Design for All in action: An example of analysis and implementation
Introduction
Information and communication technologies (ICT) play a key role in the daily life of all people.
It is acknowledged (Roe, 2007) that, in order to maximize benefits coming from ICT, decisions made at design time could prove particularly valuable in order for products and services to be flexible, robust, enjoyable and adaptable to our preferences, and in order to prevent barriers from being introduced in technological products, thus limiting access possibilities for users.
In this perspective, Design for All (D4All) denotes an approach to design that promotes the concept of envisioning products, services and environments, from the design phase on, that are suitable for the broadest possible section of the population, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for specialized design.
Design for All is a general concept that embraces several fields. In the ICT field, it is still posing major challenges, as it aims to build systems usable by the vast majority of people, regardless of factors such as their abilities or age, and regardless of the interaction platform and the context in which they operate (Emiliani & Stephanidis, 2005), that is, to accommodate for heterogeneity in users, devices and contexts of use; however, one of the main difficulties encountered by developers is the general lack of indications on how to design systems for all.
This paper discusses aspects related to the implementation of D4All from the perspective of developers.
In order to illustrate and exemplify the concepts, and to show a possible way to actualize D4All design principles, the discussion refers to characteristics implemented in the web site of the Italian EDeAN network,1 which was built using a platform for the development of on-line information systems, capable of tackling challenges driven from the D4All approach through adaptations.
Section 2 serves as an introduction, by providing, in Section 2.1, a discussion of generalities about D4All, and presenting issues related to adaptations in Section 2.2.
Section 3 describes a platform to build web sites that supports adaptability and adaptivity, with specific focus on solutions adopted for implementing adaptations and a discussion on how they are implemented from a technical point of view (Section 3.2).
Lastly, Section 4 contains an overview of the it-EDeAN web site.
Section snippets
Generalities about D4All
Design for All constitutes a valuable approach for building modern ICT services that need to accommodate for heterogeneity in user characteristics, devices and contexts of use. However, one of the main difficulties encountered by developers is the general lack of indications on how to instantiate its principles.
Resources related to Design for All and Universal Design (UD, denoting, in the United States, an approach similar to D4All) include a collection of key principles, as well as design
The PALIO platform
The PALIO platform was developed during the IST-2001-20656 PALIO project (see Acknowledgments) and works within the Apache Cocoon web development framework.5 It is a modular platform that makes it possible to build services of various types, accessible from anywhere and at anytime, offering support for a wide range of mobile and wired communication devices; it supports adaptability
The it-EDeAN web site: the adaptation framework in action
The PALIO adaptation framework was released in its most stable version at the end of the project, in April 2003, and was considered mature enough to be used for the implementation of the official web site of the Italian network of EDeAN.
The it-EDeAN web site is supposed to gather general information about the network members, to collect relevant documents and to act as a reference for the activities of the Italian network of EDeAN. At design time, an analysis of the required characteristics of
Conclusions and future work
This paper proposes adaptation capable platforms as a possible solution in pursuing Design for All principles.
After an analysis of relevant factors that influence systems adaptations for ICT services, it presents a modular platform that makes it possible to build services of various types, that are accessible from anywhere and at anytime, and offer support for a wide range of mobile and wired communication devices. The focus is on the platform’s adaptation framework, which is inspired by Design
Acknowledgements
The PALIO (Personalised Access to Local Information and services for tOurists) project (IST-2001-20656) was partly funded by the Information Society Technologies Programme of the European Commission.
The partners in the PALIO consortium are: ASSIOMA S.p.A., Italy - Prime Contractor; IROE-CNR (now IFAC-CNR), Italy; Comune di Firenze, Italy; ICS-FORTH, Greece; GMD, Germany; Telecom Italia Mobile S.p.A., Italy; University of Siena, Italy; Comune di Siena, Italy; MA Systems and Control Ltd, UK;
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