A User-Orientation Evaluation Framework: Assessing Accessibility Throughout the User Experience Lifecycle

Today, as the users and contexts of use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) become more diverse, there is a significant need to understand all the factors that may affect the quality of the user-experience, and to measure them systematically. This paper proposes an evaluation framework for specifying and measuring the user-orientation of interactive products. The term “user-orientation” refers to the extent to which target users (will) find the product acceptable at all phases of the user experience lifecycle. The proposed framework incorporates accessibility as a basic determinant of acceptability and long-term adoption. It can be employed effectively in the evaluation of systems that are aimed to be accessible and usable by diverse users (e.g., public systems) or by people with disability