Universal Usability: A grand challenge for HCI
Ben Shneiderman (draft 10/31/2006)
Universal usability (UU) is more than a noble pursuit that benefits special communities;
it clarifies thinking about advanced interfaces that benefit all information and computer
systems users. The breakthroughs needed to enable diverse users to succeed, will often
accelerate progress on current technology priorities such as trusted voting, medical error
reduction, and emergency response.
Research on universal usability focuses on user experiences and stretches the bounds of
current thinking in several ways. It makes explicit the need to accommodate users with
different skills, knowledge, age, gender, disabilities, literacy, culture, income, etc.
Design for diverse users can take extra effort, but there is growing evidence that
accommodating the needs of diverse users can improve designs for all users. Another
growing success story are the improved designs for diverse technologies such as small
and large displays as well as slow and fast networks.
The business case for universal usability is increasingly clear: advanced designs expand
the audience and enable greater levels of success for all users. For e-commerce the
payoff is clear: larger markets and increased sales. For government service and
information providers the benefits can be measured in web logs statistics which show
more unique visitors and page views.
There is a good lesson from civic infrastructure design. Sidewalk curbcuts were required
to facilitate movement by users with wheelchairs but they also benefit parents with
children in strollers, delivery workers with large loads, and users of skate boards, scooters,
and Segway transporters. Similarly electronic curbcuts, could benefit many users, for
example, control over color palettes for users with color vision deficiencies also helps
when lighting conditions change, projection devices distort color, and monochrome
display devices must be used (Shneiderman, 2000; Hochheiser and Shneiderman, 2001).
Another highly successful example of specialized needs benefiting many users was the
addition of closed captioning systems to enable users with hearing disabilities to follow
television news and other programs. The requirement for rapid and low-cost closed
captioning increased demand for higher quality speech recognition software. Then when
the textual transcripts were available they could be searched and automatically translated
into other languages. Furthermore, closed captioning became useful to viewers in noisy
environment such as in bars, trains, gyms, or airports, or in quiet places such as hospitals
and libraries. Closed captioning also benefited those who were learning a new language.
Another payoff from research on universal usability is the support for greater technology
variety. Modern systems have enhanced support for a broader range of hardware,
software, and networking situations. A key success story is to enable access to the web
by users with slow and fast network connections, small and large displays, new and older
hardware, and diverse software platforms. There is strong progress in web access design
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for small mobile devices, but many breakthroughs are needed, such as improved designs
for zoomable user interfaces. Compression algorithms have made widespread
dissemination possible for music, photos, animations, and videos, but there are many
further opportunities.
Yet another payoff from universal usability is that it focuses attention on designs that
bridge the gap between what users know and what they need to know. No matter what
level of computer experience and domain knowledge users have, they often have a need
to learn something more when using desktop applications, web services, or mobile
devices. Rapid, flexible, user-controlled strategies to enable users to acquire new
knowledge are still needed. Current online help strategies are largely ineffective,
especially in challenging situations, such as life-critical information provision, voting,
and e-commerce, where users may be under stress and high success rates are required.
Multi-layer interfaces that enable users to start simply and gracefully evolve to more
complexity are one solution that is beginning to be applied in medical applications,
drawing tools, and advanced video editing applications (Shneiderman, 2003; Christiernin,
Lindahl, and Torgersson, 2004). An increasingly popular and successful method for
learning about applications is the use of animated narrated demonstrations. These 1-3
minute screen captures, stored more compactly than video, show the application in use
for meaningful tasks while the narration explains each step (Plaisant and Shneiderman,
2005).
Fundamental technology research breakthroughs are needed to ensure that every user can
derive the full benefits of information access, social support through communication, and
fulfilling self expression. Designers need improved software tools, and evaluators need
better ways to log and analyze usage patterns. Cognitive theories can be expanded from
ones that deal with error-free performance by expert users to those that make predictions
for diverse users who need help in recovering from common errors.
