ergonomics for the disabled

ERGONOMICS FOR THE DISABLED EDUCATION AS THE BASIS OF QUALITY OF LIFE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Edited by: Aleksandra Polak-Sopińska Joanna Lecewicz-Bartoszewska

MONOGRAPH LODZ 2011 1

Reviewed by: Professor Józef Matuszek Professor Waldemar Karwowski

EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY PRESS Editor in Chief: Professor Piotr Wodziński Scientific Editor of the Division: Professor Jerzy Lewandowski

Covers prepared by: Maria Tymińska

 Copyright by Technical University of Lodz 2011

TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF LODZ PRESS 90-924 Łódź, ul. Wólczańska 223 tel./fax 42-684-07-93 e-mail: zamó[email protected] www.wydawnictwa.p.lodz.pl

ISBN 978-83-7283-470-6

Offset printing by “Quick-Druk”, 95-100 Łódź, ul. Łąkowa 11 Edition 100 copies No. 2013 2

CONTENTS Modern education and technology in ergonomics for the disabled ........... 5 Aleksandra Polak-Sopińska, Joanna Lecewicz-Bartoszewska Barriers in academic learning of persons with disabilities in Lodz higher education institutions  research report .................................................... 9 Joanna Sztobryn-Giercuszkiewicz Eye-blink detection system for human-computer interaction ................... 30 Aleksandra Królak Guidelines for the adjustment of architecture of the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz, ensuring accessibility to students with disabilities ....................... 38 Aleksandra Polak-Sopińska, Małgorzata Kubiak Directions of changes in organization of work of the dean's office, department secretariats and the authorities of the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz resulting from the analysis of needs of student with disabilities ........................................ 58 Aleksandra Polak-Sopińska, Emilia Sujka The analisis of the adjustment of the website of the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz to the needs of persons with disabilities ........................................ 71 Aleksandra Polak-Sopińska E-content software optimization for visually impaired people .................. 89 Andrzej Romanowski New educational technologies for people with disabilities ......................... 100 Dominik Sankowski, Anna Bąkała, Włodzimierz Mosorow Demands of users with special needs in terms of internet use as a guideline for the ergonomic design of internet websites ............... 118 Magdalena Wróbel, Joanna Lecewicz-Bartoszewska The user friendly interface of the website for people with disabilities in response to the needs within the scope of ergonomic design ................. 142 Magdalena Wróbel, Joanna Lecewicz-Bartoszewska

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MODERN EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY IN ERGONOMICS FOR THE DISABLED Aleksandra Polak-Sopińska Joanna Lecewicz-Bartoszewska

The education of children, adolescents and adults with disabilities in Poland is still an unresolved issue, leaving much to be desired. However, much as in primary and secondary education certain systematized solutions have been implemented still, on the higher education level we do not encounter such ideas. A huge number of young disabled people end their education on the lower stages of tuition. In Poland, in 2009, only 6% of people with disabilities had a university degree. This seems to stand in gross disproportion to the population in general (18%). This problem is not marginal, and cannot be treated as such, especially that people with disabilities over 15 years of age exceed the number of 3,5 million, while as much as 75,4% of this group remains professionally passive. Higher education is crucial for successful employment and professional fulfillment. Therefore state-owned universities as well as private should be adjusted to the needs and possibilities of the disabled students. The results indicate many barriers narrowing educational opportunities for persons with disabilities in the Lodz region. The support offered to disabled students by their universities is too little, and often missing their actual needs (universities put more attention to other aid forms than most needed). Therefore, it is crucial for universities to take particular measures to enable tuition to all candidates meeting legal criteria to be educated, and thus put an end to discriminatory inaccessibility of academic tuition. Lodz universities notice the needs of disabled students and try to meet those needs to the best of their ability. Not all universities provide identical help, one may see a clear distinction between state-owned and private universities. Mainly the big, government-financed institutions provide comprehensive support to their students, e. g. by establishing special units, or persons, who deal exclusively with the problems of this one target group. However, we should emphasize at this point 5

ERGONOMICS FOR THE DISABLED

that the sole fact of establishing a unit, or employing people responsible for assistance does not mean help is bound to be efficient – the way the unit functions and the qualifications of its employees are priceless values in this respect. On the other hand, the very fact of noticing disabled persons among all students is a huge step forward in itself, while the situation of the group in question is incomparably better than ten years ago. Polish higher education system needs legislation which would regulate these issues to the wider extent than now, as well as guidelines for universities and qualified academic staff – also as regards methodology of teaching students with disabilities. Activities undertaken for the sake of people with disabilities should be integrated on the state level. Last but not least, universities also need funding for renovation and architectonic adjustment, which cannot, as of now, be financed from the donation mentioned earlier (Joanna Sztobryn-Giercuszkiewicz). The accessibility of the universities is relatively highly rated by disabled students themselves, and the barriers they encounter are mentioned repeatedly in various aspects, which means there are several categories of problems the universities need to cope with in the first place. Not all of them require huge financial resources; sometimes a little goodwill would do (but then, one needs to be aware of the problem!), not to make studies more difficult for a certain group of students. Some of the factors enumerated as barriers in disabled persons’ education is not specific for persons with disabilities, but in fact concerns all students. Such is the case with architectonic adjustments (who wouldn’t prefer lifts to stairs, even when we consider young studentmothers with little children), or with the issues of acoustics or light in the lecture halls – lack of proper conditions for studying is painful to all persons educated in a given institution. The same applies to the lecturers, their attitudes and methods of teaching. Using materials in digital form, multimedia presentations accessible via the Internet, or on-line task solving should be a standard for all, not the luxury only a few members of our academia can provide. Doing away with those problems and innovative solutions implementation would significantly raise the quality of education for all university and academic community, not only a small group of individuals (Joanna Sztobryn-Giercuszkiewicz, Dominik Sankowski, Anna Bąkała, Włodzimierz Mosorow). The internal and external architecture of buildings should be adopted to the needs and abilities of persons with different disabilities. Analysis and evaluation of the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz was many niedostosowań to the abilities of students with disabilities. A similar situation occurs at most universities in Poland. Most disabled people have problems with the entry to the building. Moreover,

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EDUCATION AS THE BASIS OF QUALITY OF LIFE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

very often persons with disabilities aren’t taken into account during the evacuation (Aleksandra Polak-Sopińska, Małgorzata Kubiak). Modern education need a lot of organizational changes at the higher education institutions. The changes schuld also concern work organization of the Dean's Office, the Deans and the secretariats.Main barriers encountered by students not only with disabilities lack of possibility to change the hour, date or place of appointment for a disabled person, lack of documented procedure as measures taken in case a disabled student cannot appear in person, lack of information as to what situations require authorization from the notary, complex proceedings for obtaining financial aid by students with disabilities, lack of knowledge among the tutors and administration on the needs and abilities of disabled persons, bad organization of the courses  often, during a short break, the student needs to cover several kilometers in order to get from one building to another, lack of teaching aids and equipment that would facilitate studying, especially for persons with motor disabilities, the sight-impaired and the hearing-impaired, lack of transport (difficult commuting to the University), lack of rooms in dormitories, adapted to the needs and abilities of disabled persons (Aleksandra PolakSopińska, Emilia Sujka). Nowadeys Internet is one of the basic sourse of information. Universities use the Internet as one way of communication with students (also with disabled students). Therfore the websites of higer education institutions should be adjusted to the needs and possibilities of pe ople with deferent disebilities. Websaities can be color or black and white, rich in graphics and multimedia or simply contain textual content. Regardless of its appearance, it may be easily accessible for the disabled or, on the contrary, utterly unreadable. The kinds of difficulties in the Internet access to websites involve difficulties in reading the page content by software providing the sounds, navigation problems in the case of people with motor disabilities, problems with reasoning, in understanding, and remembering the content or their own location in the page structure and many others. Moreover, very often information displayed on websites are incomprehensible for users (Aleksandra Polak-Sopińska). Internet, but first of all website interfaces should be adjusted to the users with special needs resulting from various types and levels of disability, as well as, resulting from older age. The needs of users with special demands in terms of Internet use focus primarily on usability and functionality of the web page. A huge role is played by the actual content of the website. The amount, up-to-dateness, arrangement influence 7


the overall reception of the website itself. Ease of navigation resulting from, among others, the ability of finding the needed information, as well as, ease of moving among the subpages, also has an effect on the evaluation of website usability. An important ergonomic condition during the process of website design is also an aesthetic factor. A pretty web page is a clear and readable web page but, above all, a functional one. Speaking of ergonomic design of website interfaces, one should remember to fulfill the basic needs of its users, especially, the users with special needs resulting from various types and levels of disability, as well as, resulting from older age (Magdalena Wróbel, Joanna Lecewicz-Bartoszewska). Due to cutting-edge technologies in many areas of life, it is possibile to create equal opportunities for people with disabilities in acquiring education and profession. Recent years have seen a marked increase in the number of modern HumanComputer Interfaces (HCIs) whose functions are patterned on the ways in which man naturally interacts with the external world. The development of these systems proves particularly vital for the elderly, people with disabilities and paraplegic individuals. Paralysed persons seem to benefit most from BrainComputer Interfaces, as well as systems controlled by eye-gaze, or eye-blinks. The existing solutions make use of special helmets, electrodes, glasses and mouthsticks. However, these assistive devices have their drawbacks as they require e.g. special use/application, or they need to be directly attached to the user’s body. Hence, the vision-based systems show a lot of promise by employing advanced image processing and image analysis technologies. They feature an automatic sign language interpretation, facial expression recognition, eye-blink sequences detection and eye tracking (gaze plots). The systems also allow people with different levels of disabilities to communicate in a non-intrusive manner with the external world. As the latest research suggests, the blink reflex is one of the last voluntary actions to be lost by paralysed patients or ALS sufferers. In the light of these findings, Human-Computer Interface with the eye-blink detection and interpretation system might significantly facilitate the communication with people afflicted with seriously impaired mobility (Aleksandra Królak).

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BARRIERS IN ACADEMIC LEARNING OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES IN LODZ HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS  RESEARCH REPORT Joanna Sztobryn-Giercuszkiewicz

Introduction The education of children, adolescents and adults with disabilities in Poland is still an unresolved issue, leaving much to be desired. However, much as in primary and secondary education certain systematized solutions have been implemented  irrespective of whether we talk about special needs tuition or integrative and inclusive tuition  still, on the higher education level we do not encounter such ideas. A huge number of young disabled people end their education on the lower stages of tuition. In Poland, in 2009, only 6% of people with disabilities had a university degree. This seems to stand in gross disproportion to the population in general (18%). This problem is not marginal, and cannot be treated as such, especially that people with disabilities over 15 years of age exceed the number of 3,5 million, while as much as 75,4% of this group remains professionally passive (excluded from the labor market)1. As higher education is crucial for successful employment and professional fulfilment, an analysis has been carried out, concerning all possible factors preventing young people with disabilities from continuing their education on the academic level.

Aims of the project The research has been carried out in the years 2009-2010, in Lodz stateowned and private universities, within the confines of a research project carried out for the President of the City of Lodz: “Problems of Persons with Disabilities in Lodz; School and University Disabled Student in the System of Education”. 1

Source: www.niepelnosprawni.gov.pl

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The aim of the research was to diagnose higher education barriers for the mentioned social group. In order to obtain full information, the 360Assessment was used; universities were asked, about how they facilitate disabled students access to education, and the students themselves were interviewed on what barriers their encountered on their educational path, with particular reference to the current stage, that is academic tuition.

Methodology and research group According to the Central Statistical Office report “Higher Education Institutions and their Finances in 2009”, in the Lodz district there were in total 2447 disabled students2, of which 1089 in state-owned universities and 1358 in private ones3. Therefore, 20 Lodz universities have been asked to participate in the research by giving information on the forms of support provided to disabled students and sending them a link to a questionnaire consisting of 20 questions on educational barriers in the light of particular characteristics of their respective disabilities. Ultimately 7 Lodz universities took part in the project, of which 3 were the biggest state-owned universities of the region; University of Lodz, Technical University of Lodz and Medical University of Lodz. The remaining 4 institutions were private –Pedagogy Academy in Lodz, University of Humanities and Economics (currently AHE) in Lodz, School of Computer Science in Lodz (WSINF) and School of Business and Health Education in Lodz (WSBiNoZ). The remaining 13 higher education institutions refused participation, claiming that no individuals with disabilities study in their premises4. The questionnaire addressed to universities consisted of 35 open and closed questions, as well as further information section and contact data to the respondent. The interviews were carried out with persons appointed by the university authorities as responsible for special needs students support or as those who were most knowledgeable in the subject. In state-owned universities, the respondents were people specifically in charge of students with disabilities, while in private institutions we interviewed: Rector’s Plenipotentiaries for Students with Disabilities (lecturers), a Plenipotentiary for Professional Activation, and a Dean’s Office employee in charge of special needs students. 2

The data concern only individuals formally registered as disabled, i.e. those with a proper valid certificate. Biologically disabled persons are not included. 3 Higher Education Institutions and their Finances in 2009”, Central Statistical Office of the Republic of Poland, Warsaw 2009. 4 The refusal to take part in research is also diagnostically meaningful; it shows that the university authorities do not have knowledge or awareness of disabled students’ presence on campus, as the latter do not inform about their condition. The reason for refusal may also lay in the lack of any offer suitable for people with disabilities.

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The request to students, to fill in the questionnaire, was responded by 69 persons with disabilities, all of them studying at state-owned universities. Hence, the obtained result may only be interpreted in terms of these government-financed institutions, which seems only a part of the picture, when we consider the fact that over 50% of special needs students in Lodz is educated in private universities. The characteristics of the research community, by gender, kind and degree of disability is presented by figures below:

45% 55%

Women Men

Fig. 1. Respondents by gender

19%

16% Mild Moderate Severe 65%

Fig. 2. Research community by degree of disability

It seems interesting, that as much as 65% of interviewed special needs students are individuals with moderate degree of disability, i.e. those with “limited body efficiency, unfit for work or able to work only in specifically adjusted conditions, in need of temporary or partial support of others in order to perform social functions”, as the law puts it5. If we include a group of individuals classified by the law as totally unable to function unsupported – that is people with severe disability – we receive as much as 84% participation rate of people 5

Art. 4 p. 2 of the Act of Law from 27 August 1997 on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities (J.L. no. 123 pos. 776) with further modifications.

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who need specified support and care from some third party, including the university. The shown division by degree of disability may be a little disturbed by the motivation factor among participants; students with mild disability may have simply be less interested in research, as they do not face as many problems as the others. However, the data provided by the universities themselves still show that persons with moderate and severe disability always constitute the majority of the group in question6.

36%

38%

moblity impaired blind and vision impaired

16%

10%

hearing impaired other conditions

Fig. 3. Respondents by kind of disability

As far as the kinds of disability are concerned, students taking part in the research represented all types of conditions. Most numerous were mobility impaired students, secondlargest group was “other conditions”7. The proportions are more-less corresponding to the official ratio of main disability types at three biggest Lodz state-owned universities8.

Research results The questions addressed to the university representatives concerned various aspects of the institution adjustment to the needs of disabled students, as well as the aid provided, its efficiency and further support plans. An effort has also been undertaken to find out the percentage of special needs students in the whole student community, as well as the number of mildly, moderately and severely disabled persons in the group in question. All 7 universities provided the number of officially registered disabled students, i.e. those who provided information on their condition and might receive a special scholarship from the university. 6

As established in informal conversations at the University of Lodz, the Technical University of Lodz and the Medical University of Lodz. 7 Here we noted diabetes, jaundice type B, circulatory system illnesses, leukemia, respiratory system conditions, nervous system problems, mental disorders, epilepsy, psoriasis. 8 See footnote 6.

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On average, students with disabilities constitute 1-2% of a given student community. In contrast to most other voivodships, in Lodz district more disabled students attend private universities. This tendency is visible in the researched higher education institutions. On average, in state-owned universities special needs students’ number would reach 0,5-1% of all, while at private institutions, the figure would be 1,5-2%. However, only the three state-owned universities and one private university were able to provide the number of students with a given disability degree. The remaining private universities do not have such data, which may signify little orientation in those students’ needs.

100% 80%

mild

60%

moderate

40%

severe

20% 0% st.u.

st.u.

st.u.

p.u.

Fig. 4. Lodz university students by degree of disability, where st. u. = state-owned university, p. u. = private university

The above graph shows that in state-owned universities the highest percentage concerns students with moderate disability, while private universities have most students with mild disability. However, in order to assume the results reflect the real general tendency, one would have to obtain data from the institutions, which were not willing to take part in the project. University representatives, asked if the know of any existing legal regulations concerning higher education of the disabled in Poland, gave a whole range of different responses, revealing chaos and lack of competence in the discussed area. 4 of 7 universities would respond that such regulations exist, but when asked about details, were not able to provide any specific example. Several respondents would hesitantly mention the Constitution of the Republic of Poland: “Well… unlimited access to education for all…”, some would point to the Higher Education Act, which is the supreme act of law regulating higher education in general, where – so far – there is no mention of creating opportunities for prospective students with disabilities9. Two universities stated there were no such 9

The respondents might have had in mind art. 94 p. 1.11 of the mentioned act, which mentions “donation for education and rehabilitation of people with disabilities”, which higher education

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legislation, while one of the schools responded that it is hard to say if there are any. At this point, it may be worth quoting one of the university representatives, whose answer is closest to the actual state-of-the-art situation: “In my opinion, “yes” and “no”, with “no” emphasized. “Yes” – because I think certain regulations are at work - they appear in various different acts of law and demand anti-discriminatory measures to be taken; one may speak of some kind of a “legal spirit”, which should be taken into account while increasing accessibility of education to people with disabilities. “No” – for there is no major act of law, or even ministerial/government program regarding academic tuition of the disabled, or concerning the disabled as such (…) regulations are dispersed, mutually exclusive, often demand reading between the lines, so they practically depend on how a given institution interprets them. Besides, there is only a limited range of executive regulations, and there are no sanctions for their abuse. This in turn makes those regulations completely dead and dependent on the goodwill of the officials, or particular policy of a given institution.” Most universities (5 out of 7) declared to have a written strategy concerning measures taken for the benefit of disabled students, and that this policy is implemented by people appointed to support them at the university. However, it is monitored only by means of reporting (only 3 of 5 universities control progress this way; 1 institution does not know how the strategy implementation is supervised). Only one university taking part in the research is monitoring its policy by obtaining feedback from students via a quarterly opinion poll. As far as the differences in provided support are concerned, the interviews have shown a clear distinction between state-owned and private universities. All 3 state-owned ones have a specialized office in their structure, providing help and care to students with disabilities (Centres for Disabilities), while none of the private universities have such unit10. Only one private university recognizes the need to establish an office like that and declares to open it since the next academic year. At universities, places of this kind usually employ 2 to 3 people (e. g. a student consultant, a psychologist etc.). In private schools, there is usually one person appointed to deal with disabled students’ support, and most often it is a rector’s plenipotentiary for disabled students, disabled persons’ plenipotentiary, dean’s office employee, scholarship department employee, a psychologist, or – off their own hand – the lecturers.

institutions receive from the State budget, however it has nothing to do with equality of education, neither as regards access to academic tuition, nor as to didactic solutions. 10 “for there is no such need…” one should recall previous data, showing the vast majority of disabled students learning at private universities. One might pause to think whether the disproportion in care is the issue of overgrown public administration or of the lack of real comprehensive support in private tuition offer.

