weeks for updates and sometimes searches by a given

subject

The final persona is a professional who works regularly with disabled individuals. This persona

covers therapists, psychologists, pathologists, nurses, or other similar specialties that upport

and serve the lives of people with various disabilities. The professional persona is interested in

consuming content related to many different disabilities and are uniquely interested in the

specific capabilities of different types of assistive technologies. These people use Easterseals to

support their need to remain in a continuous state of learning about the ever-evolving

ecosystem of assistive technology. The podcasts, Youtube channel, and blog also serve as

resources to which they can share out to their clients in different cases. The Accessibility

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Channel informs this user segment of products they may be able to integrate into their daily

work or as recommendations to enhance the capabilities of their clients at home.

Terry, Professional

● 27 Years Old

● Occupational Therapist

● Interested in available assistive technology from a clinical

perspective to assist people with disabilities in their daily lives

● Discovered Easterseals Crossroads with a web search

Description

Terry’s work as an occupational therapist is to assist individuals with disabilities in leading

productive, independent lives. She likes to stay up to date with what technologies exist so that

she can help her clients, who have a variety of impairments. These technologies allow her

clients to participate in the job market and lead successful lives. Easterseal’s content serves as a

library of educational resources that she can use to help others overcome workplace

challenges.

Typical Interaction with Podcasts and blogs:

● Regular listener to all podcast channels

● Uses Youtube content to learn the hands on capabilities of assistive technology

● Occasionally uses the blog to search topic-specific content

Experience Map It is essential to understand the process involved in how a person discovers Easterseals, what

interactions take place with their services, content, and how those interactions serve to meet

people’s needs. Utilizing modeling artifacts such as the experience map shown below is

beneficial for stakeholders who are not directly involved with research to know the context of

the problem definition and why that problem has been defined. The experience map also gives

structure to what people experience in the current state of the organization and all the

touchpoints between the user and the organization. In addition, adjectives are stated to give

others empathy in how the client or customer thinks and feels throughout each phase.

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The insight this modeling artifact gave our team was that people who are in need of assistive

technology believe Easterseals provides its resources as a social service. However, they, in fact,

do not give or loan out equipment as a social service but instead give direction, information,

and financial information that guide disabled people to the services that may grant them the

means to lease or purchase various assistive technology. Easterseals guides people to this

service based information through their website and podcasts. As noted above, the discovery of

Easterseals is also made through counselor, therapists, and conferences/fairs.

Figure 3. Experience Map Model

Conceptual Designs

After collecting and analyzing the research I conducted and continued with ideation process to

refine and establish a direction for our prototype. These are conceptual not fully defined

designs as a solution but they represent the thoughts and ideas I have for a solution. These are

notes or ideas towards what I believe could lead towards a solution

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Figure 4. Image of a conceptual idea sketch of filter content based on personas

Playlists for personas is a concept to deliver podcast content based on a person's current

persona related to disabilities. The persona defines the type of individual a user is. The

concept communicates the process after selecting a persona that the content related to that

persona will be presented in the site. This is a filtering system that gives information to users

based on how they identify themselves or their needs.

This can be further integrated into a profile authentication process where new users that create

accounts can define their persona and the needs they have. Then when they sign in or visit the

site their saved settings will provide the content in the site they desire to access. It is a

customized experience for each person who access the site with a profile.

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Figure 5. Image of the progression of ideastion from the Victor Reader, persona filtering, to

combining both in a wireframe concept.

Figure 5 illustrates the connected thought process I had while creating the conceptual design to

the far right. Combining the information architecture of the Victor Reader to the custom

persona filtering I then generate a concept design the allows users to select the type of content

they want to access. In addition the ability to scroll down through types of channels then at

each channel they can swipe left or right to view the most recent content for each channel.

This up, down, left, right directional architecture mimics the keypad controls found on the

Victor Reader.

This allows the site to produce a familiar experience to those users who frequently utilize the

Victor Reader. In the interviews participants discussed how they discovered Easterseal

Crossroads podcast content with their device. They never went to their site or used search

engines to discover. This was a major insight that inspired this conceptual direction.

A design concept was created that focused on allowing people with disabilities to access

content relevant to their interests. This concept was inspired by the Victor Reader, which is a

handheld media player for blind and visually impaired individuals.