We have the opportunity to promote creative contributions from young children and older
adults, from struggling novices to proficient experts, and from low literacy to multilingual users. Human diversity is a strength, and accommodating this diversity is a grand
challenge that we should enthusiastically embrace. It will enrich our technology, advance
basic research, and bring the greatest benefits to the greatest number.
History of Universal Usability
Universal usability is still a young discipline but some lessons are already apparent by
looking back at what has been accomplished (Edwards, 1995). Thirty years ago
information and computing technologies were used by only a small fraction of the
population, but design improvements have made word processing and email common in
developed nations, while cell phones have become remarkably ubiquitous in developing
nations. The growing sophistication of users means that newer technologies can be
readily disseminated such as digital cameras, personal calendars, and the Apple iPod or
other MP3 music players. This paves the way for future developments such as personal
medical devices, improved healthcare recordkeeping, and expanded government services.
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Educational technologies are already raising the expectations of teachers of what they can
accomplish, and even more dramatically enabling administrators to change the
curriculum.
Early research in universal usability, such as Gregg Vanderheiden’s efforts was often tied
to needs of users with disabilities. Vanderheiden’s inspiring story starts with his
undergraduate efforts to build communications technologies for a young boy with
cerebral palsy (Vanderheiden, 1973; 1980; 1981). His work grew, supported by
sympathetic administrators at the Univ. of Wisconsin and the U.S. National Science
Foundation. Vanderheiden’s many recognitions include being the first recipient of the
ACM SIGCHI Social Impact Award in 2004 for his work in influencing operating
system developers to include support for users with disabilities. The University of
Wisconsin Trace Research and Development Center remains a world leader in
technologies that promote universal usability (Vanderheiden, 1990; 2001; 2004).
Constantine Stephanidis also understood the importance of helping individuals with
disabilities and expanded his scope to include other users and broader applications
(Stephanidis, 1995; Stephanidis, C., et al., 1998; 1999), leading to the concept of User
Interfaces for All, rooted in the principles of Universal Access and Design for All
(Stephanidis, 2001). His tireless organizing efforts in the European Community
produced a series of workshops, conferences, books, and a new scientific journal. The
Working Group “User Interfaces for All” (UI4All) of the European Consortium for
Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM), active from 1995 to 2006, created a lively
community of researchers and has had influence at the policy level in Europe. Research
and development efforts towards universal usability are continuing through the ERCIM
Working Group Smart Environments and Systems for Ambient Intelligence (SESAMI).
Other pioneers include Alan Newell, a Professor at the University of Dundee, Scotland,
whose work to help users with disabilities and older adults, led to his championing the
idea of access for all users (Newell, 1993; 1996; Newell and Gregor, 2002; Dickinson et
al., 2005). Similarly, Vicki Hanson began with research for deaf users but has expanded
her role as the manager of the Accessibility Research group at IBM's T. J. Watson
Research Center (Hanson and Richards, 2005). She also chairs the ACM Special Interest
Group on Accessible Computing (SIGACCESS), whose annual conference, ASSETS, is
a forum for researchers and practitioners working on accessible technology.
Some researchers have been motivated to work on universal usability in order to facilitate
use of computers by all users. Jack Carroll, now a professor at Penn State University,
recognized the problems that users had in mastering new user interfaces and developed
principles for the design of minimal manuals (Carroll, 1990). They were designed to be
short, pushing users to learn by being active in using their software. Tom Tullis’s early
work on screen design metrics served him well in developing a deep understanding of
web design for Fidelity, a major investment firm managing the savings of millions of
users (Chadwick-Dias, McNulty, and Tullis, 2003).
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Many other universal usability researchers, authors, and practitioners have played major
roles in stimulating early interest, making the payoffs clear, and guiding practitioners
(Paciello, 2000; Horton, 2005). An important shift in research has been the expansion
from early work on addressing motor and perceptual impairments to more recent efforts
that also deal with cognitive impairments, aging, language diversity, and technology
diversity.
Contributions of this volume
This volume contains reports from a diverse set of researchers, each working hard to
satisfy the needs of one or more special communities. Their insights bring immediate
benefits to their users, as well as broader spin-offs and payoffs in the form of design
breakthroughs, innovative research methods, and more sophisticated theories. These
research contributions are applicable in future projects that will improve life for many
users.