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The university representatives have been requested to enlist forms of support provided to the special needs students in their institutions. The table below summarizes these solutions, starting with the most frequent ones: Table 1. Forms of disabled students’ support in researched institutions Form of suport

Number of universities where it occurs (N = 7)

Material support (scholarships)

7

Possibility to pass exams in alternative forms (ex bigger font, oral exam instead of a written one etc.)

4

Assistance of a psychologist

4

Possibility to rent specialist equipment

4

Help to improve studying skills (memory-, effective learningand stress-combat trainings)

3

Improving mobility (transportation, transport assistants’ aid)

3

Psychosocial skills training

3

Career advisory and activation

3

Social activity improvement and rehabilitation

3

Specialist services (sign language interpreter, surdo-, tyflopedagogist)

3

Apart from the above, there appeared such solutions as:  works carried out to issue an expertise on the necessary tuition process adjustment to the needs and abilities of a student,  teaching staff support, as regards educating persons with different types of disability,  installing specialist equipment in the university infrastructure, making it possible for disabled persons to study (induction loops, adjusted IT equipment). The analysis of university organizational adjustment to teaching students with multiple kinds of disabilities shows that only state-owned universities undertake certain efforts within this area. Two of the three public higher education institutions use some kind of “procedures” – guidelines concerning disabled students’ tuition and assistance, implemented by means of specialist training provided to teaching and administrative staff. However, even there, neither monitoring of the process nor its efficiency assessment is done. The negative results occurred in the analysis of digital exclusion at universities; in the age of the Internet, when all young people use this medium to access information, when for youths with disabilities, including the blind and vision impaired ones it is the only “window to the world”, only two Lodz universities have some of their websites adjusted so that students with disabilities could easily access them. None of the institutions taking part in research has a 15


digitalized admission form accessible to people with special needs (this would mean mainly vision impaired persons). One may pose a question – in what relation does it stay to the constitutional right for access to education and to the fact that at least 4 of seven participating universities educate IT specialists? A question concerning the right to education for all may be posed also in the context of architectonic accessibility. All researched institutions admitted that their premises are not completely free of this kind of barriers. Only 3 of 7 universities declared most didactic buildings to be fully accessible. At the same time, it seems the administration is a little forgotten, while obviously it should be accessible too. On other campuses, only a few buildings may be reached easily. The situation is especially difficult for the students of the state-owned institutions, as the premises of which very often include old, historic buildings, difficult to renovate and requiring substantial financial resources. Private universities look far better in this respect, as – partly thanks to the fact that they have emerged relatively recently – their premises are redecorated and adjusted. Another issue was university financial support for people with disabilities. All institutions have a separate budget for this purpose, while there is a clear dichotomy as regards the source of funding. All state-owned universities finance their disabled students mainly from the state budget donation on their tuition and rehabilitation11. At the same time, none of the private universities receives the above-mentioned support from the State budget, even these institutions are also entitled to receive it. Besides, the universities also receive funding from PFRON – the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (6 out of 7), EU programs (Human Capital) and the Marshall’s Office. The universities have also been asked about other activity connected with students with disabilities. The results in this area are the following:  at 3 universities (2 state-owned and 1 private) training sessions on the issue of disability are organized for students, employees and all educational environment,  4 universities (3 state-owned and 1 private) carry out research and/or development projects concerning the issue of disability,  at 1 university (state-owned) there is a Disabled Students and Graduates’ Society. The institutional representatives have been asked which activity, in their opinion, is most important as efficient support to disabled persons studying at their universities. Unfortunately, as many as 4 out of 7 institutions responded that the most important element is direct financial support (scholarships, benefits). Of course, many people with disabilities need this kind of backup, as their studying costs are higher than in case of their healthy peers, however is it not giving the proverbial “fish” instead of the “rod”? Are we not coping the unhealthy mechanisms of the welfare system, functioning on the State level? Wouldn’t it be better to teach students how to be resourceful economically, rather than teach them to be passive by providing financial support? If people in charge of disabled student 11

Art. 94, p. 1.11 of the Act of Law from 27 July 2005 – Higher Education Law.

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regard this form of help as most crucial, it seems to be a particularly sad and pessimistic fact. Other activities, mentioned by universities as important for effective support to students may be found in the table below (by most frequently mentioned): Table 2. Supportive actions for the benefit of disabled students Most efficient supportive actions for the benefit of disabled students

Number of universities mentioning given action (N = 7)

Financial support

4

Psychological aid

3

Obtaining resources for purchase of specialist equipment and service of sign language interpreters

3

Individualized approach to students with disabilities

2

Obtaining resources for vocational training for disabled students

2

Architectonic adjustment and facilities

2

Staff training in the field of disability

1

Devising and implementation of portfolio as alternative to MA thesis for hearing impaired students

1

According to the universities, the representatives of which have been interviewed, in order to improve support for students with disabilities, one should first of all:  efficiently collect financial resources (7 universities),  introduce more effective legislation on the State level (6),  implement new action plans concerning disabled students (5),  cooperate with other universities (4). As it has been mentioned in the beginning, in order to obtain full, authoritative picture of the special needs students’ situation at universities, the second part of the research has been addressed to the students themselves. To make the research area more precise, they have first been asked to define “educational barrier/barrier in learning”. For all respondents, a barrier is a limitation factor, hindering access to education (“educational barrier”) as well as slowering the learning process itself (“barrier in learning”). According to the respondents, barriers may be divided into extrinsic (limitations caused by the authorities, the system etc.) and intrinsic (personal limitation, “lack of persistence in disabled persons”, “psychological barrier”). Every fourth interviewed student identifies barriers as lack of architectonic adjustment (inaccessible buildings, lack of wheelchair driveways, lifts etc.) – 25% mention this factor when defining “educational barrier” for persons with disabilities. The term “educational barrier” 17


or “barrier in learning” is also used to name other factors limiting access to education, such as (in order of frequency):  problems with academic staff (“lack of flexibility among lecturers, difficulties with establishing individual exam dates, hospitalization etc.”, “all factors which worsen communication between the lecturer and lecture participant”, “discrimination by lecturers”, “not all people are prepared to work with disabled persons”, “arrogant lecturers”, “poorly given lectures”, “special attention from professors for disabled students”, “reluctance of teachers, lecturers and university itself to undertake my tuition”),  problems with infrastructure (inaccessible trams, preventing successful commuting, different commuting and campus-oriented problems, lack of equipment in lecture halls e.g. no technical support for hearing-impaired persons, less participation in tuition of disabled persons from the rural areas.),  problems with access to teaching aids (lack of properly adjusted teaching materials, lack of computers, no access to library, lack of assisting equipment),  mental and psychological problems (“reservations disabled persons feel towards themselves, their limitations and abilities, psychological barriers rooted in the society, negative stereotypes”, ”people’s approach to the disabled (why do they need school? etc.)”, “phenomenon of social isolation and exclusion among the disabled”, stress, feeling of inferiority, lack of faith in disabled persons’ abilities on the part of their environment),  financial problems (little co-funding for manuals, lack of resources for tuition),  administrative problems and lack of system solutions (e.g. necessity to go through many formalities, lack of adequate programs). Figure 5 shows the above in percentage. One of interviewed persons rightfully remarks that it is difficult to define an “educational barrier” for “every disabled student has their individual problem, upon which their higher education barriers depend12” The respondents also mention one more crucial aspect, limiting access to education on the academic level: “lack of elementary knowledge is a barrier […]”. It is no secret that persons with disabilities often, despite formally obtaining education on the high school level, have noticeable gaps in heir knowledge, which stems from different factors operating on the primary, secondary and high-school education level; frequent absences, individual teaching or tuition during hospitalization, or so-called “integrative” classes13, may cause the quality of a disabled person’s education to deteriorate significantly. 12

It seems to be an important hint for diagnosing the direction towards which higher education institutions should change – first of all, the approach to a disabled student should be individualized, with the focus on their individual needs. 13 Here, I mean a problem often mentioned by teachers; a shortage of properly trained teaching staff in classes where healthy children study together with those with different conditions, who require much time, attention, involvement, effort etc.

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Fig. 5. “Educational barriers” in disabled persons’ academic tuition

A continuation of the subject, this time referring strictly to one’s own person and health problem, is a question, about the type of infrastructure that would determine the choice of that particular university where the respondent is studying. 32% of interviewed students claim there is no such infrastructure. Others would point out factors mentioned earlier, with the question about educational barriers. As deterrents against selecting a given institution, they would mention:  lack of lifts and driveways, steep stairs, lack of toilets for wheelchair users, difficult access to the didactic premises (high curbs, uneven pavements, no doors opening automatically), slippery surfaces,  huge distances between places where the classes are held, often in buildings in various parts of town, lack of transport network, big distance from public transport to the building, lack of parking lots for disabled persons,  lack of sonorisation and bad acoustics in classes, no possibility to use Personal FM Hearing Assistance, small rooms with the echo-effect, far from soundproof,  lack of proper medical care in the city where the university is located;  bureaucracy,  lack of proper hygienic conditions (refers to cleanliness in the building, air conditioning),  lack of specialized units supporting persons with disabilities,  lack of understanding from lecturers.

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Figure 6 pictures proportion of opinions in percentage. no such element

lack of driveways, lifts tec.

distances

poor sonorisation

lack of specialized unit

lack of understanding

other

no idea

3% 4%

5%

7%

31%

5% 12% 33%

Fig. 6. University deterrent factors for persons with disabilities

A question about currently existing barriers evoked similar types of answers. Disabled students think that the biggest obstacles in learning are:  unadjusted university buildings (both for didactics and administration) – lack of lifts or driveways, many stairs, narrow corridors, non-automatic doors, sockets and switches placed too high, slippery floors, lack of railings, too high curbs, unadjusted lecture rooms furniture (chairs, tables),  poor city transport infrastructure, lack of parking lots for disabled persons, commuting problems,  lack of knowledge on disabilities in the academic environment, lack of help from other students, prejudice towards persons with disabilities in the surrounding, “impatience of lecturers”, “unawareness that disabled students may learn as well”, “fearful approach of university staff to people with disfunctions”,  bad organization – intervals between classes, necessity to cover distances on campus in too short time,  lack of help and teaching aids for the vision-impaired,  lack of sonorisation in large lecture halls, no knowledge of sign language, no induction loops,  bureaucracy, avoidance, finances too small and received with delays from PFRON,  lack of organization supporting disabled students at the university,  problems with recording a class on a Dictaphone. I think it is worth quoting full answers of two disabled students, leaving the summary of the subject to their own voice:

20


“In my opinion, most troublesome is moving to classes held at other faculties during the 15-minute break. For people with a problem, such walking is quite a nuisance. I had to go through this myself. There were days when I would enter a class with tears in my eyes, because the pain resulting from brisk walking was unbearable”. “In my opinion, [the biggest problem is] the lecturers’ approach. Often, in their minds there is no “balanced – normal” approach to a disabled student. Sometimes they exaggerate towards pity instead of normal help, and sometimes they ignore the fact that a given student is disabled. However, there are some with whom one may communicate without problems.” The percentage proportion of above opinions is pictured by figure 7.

5%

no such element

lack of driveways, lifts etc.

distances

poor sonorisation

lack of specialized unit

lack of understanding

other

no idea

3%

4% 7%

31%

5% 12% 33%

Fig. 7. Most bothersome obstacles in disabled persons’ tuition

The research participants have been next asked if their disability has in any way reduced their range of choice as regards their educational path. 30% of them said “yes”, while the limitations concerned mainly:  choice of field of study,  choice of place to study, i. e. the city where the university is situated. These responses confirm formerly gathered data saying that long distances between their place of stay and the university, as well as transportation problems, constitute one of the most important barriers in disabled persons’ tuition. Another important information, though obvious, is that disabled individuals, despite being

21


theoretically entitled to study any field14, in reality, due to the fact that higher education institutions are not adjusted to their needs, have to choose these areas where they encounter proper study conditions. And so, every 1 in 4 research participants said they need special environment for studying, such as architectonic accessibility of buildings, regular assistance of a helper, financial aid from PFRON. At the same time, 20% of the research group stated they need specialist equipment to study, such as a computer with speech function, digital magnifier, portable FM equipment making lecturer’s speech more audible, or a portable couch. Due to substantial cost of these devices (e.g. a notebook with software for vision-impaired costs about 15 thousand PLN, a magnifier costs from 3 to 5 thousand PLN), it is crucial to make it easier for students by establishing a rental with specialist equipment which could be used throughout one’s studies. Continuing the subject, we asked students whether the cost of studying is in their case bigger than for their “healthy” colleagues. The categories of studying cost mentioned by our respondents are pictured in the figure below: commuting 16%

5%

specialist equipment 32%

teaching materials

8%

assistance

7%

rental 11%

21%

additional medicine additional copying

Fig. 8. Additional costs of studying for disabled students

Here, students mention extra costs connected with commuting; mobility impaired students need to use transport more often, in situations where a person without such problems may cope without straining their budget. Also accommodation was regarded as extra cost, as due to the fact of dormitories being unadjusted, disabled students often need to rent flats which would suit their special needs; thus they pay more. The respondents were then requested to share an opinion as to how, from the perspective of disabled students, social awareness and perception of disability by the public opinion change overtime – and if, what causes the process. Here, 37% of respondents saw significant changes. Research participants think that our 14

see regulation of the Ministry of Health and ocial Aid from 15 September 1997, with further modifications (J. L. 1997 No 120, pos. 767).

22


society is growing more understanding and tolerant, which is, among other things, caused by:  Presence of the disabled in both social and political life, opportunities to have contact with them and getting to know them, their successes and their “normality” – many persons with disabilities mention that their physical shortcomings, in the eyes of “healthy” society, often seem to mean intellectual disability. This clichè makes contact and communication between the fit and the disabled additionally difficult.  Social campaigns, presence of disability issue in the media, EU programs aiming to foster social integration. On the other hand, some of them write about lack of practical dimension to those changes, especially as regards employers. Despite programs aiming to raise the attractiveness of disabled persons as employees and still growing education rate among them, this group still finds it harder to find a job. “Undoubtedly, there is an influence of human capital exchange with the West, where social awareness is much more developed; things which arouse astonishment here are very natural there. Also,[there are] social initiatives and actions. First of all, I think, however, that the credit for the change of image is to the disabled people themselves, and their achievements, such as mine, I have been given the Prime Minister’s grant twice, with the average of 6,0. People with disabilities, by their very presence, influence the awareness of others surrounding them. There are, however, some of them, who destroy this image with their behavior, saying: “I am so poor and disadvantaged”, not even trying to face the reality.” 35% of people responded that, even though they see some changes, they are unable to say whether the society is really more conscious: “We are definitely less of a sensation, but tolerance in place of acceptance makes many positive changes end as pure declarations, or at their formal stage, while they are not reflected by real life and relationships within the society; having talked the problem over, people often cease to notice it.” This group of respondents draws our attention to the fact that people with visible disability are treated differently. It is them who experience changes in attitudes. It is different with individuals whose illnesses cannot be seen – they are often treated as “malingers” who demand special treatment on no grounds. The same group mentions the lack of positive consequences to the changes, such as proper ergonomy of the public space. They also write about disability often being associated with old age (hence reluctance towards disabled youngsters, as fakes and malingers) and, what has been mentioned previously, with intellectual disfunctions. It is also very common to associate disability with a wheelchair; at this point, the respondents point out there is little knowledge and social awareness in this respect. Also, they give positive assessment of different

23


social campaigns, however at the same time they notice that the actions’ influence on disabled persons’ employment is, unfortunately, very small. 9% of questioned students said they could see no difference in the society awareness or the image of a disabled person, using the same arguments as the first group: problems with employment, negative stereotypes, tabooing the subject of disability, lack of social acceptance for differences, alienation (both isolation of the disabled themselves and their exclusion by social groups are not conductive to learning about each other), proper consciousness-raising education is lacking. 19% 35%

Yes

No

37% 9%

Yes and no

No opinion

Fig. 9. “Do you think that the social awareness and the image of a disabled person is changing?”

Asking about positive/negative reactions of teachers/lecturers towards student disability one may notice the majority of observed behaviors were positive, when compared to the number of negative ones (37%). Talking about positive reactions, students write mainly that:  lecturers are helpful and understanding,  lecturers are able to adjust the mode and form of tuition (e.g. testing) to the limitations resulting from the type of disability the student has (change from written to oral exam, adjusting exam time to the possibilities of a student, devoting more time),  often, requests for organizational changes to facilitate disabled students’ education come from the lecturers themselves, not from the administrative staff (meaning, for instance, moving the classes of a group where there were three wheelchair users from the 4th floor of a building without a lift to the ground floor.),  lecturers often express respect and admiration for the determination of a disabled student, thus motivating them and supporting them emotionally in their education process. Most research participants writing about positive reactions of lecturers emphasize that positive feedback most crucial to them is being treated equally to all other students, without lenient approach. One student’s opinion is worth particular attention:

24


“ … a positive and negative situation is a reaction when someone is called out to do some task on the board and it turns out this person is disabled; then the lecturer allows them to stay in place. On one hand, this reaction is positive, because the lecturer doesn’t want to cause extra effort to a student, as moving may be troublesome for them; on the other hand it is negative, as such person is treated differently than other students; he/she has no opportunity to show their talent. Sometimes, the lecturer may act this way to save time, as a disabled person may do things slower, for physical reasons”. Among the responses, 19% of them concerned negative reactions of lecturers/teachers. Mainly, they would be connected with behaviors such as:  interpreting absences or one’s individual study plan as avoidance, or intention to use one’s own condition to force privileged treatment on lecturers,  impatience and lack of understanding for student’s problems,  showing pity (“Something that annoys me a lot is pity. We don’t want to experience it, we want equal treatment”). Generally however, even students mentioning negative reactions point out how rarely they happen, and result mainly from the lack of awareness and knowledge on the specific nature of a given disability. The largest group of people, for as much as 44% has not noticed any reactions from teachers/lecturers, as their disabilities are not visible, while they themselves do not inform the staff about their conditions. Summarizing responses concerning academic staff behavior, one should emphasize that reactions described as positive or neutral (and therefore also positive in a way) constitute the majority, while the scarce negative behaviors of the academic staff are mainly due to lack of awareness, or simply are connected with the lecturers’ general negative approach to students, not only the disabled ones. positive

negative

no reaction 37%

44%

19%

Fig. 10. Reactions of lecturers to the disability of a student

25


When asked: “May one speak of limitations/stereotypes in the lecturers’ perception which could be harmful to a disabled person’s educational process” as many as 59% responded they have never encountered such limitations or stereotypes. However, 22% gave a positive answer, mentioning anxiety as the primary factor, resulting in disabled persons’ discrimination – lowering tuition level, excluding them from participation in particular classes or lowering expectations due to assumptions that a disabled person is automatically intellectually weaker. In the opinions of interviewed students, stereotypical thinking also manifests in a conviction that “a disabled person should stay at home instead of studying” or that “a vision-impaired person is not fit for certain professions, like the ones connected with judiciary system”. 19% of respondents had no opinion on the subject. The proportion of opinions in percentage is shown by figure 11.