High-Fidelity Design

The high-fidelity design built off of the conceptual design and low-fidelity wireframes to

integrate the branding of Easterseals Crossroads and a refined visual design. One challenge for

the high-fidelity design was determining the best visual information hierarchy so users are able

to distinguish quickly between content and navigational elements. A design that clearly

distinguishes between content and navigational elements generally reduces the user’s cognitive

load and thereby increases the usability of the design and delivers a positive user experience.

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The high-fidelity prototype incorporates the full functionality expected for the website. In this

section, I present the screen design and interaction flow for one task supported by the

prototype: Location of a podcast that is a part of the Assistive Technology FAQ channel in the

Accessibility Channel.” This task walkthrough provides an overview of the modular-based card

design and visual design direction.

Figure 6. Home page where the user starts.

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Figure 7. The user scrolls down the homepage to find the Accessibility Channel

section. To access the Accessibility Channel, the user taps “View Channel”.

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Figure 8. This screen shows what the user sees when the Accessibility

Channel screen is initially presented.

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Figure 9. To see assistive technology update (ATU) content, the user clicks on the ATU card.

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Figure 10. The user can scroll to view ATU content.

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Figure 11. The user clicks on the title of to go to the screen for the selected podcast.

Evaluation

Utilizing a usability evaluation is an effective process to understand how usable and effective this design solution is for the intended user goals, in addition to business needs. The evaluation focused on six participants that were divided into two groups of three participants each. One group wore macular degeneration simulation glasses while the other group used their normal vision or “no glasses”. One of the primary goals of this evaluation was to better understand how effective the design is in accessibility for vision impaired individuals. While it was just evaluated with macular degeneration simulation glasses; this vision impairment is the most common among older individuals, also is a common vision impairment. During the evaluation

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participants focused on the six tasks proctored to them based off a scenario from two perspectives. The first perspective for the glass group was to find content that is associated with their disability. The second perspective was given to the no glasses group to focus on content that relates to their friends vision impairment and blindness. Once the scenario was given the participants were asked to complete six tasks given one at a time by a evaluation proctor. Each component of this evaluation will be discussed in detail throughout this section. Participants I conducted an evaluation of the final prototype with six participants. None of the participants

were visually impaired. Two of the participants were over the age of 55, one was over the age

of 40, the other two were over the age of 30. One women and five men participated in the

evaluation. All have had experience with smart phone technology and visiting website on their

smartphones.

Materials

The glasses used are standard clear protective eyewear that can be found at your local

hardware store. The unique element to the lens and what allows them to simulate macular

degeneration is clear nail polish. Clear nail polish was applied to whole surface of the lens.

Once the nail polish has dried to a sticky but malleable consistency I dabbed a klenox from the

central point of the left and right eye and then outward to give the effect of a opaque gradient.

This textured gradient gives the effect of the vision having the highest amount of blurriness at

the center point and then reduces blurriness to the outer edges of the lens. Below is an image

of the glasses I created and used.

Figure 12. This is an image of the macular degeneration simulation glasses used in the evaluations.

Procedure

To maintain consistency and proctoring of each evaluation I created a detailed evaluation script

document that outlined all of the methods being used. An introduction, scenario, and the six

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tasks evaluated were proctored to each participant using the high fidelity prototype. Three

participants wore glasses that simulated the vision impairment of macular degeneration during

the evaluation and the other three did not wear these glasses. All the tasks were identical for

both groups of participants. However, the only difference was the scenario give to each group.

Glasses were blind individuals finding content for themselves and non glasses were focused on

finding content related to their friend who was blind.

The tasks that all six of the participants had to complete are:

● Starting at the home page, try to locate the earliest blog article posted in 2018.

● Can you please select a popular video or podcast from anywhere on the site.

● Can you find a specific blog, that meets your vision or impairment needs based off of the

scenario read to you.

● Please locate a podcast from the Accessibility channel and select (click) that podcast.

● Please locate a podcast that is a part of the Assistive Technology Update channel in

Accessibility channel. Please select this podcast.

● Are you able to find another podcast from here that is a part of the Assistive Technology

Update channel?

Time on task, task completion, think aloud responses, and response from questions asked as

clarification were collected for each of the six tasks. At the end of the session, the participant

completed a 10-question semantic differential scale and the System Usability Scale (Affairs,

2013). If you are interested in further details of the evaluation please see Appendix number 4.

