Accessibility Issues in E-Government

One of the top reasons given for use of the internet is the ability to search for health information. However, much of the planning for web-based health information often fails to consider accessibility issues. If health care organizations and community agencies’ web sites have the latest, most wellresearched information on the health topics of the day, it is useless to those who cannot access it because of invisible technological barriers. Many flashy, high-tech sites were designed only to appeal to the needs of the mainstream population, with no consideration given to how people with disabilities must adapt their use of the web in order to access information. This article addresses issues of access specific to web site development, and will explore barriers to accessibility frequently experienced by web users with disabilities, requirements for ADA compliance, and how people with disabilities use the web. Web site accessibility guidelines, as well as simple evaluation tools, will be discussed. A thorough review of the article will enable even the least tech-savvy of health educators to enhance their skills in planning and evaluating web sites to promote access for people with disabilities.

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Making the Case and Laying the Groundwork for Integrating Age-Friendly Practices Into a University Strategic Plan

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.1808 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 552-552

Author(s):

Melissa Cannon

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Group Discussion ◽

Strategic Plan ◽

College Campus ◽

Institutions Of Higher Education ◽

Community Members ◽

Faculty Senate ◽

Accessibility Issues ◽

Intensive Group ◽

The University

Abstract A crucial first step in preparing to become an Age-Friendly University (AFU) is seeking endorsement from the campus community and leadership. This presentation describes the mapping of the AFU principles to the strategic plan and initiatives of Western Oregon University, leading to endorsement by its faculty senate, and highlights a study of the older community members’ use of the university, laying the groundwork for advancing age-friendliness on campus. Data were collected through surveys (N=46), interviews (N=9), and photovoice method (N=7) with older adults, and data were analyzed using SPSS, team coding, and intensive group discussion to develop categories and themes. Themes emerged related to how the college campus is used by older adults, the need to promote lifelong learning to the community, and the need to address accessibility issues in order to be more age-friendly, providing helpful insight to other institutions of higher education seeking to join the AFU network.

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On the Relation between Code Elements and Accessibility Issues in Android Apps

Proceedings of the 5th Brazilian Symposium on Systematic and Automated Software Testing ◽

10.1145/3425174.3425209 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Henrique Neves da Silva ◽

Andre Takeshi Endo ◽

Marcelo Medeiros Eler ◽

Silvia Regina Vergilio ◽

Vinicius H. S. Durelli

Keyword(s):

Android Apps ◽

Accessibility Issues

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Comparing ten WCAG tools for accessibility evaluation of websites

Technology and Disability ◽

10.3233/tad-210329 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-23

Author(s):

Shashank Kumar ◽

Jeevitha Shree DV ◽

Pradipta Biswas

Keyword(s):

User Interaction ◽

Web Accessibility ◽

User Profile ◽

Syntactic Analysis ◽

Color Contrast ◽

Careful Evaluation ◽

Accessibility Issues ◽

Web Developers ◽

Compare And Contrast ◽

Common User

BACKGROUND: Web accessibility is one of the most important aspects of building a website. It is important for web developers to ensure that their website is accessible according to WCAG standards for people with different range of abilities. There is plethora of tools for ensuring conformance to WCAG standards but not many studies compared performance of automatic WCAG tools. OBJECTIVE: This paper compares a set of ten WCAG tools and their results in terms of ease of comprehension and interpretation by web developers. We proposed a Common User Profile format to help personalize contents of website making it accessible to people with different range of abilities. METHODS: We selected ten WCAG tools from World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to evaluate landing pages of two popular websites. For each webpage, we identified accessibility issues and recommended alternate suggestions to help developers improve accessibility. Further, we highlighted accessibility issues that cannot be captured only through conformance to WCAG tools; and proposed additional methods to evaluate accessibility through an Inclusive User Model. We then demonstrated how simulation of user interaction can capture usability and accessibility issues that are not detected through only syntactic analysis of websites’ content. Finally, we proposed a Common User Profile format that can be used to compare and contrast accessibility systems and services, and to simulate and personalize interaction for users with different range of abilities. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: After careful evaluation of two websites using the ten tools, we noted that, both websites lacked color contrast between background and foreground; lack of sign language alternatives; opening of pop-ups without proper warnings and so on. Further, results from comparative analysis of selected web accessibility tools noted that, there is no single tool that can be found ideal in all aspects. However, from our study, Utilitia Validator by Utilitia SP. z O.O was considered the most feasible tool. By rectifying and incorporating issues and alternate suggestions by simulation study and Common User Profile format respectively, developers can improve both websites making it accessible to maximum audience.

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SURFACE ROUGHNESS CONSIDERATIONS IN DESIGN FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING - A LITERATURE REVIEW

Proceedings of the Design Society ◽

10.1017/pds.2021.545 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 2841-2850

Author(s):

Didunoluwa Obilanade ◽

Christo Dordlofva ◽

Peter Törlind

Keyword(s):

Surface Roughness ◽

Additive Manufacturing ◽

Literature Review ◽

Future Research ◽

Reduction Potentials ◽

Research Fields ◽

Post Process ◽

Accessibility Issues ◽

End Use ◽

And Performance

AbstractOne often-cited benefit of using metal additive manufacturing (AM) is the possibility to design and produce complex geometries that suit the required function and performance of end-use parts. In this context, laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is one suitable AM process. Due to accessibility issues and cost-reduction potentials, such ‘complex’ LPBF parts should utilise net-shape manufacturing with minimal use of post-process machining. The inherent surface roughness of LPBF could, however, impede part performance, especially from a structural perspective and in particular regarding fatigue. Engineers must therefore understand the influence of surface roughness on part performance and how to consider it during design. This paper presents a systematic literature review of research related to LPBF surface roughness. In general, research focuses on the relationship between surface roughness and LPBF build parameters, material properties, or post-processing. Research on design support on how to consider surface roughness during design for AM is however scarce. Future research on such supports is therefore important given the effects of surface roughness highlighted in other research fields.