The design breakthroughs contribute to our growing understanding of how to make
successful web pages, online communities, and educational resources. It’s wonderful to
learn that blind users success with screen readers is steadily improving and that even
highly visual materials, such as maps, can be sonified. It’s encouraging to know that
improved text entry methods help users with motor impairments and that the right kind of
screen-based avatars is engaging to children with autism.
The innovative research methods stem from the need to study diverse users in which it is
difficult to ensure uniformity in subject background, especially when dealing with small
numbers of subjects. Controlled studies can be effective when small variations in
independent variables produce clear differences in the dependent variables such as
performance speed, but ethnographic and longitudinal case studies are valuable in gaining
insights that might be later tested in controlled studies. The educational resources include
more well-designed websites for children’s skill learning, public health information, and
older adults coping with loss of memory and cognitive skills.
The touching stories of benefits to users with severe injuries are matched by the inspiring
reports of successes by poor or low literacy users. Every reader will smile at the story of
the older adult who opposed learning about computers to get personal medical
information, but after a few weeks she commented enthusiastically that “This computer is
better than all my medication combined.” Readers will also gain hope for the future by
reading how government services and digital libraries are being redesigned to make them
more usable for diverse users.
The papers give a good taste of the breadth of research being done: not only for the
diversity of users and their special needs, but for the research methods and outcomes. I
liked the common framework in which authors closed by describing the implications for
users, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers. The breadth of these implications
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highlights why universal usability research is so important. There is progress and hope,
but there are many minds to be changed and much work to be done.
References
Carroll, J. M., The Nurnberg Funnel: Designing Minimalist Instruction for Practical
Computer Skill, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA (1990).
Chadwick-Dias, A., McNulty, M. and Tullis, T., Web usability and age: How design
changes can improve performance, Proc. ACM Conferences on Universal Usability 2003,
ACM Press, New York (2003), 30-37.
Christiernin, L. G., Lindahl, F., and Torgersson, O., Designing a multi-layered image
viewer, Proc. 3rd Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (NordCHI 2004),
ACM Press, New York (2004), 181-184.
Dickinson, A., Newell, A. F., Smith, M. J., and Hill, R., Introducing the internet to the
over-60's: developing an email system for older novice computer users, Interacting with
Computers, 17 (2005), pp.621-642.
Edwards, A., Extra-Ordinary Human-Computer Interaction: Interfaces For Users With
Disabilities, Cambridge University Press, UK (1995)
Hanson, V. and Richards, J. T., Achieving a more usable World Wide Web. Behaviour
and Information Technology 24, 3 (May 2005), 231-46.
Hochheiser, H. and Shneiderman, B., Universal usability statements: Marking the trail for
all users, ACM interactions 8, 2 (March-April 2001), pp. 16-18.
Horton, S., Access by Design: A Guide to Universal Usability for Web Designers, New
Riders Press, Indianapolis, IN (2005).
Keates, S. and Clarkson, P.J., Countering design exclusion through inclusive design, Proc.
ACM Conferences on Universal Usability 2003, ACM Press, New York (2003), 69-76.
Newell, A.F., Interfaces for the ordinary and beyond, IEEE Software 10, 5 (Sep 1993),
76-78
Newell, A. F.. Technology and the disabled, Technology, Innovation and Society, 12,
1 (1996), 21-23.
Newell, A. F. and Gregor, P., Design for older and disabled people – where do we go
from here?, Universal Access in the Information Society 2, 1 (Nov. 2002), 3-7.
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Paciello, Michael G., Web Accessibility for People With Disabilities, CMP Books,
Gilroy, CA (2000).
Plaisant, C. and Shneiderman, B., Show Me! Guidelines for producing recorded
demonstrations, Proc. Conf. on Visual Languages/Human-Centric Computing, IEEE
Press, Piscataway, NJ (Sept 2005), 171-178.
Shneiderman, B., Universal Usability: Pushing human-computer interaction research to
empower every citizen, Communications of the ACM 43, 5 (May 2000), 84-91.