At the end of the evaluation I asked each participant to complete a semantic differential which

is made up of 10 5-point scales, each with a positive adjective on the left end of the scale and a

negative adjective on the right end of the scale. The adjectives used in the semantic differential

are not standard, instead they were picked by myself. This method is used to understand the

participant,s impression of the aesthetics, feelings, and personal impressions of the high-fidelity

prototype. The median responses on the semantic differential scales are presented in Figure X.

The median response for the participants who wore glasses was more negative for each item

except Trustworthy/Questionable when compared to the participants who did not wear the

glasses. Even though the glasses participants who wore glasses generally took more time to

complete tasks or, in many cases, did complete the task, they still had an overall positive

impression of the prototype. The median response was most negative for the items for which

confusing, disappointed, and forced were the negative adjectives.

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Figure 16.

The median System Usability Scale (SUS) score was 63.33 for participants who wore the glasses

and 83.75 for participants who did not wear the glasses.

Figure 17. This is a graphic of the SUS scale.

Figure 17 provides the SUS curve in Figure 17 based on a large number of industry studies.

The SUS score for participants who wore glasses would be a D on this scale, whereas the SUS

score for participants who did not wear the glasses would be an A.

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Results

Figure 13 shows the median time for each group to complete each task. These medians

indicate that the group of participants who wore the glasses took more time to complete each

of the tasks compared to the group of participants who did not wear the glasses.

Figure 13. Average Time for each group of participants, glasses and no glasses.

The following scoring method was used to calculate a task completion metric for this test:

● If a participant successfully completed the task, the participant’s score was 1.

● If a participant did not complete a task, the participant’s score was 0.

● If a participant partially completed a task, the participant’s score was 0.5.

Figure 14 shows the median task completion score for each group for each task. Compared to

the group of participants who did not wear the glasses, the median completion score for the

group of participants wearing the vision-impairment glasses was lower for each task except for

Task 4. For Task 4, all participants – with and without the glasses – completed the task.

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Figure 14. Task Completion

Figure 15 shows the median number of clicks/taps for each group for each task. The median

number of clicks/taps was 1 for the group of participants without the glasses for all tasks except

Task 3. The median number of clicks/taps was greater than 1.0 for the group of participants

with the glasses, indicating that participants in this group generally clicked and/or tapped more

during the tasks compared to the participants in the group without the glasses.

Observations during the tests indicated that participants with glasses were more than likely to

tap on something to see if it did something due to the fact the text or semantic was not fully

visible to them. Participants who did not wear the glasses were more than likely to scroll or

swipe until they found what they needed to find for the task. Knowing that tapping or clicking

is a common interaction in all of the technology encountered on the web, it was important to

gather this metric to understand the difference between swiping and scrolling to tapping. A

major unique aspect of the solution is the vertical scrolling across each content section and

then the swiping left to right within each section to view content cards. The relation between

time of task did not mean that if the glasses group took 5x longer there would not be 5x more

in taps. The glasses group was also swiping or scrolling and one person zoomed in to view

content. I interpreted this that scrolling and swiping can allow individuals with vision

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impairments to access more content without tapping.

Figure 15. Total Clicks/Taps

Participant comments while thinking aloud during the tasks indicated that participants from

both groups wanted direction or semantic iconography telling them to swipe or scroll to view

more content. They hesitated before scrolling or swiping at first and commented that they

were unsure if they should swipe or scroll. Once a participant started swiping or scrolling, these

interactions were frequently used for the tasks. Another comment was that participants

wanted to tap on the channel section title text instead of the “view channel” button. One

participant said “view what channel?” which seems to indicate that there was a disconnection

between the location of view channel button relative to the channel title. Going forward,

there needs to be improved directional iconography and adjustments to the labels and

navigation components.

Discussion

The evaluation was beneficial in knowing the difference in interaction behavior between the

glasses and no glasses group. People in the no glasses group swiped or scrolled quickly and

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clicked only once to select an item or page. This lead to minimal clicks, time on task, and task

completion for this group. The glasses group had high averages across all the metrics. They

swiped and scrolled then tapped, but then, if they did not receive the correct response from

the tap, they continued to swipe or scroll. Including directional iconography and larger titles

and text will increase usability for the glasses group participants. Knowing that large text limits

the amount of text in the viewport it is important going forward to present the most important

information needed to allow people to make decisions.