Fig. 11. Stereotypes/limitations in thinking of school/university staff which could reduce/deny access to education for disabled persons

Students also assessed accessibility of primary and secondary education – here, 45% would rate it as good and very good, while 48% as average. Only 7% regarded it as bad or very bad. Among the problems, they mentioned:  Problems with regular public school admissions and offering special education instead,  Lack of manuals and teaching aids for blind and visually-impaired persons,  Problems with one-to-one tuition at home and hospital schools (low tuition standard, necessity to deal with huge backlog on coming back to school),  Problems with infrastructure (architectonic barriers in unadjusted schools, commuting problems).

Fig. 12. Disabled persons’ primary and secondary education accessibility assessment

26


Also the assessment of higher education accessibility looks similar. Here, 48% graded Lodz universities as easily accessible and very easily accessible, while 52% said the situation varies, depending on the faculty, university etc. However, none of the respondents would state that universities in Lodz are inaccessible. 0%

4% Very good Good

52%

44%

It varies

Fig. 13. Lodz university accessibility assessment according to disabled students

To summarize, research participants have been asked about those elements of university functioning which – in their opinion – should be improved in the first place, to make the university more accessible to persons with disabilities. Definite majority of respondents emphasizes the necessity to do away with architectonic barriers before anything else (71%). Interviewed students mention architectonic absurdities (e. g. elevators and wheelchair lifts are installed in theory, but no one cares for their technical condition – they are broken, or they break immediately after one tries to use them; the building has a lift, but the doorways are too narrow for a wheelchair) or partial inaccessibility (frequently, lecture halls and classes are accessible, but administration, such as the Dean’s Office or the financial department etc., is not. The students also draw our attention to unadjusted toilets (not only in terms of equipment, but also because of “heavy” doors, difficult to open) as well as the lack of properly adjusted rooms in dormitories. Several people (9%) mentioned lack of parking lots for disabled persons as the most urgent change in the infrastructure. Poor adjustment to the needs of blind and vision-impaired persons has also been pointed out (8%). Here, stress was put mainly on the issue of yellow stripes facilitating spatial orientation and the need to equip lecture halls in digital overhead projectors, where the font could be magnified. 4% claimed sonorization improvement was most necessary, 8% mentioned other university infrastructure elements, such as inconvenient arrangements of desks in the classes, stale air in rooms and corridors and slippery floors in didactic buildings (slippery tiles in the corridors etc.).

27


4%

architectonic barriers

8%

parking lots

8% 9% 71%

marking for vision impaired acoustics and sonorisation other

Fig. 14. Aspects of university functioning most urgent to change as regards persons with disabilities

Summary/Conclusions The lack of private universities students’ representation prevents conclusions concerning barriers encountered in those institutions. The analysis of the offer provided to disabled persons by non-public schools indirectly indicates the reason for their students’ lack of participation in the research – contrary to the stateowned universities, the private ones in majority have no data concerning disability rate, nor do they have students contact addresses, and so sending out a link with the questionnaire proved impossible. In order to obtain the full picture of the disabled students’ educational situation, one should redo the research in the future, using different methodology to gather data directly from the students themselves. Lodz universities which took part in the research, notice the needs of disabled students and try to meet those needs to the best of their ability. Not all universities provide identical help, one may see a clear distinction between state-owned and private universities. Mainly the big, government-financed institutions provide comprehensive support to their students, e. g. by establishing special units, or persons, who deal exclusively with the problems of this one target group. It stems from obvious facts, such as the number of students with disabilities, incomparable at state-owned and private universities; another factor significantly influencing the form of support provided is the fact of financing the special needs students’ education and rehabilitation from public funds, which Lodz public universities receive. However, ne should emphasize at this point that the sole fact of establishing a unit, or employing people responsible for assistance does not mean help is bound to be efficient – the way the unit functions and the qualifications of its employees are priceless values in this respect. On the other hand, the very fact of noticing disabled persons among all students is a huge step forward in itself, while the situation of the group in question is incomparably better than ten years 28


ago. Polish higher education system needs legislation which would regulate these issues to the wider extent than now, as well as guidelines for universities and qualified academic staff – also as regards methodology of teaching students with disabilities. Activites undertaken for the sake of people with disabilities should be integrated on the state level. Last but not least, universities also need funding for renovation and architectonic adjustment, which cannot, as of now, be financed from the donation mentioned earlier. The accessibility of the universities is relatively highly rated by disabled students themselves, and the barriers they encounter are mentioned repeatedly in various aspects, which means there are several categories of problems the universities need to cope with in the first place. Not all of them require huge financial resources; sometimes a little goodwill would do (but then, one needs to be aware of the problem!), not to make studies more difficult for a certain group of students. Particular attention should be drawn to the main conclusion coming to mind on reading students’ responses – some of the factors enumerated as barriers in disabled persons’ education is not specific for persons with disabilities, but in fact concerns all students. Such is the case with architectonic adjustments (who wouldn’t prefer lifts to stairs, even when we consider young student-mothers with little children), or with the issues of acoustics or light in the lecture halls – lack of proper conditions for studying is painful to all persons educated in a given institution. The same applies to the lecturers, their attitudes and methods of teaching. Using materials in digital form, multimedia presentations accessible via the Internet, or on-line task solving should be a standard for all, not the luxury only a few members of our academia can provide. Doing away with those problems and innovative solutions implementation would significantly raise the quality of education for all university and academic community, not only a small group of individuals.

References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Higher Education Institutions and their Finances in 2009, Central Statistical Office of the Republic of Poland, Warsaw 2009. Ministry of Health and Social Aid from 15 September 1997, with further modifications (J. L. 1997 No. 120, pos. 767). Act of Law from 27 July 2005 – Higher Education Law (J. L. 2005, No. 164 pos. 1365) with further modifications. Act of Law from 27 August 1997 on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities (J.L. No. 123 pos. 776) with further modifications. www.niepelnosprawni.gov.pl

29

EYE-BLINK DETECTION SYSTEM FOR HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION Aleksandra Królak

Introduction Recent years have seen a marked increase in the number of modern HumanComputer Interfaces (HCIs) whose functions are patterned on the ways in which man naturally interacts with the external world. The development of these systems proves particularly vital for the elderly, people with disabilities and paraplegic individuals. Paralysed persons seem to benefit most from BrainComputer Interfaces [1], as well as systems controlled by eye-gaze, or eye-blinks. The existing solutions make use of special helmets, electrodes, glasses and mouthsticks. However, these assistive devices have their drawbacks as they require e.g. special use/application, or they need to be directly attached to the user’s body. Hence, the vision-based systems show a lot of promise by employing advanced image processing and image analysis technologies. They feature an automatic sign language interpretation, facial expression recognition, eye-blink sequences detection and eye tracking (gaze plots) [2]. The systems also allow people with different levels of disabilities to communicate in a non-intrusive manner with the external world. As the latest research suggests, the blink reflex is one of the last voluntary actions to be lost by paralysed patients or ALS sufferers [3]. In the light of these findings, Human-Computer Interface with the eye-blink detection and interpretation system might significantly facilitate the communication with people afflicted with seriously impaired mobility [8]. Normally, eye-blink-controlled HCI systems entail direct contact of the devices with the user’s body. They use electro-oculography (EOG) [4] or special head mounted items with built-in cameras [5]. Allowing for the user’s comfort, there are works on the development of vision-based systems enabling eye-blink detection and blink sequences interpretation [3].

30


A user-friendly HCI, adapted to the special needs of persons with disabilities, should comply with the following requirements:  be non-intrusive,  demand no special hardware devices or infrared (IR) illumination,  offer real-time performance,  use only a part of the CPU computing power,  run on a consumer grade PC. This paper presents the eye-blink detection system and its use in the HCI. The system is specially designed for persons with severe mobility impairments.

Vision-based eye-blink detection system The algorithm for the vision-based eye-blink monitoring comprises four major modules (Fig.1): 1) face detection, 2) eye region extraction, 3) eye-blink detection, 4) eye-blink classification. Face detection (Haar-like features)

Eye region localisation (geometrical dependencies)

Eye-blink detection

Eye-blink classification (pattern adjustment)

Fig. 1. Scheme of the proposed eye-blink detection system

The assumption underlying the proposed algorithm is the real-time eye-blink detection in the sequences of face images. The system takes account of different facial expressions, head rotations in three planes in a limited range of motion, changes in the direction of gaze, and partial coverage (shadowing) of the face. Face detection In the proposed algorithm, the preliminary stage of eye-blink monitoring is devoted to face detection which is carried out by means of a cascade of classifiers calculated on the basis of Haar-like features [7]. The templates are computed by 31


convolving images with Haar-like features scaled and tilted at 45º. The image classification function was trained with 5000 face images and 3000 non-face images. Faces for the training images had been manually selected and later resized down to a base resolution of 24x24 pixels. The development of a 16 stage cascaded classifier involved the use of 113 templates. The image classification was tested on 150 images other than the ones included in the training dataset. The algorithm yielded 94% of positively classified images. Eye region localisation The position of the eyes in an image is determined by certain geometrical dependencies specific to the human face. As the traditional rules governing proportions indicate, the human face can be divided into 6 equal quadrants arranged in 2 columns, two by three [6]. In accordance with these same rules, the eyes are normally positioned approx 0.4 of the face height measured from the top of the head (Fig. 2). The thus extracted and identified eye region in the face image serves as a template for eye-blink detection in a sequence of images.

Fig. 2. Eye region localisation based on facial features geometry

Eye-blink detection The detected eye region is tracked in a sequence of images using the normalised cross-correlation method. The correlation coefficient can be obtained with the following formula (1):

32


R  x ' , y ' 

 T ' x' , y'  I x  x' , y  y ' x ', y '

(1) 2

2

 T  x ' , y '  I  x  x ' , y  y ' x ', y '

where: R is the correlation coefficient, T is the template image, I is the image of a sequence, x, y are the coordinates of the template location in the image. The eye template is automatically downloaded during the system initialisation. The computed correlation coefficient is a measure of the likeness of the eye image in a given sequence image to the encoded image of the open eye template (Fig. 3), it is therefore used as the measure of the eye openness. Figure 4 features an example diagram illustrating how the value of the correlation coefficient changes in time.

Fig. 3. Image templates of the eye openness and eye closure

Eye-blink classification The change of the correlation coefficient value in time is analysed to detect voluntary eye-blinks lasting longer than 250 ms. The system registers the onset of eye-blink only if the correlation coefficient value is lower than the predefined threshold value TL in two consecutive frames. When the value of the correlation coefficient exceeds the predefined threshold value TH, the end of eye-blink is immediately registered (see Fig. 4). Threshold values TL and TH were established experimentally. If the duration of the detected eye-blink is longer than 250 ms and shorter than 2s, it is regarded as the ‘controlling’ one.

33


Fig. 4. The eye-blink detection procedure

Human-Computer Interface controlled by eye-blinks The developed eye-blink detection system has been employed in the eyeblink-controlled Human-Computer Interface. The system is able to discriminate between short (< 200 ms) and long blinks (> = 200 ms). Single short eye-blinks are interpreted as spontaneous (involuntary) ones. The application was written in the C++Visual Studio setting with the use of the OpenCV (Open Source Computer Vision Library). The system was developed with readily available hardware devices: a webcam and a home PC. For maximum effectiveness, the distance between the user and the camera should not exceed 150 cm. Figure 5 shows the screenshot of the application and the user’s interaction.

Fig. 5. Eye-blink controlled Human-Computer Interface

Designed for Windows, the proposed eye-blink controlled system features the following:

34


   

eye-blink-controlled web site display and navigation, mouse cursor control and mouse button/keyboard keys emulators, data input into any selected text editor, data spreadsheet or messenger, computer switch off. The most essential elements of b-Link (a program intended for disabled users) are the on-screen keyboard and the on-screen mouse. While the program is running, eye-blinks actuate adequate buttons. The application automatically highlights the subsequent Interface buttons. Once a ‘controlling’ eye-blink is detected, it generates the selection command assigned to a given button. The user is informed of the eye-blink detection by two sound signals: at the moment when eye closure is detected and after recognising an eye-blink as the ‘controlling’ one. Alphanumeric signs of the on-screen keyboard are accessed in two stages. The user’s ‘controlling’ eye-blink first selects the column and then the row with the desired key. The arrangement of alphanumeric signs in the on-screen keyboard differs from a standard QWERTY layout. The characters are arranged in the way which allows the most common Polish letters to be accessed quickly and efficiently by the users (see Fig. 6).

Fig. 6. On-screen keyboard

The user may also control the mouse cursor with the on-screen mouse. The mouse menu comprises seven function buttons and the ‘Close’ option (see Fig. 7). A click on one of the four Arrow keys moves the mouse cursor in the selected direction. A subsequent ‘controlling’ eye-blink stops the cursor. The keys L, R and 2L correspond to the left, right or double mouse click buttons.

Fig. 7. On-screen mouse

35


Results The proposed application was tested by 49 volunteer subjects, including 37 able-bodied and 12 disabled individuals. Effectiveness of the HCI was determined and assessed on the basis of the time which the users devoted to entering some predefined sequences of alphanumeric signs and the degree of accuracy in the use of the on-screen mouse. Each subject’s results were registered twice, i.e. before and after a two-hour training session. The obtained results are summarised in Tables 1-3. The average time of a sign entry into a text editor was 16.8s, if measured prior to the training session, and 11.7s after the session. The time for moving the mouse cursor along the screen diagonal averaged 7.46s. The rate of positively detected ‘controlling’ eye-blinks stood at 99%. Table 1. Time allocated to entering a sequence of characters before the training session Entered word(s) MAIL NAME MY NAME IS MESSAGE GOOD MORNING

Time scale for the entry[s] 63.1-105.3 50.8-82.1 118.3-152.7 119.1-146.8 122.4-165.2

Average time of entry[s] 81.3 69.8 133.5 127.4 142.7

Standard deviation 8.37 6.42 9.61 7.18 6.09

Table 2. Time allocated to entering a sequence of characters after the training session Entered word(s) MAIL NAME MY NAME IS MESSAGE GOOD MORNING

Time scale for the entry[s] 49.6-75.1 37.1-57.1 96.7-129.3 90.6-116.0 95.8-129.4

Average time of entry[s] 61.39 44.85 108-61 99.71 111.94

Standard deviation 7.89 5.34 9.25 6.12 8.98

Table 3. Time allocated to specific tasks performed with the eye-blink-controlled HCI

Loading a predefined website

6.21

Standard deviation 0.58

Scrolling a webpage

10.48

1.03

Moving the cursor to the selected item and clicking on the left button Entering the web address: www.yahoo.com

13.24

1.38

61.33

7.81

Moving the mouse cursor along the screen diagonal

9.54

0.51

Task to do

36

Average time [s]


Conclusions The obtained results validate the effectiveness of the developed eye-blink detection system (~99%). The series of conducted tests indicates that the designed eye-blink-controlled Human-Computer Interface is a useful tool for the interaction between a human and a machine. The developed method of voluntary eye-blinks was used by Orange Labs (the R&D Centre of Telekomunikacja Polska S.A.), in cooperation with the system’s creators, to implement b-Link program. The program is made available to users as a free and open-source application (http://sourceforge.net/projects/b-link/).

References [1] [2]

[3] [4]

[5] [6]

[7] [8]

Materka A., Byczuk M.: Alternate half-field simulation technique for SSVEPbased brain-computer interfaces, Electronics Letters, 2006, Vol. 42(6), pp. 321-322. Starner T., Weaver J., Pentland A.: A Wearable Computer Based American Sign Language Recognizer, Assistive Technology and Artificial Intelligence, 1998, pp. 84-96. Chau M., Betke M.: Real time eye tracking and blink detection with USB cameras, Boston University Computer Science Technical Report No. 2005-12, 2005. Gips J., DiMattia P., Curran F., Olivieri P.: Using EagleEyes  an electrodes based device for controlling the computer with your eyes  to help people with special needs, Proceedings of the 5th International conference on Computers helping people with special needs, 1996, Vol. 1, pp. 77-83. http://www.a-s-l.com Oguz O.: The proportion of the face in younger adults using the thumb rule of Leonardo da Vinci, Journal of Surgical and Radiologic Anatomy, 1996, Vol. 18(2), pp. 111-114. Viola P., Jones, M.: Rapid object detection using a boosted cascade of simple features, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, 2001, Proceedings of the 2001 IEEE Computer Society, Vol. 1, pp. 511-518. Królak A. Strumiłło P.: Eye-blink controlled Human-Computer Interface for the disabled, Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing, 2009, Vol. 60, pp. 133-144.

37

GUIDELINES FOR THE ADJUSTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE OF THE FACULTY OF ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF LODZ, ENSURING ACCESSIBILITY TO STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES Aleksandra Polak-Sopińska Małgorzata Kubiak

Introduction According to the CSO (GUS), in Poland live ca. 3.5 million disabled persons, aged 15 and over, which is 11.1% of the total population. In 2009, the number of students with disabilities was 27 975, more by 21.7% than in 2007 (Table 1)of which 2447 were educated in the Lodz region. 852 persons studied full-time and 1595 part-time.

