World Usability Day New England

Creativity Support Tools is a research topic with high risk but potentially very high payoff. The goal is to develop improved software and user interfaces that empower diverse users in the sciences and arts to be more productive, and more innovative. Potential users include a combination of software and other engineers, diverse scientists, product and graphic designers, and architects, as well as writers, poets, musicians, new media artists, and many others. Ben Shneiderman is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Founding Director (1983-2000) of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory, and Member of the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies at the University of Maryland at College Park. He was elected as a Fellow of the Association for Computing (ACM) in 1997 and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2001. He received the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. Ben is the author of Software Psychology: Human Factors in Computer and Information Systems (1980) and Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction (4th ed. 2004). His recent books include Leonardo's Laptop: Human Needs and the New Computing Technologies (MIT Press), which won the IEEE book award in 2004.

At its best, the web is a model of efficiency, with a single document playing to multiple contexts. Adaptive design provides the basis for this flexibility, with documents that move gracefully between small and large screen and printed page, with multiple stops in between. For the web designer, designs that adapt are far more difficult to accomplish than fixed, controlled pages. But adaptive design is also liberating, for designers and users alike. Designers are relieved of the burden of trying to devise a single design that works for all users. Users are spared the frustration of trying to navigate environments that do not take into account their use context. This session will focus on the practice of adaptive design. We will begin with document design and how to create machine-friendly source documents. Next, we will discuss best practices for adaptive design, including page layouts that accommodate different window widths, functional elements that can be worked via the keyboard, and styling for print and mobile contexts. Finally, we will discuss the partnership between designer and user in an adaptive, user-controlled environment. Sarah Horton is Director of Web Strategy, Design, and Infrastructure at Dartmouth College. In this capacity, she provides overall strategic direction for the College’s web presence and leads the Web Services group, which provides design, development, and hosting services for the College. In her previous position as an instructional designer in Academic Computing, she promoted the use of information technologies to foster learning. Sarah is a writer and advocate for universal usability and user-centered design. She is co-author with Patrick Lynch of Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites, published by Yale University Press, which has sold over 120,000 copies and been translated into eight languages. Her second book, Web Teaching Guide: A Practical Approach to Creating Course Web Sites, also published by Yale University Press, won the American Association of Publishers award for the Best Book in Computer Science in 2000. Her most recent book, Access by Design: A Guide to Universal Usability for Web Designers, was published in July 2005 by Peachpit Press. Sarah regularly writes articles and gives presentations and workshops on web design with a focus on usability and accessibility. Patrick J. Lynch is the Director of Special Technology Projects in the Office of the ITS Director at Yale University's Information Technology Services. In his 35 years with Yale University he has been a medical illustrator, biomedical and scientific photographer, audiovisual producer, and for the past 20 years a designer of interactive multimedia teaching, training, and informational software and web sites. Pat has won over 30 national and international awards for his work, including the 2005 Pirelli Internetional Awards for Best Overall multimedia teaching site, and best site from higher education, the 1992 Best-in-Show Award from the Health Sciences Communications Association and a Gold Medal, Silver Medal and Award of Excellence in the international INVISION Multimedia Awards. He has authored over 100 professional papers, magazine articles, and book chapters, and published three books—A Field Guide to North American Wildlife, Web Style Guide, and Manual of Orinthology—with Yale University Press. He has been a consultant and invited speaker on web design and web communications issues to many universities, goverment agencies, corporations, and non-profits groups, and regularly does talks, workshops, and professonal papers in biocommuications, academic computing, medical illustration, biomedical visualization, and web publication.

This session will present the methods used by The Hadley School for the Blind to provide usable e-learning and its alternatives to students who are blind or visually impaired. The presentation will describe how a student navigates through the courseware and how an instructors and staff members support their learning. Lastly, Hadley will share the results of the e-Hadley project by program. Michael Rydel brings both an academic and corporate training background to his work of providing usable distance education to students with visual disabilities. He began his career as an automation trainer and manager with two IBM value added dealers. After becoming the Corporate Training Manager at Kemper Insurance, he implemented e-learning solutions for over 8,000 employees. Over the years, he also taught as an adjunct faculty member with the English department at Loyola University Chicago. For the past three years, he has served as the Dean of Curricular Affairs at Hadley while the school has implemented its new e-Hadley program. Michael has a Bachelors of Arts from Loyola University Chicago and a Masters of Arts from Indiana University in English Literature. He also has an Online Teaching Certificate from UCLA. Andre Lukatsky is the Director of Computer Services at The Hadley School for the Blind in Winnetka, IL. Andre has been with Hadley since 1999 and the head of the Computer Services Department since 2001. Before coming to Hadley, he had been working as a Network Administrator at Solex Academy in Wheeling, IL. Andre has extensive experience working with various aspects of computer technology—from hardware support to programming to web development. He has been working with access technology since 1999, creating accessible desktop applications, writing custom scripts for screen readers to enhance accessibility for blind users, and developing accessible web content templates. Andre has a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, IL.

While its intuitive appeal remains strong, the adoption of universal design is often thwarted by challenges common to postsecondary classrooms. This presentation will engage participants in building awareness of universal design (UD) and the promise and challenges of implementation through interactive role playing by the presenters. Principles of universal design will be presented as point-counterpoint for discussion and debate, as participants realize the advantages and concerns surrounding UD implementation from an individual, as well as, an institutional perspective. Manju Banerjee is assistant professor in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT. She is a research and education consultant for the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ, and has over 20 years experience in the field of learning and other disabilities. She is the former Director of Disability Services at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Manju is a certified diagnostician and teacher-consultant for learning disabilities. She has worked as a postsecondary disability service provider, vocational rehabilitation counselor, faculty member, and researcher for many years. Manju has published and presented both nationally and internationally on topics including disability documentation and assessment, technology mediated learning, and universal design in instruction. Her areas of research include technological competencies for college students with learning disabilities and universal design in high stakes assessment. Loring C. Brinckerhoff, Ph.D. is Director of the Office of Disability Policy at Educational Testing Service (ETS). He also serves as a higher education and disability consultant to Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D) and Harvard Medical School. He received his doctorate in learning disabilities from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is past-president of the Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) and former secretary of the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities. Area of expertise: Transition from high school to post-secondary education for students with learning disabilities; high stakes testing and accommodations; gifted adults with disabilities.

There is a growing awareness that new kinds of science are needed to cope with many contemporary problems. The idea of Science 2.0 shifts attention from the natural to the made world, where richly interdisciplinary problems are resistant to reductionist solutions. Science 2.0 includes topics such as environmental preservation, energy sustainability, conflict resolution, community building, and universal usability. The problems of universal usability have technical foundations, but its intensely human dimensions means that innovative solutions are needed to promote broad usage of the web, mobile technologies, and new media. The goals are to enable broad access to learning, democratic processes, health information, community services, etc. Challenging research problems emerge from addressing the needs of diverse users (novice/experts, young/old, abled/disabled, multiple languages, cross cultural) who use a wide range technologies (small/large displays, slow/fast networks, voice/text/video). In some cases, traditional controlled studies are successful (Science 1.0), but often novel case study ethnographic methods are more effective (Science 2.0). Ben Shneiderman is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Founding Director (1983-2000) of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory, and Member of the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies at the University of Maryland at College Park. He was elected as a Fellow of the Association for Computing (ACM) in 1997 and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2001. He received the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. Ben is the author of Software Psychology: Human Factors in Computer and Information Systems (1980) and Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction (4th ed. 2004). His recent books include Leonardo's Laptop: Human Needs and the New Computing Technologies (MIT Press) which won the IEEE book award in 2004.