Shneiderman, B., Promoting universal usability with multi-layer interface design, ACM
Conference on Universal Usability, ACM Press, New York (2003), 1-8.
Shneiderman, B. and Hochheiser, H., Universal usability as a stimulus to advanced
interface design, Behaviour & Information Technology 20, 5 (Sept-Oct 2001), 367-376.
Stephanidis, C. (Ed.), User Interfaces for All - Concepts, Methods, and Tools, Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ (2001).
Stephanidis, C., et al., Toward an Information Society for All: An International R&D
Agenda, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction 10, 2 (1998), 107–134,
http://www.ics.forth.gr/hci/files/white_paper_1998.pdf.
Stephanidis, C., et al., Toward an Information Society for All: HCI challenges and R&D
recommendations, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction 11, 1 (1999),
1–28, http://www.ics.forth.gr/hci/files/white_paper_1999.pdf.
Vanderheiden, G. C. (1980). Microcomputer aids for individuals with severe or multiple
handicaps...barriers and approaches. Proceedings of the IEEE Computer Society
Workshop on the Application of Personal Computing to Aid the Handicapped (April
1980), 72-4.
Vanderheiden G., Practical Applications of Microcomputers to Aid the Handicapped,
IEEE Computer 14, 1 (Jan 1981), pp.54-61
Vanderheiden, G. C., Thirty-something million: Should they be exceptions? Human
Factors 32, 4 (1990), 383-396.
Vanderheiden, G., Everyone interfaces, In Stephanidis, C. (Editor), User Interfaces for
All: Concepts, Methods, and Tools, Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc., Mahwah, NJ (2001), 115133.
Vanderheiden, G.C., Using extended and enhanced usability
(EEU) to provide access to mainstream electronic voting machines, Information
Technology and Disabilities, Vol. X, No. 2 (December 2004). Retrieved April 28, 2005.
from http://www.rit.edu/~easi/itd/itdv10n2/vanderhe.htm
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Vanderheiden, G., Volk, A.M., and Geisler, C.D., The Auto-Monitoring Technique and
its Application in the Auto-Monitoring Communication Board (Autocom), A New
Communication Aid for the Severely Handicapped, Proc. 1973 Carnahan Conference on
Electronic Prosthetics, Lexington, KY (1973), 47-51.
Selected Web Resources
Defining Universal Usability
http://instone.org/universalusability
http://instone.org/node/40?PHPSESSID=d785b97f1d3c4f9c749c0d405a5ff4df
Universal Usability in Practice: Principles and strategies for practitioners designing
universally usable sites. Resources website
http://www.otal.umd.edu/uupractice/
ACM Conferences on Universal Usability
2003: http://www.acm.org/sigchi/cuu2003/
2000: http://sigchi.org/cuu/
ACM SIGCHI: http://www.acm.org/sigchi/
ACM SIGCHI on Accessibility: http://www.hcibib.org/accessibility/
ACM SIGACCESS: http://www.acm.org/sigaccess/index.php
Accessible Design in the Digital World Conference:
http://www.accessinthedigitalworld.org/2005/
Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction (UAHCI)
http://www.hcii2007.org/ta/ua.html
Held every two years in conjunction with the HCI International Conference series.
User Interfaces for All Conferences (UI4ALL): http://ui4all.ics.forth.gr/
TRACE Center: http://trace.wisc.edu/
European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics.
Workshops: User Interfaces For All, founded by Prof. Constantine Stephanidis in 1995
(http://www.ui4all.gr/)
2004: http://ui4all.ics.forth.gr/workshop2004/
2002: http://ui4all.ics.forth.gr/workshop2002/
Springer Journal:
Universal Access in the Information Society (UAIS):
http://www.springeronline.com/east/journal/10209/
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California State University, Northridge Center on Disabilities' 22nd Annual International
Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference.
http://www.csun.edu/cod/conf/
http://www.csun.edu/cod/conf/proceedings_index.htm
Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America
http://www.resna.org/
The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/nidrr/index.html
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