This paper is the continuation of a series of related work about experimentation of alternative ways of interaction with computers for disabled people (concretely with users suffering from cerebral palsy). In order to define an effective methodology to evaluate the usability and/or accessibility levels for this user profile, here, we start studying and evaluating (a) different interactive devices and interaction techniques that enable the use of computers for this people and, (b) existing metric techniques from human-computer interaction field. With this basis the article proposes a new evaluation method that simplifies the existing ones reducing the complexity to the minimum. This proposal is extensively explained and field research will soon be started.
Summary. In this chapter we tackle the problem of studying the Digital Divide (DD) and we pay a special attention to its relation with disabled people. We emphasise on the importance of the fight against the DD and we report a number of projects that aim to reduce it in Catalonia (Spain).The main contribution of this work is the study of the DD from the point of view of the relation between Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and disabled people. We analyse the problems that disabled people have to face in order to use ICTs. Therefore, we have defined a number of measures to determine the degree of accessibility that a given user has and, we have carried out some experiments to evaluate the proposed measures.Our work is deeply related with the Òmnia Project and the telecentres network impelled by the Catalan Government. Thus, we must understand our work in the context of these innovative initiatives.In this chapter we concentrate on the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) issues related to the DD in order to explain our experience in this field. At the time of writing this text, the experimental part is still in progress, however some previous results are given. Moreover the current work and experiences are also reported.
Abstract. The Interactive Therapeutic Sensory Environment (ITSE) research project offers new opportunities on stimulation, interaction and interactive creation for people with moderate and severe mental and physical disabilities. Mainly based on computer vision techniques, the ITSE project allows the gathering of users' gestures and their transformation into images, sounds and vibrations. Currently, in the APPC 1 , we are working in a prototype that is capable of generating sounds based on the users' motion and to process digitally the vocal sounds of the users. Tests with impaired users show that ITSE promotes participation, engagement and play. In this paper, we briefly describe the ITSE system, the experimental methodology, the preliminary results and some future goals.
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