An Accessible Platform for People With Disabilities

This article discusses a modular, accessible platform that provides a computing environment for people with disabilities accessible through adapted control devices and the television set at users’ homes. Relying on a standard television set as the presentation device allows dependent individuals, especially people with disabilities, to introduce new technological advances in communication and information management in their everyday lives. As a proof-of-concept, the solution presented offers a collection of educational and training services related to teleworking and the search of employment targeted to people with disabilities. A smart job advisor included among these services, which was designed to help our target users to locate job offers that best suit the abilities and disabilities of a particular individual, is also discussed to illustrate how semantic technologies can be applied to increase the perceived accessibility and inclusion by reducing the dependence from other persons. The platform developed, the introduction of semantic technologies, and the way adapted interfacing and presentation devices were integrated may also serve as inspiration to provide services to people with disabilities.

[1]  Ondrej Krejcar.  Handicapped people virtual keyboard controlled by head motion detection , 2011, 2011 3rd International Congress on Ultra Modern Telecommunications and Control Systems and Workshops (ICUMT).

[2]  Sébastien Marcel,et al.  The 2013 speaker recognition evaluation in mobile environment , 2013, 2013 International Conference on Biometrics (ICB).

[3]  John R. Anderson,et al.  Automated Eye-Movement Protocol Analysis , 2001, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[4]  James D. Hollan,et al.  Direct Manipulation Interfaces , 1985, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[5]  Doug Tidwell,et al.  Programming Web services with SOAP , 2001 .

[6]  Qian Xu,et al.  User Experience of On-Screen Interaction Techniques: An Experimental Investigation of Clicking, Sliding, Zooming, Hovering, Dragging, and Flipping , 2014, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[7]  Moncef Gabbouj,et al.  The 2013 face recognition evaluation in mobile environment , 2013, 2013 International Conference on Biometrics (ICB).

[8]  Fotis Liarokapis,et al.  A Pervasive Augmented Reality Serious Game , 2009, 2009 Conference in Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications.

[9]  Daniel González-Jiménez,et al.  Improved average of synthetic exact filters for precise eye localisation under realistic conditions , 2013, IET Biom..

[10]  Heath Row,et al.  Codename Revolution: The Nintendo Wii Platform , 2015, New Media Soc..

[11]  Xabiel G. Pañeda,et al.  An Empirical Investigation Into Text Input Methods for Interactive Digital Television Applications , 2014, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[12]  Avraham Leff,et al.  Web-application development using the Model/View/Controller design pattern , 2001, Proceedings Fifth IEEE International Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference.

[13]  Michael J. Tobler.  Inside Linux , 2000 .

[14]  Thorsten O. Zander,et al.  Combining Eye Gaze Input With a Brain–Computer Interface for Touchless Human–Computer Interaction , 2010, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[15]  Claudiu Sergiu Firan,et al.  Adapting information retrieval to user needs in an evolving web environment , 2010 .

[16]  Naresh Apte,et al.  UDDI: Building Registry-based Web Services Solutions , 2002 .

[17]  Kong Y Chen,et al.  Comparing the performance of three generations of ActiGraph accelerometers. , 2008, Journal of applied physiology.

[18]  Peter Saint-Andre,et al.  XMPP - The Definitive Guide: Building Real-Time Applications with Jabber Technologies , 2009 .

[19]  Steven L. Johnson,et al.  A P300-Based Brain–Computer Interface: Effects of Interface Type and Screen Size , 2010, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[20]  Liana M. Kiff,et al.  Touch Screen User Interfaces for Older Adults: Button Size and Spacing , 2007, HCI.

[21]  J. Carroll,et al.  Jena: implementing the semantic web recommendations , 2004, WWW Alt. '04.

[22]  Robert Stevens,et al.  The Protege OWL Experience , 2005, OWLED.

[23]  Chad Carter.  Microsoft XNA Unleashed: Graphics and Game Programming for Xbox 360 and Windows , 2007 .

[24]  S. Spinsante,et al.  Home automation systems control by head tracking in AAL applications , 2012, 2012 IEEE First AESS European Conference on Satellite Telecommunications (ESTEL).

[25]  D. Davies,et al.  Emerging new practices in technology to support independent community access for people with intellectual and cognitive disabilities. , 2011, NeuroRehabilitation.

[26]  Constantinos Patsakis,et al.  Enhancing 2D environments with 3D data input , 2009, KES IIMSS.