Web 2 and Web Accessibility: Research Challenges and Opportunities

It is obvious that the current interaction model of the Web, as used by assistive technologies, is changing. Further, that this change is starting to increase at such a rate that without timely and prompt action blind users will be barred from using this ‘new’ Web. Current access technology assumes a static interaction model, and expects that once the audio rendering has been performed no other changes to content already spoken will occur. This assumption is fundamentally flawed when dealing with Ajax sites and technologies.

Reproducibility is Key to Human Factors Science

The scientific method is based on empirical data and the replicability of those experiments used to collect this data by third parties. However, in Human Computer Interaction (HCI / CHI) the ability to replicate experiments is not possible because there are no peer reviewed routes for data publication. This inability to replicate experiments due to a lack of public data means that HCI does not strictly follow the scientific method, and as such is sometimes seen as not rigorous.

Interface Systems Evaluation & Innovation

I recently came across a paper discussing the evaluation of user interface systems. In it the author proposes that complex user interface systems and architectures do not readily yield to the research methods we currently use. It was at this point I started to bristle with derision in a very defensive…