Otherkinds of disability

2007 total full-time studies Incl. part time studies

22 988 12 569 10 419

13 499 7 029 6 470

1 491 872 619

1 874 5 316 1 063 2 818 811 2 498

503 251 252

13 804 7 565 6 239

2008 total full-time studies Incl. part time studies

25 265 13 089

15 126 7 364

1 723 914

2 042 6 367 1 137 3 066

560 277

14 573 7 695

12 176

7 762

809

905 3 301

283

6 878

2009 total full-time studies Incl. Part-time studies

27 975 14 552 13 423

16 661 8 161 8 500

1 891 1 029 862

2 357 7 368 1 314 3 642 1 043 3 726

599 298 301

15 760 8 269 7 491

Specification

mobile

immobile

Blind and partiallysighte d

Of whichwomen

With motor dysfunction

Total

Deaf and partiallyheari ng

Table 1. Disabled students in the years 2007-2009 (status per 30 November) [5]

Most persons with disabilities decide to study at universities. In 2009, there were 3577 disabled students at technical universities, more by 25% than in 2007 (Table 2). 38


Table 2. Disabled students by school types 2007 - 2009 as per 30.11 the given year [5] Specification

2007

Total incl.

22 988

25 265

27 975

12 569

13 089

14 552

part-timestudies

10 419

12 176

13 423

7 486

8 062

9 269

full-timestudies

4 803

5 109

6 080

part-timestudies

2 683

2 953

3 189

technicaluniversities Incl. Other

2009

full-timestudies

universities Incl.

2008

2 861

3 243

3 577

full-timestudies

2 233

2 480

2 698

part-timestudies

628

763

879 15 129

Professionally active disabled persons with higher education were 52.4%; 33% had at least secondary education, 24.2% received basic vocational education, and there were only 15.3% with lower secondary and primary education. These data show that higher education has a huge significance for disabled persons employment, therefore all universities should be prepared, both in terms of architecture and organization, to receive a student with disabilities. The Technical University of Lodz offers a wide range of assistance for persons with disabilities who are interested in taking up or continuation of studies. The university has 19652 students, of which 233 are disabled (1.19% of all students) [21], while 205 persons (1.04%) benefit from the Centre for Disabilities of the Technical University of Lodz (BON PŁ) [1]. Most disabled students have a moderate degree of disability (138 persons  59%) and mild degree of disability (75 persons  32%). Figure 1 presents the disabilities of the students of the Technical University of Lodz. As shown by the figure, the most numerous group are those with motor disabilities, therefore it is of crucial importance that the university architecture is adapted to the needs of those persons. At present, 2663 persons study at the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz (13.55% of all TUL students) [3], including 32 persons with disabilities (13.86% of all disabled TUL students). Similarly to the university in total, the biggest group are persons with motor disabilities [fig. 2). As shown by Figure 2, the Faculty of Organization and Management should adapt its architecture and organization to the needs of persons with motor, visual, hearing impairments, "general" disorders (i.e. epilepsy, respiratory and circulatory diseases, gastrointestinal and genitourinary problems, neurological diseases) and "other" (i.e. mental illnesses, endocrine, metabolic and enzymatic disorders, infectious diseases and zoonoses, disfigurement and hematologic diseases). Currently, the Faculty has few students with visual or hearing impairment. This may stem from the 39


lack of adaptation of studying conditions to the needs and abilities of this group of people.

Fig. 1. Types of disabilities in students of the Technical University of Lodz [1]

Fig. 2. Kinds of disabilities in students of the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz [1]

Research objectives In 2009, the students from the Scientific Society "Work Health and Safety and Ergonomics", of the Technical University of Lodz, together with their tutor, dr. hab. Aleksandra Polak-Sopińska undertook a research project entitled: "The disabled closer to us  the analysis and assessment of architecture adjustment of the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz to the needs of persons with disabilities."

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The main objective of the project was analysis and assessment of:  buildings and rooms of the Faculty of Organization and Management,  work organization of the Dean's Office, the Deans and the secretariats of particular departments,  the Facultywebsite. All this, was to be analyzed in terms of adaptation to the needs of disabled persons. Special care was taken, to include the abilities and needs of students with different disabilities. Due to the limitation of the article volume, only those results are presented that concern the study on the adaptation of the interior and exterior architecture of the Faculty Dean's Office building at Piotrkowska 266 The results of the remaining research have been presented in two other articles [10,11].

Research methods and techniques The techniques used for the analysis of accessibility of architecture of the Faculty of Organization and Management Dean's Office for persons with disabilities, were the following:  observations:  from an able- bodied persons perspective,  from the perspective of a disabled person: a wheelchair user, moving with crutches, or with a cane. with a prosthesis; with vision, hearing or digestive system impairments.  photographic documentation,  geometric measurements of the objects. The analyzed items were: gates, routes to the building, surfaces, parking lots, entrances, stairs, corridors, dimensions of rooms, hygienic and sanitary facilities, switches and alarms. The guidelines for architecture adjustment for the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz to the needs and abilities of disabled persons were designed basing in design solutions available on the market.

Research results Doors and gates The Dean's Office of the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz is situated at Piotrkowska 266 in Lodz. The entrance into its fenced area is possible only through one gate (Fig. 3), being at the same time a driveway for cars.

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Fig. 3. Entrance gate to the Dean's Office of the Faculty of Organization and Management [4]

The gate, more than two meters wide, allows entering the university area, provided that no car passes at that time. The gate has no lights or audible signaling that would warn the users about the threat which approaching vehicles might be. Routes to the building Three kinds of surfaces lead to the Faculty premises (Fig. 4). Each of them has different characteristics, however all meet the criteria as regards levelness and slipperiness. Changes in their roughness and texture enable blind and visuallyimpaired persons better spatial orientation, placing of objects, rooms and equipment. Visually-impaired persons, walking from the pavement to the drive, instantly know they are approaching a dangerous spot  the place, where a car may appear. One should remember, however, that the changes of surface textures are helpful as long as leaves or snow do not cover them. The remaining partsof the square and parking space are covered with paving stones (Fig. 5). A well-kept even surface enables easy access to the building for wheelchair users, persons using crutches or canes. Unfortunately, there is no designated separate space for pedestrians that would guarantee safe walk from the gate to the Dean's Office, or from the Dean's Office to the building where the classes are held. Besides, parking lots for disabled persons have not been designated either.

Fig. 4. Three kinds of surface leading to the Faculty premises [4]

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Fig. 5. Parking space by the Dean's Office [4]

Entrances The research observation of door openings in the Dean's Office of the Faculty of Organization and Management included all rooms which a student might want to use. Besides, the study examined which way the door opens, how much strength it requires to open them, whether all the handles are adequate for the needs of all users and if there are adjustments for the blind and the visually-impaired. The entrance to these Dean's Office rooms which are most important for a student (including the main office and social aid) leads through heavy double wooden doors (Fig. 6 and 7), where only one wing opens, with a non-ergonomic handle located at the height of 106 cm. The entrance is partly covered but unlit. The width of the opening prevents wheelchair users from entering the building. While designing the door, one seems to have forgotten about the necessary minimal width of 90 cm and the maneuver space enabling a wheelchair user to open the door comfortably. The only advantage of the door is that they open to the outside and are in contrast with the wall (brown door on a bright beige wall).

Fig. 6. Entrance door to the Dean's Office [4]

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Fig. 7. Entrance door to the Dean's Office, too narrow for wheelchair users [4]

The interior door of the building (Fig. 8) have the width of 78 cm to 88 cm in the light, which does not allow wheelchair users to enter. All door wings open to the outside.

Fig. 8. Interior doors [4]

The room topography may, in some cases, lead to collision. For instance, if a wheelchair user wishes to get to the social aid room, they may be hit by the door leading to another room (Fig. 9).

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Fig. 9. Entrance to the social aid office [4]

Both in the exterior and interior doors, handles are installed (Fig. 10) which do not meet the basic principles of ergonomics, which recommend:  using door knobs instead of handles, which makes it easier to open the door for persons with motor disabilities,  retraction of handles or knobs, which protects the visually-impaired against hitting them with wrists or forearms,  using contrast colours for doors and handles to facilitate orientation for persons with limited vision.

Fig. 10. Handles installed in the Dean's Office doors [4]

Stairs Both interior and exterior stairs were subject to observation, as to their width, height, depth, and the number of stairs in one run. Additionally, attention was paid to the material they were made of, their colour, the length of the horizontal motion space at the beginning and end of stairs and the maneuver space on the landing. 45


The stairs in the Dean's Office of the Faculty of Organization and Management: 1) leading to the main building (Fig. 11),

Fig. 11. External stairs of the main building [4]

2) leading to the Dean's Office rooms (Fig. 12 and 13),

Fig. 12. The stairs leading to the officeof the Dean of the Faculty of Organization and Management [4]

Fig. 13. The stairs leading to the rooms of Vice-Deans [4]

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3) Leading to the main Dean's Office room (Fig. 14 and 15).

Fig. 14. Stairs to the main room [4]

Fig. 15. Stairs by the main room [4]

All external stairs are covered with tiles of the same kind. Their surface is even and not slippery. The change of texture - from the cobblestones of the square to rough tiles, provides more comfort to visually-impaired persons. Unfortunately however, there are no facilitations for wheelchair users. The Dean's Office premises lack a ramp, conveyors or elevators. Additionally, in two in three cases, the landings do not allow convenient opening of the door for wheelchair users, and less so to make any maneuver with the wheelchair (Fig. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15). To other significant problems, one may also include he lack of light and only partial roof cover for the stairs. In case of the internal staircase, the drawback is the material of which the tiles are made. Despite indentations on the edges, the surface of the stairs is slippery and does not provide the sense of stability. If a person using a wheelchair, or crutches, manages to overcome this barrier, a too sort landing will effectively prevent them from entering the Dean's Office main room (Fig. 16).

Fig. 16. Landing by the main Dean's Office room (situation with the door ajar) [4]

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One should emphasize that both in case of external and internal stairs, contrast colors, which would facilitate moving around for visually-impaired persons, were not used. Additionally, two-way traffic is impossible. In summary, basing on observations, the following maladjustments to the needs and abilities of disabled persons were detected:  lack of ramps to facilitate movement for wheelchair users,  lack of stairs designation, which would facilitate moving around of persons with eyesight disabilities,  internal stairs are slippery, which may cause loss of balance,  no external staircase roof that would prevent a disabled person from getting wet while waiting for a person that would assist them in getting to the Dean's Office,  lack of light on the stairs,  lack of railings providing safety while climbing the stairs. Corridors While examining the adaptation of the corridors to the needs and abilities of persons with disabilities, the following features are analyzed: the width, the surface and the marking. The corridor leading through the Dean's Office building is of variable width. At the narrowest point, it is 193 cm, while 290 cm in the widest. The corridor dimensions enable two-way traffic. The surface is slippery but even. The doormats and rugs placed by the doors may hinder the wheelchair users moving around (Fig. 17).

Fig. 17. The main corridor of the Dean's Office [4]

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The uniform surface texture of the corridors makes it difficult for the visually-impaired persons to identify the premises and equipment. While with the introduction of the contrast of colored surfaces, partially sighted are more likely to avoid the danger of sudden opening of the doors to the Dean's Office rooms or the lecture rooms (Fig. 17). Dimensions of the rooms In the study, special attention was paid to the dimensions of two rooms: the main Dean's Office room and the social aid office. If a disabled person using a wheelchair manages to get to any of these rooms, it does not mean they have overcome all barriers. The arrangement of furniture and equipment in both rooms often prevents making any maneuvers with a wheelchair, as the maneuvering area is smaller than a wheel of 150 cm in diameter (Fig. 18, 19).

Fig. 18. The main Dean's Office room [4]

Fig. 19. The social aid office [4]

Persons with impaired vision or hearing, on reaching the appropriate room, should not meet any barriers in architecture, as long as the door is not blocked with a chair or some furniture. In such case, a risk would occur of tripping over it or hitting oneself, however it is easy to eliminate, if one asks for assistance of the Dean's Office employee.

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Hygienic and sanitary rooms The assessment of adaptation of sanitary facilities to the needs of persons with disabilities included: the doors and the corridor leading to the toilet, the bathroom and the toilet cubicle. If one wants to use the toiled in the Dean's Office building, they need to go through three pairs of doors (Fig. 20). However, none of them is adequately sized for a wheelchair user to get to the toilet (Fig. 21). Besides, the signs indicating the "ladies" and "gents" toilet are small, which might make them illegible for persons with vision impairments. Access to the cubicle is limited by the narrowness of the corridor. Its width prevents two way traffic in case when one of the persons is a wheelchair user (Fig. 22).

Fig. 20. Hygienic and sanitary rooms [4]

Fig. 21. Going through the door [4]

Fig. 22. The corridor width [4]

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While observing the bathroom, particular attention was paid to the room size, as well as arrangement and accessibility of particular bathroom equipment elements. Basing on the observation, the following maladjustments to the needs and abilities of disabled persons were detected:  small space completely rules out maneuvering a wheelchair freely,  installed basin with a pedestal prevents approaching it by a wheelchair from the front (Fig. 23),  too highly placed dryer  138 cm (Fig. 24),  too highly placed mirror (without possibility of adjustment),  the basin mixer tap may pose a barrier for persons with hand paresis,  lack of differentiation in color of particular elements of bathroom equipment makes orientation difficult for persons with vision impairments,  despite even leveling of the floor, the application of the so-called "lead belt" is missing; its clear color or texture (e.g. grooves)would be an excellent element, leading a visually-impaired person from the entrance to the appropriate cubicle door.

Fig. 23. Hindered access to the basin and the tap [4]

Fig. 24. Hindered access to the dryer [4]

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On reaching the toilet cubicle, a person on wheelchair cannot use it. Small space in front of the bowl excludes the wheelchair entry (Fig. 25). Also other persons with motor disabilities will encounter obstacles. The cubicles lack railings and handles etc., which would allow the execution of hygiene tasks without assistance. When designing and furnishing the cubicle other elements were omitted that would ensure safety to a disabled person. A good solution observed was the use of contrast, allowing to locate dark bowl in bright surrounding.

Fig. 25. Toilet cubicle [4]

Guidelines for architecture adaptation of the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz In order to adapt the internal and external architecture of the Dean's Office building to the needs and abilities of persons with disabilities, one should, inter alia:  designate and mark parking lots for persons with disabilities (Fig. 26 and 27),

Fig. 26. Parking lots for persons with disabilities that should be designated foe persons with disabilities on the premises of the Dean's Office parking [4]

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Fig. 27. Designation of a parking place for a disabled person [4]



apply new handles in all outside and inside doors (Fig. 28),

Fig. 28. Examples of handles [4]

  

 

door frames and their surfaces should be contrasted with the colour of the walls, outside and inside doors should be exchanged for such that would allow wheelchair users enter the building and particular rooms, on entrances or doors to the rooms which are not adapted to the needs of disabled persons, there should be signs informing where the accessible entrance is; if there is none, the main entrance to the building should be equipped with a bell to call for assistance (Fig. 29), the doors should be also labeled with Braille, best next to the door handle (Fig. 30), ramps or drives should be installed to enable persons with disabilities free access to the building. Wherever this would be impossible, floor platforms should be used (Fig. 31), or vertical ones, combined with the steps (Fig. 32), or outer lifts and transporters (Fig. 33).

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Fig. 29. Proper designation of maladjusted doors [18]

Fig. 30. A door plate in Braille [17]

Using a floor platform should be considered at the main entrance to the Dean's Office Fig. 31. A floor platform [16]

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The platform presented in the picture would improve the accessibility of the Vice-Deans rooms Fig. 32. A platform and stairs in one [16]

The lift would be the best solution by the entrance to the Faculty Dean's secretariat

Fig. 33. An outer lift

 

apply lighting for outer stairs, fit anti-slippery edges on the inner stairs (Fig. 34),

Fig. 34. An example of stair edge finish [14]

 

eliminate shiny surfaces causing glare, carpets and floor coverings should be permanently attached to the floor and protected against hemming. Besides, one should remember that the surface should be on par with the adjacent floor, 55




 

additional room should be adapted for a toilet and bathroom for persons with disabilities. The adaptation of current toilets to the needs of wheelchair users is impossible due to their limited size, install movable and folding rails in the bathroom and toilet, install infra-red or mixer taps in the basins (Fig. 35).

Fig. 35. Basin taps [15]

Due to the limited volume of this article, only exemplary facilitations of interior and exterior architecture of the TUL Faculty of Organization and Management Dean's Office have been chosen. One should remember though that this architecture is historic and, unfortunately, not all changes are possible. In future, the Faculty authorities should consider transferring the Dean's Office to a building which might be adapted to the needs and abilities of disabled persons.

Summary The conducted research enabled the recognition of barriers in architecture, encountered by persons with disabilities at TUL Faculty of Organization and Management, and exemplary solutions have been suggested. The implementation of facilitations and continuation of research will contribute to the increase in accessibility for persons with disabilities, and thus the number of disabled students at TUL will grow as well. The students of the Scientific Society hope that the project they have carried out will cause the increase in the number of disabled persons deciding to study at the Technical University of Lodz, and that the education obtained here will help them find employment to ensure a dignified existence.

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References [1] Data from the Centre for Persons with Disabilities of the Technical University of Lodz (5. 11.2009). [2] Data from the Faculty of Organization and Management, Dean's Office (19. 11. 2009). [3] Adapting the Physical Envronment to the Needs of the Blind and Partially Sghted, Polsh Association of the Blind, Warsaw, 2001. [4] Report from the grant of the Science Society “Work Health and Safety and Ergonomics” of the Technical University of Lodz: "The disabled closer to us - the analysis and assessment of architecture adjustment of the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz to the needs of persons with disabilities", under supervision of drinż. A.Polak-Sopińska, Lodz 2010. [5] "Szkoły wyższe i ich finanse w 2007 r., 2008 r., 2009 r."Hgher Educaton Institutions and Their Finances, CSO (GUS). [6] Adamowicz-Hummel A., Guzowska H. (eds.): Guide for Employers of Blind and Partially Sighted Persons, PZN, Warsaw, 2001. [7] Górska E.: Designing Work Posts For Persons With Disabilities. OWPW, Warszawa, 2002. [8] Lehning-Fricke Ele: Colors Facilitating Orientation Instead of Everpresent Greyscale – 3(9)/2002, RETINA, Warsaw, 2002. [9] Meyer-Bohe W.: Civil Engineering fot Elderly and Disabled Persons. Arkady, Warsaw, 1998. [10] Polak-Sopińska A., Sujka E.: Directions of Changes in Organization of Work of the Dean's Office, the Department Secretariates and the Authorities of the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz, Resulting from the Analysis, needs and Possibilities of Disabled Persons. [11] Polak-Sopińska A.: The Analysis of the Adjustment of the Website of the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz to the Needs of Persons with Disabilities". [12] Regulation of the Minister of Labor and Social Policy of 26 September 1997 on General Health and Safety Requirements (J.L.03.169.1650, with further modifications). [13] Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of 12 April 2002 r. on Technical Conditions for the Buildings and Their Locations (J.L.02.75.690, with further modifications.). [14] http://pl.pl.allconstructions.com/portal/categories/52/1/0/1/article/1441, date ofaccess: 29.10.2009. [15] http://wilga.ik.pl/oferta/, date of access 29.10.2009. [16] www.gold-bud.com.pl, date of access: 29.10.2009. [17] www.iasignproduction.com/p_braille1.php, date of access 29.10.2009. [18] www.niepelnosprawni.pl, „Projektowaniebezbarier- wytyczne” [„Design Without Barriers – Guidelines”], date of access 29.10.2009. [19] www.niepelnosprawni.pl/ledge/x/9609, date of access 29.10.2009. [20] www.olsztyn.is.gov.pl/2803/images/stories/parking1.jpg, date of access 29.10.2009. [21] www.p.lodz.pl/main,menu11,pl_w_liczbach_index.htm, date of access 5.11.2009. [22] www.studioklamek.pl/strona.php?30819, date of access 29.10.2009. [23] www.targimedyczne.pl/images/produkty/dodatkowe/2120_400.jpg, date of access 29.10.2009.