Vision Accessibility Expert Review

I reviewed my high-fidelity prototype with a group of three vision accessibility experts at ESC.

These experts write content and advise ESC about assistive technology. These individuals give

expert advice towards technology and create content on vision assistive technology at

Easterseals. Overall, the group provided positive feedback about the prototype. They noted,

however, that changing to light text on a dark background would increase readability for people

with vision impairments.

The issue raised by the experts about text-background contrast seemed to be present in my

tests with participants wearing glasses. My observations indicated that these participants

struggled to read orange text presented on a white background in the current prototype. This

indicates an opportunity for improving the design by using light text on a dark background.

Another note by the experts that closed captioning text for podcasts and videos should be for

only the content being spoken and not non-spoken content. Closed captioning that was

included in the design should be similar to the closed captioning for television shows. This is

done by having a black background with white color text. Only what is spoken or any noise

should be presented to the user. Not all of the content with only what is being said in bold

which is what was originally done in the design for closed captioning.

Conclusions The current prototype illustrates a number of design aspects that ESC could consider for a new

Accessibility Channel interface. These aspects include: up and down scrolling through sections,

left to right swiping of content cards, responsive site design and for use on desktop and mobile

devices, site-wide search filtering, and content cards providing direct access to content.

Scrolling and swiping appears to be a beneficial interaction function for participants using a

mobile device. This functionality can reduce navigational time by eliminating the need to go to

a main menu to access each main channel page. Swiping of content in each channel section

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also reduced the need to navigate to the channel page to view all of the content at that page.

Participants were able to acquire an understanding of each channel’s content offerings from

swiping through the channel section.

The appearance of the application on a desktop device was demonstrated to ESC to show the

modular design opportunities with the card-based content components. The card content

components allow flexibility in layout arrangement across screens by using a grid structure to

support accessing content on any type of screen. It was also beneficial to demonstrate to ESC

how the aesthetics of desktop version compare to the mobile version.

Site-wide filtering is a unique feature to this design. Along with the ease of scrolling and

swiping, a site-wide search filter adds convenience. A user is able to enter search terms in the

search bar in order to search the entire site, then until they change the search terms, they will

be able to view result for that search on any page or channel section. This reduces the amount

of times a person needs to enter their search query. Using a search and filtering system instead

of tags can increase the usability and reduce cognitive load for visitors to the site.

Content cards make the user experience more streamlined and efficient. People can consume

content directly from content card components in the scrollable stream of content or a

channel’s swipe-able section in the prototype. Content card components also allow people to

consume multiple pieces of content on a single page or preview the content before clicking to

go to an individual content page.

References Affairs, A. S. (2013, September 06). System Usability Scale (SUS). Retrieved from

https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/system-usability-scale.html

Affonso de Lara, S. M., Watanabe, W. M., & Beletato, E. P. (2010). Improving WCAG for

Elderly Web Accessibility. SIGDOC '10 Proceedings of the 28th ACM International Conference on

Design of Communication, 175-182. doi:10.1145/1878450.1878480

EichStandt, %. (2006). Measuring website usability for visually impaired people-a modified

GOMS analysis. ACM Digital Library, 8, 55-62. doi:10.1145/1168987.1168998

João, L. B. (2001). Designing User Interfaces for Severely Handicapped Persons. WUAUC'01

Proceedings of the 2001 EC/NSF workshop on Universal accessibility of ubiquitous computing:

providing for the elderly, 100-106. doi:10.1145/564526.564553

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Loiacono, Romano, N., & McCoy, S. (2009). The state of corporate website accessibility. ACM

Digital Library, 52(9), 128-132. doi:10.1145/1562164.1562197

Morris, M., Zolyomi, A., Yao, C., Bahram, S., Bigham, J., Kane, S. (2016). “With most of it

being pictures now, I rarely use it”: Understanding Twitter’s Evolving Accessibility to Blind

Users. ACM Digital Library, 5506-5516. doi:10.1145/2858036.2858116

Parmanto, P., Ferrydiansyah, R., Saptono, A., Song, L., Sugiantara, I., Hackett, S. (2005).

