Practical approaches for involving people with disabilities in digital product design and evaluation

Presented at 2:15pm in Cotton Creek I on Thursday, January 1, 2018.

Speaker(s)

• David Sloan, Principal Accessibility Engineer, Research and Strategy Lead, TPGi

Session Details

• Length of Session: 1-hr
• Format: Lecture
• Expertise Level: All Levels
• Type of session: General Conference

Summary

Find out effective ways for successfully involving people with disabilities in digital product design and evaluation activities, from activity design to recruitment to generating high-impact results.

Abstract

Standards and guidelines play an important role in the design and evaluation of digital products for accessibility. But the involvement of people with disabilities in the design and evaluation of digital systems is the most effective way of providing genuinely inclusive user experiences. Sometimes, though, budget and time constraints might limit the type of activity that organisations can carry out with people with disabilities; it can also be challenging to find the most effective way to gather valid, usable data in an ethically sensitive way.

In this session, you'll hear about different approaches to involving people with a range of disabilities in the design and evaluation of digital products. We'll look at a range of methods from exploratory research to product evaluation, including contextual inquiry, use case testing and usability testing. We'll discuss practical methods for recruitment, study design, moderation, and communicating results.

Keypoints

1. the value of user research and usability evaluation to accessibility
2. practical methods for involving people with disabilities
3. generating and communicating reliable, impactful results

Disability Areas

All Areas

Topic Areas

Accessible Course Design, Administrative/Campus Policy, Uncategorized, Web/Media/App Access

Speaker Bio(s)

David Sloan

David Sloan is Research and Strategy Lead for TPGi. He’s spent over 20 years as an accessibility and inclusive design researcher, educator and consultant, helping people to create and provide great digital products and services that can be used by as many people as possible, regardless of disability. He joined TPGi in 2013, having previously worked at the University of Dundee’s School of Computing, one of the world’s largest academic research groups investigating disability, ageing, and inclusive technology design.