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Finding What Is Inaccessible: Antimicrobial Resistance Language Use among the One Health Domains

Antibiotics ◽

10.3390/antibiotics10040385 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 385

Author(s):

Lauren L. Wind ◽

Jonathan S. Briganti ◽

Anne M. Brown ◽

Timothy P. Neher ◽

Meghan F. Davis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Antibiotic Resistance ◽

Open Access ◽

Antimicrobial Resistance ◽

Language Processing ◽

One Health ◽

Language Use ◽

Language Usage ◽

Health Domains ◽

Accessibility Issues ◽

The One

The success of a One Health approach to combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) requires effective data sharing across the three One Health domains (human, animal, and environment). To investigate if there are differences in language use across the One Health domains, we examined the peer-reviewed literature using a combination of text data mining and natural language processing techniques on 20,000 open-access articles related to AMR and One Health. Evaluating AMR key term frequency from the European PubMed Collection published between 1990 and 2019 showed distinct AMR language usage within each domain and incongruent language usage across domains, with significant differences in key term usage frequencies when articles were grouped by the One Health sub-specialties (2-way ANOVA; p < 0.001). Over the 29-year period, “antibiotic resistance” and “AR” were used 18 times more than “antimicrobial resistance” and “AMR”. The discord of language use across One Health potentially weakens the effectiveness of interdisciplinary research by creating accessibility issues for researchers using search engines. This research was the first to quantify this disparate language use within One Health, which inhibits collaboration and crosstalk between domains. We suggest the following for authors publishing AMR-related research within the One Health context: (1) increase title/abstract searchability by including both antimicrobial and antibiotic resistance related search terms; (2) include “One Health” in the title/abstract; and (3) prioritize open-access publication.

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Reimagining Business Planning, Accessibility, and Web Design Instruction: A Stacked Interdisciplinary Collaboration Across National Boundaries

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication ◽

10.1177/0047281620966990 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 004728162096699

Author(s):

Zsuzsanna B. Palmer ◽

Sushil K. Oswal ◽

Rita Koris

Keyword(s):

Interdisciplinary Collaboration ◽

Web Design ◽

Social Model ◽

Business Planning ◽

Student Groups ◽

Social Model Of Disability ◽

Business Plans ◽

Accessibility Issues ◽

National Boundaries ◽

Collaboration Project

The authors present the results of a study of a three-way international collaboration project among one Hungarian class and two classes from Michigan and Washington, respectively. This multifaceted study focused on business planning, web design, and accessibility with the aim of investigating the effect of accessibility instruction on the production of business plans and websites. The distinguishing feature of this study was its emphasis to orient the three student groups on disability and accessibility issues from the perspective of the critical social model of disability advanced by disability studies theorists. The researchers collected quantitative and qualitative pre/postproject survey data from their three classes. They combined this data with the text of student emails sent among the project teams and instructor notes about their teaching to arrive at conclusions about the effectiveness of the collaboration using a mixed-methods approach. The results from the data analyses revealed significant benefit of the client–provider relationships among the three classes and the accessibility instruction provided by the Washington class to the other two classes on the business plans and websites.

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Barriers, Enablers, and Consumer Design Ideas for Health Literacy Responsive Hospital Waiting Areas: A Framework Method Analysis

HERD Health Environments Research & Design Journal ◽

10.1177/19375867211032926 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 193758672110329

Author(s):

Cassie E. McDonald ◽

Louisa J. Remedios ◽

Kate L. Cameron ◽

Catherine M. Said ◽

Catherine L. Granger

Keyword(s):

Health Literacy ◽

Health Information ◽

Information Resources ◽

Outpatient Rehabilitation ◽

Personal Factors ◽

Future Health ◽

Barriers And Enablers ◽

Accessibility Issues ◽

Health Information Resources ◽

Design Ideas

Aim: The study aim was to (1) investigate the barriers and enablers experienced by consumers to accessing and engaging with health tools in hospital waiting areas and (2) evaluate consumers’ ideas for designing a health literacy responsive waiting area. Background: Health information, resources, and supports (“health tools”) in waiting areas should be responsive to the health literacy needs of consumers. However, consumers’ experiences of using health tools and their ideas for improving them are not known. Methods: Multicenter study was set in hospital waiting areas of outpatient rehabilitation services. Semistructured in-person interviews were conducted with 33 adult consumers attending appointments for various health conditions. Seven stages of the Framework Method were used to analyze data. Results: Six themes were identified which explained barriers and enablers from the perspective of consumers. The barriers were accessibility issues; personal factors—physical condition, emotional state, and preferences; and poorly presented and outdated resources. The enablers were design suits consumer needs and preferences; usable in available time or portable; and compatible environment for engaging and sharing. Consumers shared design ideas which fit within four typologies. Conclusions: A range of barriers and enablers exist which have an impact on consumers’ ability to engage with available health information, resources, and supports in hospital outpatient waiting areas. Practical insights from the perspective of consumers can be applied to future health service design. Consumer’s design ideas suggest that partnerships with consumers should be formed to design health literacy responsive waiting areas.

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