AcceSS: accessibility through simplification & summarization. ACM Digital Library, 18-25.

doi:10.1145/1061811.1061815

Pearson Elaine, Bailey Christopher, Green Steve. A tool to support the web accessibility

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doi:10.1145/1999747.1999758

Sayago, L. S., & Camacho, J. B. (2009). Evaluation of techniques defined in WCAG 2.0 with

older people. W4A '09 Proceedings of the 2009 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on

Web Accessibility (W4A), 79-82. doi:10.1145/1535654.1535673

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Appendix 1 Survey Questions:

1. What Easterseals content do you consume most frequently?

2. Do you use any assistive technologies while interacting with Easterseals’ content? If so, what

technology do you use?

3. Do you use any physical assistive products while interacting with Easterseals’ content? If so,

what products do you use?

4. How do you access Easterseals content?

5. Do you follow/subscribe to any of these Easterseal’s social media channels?

6. Were you aware that easterseal’s has an extensive blog? If so, how did you hear about it?

7. Can you please share the process you go through in selecting the Easterseals content that you

enjoy?

8. How do you decide which content you are interested in and want to click on?

9. Would you have a preferred method of notification for new content that is being produced by

Easterseal’s media team? If so, what would it be?

10. If you would like to continue participating in our research study, please provide your name and

email address. We will send emails to you regarding the design research we are conducting in

greater detail so that you can decide if you would like to participate. Your participation will

further our understanding of Easterseal’s media by helping us understand how we can improve

it and create deeper engagement.

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Appendix 2

Interview Questions

● If you were looking for a product that addresses your disability, how would you find out more

information regarding available products?

● Of Easterseals content, which of it are you most interested in? Time-sensitive,

content-sensitive?

● Why would you share content from Easterseals to others?

● If so, what type of content do you share?

● How do you go about sharing that content? Email? Word of mouth?

● How did discover Easter Seals?

● Why do you continually engage with Easter Seals content?

● What kind of problems have you experienced finding relevant content through Easterseals

Accessibility Channel?

● How has Easterseals content led or informed you in a decision related to using or buying

assistive technology?

All results of the interviews conducted can be found in the affinity diagram.

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Appendix 3 Survey Questions:

1. What Easterseals content do you consume most frequently? 2. Do you use any assistive technologies while interacting with Easterseals’ content? If so,

what technology do you use? 3. Do you use any physical assistive products while interacting with Easterseals’ content? If

so, what products do you use? 4. How do you access Easterseals content? 5. Do you follow/subscribe to any of these Easterseal’s social media channels? 6. Were you aware that easterseal’s has an extensive blog? If so, how did you hear about

it? 7. Can you please share the process you go through in selecting the Easterseals content

that you enjoy? 8. How do you decide which content you are interested in and want to click on? 9. Would you have a preferred method of notification for new content that is being

produced by Easterseal’s media team? If so, what would it be? 10. If you would like to continue participating in our research study, please provide your

name and email address. We will send emails to you regarding the design research we are conducting in greater detail so that you can decide if you would like to participate. Your participation will further our understanding of Easterseal’s media by helping us understand how we can improve it and create deeper engagement.

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Appendix 4

Easterseals Usability Evaluation

This usability evaluation will inform Easterseals of the high fidelity prototype designed for their

Eastersealstech.com website. The plan will be shared through this document and the

questions, methods, and process. Knowing how people interact with this site will be

beneficial for improving the prototype while informing all stakeholders of the usability and

accessibility.

Overall objectives for the study

This study will focus on answering these questions:

• How quickly, successfully, and easily can users complete each task on with the

Easterseals prototype?

• Locate a recent blog/podcast/video

• Find content pieces in a channel

• Find an blog/podcast/video that was within the past 3 months

• How many clicks are required to complete each task, starting at the homepage?

• What paths do users take to complete each task?

• How long does it take a user to complete a task? Do they find this amount appropriate?

• Is the site’s accessibility accommodating for individuals who are disabled?

• What obstacles do users encounter in completing each task?

• What points in the flow path confuse users?

• Comprehension of the blog, podcasts, or video? (true/false and why)

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• Record how long it took them to comprehend a card and article when viewing or

scrolling through it?

• What questions do users ask while attempting to complete a task?

• What is frustrating for the user while completing each task

Data Collected and Study Focus

This evaluation will collect both qualitative and quantitative data during our evaluations.

Qualitative measures are going to be think aloud, open ended questions, and positive

negative comments to understand the experiences and consistency of experiences between

participants. These three qualitative methods will allow us to better understand the severity

of each pain point we encounter in our research.