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DIRECTIONS OF CHANGES IN ORGANIZATION OF WORK OF THE DEAN'S OFFICE, DEPARTMENT SECRETARIATS AND THE AUTHORITIES OF THE FACULTY OF ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF LODZ RESULTING FROM THE ANALYSIS OF NEEDS OF STUDENT WITH DISABILITIES Aleksandra Polak-Sopińska Emilia Sujka

Introduction In 2009, the students from the Scientific Society "Work Health and Safety and Ergonomics", of the Technical University of Lodz, together with their tutor, dr. hab. Aleksandra Polak-Sopińska undertook a research project entitled: "The disabled closer to us  the analysis and assessment of architecture adjustment of the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz to the needs of persons with disabilities." The main objective of the project was analysis and assessment of:  buildings and rooms of the Faculty of Organization and Management,  work organization of the Dean's Office, the Deans and the secretariats of particular departments,  the Faculty website, All this, was to be analyzed in terms of adaptation to the needs of disabled persons. Special care was taken, to include the abilities and needs of students with different disabilities. Due to the limitation of the article volume, only those results are presented that concern the adaptation of work organization of the Dean's Office, the Deans and the secretariats of particular departments of the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz to the needs of persons with disabilities, The results of the remaining research have been presented in two subsequent articles [4, 5]. During the research, measures were taken to test whether a disabled student would be able to obtain all the necessary information on their own and do everything that is connected with the process of studying at the above-mentioned Faculty. Should it not be so, the focus point was whether there is a procedure that would allow for a student (also one with disabilities) to be represented by another person. 58


Research techniques and methods For he analysis of the adaptation of work organization of the Dean's Office, the Deans and the secretariats of particular departments, the following research methods have been used:  a guided interview, conducted with the Dean and the Vice-Deans of the Faculty, and with the Dean's secretary,  a poll survey, conducted among the staff of the Dean's Office, the secretariats of particular departments and the students themselves. The first research group consisted of the Faculty authorities. Interviews were carried out with the Dean of the Faculty, the Vice-Dean for Student Affairs and the Vice-Dean for Extramural and Foreign Language Studies. All of them were asked the same questions, inter alia: 1. What kind of things students usually report to the Dean and the Vice-Deans of the Faculty? 2. Is the Dean's Office the only place where the faculty authorities would receive their suppliants? 3. Are the office hours of the Faculty authorities rigidly fixed? 4. What is the criteria for establishing office hours? 5. Is there a possibility to make an appointment individually, at another time and place? 6. Is there a procedure for setting another time and place for a meeting with the university authorities? 7. Does a student always have to appear in person? If not, what documents are required of a person representing a student (including a disabled student)? 8. Are there special procedures at the Faculty, concerning disabled students? The second research group were the staff members of the Dean's Office Similarly to the authorities of the Faculty, they were asked about the type of matters students come with to the Dean's Office, which issues require the presence of a student or an authorization from the notary to represent them (if a student cannot appear in person); whether it is possible to change the time or place of a meeting with the Dean's Office staff member and if there are any procedures concerning students with disabilities. They were also asked if they had been pre-trained for working with a disabled student by any specialist, or if they know how to provide first aid, if necessary. Additionally, a brief guided interview was carried out with the secretary of the Dean of the Faculty. Another group were the staff members of department secretariats at the Faculty of Organization and Management. The questions concerned their tasks and duties, the necessity of students' personal appearance when dealing with various issues, the possibility to adjust the time and place for the proceedings to the needs of students with disabilities. They were also asked about the specialist training for dealing with disabled persons. 59


The last research group consisted of the students of the Faculty of Organization and Management. The study carried out among in this group was to reveal their opinions on the functioning of the Faculty authorities and the Dean's Office, as well as its availability. 101 students took part in the research, ranging from first to fifth year of both regular and extramural studies. Among the respondents, there were 16 persons with disabilities. The assumption was that whatever is a problem for an able-bodied student, will be a barrier for a disabled one.

Research results The Faculty authorities work organization to the needs and abilities of students with disabilities, as seen by the Dean and the Vice-Deans Most often, students turn to the Faculty authorities with the following matters: request to be transferred to another major, or permission to study another, additional major,  appeal against the decision to be deleted from the list of students  application for promotion,  application for the reduction of the fee charged for points,  application for transfer from another university or another faculty of the Technical University of Lodz,  agreement concerning part-time education,  request for duplicate documents (book of records, student card),  request for co-funding (e.g. a students trip),  request for the permission to retake a year,  application for the Socrates/Erasmus programme etc. The Faculty authorities receive students primarily in thee Dean's Office, which, as it was presented in the article by A. Polak-Sopińska and M. Kubiak, entitled: "Guidelines for Architecture Adaptation for the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz, Ensuring Accessibility for Disabled Students", is not adapted to the needs and abilities of persons with motor disabilities and sight impairments. Although the Dean of the Faculty may receive students in one of the rooms of the Department of Basic Technology and Industry Ecology, but the building where this department is located, similarly to the building of the Dean's Office is not adjusted to the needs of persons with disabilities. The Vice-Dean for Student Affairs may meet students in the 'LODEX" building, adapted to wheelchair users. Also, the Vice-Dean for Extramural and Foreign Language Studies works in the building of International Faculty of Engineering, also adapted for wheelchair users. The office hours of the Faculty authorities are fixed. While planning it, the students' schedules are taken into account. All the Deans were unanimous as to the fact that all students - both able-bodied and disabled - may arrange individual 

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time and place for a meeting. Besides, throughout the interview it showed that this happens quite frequently, especially as regards the Vice-Dean foe Student Affairs. According to the Deans, the students should preferably report the need to change the time or place of their appointment by telephone or e-mail, to the secretariat of directly to the Faculty authorities. This solution enables disabled students to meet the chosen Dean in a place adapted to their needs and abilities. Despite the assurances of the Faculty authorities as to the possibility of setting the time and place of appointment, no procedure has been found among information commonly accessible to students that would describe the steps to be taken in such cases. In all business that a student with disabilities might have with the Dean or the Vice-Deans of the Faculty, they may be represented by a person they appoint (a parent, a spouse, a colleague etc.). For some of the matters, such as those related to the issue of duplicate documents (such as a record book or a student card) notary authorization is required. However, the Faculty website lacks information as to when this authorization is needed. The summary of results concerning the adaptation of work organization of the Faculty authorities to the needs and abilities of disabled students, in view of the Dean and Vice-Deans, is presented in Table 1. Table 1. Adaptation of the work organization of the Faculty authorities to the needs and abilities of disabled students, in view of the Dean and Vice-Deans [3] ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

 Office hours adjusted to students’ schedules.  The Faculty authorities receive students in a building which is not adapted for  Possiblity to arrange time, date and place of appointment on individual request by phone or e-mail.  In all matters, a disabled student may be represented by a person they appoint (in some cases, a notary authorization is required).

the needs of persons with disabilities.

 Lack of documented procedure for changing the time and place of appointments.  No information as to when the autorization is required..

Adaptation of the Dean's Office working schedule to the needs and abilities of students with disabilities, in the opinions of the Dean's Office staff members In November 2009, the Dean's office employed 12 people. 7 employees filled in the questionnaire. Depending on the matters they deal with, the Dean's Office employees include:  employees responsible for regular and extramural studies (room no. 47),  personnel dealing with the alumni (room 48a),  a staff-member dealing with financial aid for students, including students with disabilities (room 46),  the Faculty Dean's secretary (room no. 54).

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The employees that have most frequent contact with students are those dealing with regular and extramural studies. According to what they say, all procedures assigned to them include persons with disabilities (the students did not have the opportunity of insight into some proceedings or instructions mandatory to the Dean's Office staff-members). However, subsequent answers revealed that in practice there is no possibility to set another time or place for an appointment. This puts wheelchair users and people using crutches in a difficult situation, as access to room 47 is hindered by numerous architecture barriers. In such cases, when a disabled student's case is being solved, they may be represented by a person they appoint. In some situations, notary authorization is required, however, the Faculty website does not say to which matters this demand applies. This information may be obtained by phone. All personnel from the room 48a is dealing with the issues of the alumni. Besides, the tasks of particular ladies there are: to dispose of all lecture rooms and classrooms, creating lists of students applying for student's loan remissions, the maintenance of the “Webdziekanat” system (on-line Dean's Office services), and the SID system (on-line student database). Basing on the questionnaire, it is difficult to say if these tasks include documented procedures for disabled persons, since each of the research participants provided a different response. Most matters within the scope of employees from room 48a may be dealt with by proxy, with a representative. The only situation where the graduate's presence or a notary authorization is mandatory is when one wants to collect a graduation certificate. Also in this case, the employees confirmed the lack of possibility to arrange different time or place of appointment for a student with disabilities, which may prove to be an organizational obstacle, especially for those disabled persons who have no one that could do things in their name, while at the same time they cannot do it on their own due to lack of architectonic adaptation of the Faculty Dean's Office building to the needs of students with disabilities. The employee in charge of financial aid for students, including those with disabilities, confirms that all procedures include this group. However, in practice, similarly as with other Dean's Office staff-members, there are no measures that would indicate the possibility to solve matters in individually agreed place or time. Students applying for any scholarship need to download the appropriate form from the Technical University of Lodz website, fill it in and submit it to the room 46. Since every year problems appear with the right completion of documents, students often come to consult with the above-mentioned specialist. The respondent in her final conclusions, stresses the fact that students with disabilities do not want to use assistance of able-bodied persons, they want to prove they do not differ from others and are able to handle all their matters themselves. Besides, in her opinion, the procedure of granting the scholarships for disabled students should, in part, be the responsibility of the Disabled Students Office, operating on the premises of 62


the Technical University of Lodz. The respondent justified her opinion, pointing out multiple formalities, which a disabled student needs to see to beyond the Dean's Office of their Faculty. For instance, to apply for the scholarship, they have to go to the Disabled Student Office to obtain confirmation of their disability certificate and then submit to the Dean's Office. Comprehensive assistance from the DSO regarding granting scholarships for disabled students would free them from bothersome wandering between decision-makers. The Faculty Dean's secretary is a mediator between the Faculty authorities and the students. Apart from her other duties she passes on important information from students to the Deans and contacts students with the Faculty authorities. Making an appointment with the Dean beyond fixed office-hours requires a personal, telephone, or – less frequently – an e-mail contact of the student with either the secretary or the particular Dean. In case one of the Deans needs to cancel their office hours, information appears on the Faculty website. This update may be done by the Dean / the Vice-Deans personally, or by the secretary. The guided interview with the secretary confirmed the statement previously made by the Deans, of there being an option to appoint individual time and place for a meeting with the Faculty authorities, for every student, including one with a disability. The study shows that none of the staff-members have been trained in working with disabled students or providing first aid, if need be. Table 2 shows the summary of study results concerning the organization of work of the Dean's Office and department secretariats to the need and abilities of disabled students, as seen by the staff-members of these units. Adaptation of department secretariats work organization to the needs and abilities of disabled students, as seen by the staff of the secretariats In November 2009, there were 10 employees working in department secretariats of the Faculty. One employee in the Chairs of: Human Sciences, Basic Industry Technology and Ecology, European Integration and International Marketing, Economics; two employees in the Departments of: Management Systems, Innovation and Marketing and Production Management.7 persons filled in the questionnaire. All the employees of department secretariats have direct contact with the students. It is related to providing information on the office hours and presence of particular department lecturers, the dates of exams in the subjects taught in each of the departments, the diplomas and the continuation of studies on postgraduate level offered a given department. Besides, the mentioned employees issue postgraduate diplomas and receive documents needed for the B. s. c. and M. s. c. theses defense procedures. In secretariats, the students may also leave their works and projects for the tutors employed in respective divisions and during the session  the record books, to obtain signatures.

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The matters that require the student's personal presence in the secretariat are related to the collection of a postgraduate diploma or certificates of specialist training (the student's signature is required). In case a student is not able to collect their diploma or certificate personally, notary authorization is required for their representative. Some of the division employees confirmed there is a possibility to appoint individual date or place for a meeting with a student. However, this needs to be somewhere on the Technical University of Lodz campus premises. Among the interviewed employees, only three of them stated they had contact with a disabled person (the disability was visible). The remaining persons claimed they never had to deal with a disabled student. It seems difficult to accept it as true, since many disabilities are not visible The secretariat personnel associates a disabled person with someone who is sight or hearing-impaired, or has a motor dysfunction, forgetting that disabled persons may also suffer from the diseases of the circulatory, respiratory digestive, urinary or reproductive system. These diseases, as mentioned formerly, are most often not visible. None of the secretariat employees had undergone preparatory training for appropriate assistance to persons with disabilities, especially as regards the need of providing first aid. The respondents would wish to acquire knowledge how to deal with persons with disabilities and not offend them. They would also like to know what premedical aid they should provide if need be. First aid training organized for the employees of the Technical University of Lodz do not include first aid for epileptics, diabetics etc. Table 2. Organization of work of the Dean's Office and department secretariats to the need and abilities of disabled students, as seen by the staff-members of these units [3] ADVANTAGES  All procedures the employees need to follow include persons with disabilities (the students did not have a possibility to look intosome procedings or instructions mandatory to the Dean’s Office staff members)  In all matters a disabled student may be represented by a person they appoint (for some matters a notary authorization is required).

     

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DISADVANTAGES There is no possibility to change the hour, date or place of appointment for a disabled person, There is no documented procedure as measures taken in case a disabled student cannot appear in person, Lack of information as to what situations require authorization from the notary, Complex proceedings for obtaining financial aid by students with disabilities, No awareness-raising trainings for the Faculty employeees as to the needs and abilities of disabled persons, No trainings for employees in premedical assistance.


In the question about one's own observations as to adaptation of work on particular positions to the needs and abilities of disabled persons, several employees indicated that a huge facilitation that would foster many things, including the matters of disabled persons would be introducing electronic signatures of the Dean and the Vice-Deans, as many documents do not require the opinion of the university authorities. The only necessary thing is the signature of the Dean or the appropriate Vice-Dean. Table 2 shows the summary of study results concerning the organization of work of the Dean's Office and department secretariats to the need and abilities of disabled students, as seen by the staff-members of these units. Adaptation of the organization of work of the Faculty authorities and the Deans Office to the needs and abilities of disabled students in the opinion of the students themselves 101 students took part in the survey, starting from the first year of both regular and extramural studies. Among the respondents, there were 16 disabled students; 12 with light disability degree and 4 with mild disability. Most of them were sight-impaired (9 persons) and motor disabilities (3 persons). The remaining persons suffered from circulatory and digestive system diseases, epilepsy and other. None of the disabled persons taking part in the research needed help of any third party. However, 11 persons used technical aids, such as: special lens, crutches, orthopedic footwear, stabilizers. The biggest number of respondents needed glasses. 10 persons were on permanent medication. The assumption in the study was that if an able-bodied student has a problem with anything, it should probably be all the more of a problem for a disabled one. Kind of matters dealt with in the Dean's Office The first part of the questionnaire was to determine with what sort of matters students most often go to the Dean's Office, with which they have most trouble and whether they know which matters require their personal presence. Most frequent business students have with the Dean's Office includes: collecting their student cards, record books, examination cards, health books, certificates, training agreements, as well as submitting record books, updating student cards or health books and obtaining information. The survey showed that students have most problems with changing the dean group, obtaining the necessary information (here, the arguments were: difficulties in getting through to the Dean's Office on the phone, the ladies working in room 47 providing insufficient answers), submitting record books and examination cards (long queues), application for change of university (the form is not precise enough) and resignation from insurance.

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The responses show that the students do not know which matters require their personal presence. If they knew which matters might be solved via the Internet, they would visit the Dean's Office less often. Opinions of students on the Dean's Office accessibility and functioning Another part of the questionnaire analyzed the level of satisfaction students have with the Dean's Office work. The respondents evaluated the competence, professionalism, personal culture of the staff members, their efficiency and involvement in a given matter, usefulness and completeness of the information provided. Employees subject to the assessment were those working in rooms 46, 47 and 48a. The evaluation was based on a five-grade scale, where one means “very bad” and five – “very good”. The next subject of assessment was the Dean's Office working time. Mostly, the work aspect was assessed as “good”. The biggest number of reservations concerned the department for regular and extramural studies (room 47), where most student cases is dealt with. The lowest rating regarded the issue of commitment, where the reason indicated was lack of interest and haste, especially with submitting and collecting record books and stamping the student card in the beginning of the academic year. Some students gave the personnel a “bad” or “very bad” note, however they were unable to provide their reasons behind it. The students who negatively assessed the work of the above-mentioned department, would complain about the lack of list of documents required for a scholarship application, missing e-mails with requests to issue a certificate and unreliable information concerning obligatory students training. Probably, these were the issues that contributed to such low ratings. One should emphasize, however, that the personnel working in the department of regular and extramural studies do not deal with scholarships and are not responsible for poorly functioning e-mail (this being the area of the computer center). In turn, the issues related to student training periods are supervised by another employee of the Faculty. It often happens that the students do not read the Faculty website to check where and by whom their matter would e solved, or what documents they need to prepare, and they turn with all their requests to the regular and extramural studies section. This leads to the formation long queues, causing frustration for both employees and students, who later evaluate the Dean's Office performance as poor. The students complain that the instructions on the Faculty website are too long. In order to obtain information as quickly as possible, many of them call or go to visit the Dean's Office. However, the employees of the office do not answer questions, which are already explained on the main site, advising students to refer to the site, which creates resentment and discontent among students.

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The employee dealing with financial aid for students (room 46) obtained the "good" or "very good" grade, from over 60% of students. Only efficiency was rated slightly less well, due to long waiting time and lack of precise information about the documents needed for the scholarship application. Least students used the services of the employees from room 28a, where the matters of the graduates are dealt with. They evaluated all the staff features as "good". The lowest rating concerned personal culture of the employees, however without explanation of what the reason for that would be. Only 29% of students were satisfied with the Dean's Office working hours (Figure 1). The others mainly complained about the lack of office hours adjustment to their course plan, both during the week and at weekends, as well as too short office hours in the last days of the exam session, when the students need to submit their record books. Figure 2 presents the reasons for discontent with the Dean's Office working hours. The respondents suggested to prolong them till 18.00 at least once a week, till 14.00 during weekends, and on the last day of the exam session, to 18.00.