Quantitative measure will be based off of time on task, sequential differential and a system

usability scale (SUS). These three methods will provide figures on how effective the site

architecture, accessibility, and system statuses of the site are. These values will allow us to

compare all of the participants. Knowing the length of task and the feelings of the user

during task completion will give us the ability to narrow down on how effective or

ineffective the flow path for that task is. SUS will give us an understanding of how the

effectiveness of the overall site is on a higher level.

Semantic differential will provide insight towards how pleasing the aesthetics of the site are.

The difference between SUS and semantic differential will indicate if usability or visual

design or both are a problem for the prototype.

Methods and Data Types from this Evaluation:

Time on Task

Task Completion

Think Aloud

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Semantic Differential

System Usability Score

Quantitative Data Collected:

Whether users successfully completed a task or not. (Partial and Fully Complete)

How many clicks and screens viewed it took the user to complete each task.

How long it took the user to complete a task.

How long it took a participant to understand what they were viewing or selecting.

System Usability Scale

Semantic Differential

Qualitative Data Collected:

Users speaking out loud during the evaluation will give insight to confusing aspects of site

design.

If needed will allow for comments or clarification as to why they did something at the end of

each task.

Location and setup

This usability evaluation will involve both blind and non blind individuals. The location will also

be based at a location where both the proctor and participant find convenient. Participants

who live out of state or more than 30 min from the proctor a virtual evaluation will be used

with zoom meeting or google hangouts. The individuals who are not blind will wear

blindness simulator glasses focused on macular degeneration. This disease was chosen

because it is one of the most common eye diseases. The non blind individuals will wear

these glasses during the whole evaluation. Will be expected to complete each task wearing

them.

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Recruiting participants

I will select participants varying in age and experience with technology. All participants will

have full vision. However, three of the participants will wear macular degeneration

simulation glasses to simulate having that form of blindness.

Characteristic

Desired number

of participants

Participant type

pilot

regular

blind or disabled

1

3

3

Total number of participants 7

We will exclude people who are

● who work at Easterseals

Methodology and Evaluation Script

Introduction

Hi _____, thank you again for taking the time to participate in this evaluation. Before we begin,

I’m going to give you a brief overview of the test and how it will work.

This session is pretty straightforward — I’ll be giving you a broad task to complete and then

asking questions as we go along. Before we begin the evaluation I will give you a scenario

that you will follow through out the evaluation giving you context to each of the tasks.

It’s really important to know that we are only testing the site, not you. You can’t do or say

anything wrong here. Please feel free to let me know at any time if there’s something you

like, dislike, if you’re confused, etc. I promise you won’t hurt my feelings.

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During the evaluation I would like you to “think aloud” as much as possible. By that, I mean that

I’d like you to speak your thoughts as often as you can. For example, you may be looking at

a page, suddenly see something you didn’t see before and want to click on it. In that case,

saying something like “this caught my eye so I’m going to see what it is” would be very

useful.

You may end the evaluation at any point if you feel uncomfortable.

If at any point you have questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. Do you have any questions so

far?

At the end of the evaluation there are two ten question surveys you will complete.

Scenario

You are a vision impaired or blind individual if you do not personally have a vision impairments

please cover one eye. You are a person who is seeking information for resources or tools

that will make your life easier. You have a smartphone and a basic understanding of the

possibilities with modern technology. Your family and friends have assisted you in the past

with technology. However, you came across the Easterseals Technology site and would like

to use it to find resources and advice towards your vision impairment.

1. Starting at the home page, try to locate the earliest blog article posted in 2018.

1. Do you have any additional comments about this task?

2. Can you please select a popular video or podcast from anywhere on the site.

1. Why did you think this video or podcast was popular?

2. Can you find a specific blog, that meets your vision or impairment needs based off of the

scenario read to you.

3. Please locate a podcast from the Accessibility channel and select (click) that podcast.

1. What made you think this is the Accessibility Channel?

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2. Was this what you expected to see?

4. Please locate a podcast that is a part of the Assistive Technology Update channel in

Accessibility channel. Please select this podcast.

5. Are you able to find another podcast from here that is a part of the Assistive Technology

Update channel?

Surveys

SUS

https://goo.gl/forms/SSoFFEXbKUT3jnov2

Semantic Differential

https://goo.gl/forms/FbsrKXkuoW8YSbHl1

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