Fig. 1. Students satisfaction with the Dean's Office working hours [3]

Fig. 2. Reasons for discontent with the Dean's Office working hours [3]

In the questionnaire, the students would also mention other problems concerning the organization of work at the Dean's Office, such as:  the employees losing record books and certificates,  problems with the choice of optional subjects,

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

   

no information on a separate queue for part-time students (all stand in one queue, which makes a part-time student solve their matter in an hour, instead of half an hour), small number of persons working at weekends, insufficient space for waiting, no cloak room, desks placed too close to the door, which makes it more difficult to move to to further stands.

Opinions of students on the functioning and accessibility of the Faculty authorities. Nearly 38% students claimed they have never had any business with the Dean or with the Vice Deans, and therefore they are not able to take their stand on the Faculty authorities working hours. 62% of the respondents who had some matters to be solved by the authorities declared that their office hours are adjusted to the course schedules of the students. As many as 77% of the respondents who had met the Faculty authorities at least once, is of the opinion that there is no possibility to have an appointment with the Dean or the Vice-Deans in a non-standard time or place. This probably results from the fact that students have no knowledge of there being such option. Other educational barriers mentioned by students with disabilities 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Lack of knowledge among the tutors and administration on the needs and abilities of disabled persons. Bad organization of the courses  often, during a short break, the student needs to cover several kilometers in order to get from one building to another. Lack of teaching aids and equipment that would facilitate studying, especially for persons with motor disabilities, the sight-impaired and the hearing-impaired. Lack of transport (difficult commuting to the University) Lack of rooms in dormitories, adapted to the needs and abilities of disabled persons.

Summary The analysis and evaluation of the adaptation of the Faculty of Organization and Management to the needs and abilities of disabled persons in terms of organization arrangements, is one of the stages in a project carried out by students together with their tutor, in order to identify the barriers the disabled persons encounter at the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz. This analysis is a very significant part of the project, testifying to the operational quality of the system, which the Faculty of Organization and Management is. 68


Basing on the conducted survey, one may conclude that the Faculty of Organization and Management is basically prepared in terms of organization to the needs of students with disabilities. In order to improve the quality of education not only for the disabled students but for all of them, one should however:  create a procedure or instruction, which would explain which matters require the student's personal presence, and when the notary authorization is required for the student's representative,  create procedure or instruction explaining in what way a disabled student may arrange an appointment with the Dean or a Vice-Dean in other time and place than the officially fixed ones,  consider allowing disabled students to see the Dean's Office staff in another place than the Dean's Office building,  transfer all matters concerning scholarships to the Centre for Disabilities functioning within the campus of the Technical University of Lodz,  provide training to the Faculty authorities, the Dean's Office staff-members and the division secretariats as regards work with disabled persons and providing first aid to them,  introduce electronic signatures for the Dean and the Vice-Deans,  consider prolonging the Dean's Office working hours, at least once a week, e.g. until 18.00, at weekends until 14.00, and on the last day of the exam session until 18.00,  increase the number of persons working at weekends,  place information on the doors to the section of regular and extramural studies about separate waiting lines for students of different forms of study,  improve the system of record books and exam cards submission e.g. by introducing a special opening in the door, through which the students could throw their record books to a container emptied by the Dean's Office personnel after some time. A similar solution is already in se at the Faculty of Electronics,  consider simplification of the on-line instructions for students. Besides, the Faculty authorities should order a project of architectonic adaptation of the Dean's Office building to the needs and abilities of disabled persons, or move the Dean's Office to a building adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities. Improvements made in the organization of work of the Faculty authorities and the secretariats of particular divisions would contribute to the increase in the number of persons with disabilities deciding to take up studying at the Technical University of Lodz, thus opening chances for them to gain the qualifications that would improve the quality of their future lives.

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References [1] Data from the Centre for Persons with Disabilities of the Technical University of Lodz (5. 11.2009). [2] Data from the Faculty of Organization and Management, Dean's Office (19. 11. 2009). [3] Report from the grant of the Science Association “Work Health and Safety and Ergonomics” of the Technical University of Lodz: "The disabled closer to us  the analysis and assessment of architecture adjustment of the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz to the needs of persons with disabilities", under supervision of dr inż. A. Polak-Sopińska, Lodz 2010. [4] Polak-Sopińska A., Kubiak M.: Guidelines for Adaptation of Architecture of the Faculty of Organization and Management at the Technical University of Lodz, Ensuring Accessibility to Students with Disabilities. [5] Polak-Sopińska A.: The Analysis of The Adjustment of the Website of the Faculty of Organization and Management of the Technical University of Lodz to the Needs of Persons with Disabilities.

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THE ANALISIS OF THE ADJUSTMENT OF THE WEBSITE OF THE FACULTY OF ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF LODZ TO THE NEEDS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES Aleksandra Polak-Sopińska

Introduction In current times, the Internet has become an integral part of lives of many people. It is an unlimited source of information and entertainment. It allows users to do shopping, execute financial transactions, contact authorities and national institutions and also with other people without the necessity to leave the house. Thanks to the use of the Internet in many areas of life, persons with disabilities have a great chance of functioning independently without constantly relying on other people’s help. Unfortunately, persons with motor impairment or vision diseases have little access to the Internet usage. The problem of Internet availability to the disabled is approached from two aspects: the case of eliminating barriers between a disabled person and a computer and as the issue of the appropriate project and design of a website and a web browser. The barrier between a disabled person and a computer can be easily eliminated today by applying a voice synthesizer, programs providing sounds, monitors and Braille printers, alternative indicating equipment, programs for speech recognition etc. Unfortunately, this does not address barriers between the disabled and the website itself. It can be color or black and white, rich in graphics and multimedia or simply contain textual content. Regardless of its appearance, it may be easily accessible for the disabled or, on the contrary, utterly unreadable. The kinds of difficulties in the Internet access to websites involve difficulties in reading the page content by software providing the sounds, navigation problems in the case of people with motor disabilities, problems with reasoning, in understanding, and remembering the content or their own location in the page structure and many others. The Internet standards play a key role in this matter, understood as specifications and recommendations of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the organization defining the standards for websites and Web Accessibility Initiative 71


(WAI) – and initiative of the W3C, aimed at among others providing the disabled the full and smooth access to Internet websites.[1] Despite the fact that the W3C recommendations regarding the availability of websites and web browsers have no legal power, the actions of the World Wide Web and the pressure from organizations dealing with the issue of disability led in some countries to passing new laws regulating on an official level the issues of facilities for the disabled in the access for some websites [1,2]. Section 508 is a classic example of such a case [17] – a policy of the United States Congress added in 1986 to Rehabilitation Act from 1973, then amended in 1998 with the intention to include new technologies. The act demands that every kind of information technology, financed by the Federal Government, be accessible to the disabled and that they could have full access to it like the healthy people. The act creates an opportunity for the disabled to take a legal action and claim compensation if they suffered damages caused by lack of access to information. The act is not based on the W3C requirements even though it is convergent with them in some points. The European Union legislation does not put the requirement on the member state of the EU to adjust Internet websites to the needs of persons with disabilities however the subject remains in the area of interest of the European Parliament. The European Union is currently leading a few programs whose aim is to establish the needs and legal perspectives within this scope [13]. The Polish also participate in these researches. Due to high inertness of EU organizations, major achievements in this area are collected by particular member states. The European Union countries with introduced legal regulation about the availability of the Internet websites to the disabled are among many others: the UK, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. Unfortunately, Poland is not on that list. Polish legislation is not doing very well when compared to world legislation. The declaration on the rights of the disabled does not refer explicitly to the problem of availability of Internet websites. However, the first changes are visible. The regulation of the Council of Ministers from 11th of October 2005 establishes the basic requirements of ICT systems used by public entities to the realization of public tasks. The attachment number 2 in point 5 explains specifically from which data format the public entities are obliged to use in creating and modifying of websites. These are: HTML 3.2., HTML 4.01 , XHTML 1.0, CSS (all formats according to W3C specification). Additionally, following the Declaration of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration from June 12, 2006, by 2010, public websites should provide access to all users. This means that websites should comply with the standards and guidelines regarding the availability of Internet websites as defined by W3C consortium. Since universities use the Internet as one way of communication with students, and these are public institutions, they should provide the availability of their websites for persons with disabilities. 72


Problems encountered online by the disabled users Technical problems World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) categorized the kinds of disabilities in terms of barriers that the disabled user encounters depending on the disability. The list of technical difficulties for the disabled users grouped in terms of their disability is presented below: The visual limitations Since Internet is a medium dominated by the visual message, persons with vision impairments encounter severe difficulties with access to information. According to various data, there are around 2 million blind or nearly blind persons and there are above 50 million in the USA. It is estimated that, on the world’s scale, the amount of blind or nearly blind people is about 160 million. Every five seconds, one adult person on the Earth loses his sight [15]. The forecast for the future years is even worse, by 2050 above, some 2 billions people above 65 years old might lose their eyesight [15]. The W3C divided people with vision impairment into three groups: the blind, people with poor vision, and people with problems in distinguishing colors. The blind people were defined as ones who totally and irreversibly lost the ability to see in both eyes. For them, the barriers are difficult to cope with are among others:  images without alternative description of their content in the form of textual file readable for text screen readers,  the drawings not being clear enough or structured well (graphs, charts),  the video with no optional textual format or an audio file,  imprecisely structured tables that when read by the text screen reader in a linear way are illogical,  the websites based on frames that don’t have a version without frames so are unreadable for text screen reader,  applications that are not possible to navigate by means of tabulator, the applications with empty boxes to fill in or lacking full description (e.g.: “write the text” instead of “write”, the word ‘name’),  the web browsers and programs that are not possible to navigate by means of the keyboard,  untypical documents formats that are unreadable or difficult to read for text screen readers. For people with vision impairments (e.g.: glaucoma, cataract, spot) the barriers that are difficult to cope with are:  the internet websites without a font range,  the websites with non-standard layout which are difficult to navigate when maximized due to the information being out of context on the page, 73




the internet websites with bad (too low) contrast between the text/graphics and the background,  text as an image, which becomes an obstacle in word wrapping at the time of maximizing the content of the page. Persons who have problems with distinguishing colors are defined as the ones who do not recognize any or some colors. For people with such problems, the barriers to cope with are, among others:  Using colors to highlight the meaning of text,  Not enough contrast between the text and the background,  The web browsers blocking the converting of the style of the website determined by its designer. Hearing limitations According to the W3C, hearing limitations can mean complete deafness or partial hearing impairment. For people with hearing limitations, the barriers that are difficult to cope with are:  lack of captions or transcriptions in audio files,  lack of graphics facilitating the understanding of displayed audiovisual content,  lack of marking regarding providing sound on the website. Physical limitation Persons with physical limitations were defined by the W3C as persons who have different motor dysfunctions, some restrictions in the capacity to control movement and muscles, problems with joints, no lower limbs etc. For people with physical limitations, the barriers that are difficult to cope with are, among many others:  web browsers and software, which do not support navigation by means of a keyboard,  applications that do not support navigation by means of tabs in a logical order,  options with a time limit. Cognitive and neurological limitations Persons with cognitive or neurological limitations were defined as those who have problems with the cognitive process, the ability to focus or they have limited intellectual abilities, memorizing skills, mental health problems, epilepsy, dyslexics and dyscalculia etc. Cognitive disorders occur in different forms and to a different degree and they may hinder the process of information usage. To make it easy for people to

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use websites, the following factors should be made sure: simple and clear language, clear structure of the website, the option to use a search engine and facilitations in the form of icons. When the use of animations is necessary (they make it hard to concentrate), the users should have a possibility to stop them. For people with these kinds of disabilities, the barriers that are difficult to cope with are, among others:  distractive audio or video elements (difficult to stop),  lack of techniques of alternative access to the page content (audio, video, text, subtitles in an audiovisual presentation of data or the content etc.),  lack of possibility to enlarge the text (the size of the fonts is the absolute value),  usage of audio or video frequency that cause the attack of epilepsy,  unnecessary usage of complex language,  lack of visualization on the website,  incoherent and unclear website structure. Multiple disabilities Multiple disabilities occur when one person is diagnosed with more than one disability, which lowers the flexibility of Internet usage with supporting technology. While a blind person is able to hear the content of the film and a deaf person will understand the video message thanks to the subtitles, someone who cannot both hear and see needs the transcripts of an image and the sound displayed on a Braille terminal. A similar problem occurs when a deaf person with some loss of eyesight is not able to read the subtitles in the audio file unless he can enlarge the text and set the contrast to his needs. It is worth noting that even fully healthy people can benefit from the principles of availability. Well-designed websites are user friendly, more readable and useful. Lack of clarity, readability and full information displayed on websites The website’s technical adjustment to user needs does not make it userfriendly and it does not guarantee that they would use it willingly. Most importantly, the website should be clear and the information displayed on it should be categorized from the most important, reached by everybody, to the least important. Web designers often forget that the usage of the website should be intuitive and provide quick access to the data we are interested in. On top of that, it is extremely important for public websites, including the universities to update them frequently. The website should be clear and contain updated information.

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The objective of the research In 2009, the students of the Students’ Academic Club “Safety, Work Hygiene and Ergonomics” operating at the Technical University together with their academic supervisor Aleksandra Polak-Sopinska undertook a realization of the research project entitled “The disabled closer to us – the analysis and the evaluation of the architectonic and organizational adjustment of the Organization and Management Faculty of the Technical University to the needs of the disabled”. The main objective of the project comprised of an analysis, evaluation and the guidelines for the adjustment of:  buildings and rooms of the Organization and Management Faculty  organization of work of the dean’s office and the offices of particular Faculties,  the internet website of the Faculty, to the needs of the disabled. The researches tried to include the possibilities and needs of students with different disabilities. Considering the limits of the work, it presents the results of the analysis of:  adjusting the visual message (technical adjustment) of the main Internet website of the above mentioned Faculty to the needs and possibilities of the disabled,  selected sections on the website of the Faculty in terms of clarity, readability and completeness of information as well as, the project of conceptual changes. The results of the remaining research were presented in the three other presentations [3, 4].

Methods applied in the research In order to carry out an analysis and evaluation of the adjustment of the visual message of the main Internet website of the Organization and Management Faculty www.oizet.p.lodz.pl (Fig.1) to the needs of people with disabilities the control list, designed previously by the authors of the research project, was used. The checklist was based on guidelines for designing the websites from the WCAG 2 standards, which can be checked by the user himself. The checklist was divided into four sections:  adjustment of fonts,  adjustment of text,  adjustment of colors.

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Every question on the checklist is a “yes”/”no” question. The negative answer meant that there are errors within the given area, which should be corrected. During the researches, the public web browsers were used among others Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla FireFox.

Fig. 1. The main page of the Organization and Management Faculty www.oizet.p.lodz.pl [16]

In order to analyze the selected sections on the website of the Faculty in terms of clarity, readability, and completeness of information several research methods were used among others: checklists, questionnaires, interviews, direct and participant observations. The choice of the particular method to the analysis of the particular section depended on its research objective. Due to a high number of sections on the page, the persons participating in the research were divided into 77


seven expert groups. The first group analyzed the sections “Certification”, “Year division”, the second group “Applications”, ”Tuition Fees”, the third one “Vice-Dean duties”, “Internships” and ”Postgraduate studies”. The fourth group analyzed “The Civil Defense Training” and “Scholarships”, wheras “Regulations”, “Students Organizations” and “ Students’ Academic Club” were analyzed by the fifth group. The sixth group analyzed “Plans”, “Insurances” and “Faculty student council”. The last, seventh, group analyzed “The Teaching standards”, “International students’ exchange”, “Certificates” and “ECTS programs”. In the article, there were presented a study results for chosen sections placed on the main website of the above mentioned Faculty.

The results of the research on the visual message adjustment of the main page of the Organization and Management Faculty to the needs of people with disabilities The analysis of the visual message adjustment to the main website of the Organization and Management Faculty to the needs of the persons with disabilities revealed in particular research areas the abnormalities mentioned below: Maladjustments of fonts: 1. Too small font size. The font used on the website is size 11px (Fig. 2) [10]. 2. The lack of possibility to change the font in some parts of the page. The buttons used to change the text size, change it about one point up on a scale and one point down on a scale in the centre of the page – in the news from the Dean and current affairs (Fig. 2). 3. The lack of possibility to change the kind of the font, which affects the readability of the page – it is not readable for everyone. 4. Using same font colors for headers and texts (Fig. 2). 5. Lack of audio scripts for the blind. 6. The size of the font in HTML is expressed in pt instead of px (Fig. 3). Maladjustment of the text: 1. Lack of spaces between the words (Fig. 4). 2. The text not readable enough (Fig. 4).

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2

4

1

Fig. 2. The code of the website of Organization and Management Faculty [16]

6

Fig. 3. The code of the website of Organization and Management Faculty [16]

Maladjustment of colors (background and letters): 1. The lack of possibility to change the contrast. 2. Inappropriate contrast between the font color and the background (Fig. 5). On the analyzed websites, the places with inappropriate contrast were marked. They were indicated by the “WCAG contrast checker” program version 1.1.02, which tests the internet website against the WCAG standards by means of the Mozilla FireFox browser [11]. 3. Using the background with the design that makes it difficult to read the information (Fig. 5) [14].

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1

2

Fig. 4. Examples of the maladjustment of texts on the Internet website of the Organization and Management Faculty to the needs of the disabled [16]

2 3

Fig. 5. Examples of the maladjustment to of the colors used on the website of the Organization and Management Faculty to the needs of the disabled [16]

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Maladjustment of the structure of the website: 1. Some textual elements that are on the website have the graphic form (Fig. 6). It causes that they are difficult to read by means of the Braille’s terminal or a program providing sound. 2. The images used on the website do not have an “alt” marker (Fig. 6), which makes it difficult to read by means of the Braille’s terminal or a program providing sound.

2

1

Fig. 6. Examples of the maladjustments of the structure of the website of the Organization and Management Faculty for the disabled [16]

3.

Not all shortcut keys ascribed to the website function properly, for example:  Alt + p – redirecting to the “newsletter”. The shortcut is ascribed in the incorrect place. Instead of directing to the newsletter, it directs to the “search”,  Alt + s ‒ redirecting to “search”. The shortcut doesn’t work. 81


4. 5.

6. 7. 8. 9.

Lack of possibility to use key shortcuts in the case of using the Mozilla Firefox web browser. Not all elements on the website are determined by the external CSS style – some elements are developed in HTML code, for example the font size of the text “Christmas Eve” [9]. Lack of stresses under some links [8]. There are too many links on the website – over 40 (Fig. 7) [7]. Lack of a possibility to maximize some parts of the website of the Organization and Management Faculty. Same references placed on the website do not work properly (Fig. 8).

6, 7

Fig. 7. Too many links on the main website of the Organization and Management Faculty

9 Fig. 8. An example of an invalid reference on the main website of the Organization and Management Faculty [16]

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Suggestions of improvements for the visual message adjustment of the main page of the Organization and Management Faculty to the needs of persons with disabilities In order to adjust the visual message of the main page of the Organization and Management Faculty to the needs of the disabled the following changes should be implemented: 1. Use the font size in the range from 13 to 16 px. 2. Use the new control panel to change the size and the kind of the font. A sample solution is illustrated in Fig. 9.

Fig. 9. A sample control panel to change the size and the kind of the font [17]

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Unify the font colors used in headers and in the texts. Use audio scripts for the blind. Express the font size in HTML in px only. Use spaces between the lines. In places with a lot of text to read, use larger line spacing than “single”. Use the appropriate spacing between the characters thanks to using non-serif font like Veranda or Helvetica. Add a button enabling a change of contrast. A sample solution is illustrated in Fig. 10.

Fig. 10. A sample button for changing a contrast on the page [19]

9. Use the contrast between the font color and the background at least 7:1 [12]. 10. To replace the design backgrounds with plain backgrounds with no design, patterns or shade in them in places where the text occurs. 11. The text displayed on the website should have a form of a standard text. If it is necessary to use the text as graphics, it should be places as an image with an additional alt marker ‒ it shouldn’t be a part of the background of the 83


page as it is in this case. The images should be placed in the following HTML marker: „”. 12. The “accesskey” shortcuts function accurately. Increase the amount of these shortcuts ascribing them to the most important sections of the website, for example, by adding alt + 2 assigned to “current news”. 13. Eliminate the definitions from the HTML code and transfer them to the external CSS style. 14. Reduce the number of links on the website to the minimum, choose the most important ones which would be responsible for the navigation on the website. The links redirecting to the same place should be limited to one. 15. Add a button enabling to maximize a part of a website. A sample solution is illustrated in Fig.11.

Fig. 11. A sample button to maximize the part of the text on the Internet website [18]

16. Check if the references function correctly on the website.

The result of the analysis of the selected sections on the website of the Faculty in terms of clarity, readability and completeness of information Due to the limited volume of work in question, the results of studies of sections were presented as it follows: “Dissertation”, “Applications”, “Vice-dean office hours” and “Regulations”. The results were discussed more thoroughly in the grant report of the Students’ Academic Club Safety, Hygiene of Work and Ergonomics at the Technical University in Lodz entitled “The disabled closer to us – the analysis and evaluation of the adjustment of the architectonic and organizational of the Organization and Management Faculty of the Technical University in Lodz to the needs of the disabled” – supervised by Dr. A. PolakSopinska, Lodz, 2010. The objective of the “Certification” section (Fig. 12) was to check whether all information expected by the students regarding certification can be found on the website http://www.oizet.pl/studenci/dyplomowanie/ and if it is clear enough. Firstly, the students’ expectations were formed, and then the checklist was created basing on them, which was distributed to fill in to twenty students. After the analysis of the given section, they had to answer the questions in the list. The studies revealed that the respondents had a problem with finding the information when they should hand in the card containing their choice of the subject of their dissertation and to whom. The 90% of the surveyed admitted

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unanimously that such information occurs in the regulations however, half of them failed to understand it. The explanation on what conditions a student should meet to be approved to the thesis dissertation exam were not clears enough for the students. The students did not find the answer to the question on how the date of the exam is set. Additionally, the students noted the page lacks information about the time duration of the exam. According to 70% of the respondents, the information about where to collect the diploma was imprecise. The website only includes information: “the documents regarding a graduate may be delivered to the graduate in person or on his application to the authorized person on his behalf in person”.

Fig. 12. The “Certification” section [16]

The “Applications” section was another analyzed section (Fig. 13). It was subjected to the analysis in order to evaluate the convenience of using the portal, readability of the content, clarity, credibility of information and if the links are valid. Different types of files and their volumes were researched and the contact data were also verified. As the researches show, the section was placed in the clear and understandable way because only the first year students had problems to find it, which may be easily justified.

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The results of the study showed that the applications regarding the change of the faculties have blue background when printed off. No information was found on how and to whom the given application should be delivered. The other encountered problems were the lack of alternative formats supported by other programs and lack of information about the size of a downloaded file.

Fig. 13. The “Applications” section [16]

The objective of the analysis of the section “Vice-dean office hours” (Fig. 14) was to determine whether the information is complete and if it is easy to find among the other sections. Additionally, the aesthetic of the section was assessed. All respondents had no problems in finding the section, which showed what days and hours the vice-deans are on duty. However, there is no information about the number of the room.

Fig. 14. “Vice dean office hours” section [16]

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The objective of the analysis of the “Regulations” section was to check the availability and the understanding in particular the information in it. Fig. 15 shows how this section with a part of the regulations can be found.

Fig. 15. “Regulations” section [16]

On the basis of the studies, it was concluded that the section is not properly placed. Locating the document in the “Students” section is not adequate to its purpose. “The Regulations” document refers to both the students and the staff, which is discussed in the introduction to the first researched act. Moreover, it can be searched by potential students because it contains important information about the organization and the process of the educational path. As it is shown on the picture, the regulations lack in the descriptions of chapters, which hinders quick access to needed information. The imprecise name of the section is also another problem. It is not clear what the regulations entail. As it turned out, it is not possible to find the regulations by means of search.

Summary Thanks to the carried out research, the visual adjustment of the main website of the Organization and Management Faculty of the Technical University in Lodz to the needs of the disabled was identified. Sample improvements were suggested and their implementation may improve the availability of the analyzed Faculty of

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Technical University for the disabled and through this the number of the disabled students at the University may increase. Additionally, the errors in selected sections on the website of the Faculty were indicated.

References [1] [2] [3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]

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Krzciuk B.: Web sites User-friendly for People with Disabilities – Web standards in, Warsaw (2006). Krzciuk B., Miarka.: Ergonomics of Web browser Graphic User Interface, Warsaw (2007). Polak-Sopińska A., Kubiak M.: Analiza dostosowania architektury Wydziału Organizacji i Zarządzania Politechniki Łódzkiej do potrzeb studentów niepełnosprawnych. Polak-Sopińska A., Rogalska A.: Analiza i ocena dostosowania Wydziału Organizacji i Zarządzania Politechniki Łódzkiej pod względem organizacyjnym do potrzeb studentów niepełnosprawnych. Polak-Sopińska A., Wiśniewski Z.: The Analysis and Assessment of Adjustment of Selected Websites and Web Browsers to the Needs of People with Disabilities. C. Stephanidis (ed.): Universal Access in HCI, Part III, HCII 2009, LNCS 5616, pp. 768-777. Report from Academic Students’ Club Safety, Hygiene of Work and Ergonomics operating by the Technical University „Niepełnosprawni bliżej nas – analiza i ocena dostosowania architektonicznego i organizacyjnego Wydziału Organizacji i Zarządzania Politechniki Łódzkiej do potrzeb osób niepełnosprawnych” – supervised by A. PolakSopińska (Phd), Lodz, 2010. Beyond ALT Text: Making the Web Easy to Use for Users with Disabilities. Nielsen Norman Group – October 2001, p. 67. Beyond ALT Text: Making the Web Easy to Use for Users with Disabilities. Nielsen Norman Group – October 2001, p. 73. Dive into Accessibility: 30 days to a more accessible web site. The Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d). Electronic and Information Technology WCAG contrast checker 1.1.02. version Web Design, An Empiricit’s Guide by Mary Evans. http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/accessibility/index_en.htm, dostęp 13.12.2009. www.kentype.pl/, dostęp 13.12.2009. www.niepelnosprawni.pl access, 13.12.2009. www.oizet.p.lodz.pl access, 13.12.2009. www.section508.gov dostęp, 13.12.2009. www.widzialni.eu, access 13.12.2009. www.zielona-gora.po.gov.pl, access 13.12.2009.

E-CONTENT SOFTWARE OPTIMIZATION FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE Andrzej Romanowski

Introduction Visual impairment is a problem that has influence on hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. They all want to live like ordinary people - have a personal career, meet new friends, have fun. They also want to use the Internet for all these purposes. Moreover, Internet is a synonym for opportunity and promise for a better, normal life for these people. Using modern information technologies, it should be possible to easy cope with many tasks unavailable or barely accessible (because of being disabled) instead. Therefore it is also a promise to get these people involved in the mainstream of economy, enabling normal education, individual development and grant ordinary life. Unfortunately, this is not really possible because of many barriers present in nowadays world wide web. These barriers make using the Internet harder, and sometimes even impossible – this apply not only to private and commercial websites, but to public services, either. One major activity, which cause problems, is using the computer and browsing through the Internet in general. However, their problems are of various nature, since there are many kinds of visual impairment. Using dedicated software tools, they are able to use the Internet to some extent. Nevertheless, a huge part of web resources is inaccessible for them. The main reason is that many web pages are created in a manner to preclude these specialized software to browse through the content. The improper way of developing web sites makes it inaccessible for a computer program and this means that a given website practically does not exist for a visually disabled Since there is not much one can do more within the topic of the specialized screen reading software, there is a room to make websites better developed, in order to be readable by the software, and in consequence, accessible to the impaired. The best solution is to design an universal electronic content validator, 89


which could be able to classify examined web sites, services, and applications with respect to visual impairment accessibility, with accordance to an extensive set of rules governing the process of validation. The rules, which are the clue of this application, are output of the research, both theoretical, and practical. The main difficulties lie within two issues. First is to understand and properly define the visual disability, and second is to state proper criteria for a computer to automatically analyze all the imponderables connected with different level of blindness, geometrical distortion and color recognition disruption. The developed application was initially started as a student Problem Based Learning (PBL) project (Fratczak et. al, 2008), and has been under persistent development since then.

Understanding visual impairment Since the topic of optimizing the Internet pages for the visually impaired has high social importance, it is important to properly describe and classify the base of it, as well. What does the visual impairment mean? Yet partial loss of vision influences, in negative way, every part of a person’s life (West, et. al, 2002). Then, this person has to adapt to new conditions of life, which may seem to him like a battle lost at the very beginning of the war. On the other hand, visually disabled people seem to cope with this astonishingly well (Varma et. al, 2006). The approach for the design of e-content validator, was to conduct thorough research on vision disabilities. Both general classification of eye diseases and applicable law regulations was studied. Additionally, causes of different types of visual impairment were analyzed. Various eye conditions have different impact on the person’s vision (Freeman et. al, 2010). All of the study was necessary to design the rules to be followed by the proper web content presentation to be legible for a visually impaired person. Most of people don’t bother about specific issues associated with visual disability. The main perception of it is the image of blind person walking with a white stick and 100% darkened glasses. In fact, there is a variety of eye diseases and a number of visual disorders levels. Therefore, a short information about basic issues, like: visual acuity, side vision, visual impairment, disability and blindness terms, is given below. Basic definitions related to the subject gives information about the so-called ‘visual acuity’, as an ability to see objects undoubtedly and it is described with use of an eye chart, which is two-column table (Bailey and Lovie, 1976). The first column contains distance in meters between an examined person and an object, from which the person sees the object clearly. The second column gives distance in meters for a healthy person. An example of this table is depicted at (Table 1).

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Table 1. Eye chart Examined person

Healthy person 8m 5m …

15 m 10 m …

The records in the chart indicate the visual acuity of the first object is 8/15, for the second is 5/10,f and so on. Next important concept is a side vision. Usually human eye is able to see objects over a wide-angle area covering about 140 degrees. If this ability is disrupted, person may experience problems with objects recognition appearing from sides. A person may be categorized as visually impaired when neither of the eyes can see better than 6/9 without correction from eyeglasses or contact lenses, or has severely limited side vision, abnormal color vision, double vision and/or loss of vision in one eye. Another term to be defined is the visual disability, which means, inability to perform certain tasks, as an effect of their visual impairment. Range of disability is wide, e.g. wearing any glasses disqualify candidates for pilots or professional divers, and severe loss of vision exclude from even simple office work, but both of them would be considered disabled, however of different level ex-pressed in percents. Next, some fixed level of visual impairment is called a legal blindness (often confused with total blindness). Legal blindness is defined when best corrected central visual acuity in better eye is 6/60 or worse, or the side vision is 20 degrees or less in better eye. World Health Organization (WHO, 2006-2010) provides statistical data concerning main causes of visual impairments, in terms of eye diseases, however, the most important, from the project point of view, in authors’ opinion, are the following four: cataract (shortly: clouding of the eye’s lens), glaucoma (group of eye diseases based on progressive damage to the optic nerve, often defects or reduces vision field angle), age-related macular degeneration (AMD – disruption of central field of vision) and diabetic retinopathy (from blurred vision parts to blood leakage leading to even blindness). One of the most neglected problems is color perceivability issues. Most of people are aware of color blindness, but there are other types of color diseases, as well. In great simplification, human eye perceives three colors, namely red, green and blue, and on the basis of those color mixing, re-cords color impressions. Defect, deficiency of or complete lack of one of those color photosensitive receptors (or pigments) may lead to color dichromacy. What can be surprising, about 7% of male population has some form of inherited red-green color deficiencies, while women have usually only mild deficiency. Color blindness or deficiency, can be also a result of a disease. Monochromatism is rather rare example manifesting in grayscale perception of reality. Most common problems are with distinguishing between reds and greens (deuteranomaly), less common are blues and greens (protanomaly). The color distinguishing issue is important, since from many years, colors became additional, and sometimes even independent 91


conveyor of information. Unaware use of particular colors may lead to problems with website navigation, software interface use problems, or eventually illegibility. Generally, term visual impairment is applicable to people, who do not have normal vision ability, however the project is focused on more severe vision problems than such that could be solved with glasses or contact lenses.

Problem research This section will give the overview on end users needs – in terms of applications they would usually use, barriers, that obstruct unconstrained use of these services and existing tools developed to help to overcome such barriers. Some previous work related to visual impairment problems with computers and Internet using is described at the end of this section. Requirements and Leeds In order to conduct proper research over the visually impaired people problems with Internet use, several types of actions were taken. Primary source of information is usually the Internet itself, however this case it is obviously not sufficient, firstly, because some of the people that would share valuable information may be somehow e-excluded from the web, and secondly, since the under-standing of the specific problems of the investigated social group is so important, a direct contact with these problems can be an asset. Besides discussions with representatives of nongovernmental organizations for blind people, it turned out, the most important was contact with students of the special school for visually disabled youngsters. The general result derived from direct research was that services used by these people are the same as normal, healthy people would use, e.g. emails, browsing web for information, instant messaging, e-chat, P2P networking, social networking, multimedia projects (especially music services), presentations, creating their own web pages, etc. Probably, as they would grow up, also use of public services (such as tax declarations, e-banking, etc.) important for self-reliant adults would be their requirement. Nevertheless, is was concluded that most of the applications are web pages, or others using some graphical user interface (GUI), including web applications, as well. Barriers Researchers working on the subject, counted nearly 600 barriers identified by visually impaired people trying to use Internet (Yu, et. al, 2006). These can be classify into different categories, including different types influence on Internet use trouble making (Kuber et. al, 2007). The most annoying and difficult to cope with are the following:

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

CAPTCHA images (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart),  Flash multimedia content,  web forms,  generally: other images,  eventually the overall complexity of web applications structure and implementation. CAPTCHA images are automatically generated, distorted text images, applied as security token for submission of web registration, in order to perform a challenge-response test to determine, if the answer is not generated automatically by a machine. This sort of tests are applied in order to prevent Internet-bots, or denial-of-services attacks, actions consisting in massive web form submissions intended for normal, human users. Usually, some content, including personal data are protected this way, and if the test is failed, some of the content is not available. This can be of fatal consequences to visually impaired, since most of email box, social networking, etc services registration is secured this way, so inability to use such services is a huge problem and can be addition-ally very frustrating. For visually impaired, such a distorted image is usually illegible, the only solution is equivalent ‘audio-captcha’ test. In fact any images are problematic for impaired people. The solution is to use alternative text, that would describe the content, meaning and eventually navigation purpose of the displayed image. This can be realized by providing special text attribute to the image (readable for special software and normally not visible while usual use of the web page) and by appropriate, context related naming systems for image files embedment. Unfortunately, most of web designers and programmers do not use these simple features. Flash technology for multimedia presentation is a proprietary, closed technology of Adobe company. This technology is extensively used for web pages implementation itself, or its elements, like intros, banners, navigation bars, etc. It may be associated with subtle text or graphical element (invisible for impaired person) crucial for navigation. There are developed some techniques to cope with this accessibility problems, but Flash designers and programmers are generally not yet aware about it, and moreover how to utilize it. Another troublesome elements are web forms. Impaired people point out poor labeling and problems with navigation through forms, especial combo boxes are difficult to cope with. Yet, extensive employment of additional technologies like RIA (rich internet application), AJAX (asynchronous JavaScript and XML based applications), etc. makes the created e-content not friendly to visually impaired at all. The same problem arises for very complex interface structure, for example of web mailbox systems, where extensive use of mouse is a must, and no keyboard alternative is available, excludes these systems from visually impaired reach, either.

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Available, helpful tools Impaired people use some existing tools, to help in their everyday life in the computer and Internet activities. These tools are usually computer programs, standalone, or shipped with the operating system package. Apple’s Mac OS X operating system have built-in accessibility features, like speech synthesizer (text reader), also Microsoft Windows systems have some features, like magnification, and so on. These tools makes easier the workstation employment, but does not solve problems with Internet extensive use. A little bit more helpful are standalone applications, for ex-ample JAWS (Job Access With Speech) and Supernova programs, to name the most popular. JAWS is a popular screen reader, used for programs, and web browsers – it basically reads aloud the content of the PC screen, which is the only opportunity of computer use for blind people. Supernova, offers a bit more, which is magnification, speech and Braille support, gives support for different level of visual impairment people. Concluding, one may say, the available software does good job for visually impaired people helping them access electronic content. However, the problem is that this kind of software do not overcome issues with poorly designed, implemented and presented content, e.g. even if it reads the screen, there might not be much valuable information because of not described images, web page structure complexity, flash navigation, etc. The other, but minor issue, is the screen readers usually work sequentially, e.g. reading text effectiveness is again strongly dependent on the web page structure itself. Existing solutions, and similar/Related projects There is a number of developed and ongoing projects, conducted around the world, aiming at somewhat contribution to the help for visually impaired people. Just to mention a few, to some ex-tent representative ones, there is interesting work on this topic in Europe, Americas, Australia... Firstly, projects concerned rather developing tools helping to use PC, and later the focus was on the Internet, as well. Colombian University conducted a successful project on ‘digital alphabetization’, in which a number of actions and trainings towards even blind people were taken. This project proved the visually impaired could use PC and Internet, and speech synthesizers (JAWS soft-ware) and Braille output hardware turned out to be helpful. Brazilian DOSVOX started in 1993, as low cost project became a way to change life of thousands of Brazilians and beyond in Latin America. This was developed as a package, including first Portuguese speech synthesizer, email and newspaper reader, document exchange between users client. First serious European was EXLIB: EXpansion of European LIBrary Systems for the Visually Disadvantaged project started in 1993, as well, and then followed by TESTLAB. These both investigated possible development of technology in the areas of user needs, service provision, materials, formats, and

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storage, while especially TESTLAB goal was to provide information access via local library in individually-suitable format, regardless of point of access. British REVIEL (REsources for Visually Impaired users of the Electronic Library) target was to develop national, e-accessible, virtually networked e-library. The most interesting project, in author’s opinion, was the ‘Developing Multi-modal Interfaces for Visually Impaired People to Access the Internet’ conducted at the Queen’s University of Belfast Northern Ireland (Yu, et. al, 2006). It reveals a complex approach both to accessing virtual space, and to deriving concrete conclusions as tips for future improvement of e-content accessibility. Dedicated haptics system (employing sense of touch for user interface) was developed, and some guides for sound employment in navigation for impaired were pointed. The other interesting conclusion from their research is that it is necessary to distinguish type of impaired user, who is of the particular interest when designing tools, and deriving conclusions about the targeted group of impaired users. The differentiation should be of two-fold; firstly, the visual impairment level criterion is to be considered, but secondly, information technology literacy, or internetusage-experience has to be taken into account. It is worth to emphasize, that this later rule is often forgot-ten in development of impaired-dedicated tools. At last, it is also necessary to point out maybe the most important initiative: Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) driven by The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which is the primary international community, aiming at establishing high web standards and make use of the full Internet potential. This initiative published the so-called WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards, which are theoretical guidelines to follow when preparing e-content for web publication to be accessible by disabled people. The latest version is 2.0 standards from 2008. This is a set of technical rules and soft recommendations comprising probably the most wide aspects of accessibility. However, when compared to other project research conclusions, and results of direct research, discussions with visually impaired people, WCAG seems to be, in some range, out of scope. This means, that it is easy to find a lot of barriers which are not covered by the WCAG recommendations, and on the other hand, some of those included might not be so challenging to impaired people. Nevertheless, WCAG propose a classification of barriers, which is an important idea in order to better manage all the aspects of econtent presentation. Therefore, the best solution is probably, to decide about the WCAG implementation scope in the proposed tool, maybe add some more, not included rules derived from research, and experimentally test, improve, test, and so on, the pro-posed implementation. Hence, to summarize, on the base of the problem understanding and related work study, the form of web page validator development seems to be the right choice in order to fight with the visually impaired people problems with Internet resources accessibility.

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Proposed solution requirements As the main idea of the solution to be a form of content validator was stated, more detailed requirements for the software need to be assumed, as well. These can be categorized into very general and more specific. The first group of constraints is the following:  validator should work with ordinary HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and more complex, XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language) documents,  the document processing procedure consists in parsing the pages according to tags,  document processing proceeds according to a set of defined rules, which are the essence of the application,  the output information for the user, is presented in a clear form, indicating the significance level of detected problem,  web site editing within the application should be possible. The other constraints are more specific requirements associated with particular issues, which make an electronic document accessible to visually impaired. The knowledge necessary to construct these detailed specification was collected during the research phase, from the above mentioned projects, including WCAG guidelines, but also a plan was to get in contact with the a number of nongovernmental organizations working every day to help blind people. However, surprisingly, there was almost no response, to the emails with project description and advice request, from such organizations. On the other hand, careful study of their web pages resulted in some conclusions about how the “visually-impaired-friendly-websites” may be constructed and look like. Additional assumption taken for this software development was to pre-pare a portable, platform independent stand alone application. Therefore, Java programming technology (and Java Virtual Machine obviously) was chosen, and Netbeans package as an IDE (Integrated Development Environment). The presented application is a prototype one, so probably a different choice would be decided now, for further development, e.g. to prepare a web service app.

Results The realized application is a standalone computer program, that can be successfully run independent on the operating system platform. The tests were performed on MS Windows, Mac OS X and Linux systems. The system implements the majority of the most important identified accessibility problems in form of 3 levels of accessibility rules. Fig. 1 reveals main application window.

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Fig. 1. Main application window

Upper part of the window contains drop down menus, and a toolbar. Left part of the toolbar give shorthand for most common actions, central part of toolbar has buttons for document editing operations and the most important tool, e.g. “Validate” button. After a page is loaded, and then Validation completed, then, on the right hand side an indicator of the output information shows the percentage of compliance to the rules, and a status bar of different colors display the visual indication. Central part of the application window contains websites code situated at separate tabs for different pages. Lower part of the window shows three tabs for detected errors, warnings and mistake improvement tips. Program can process common file formats that may contain code (including .htm, .html, .txt, .css).

Results Discussion and Further Work Presented application a prototype version, but both, user-friendly GUI, and a simple process of validation was achieved. Application is fully functional, and enables to do both local tests (for pages’ code located at the lo-cal hard drive) and remotely (downloading websites from the Internet). System allows easier and more effective performance versus commercial accessibility audits (realized in substantial part by manual website checking using screen readers). The idea to categorize detected accessibility problems into errors and warnings gives proper information of more and less important code mistakes. Proposed feature of

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suggesting tips for code improvement is also very helpful, since it gives a fast solution to most of troublesome code snip-pets. This standalone version gives chance to make extensive test in order to further develop implemented algorithms. Especially, another method for displaying output results may need consideration. Another consideration is about adding more rules to application engine. The most obvious direction for application development is to prepare a fully functional, powerful web service application and share this tool to the world. Described prototype was presented at two innovation shows in Brussels, Belgium, and at Zagreb, Croatia, and was awarded there. At the World Exhibition on Innovation Research and New Technologies Innova, it was given a Silver Eureka Medal, and another silver medal was awarded at International Fair of Innovations, New ideas, Products and Technologies ARCA.

Conclusions As the output, the system gives visual and percentage rules compatibility status and detailed information divided into errors, warnings and hints including description of each of the targeted problems. Firstly it is automatic, secondly it allows self-reliant, independent analysis without need of sharing the e-service with third parties. Testing can be done on-your-own, many times, after each update and improvement – continuously during the building of the website. Presented system gives the ability for designing the more user friendly e-services, eventually accessible for a wide range of visually impaired people. Additionally, system is following the European Union Riga Ministerial Declaration (2007) and European i2010 initiative on e-Inclusion in eAccessibility field.

References [1] [2] [3] [4]

[5]

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Bailey I.L., Lovie J.E.: New design principles for visual acuity letter charts. Am J Optom Physiol Opt; 53, 1976, pp. 740-5. Frątczak Z., Karpiński M., Kotecki W., Maestre J., Piętek J., Romanowski A.: Website Optimization Tool For People With Visual Impairment, PBL Report, 2008, 63p. Freeman K.F., Cole R.G., Faye E.E., Freeman P.B., Goodrich G.L., Stelmack J.A.: Care of the Patient with Visual Impairment, in Healthy People 2010 series, 2010, 95 p. Kuber R., Yu W. & McAllister G.: A Non-Visual Approach to Improving Collaboration between Blind and Sighted Internet Users. Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction, Applications and Services (LNCS series), 2007, pp. 913-922. Murphy E., Kuber R., McAllister G., Strain P. and Yu W.: An Empirical Investigation into the Difficulties Experienced by Visually Impaired Internet Users, Journal of Universal Access in the Information Society, 7(1), 2008, pp. 79-91.


[6] [7] [8] [9]

Varma R., Wu J., Chong K.: Impact of severity and bilaterality of visual impairment on health-related quality of life, Opthtlamology; 113, 2006, pp. 1846-53. West S.K., Rubin G.S., Broma A.T.: How does visual impairment affect performance on tasks of everyday life? Arch Ophthalmol; 120, 2002, pp. 774-80. WHO, World Health Organization fact-sheet report.[online], 2006. Yu W., Kuber R., Murphy E., Strain P., McAllister G.: A novel multimodal interface for improving visually impaired people’s web accessibility, Virtual Reality Vol. 9, 2-3, 2006, pp. 133-148.

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NEW EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES Dominik Sankowski Anna Bąkała Włodzimierz Mosorow

Introduction According to the estimates of the census conducted in 2002 there were as many as over 5,5 million persons with disabilities in Poland (14,3% of the whole Polish population). This was the last full research survey into the number of the disabled in Poland. As the Central Statistical Office reports (results from the quarterly representative Labour Force Survey (LFS)), the number of disabled citizens has been decreasing progressively since then only to reach over 3,5 million people in 2009. This means that 11,1% of the population aged 15 and above have disability certificates. Importantly, the decrease in the number does not indicate that there are fewer people with disabilities in the Polish society but rather that the certificate is harder to obtain. The people with disabilities usually live on disability insurance benefits due to their inability to work, retirement benefits (or pensions) and, far less frequently, on wages (earnings from hired labour included), with male workers heavily outnumbering their female counterparts. Although employment in sheltered workshops still remains the most common practice in Poland, disabled individuals are increasingly employed on the open labour market as well. Each form of disability may entail the following:  physical limitations of: motor skills, sight, hearing, underdeveloped brain functions,  social limitations: concern members of the underclass,  psychology-related limitations: connected with poor self-esteem and motivation. One of the elements which largely contributes to the better functioning of the disabled within society is education. It offers better job prospects and independence. Notwithstanding the steadily growing number of disabled university students, people with disabilities are still worse educated compared with the rest of the society. Although there has been a gradual increase in the number of the disabled 100


workers with at least secondary-education background in recent years (up to 32,1% in 2009) and there are more and more disabled university students (this applies especially to blind and partially sighted persons), the percentage of productive-age citizens dropped only last year from 33,4% to 32,8%. In 2009, disabled workers with higher education constituted merely 5,9%, with the total of 18% for the rest of the population. By comparison, 30,4 % of the disabled had basic vocational education (amongst the people of productive age the figure was at 39,8%) [15]. The disabled find it hard to enter and complete their higher, secondary and even primary education. Poor or no formal education puts any disabled person at a disadvantage in terms of career prospects and a dignified life-style. This problem was highlighted in the UN Resolution: Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. Issued in 1993, the document currently serves as a standard international act providing policy guidelines for the member states of the United Nations in the area of disability. Under the first rule ‘Countries should take action to raise social awareness of the rights, needs and the potential of the persons with disabilities and the contribution disabled people can make to society.’ The document introduces the term ‘equalization of opportunities’ to refer to the process which makes different systems and institutions within society and the environment (e.g. services, information and documentation) freely accessible to everyone, and especially to the persons with disabilities. Equalization of opportunities is directly and particularly applicable to education. Our post-industrial society is also the society of knowledge. Basic trends in economic development in many countries worldwide are governed by knowledge-based economy [5]. This term is understood as the economy directly based on the production, dissemination and use of knowledge and information. Knowledge-based economy relies on knowledge, creativity and technology in developing products and services, with education and training as its primary foundation stones. Education and qualifications are the tools for creating, spreading and using knowledge. Funds for education and training substantially boost the economy. Hence, in the light of equalization of opportunities, access to higher learning by persons with disabilities seems absolutely essential. The key to this is innovation and the use of information technology. The latter stands for a system of means (computers, computer networks) and tools (computer software included) as well as other technologies (e.g. communication technologies) which help to manage information in miscellaneous ways. A more extensive use of information technology facilities may ensure full and active participation of disabled people in the development of information society.

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Computers for persons with disabilities Computerisation of schools, particularly special schools, provides disabled learners with new opportunities for self-development and the teachers with a powerful teaching aid. It is of considerable benefit to students with special educational needs. Physical disability may be accompanied by other dysfunctions, e.g.: perceptual disorders, diminished length of attention span, psycho-motor agitation, poor motor coordination. The special needs of disabled students require special tools based on cutting-edge technologies, facilitate the learning process by employing multimedia and assistive software [16]. In special education, a computer proves especially useful in so far as:  improving communication skills in the case of speech impediment; access to information; provision of aids for writing and drawing to learners with mobility disorders,  correction of speech defects, dyslexia and dysgraphia,  improving manual dexterity, visual-motor coordination; the development of visual-perceptual skills and the attention span. Additionally, a computer is a unique medium integrating disabled persons with the rest of society, mainly because the person’s physical condition is not a prerequisite for its use. Apart from the important role it performs in education and rehabilitation of people with different dysfunctions, the computer may also serve as [18]:  a tool of trade,  a communication tool,  a tool for self-study to derive individual satisfaction,  a source of information,  a form of entertainment.

Computers used for educational purposes in tutoring blind and partially sighted people Recent computer technologies focus specifically on sensory disabled people – the blind and the vision impaired. They supply the users with text-to-speech conversion options and text-to-Braille translation systems. Special screen and keyboard reading software allows individuals who are totally blind to use the computer and thus learn. This has a significant and positive effect on communication with the external world, especially in terms of text information, which used to be the major obstacle to the acquisition of knowledge in the past [17]. The most important advances in the field include: speech synthesizers, Braille screens, programs with special Braille keyboards, electronic Braille notetakers with voice output devices and printers. Rehabilitation of blind and 102


vision impaired individuals who wish to use their computers and the Internet actively has been greatly assisted by screen readers supported by speech synthesizers. The most common assistive solutions include:  onVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) which is a free and open source software providing sound to the Microsoft Windows operating system,  Speak To Me – a very simple speech synthesizer for the Mac system (Freeware),  Ivona – a text reader that can easily convert a text from virtually any source, be it a system notepad, the Google Chrome search engine, or even Microsoft Excel,  Free Natural Reader – a free of charge text reader which can read from any selected program. For many people with disabilities work with a computer is the only way of gaining knowledge. In the early stages of primary school period it may encompass more aspects by offering e.g. [16]:  a sense of fuller ability – a child discovers that the use of mouse and other software devices produces an effect on the computer screen,  the visual-motor and auditory-motor coordination practice,  the development of graphomotor skills – by doing exercises to develop finemotor skills a child gets ready for handwriting,  mathematical games – drawing on his/her background knowledge of terms and activities, a child learns how to count and discovers the concepts of: ‘small’, ‘’big’, ‘little’, ‘much’, etc.,  a stimulus to thought processes – a child develops visual-perceptual skills and elimination techniques, whereas short and simple stories teach the child logical thinking. Again, productive-age persons with disabilities usually suffer from reduced effort tolerance, which has an immediate effect on the working time standards. To some extent, teleworking proves to be the solution, as it ensures rest breaks to suit individual needs. In spite of completing their education, a lot of young disabled people will be ineligible to take up work in a conventional work environment. Nonetheless, the use of a computer is bound to raise their standard of living by, e.g. helping them do casual clerical work. It must be emphasized, though, that teleworking is not an ultimate solution, because it shuts the disabled off from full social integration which is all about being with other people. This does not disparage the Internet, for every so often it is the only window on the world, a valuable source of: information, exploration of new interests, communication with other internauts, as well as entertainment. Moreover, any form of professional activity is beneficial as it aids fuller participation in a social context. Persons with disabilities are particularly sensitive to social exclusion, but by doing professional work they are perceived as fully abled by society, which largely contributes to the overriding aim of rehabilitation, i.e. social integration.

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Distance learning in the education of people with disabilities Recent developments, especially in Internet technologies, have ushered in a new era of learning which is bound to redefine our concepts of education and its setting. Due to cutting-edge technologies the whole educational process, produced and delivered by different institutions, has evolved. Trends in modern education constitute the integral part of those changes which are generally present in information society. Although it is the technology that forms the core of distance learning, ideally, the approach should be more student-centred. This is particularly true of disabled learners. Their age, social and socio-economic context and interests are as important as their experience and level of education. Results from 2009 research survey into the use of Internet-delivered education of disabled people reveal the significance of the medium. The aim of the research was to specify the role and the meaning of the Internet in the field of learning. The primary goal of the study was to:  determine the degree of Internet adjustments to the forms of e-education delivered to disabled learners,  identify the most vital problems and difficulties in the use of various eeducation modes. In all, 146 disabled respondents (especially blind people and individuals with low vision)[16] took part in the survey, and, on average, their age ranged from 26 to 35. The survey suggests that the disabled (particularly young and middle-aged individuals) appreciate the significance of both the Internet and recent advances in information technologies. Almost all respondents connect to the Internet from home. The workplace is another common location where people with disabilities can use computers adapted for their special needs. Few respondents use the Internet in health and rehabilitation or foundation centres for the disabled. The Internet provides disabled users with a vast array of information-gathering and knowledge-gaining opportunities, and e-education is bound to be successful for reasons of usefulness to this target group. The increasingly widespread access to the Internet for educational purposes offers an interesting way of acquiring knowledge by disabled learners through distance education. This term is often interchangeably used with ‘e-learning’ and refers to ‘a transfer of knowledge where the teacher and the student are separated by geographical locations and time’ [13]. Distance education comprises all forms of information technologies-based (especially Web-supported) teaching and learning in an environment. It is an interactive process which employs available technical devices to foster tutor-student relationships, as well as peer-to-peer relations. Over the years, distance learning has evolved in line with the following consecutive modes of delivery:  Correspondence-based distance education. All types of printed materials and scripts served as communication formats to deliver the educational

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content. The system has its origins in the end of the 19th century. Initially, it relied on the postal service to deliver printed instructional materials to learners. Today, this delivery methodology still exists, with printed materials supplemented with audio recordings, video cassettes, CDs and DVDs. Multimedia-based distance education. Television and the radio (media of the 20th century) along with first computer programs are the instruments for transmitting instruction. First instructional radio programs (the State University of Iowa, 1925) and the first educational television (1940) were brought into existence. First instructional programs appeared in the second half of the 20th century as a result of cooperation between Stanford University and IBM. Tele-education. It makes use of video and teleconferences; the so called oneto-many method. E-learning via computer networks. It is used today for teaching and learning with the help of intranets and the Internet.

Distance learning is capable of addressing the needs of contemporary society – especially by applying modern information and telecommunications technologies. Hence, e-learning can be referred to as an educational IT system which delivers instruction by means of interactive telecommunications formats. Presuming that in the foreseeable future the role of teachers will not be completely diminished, it may be also assumed that their work will be enhanced and supported by advanced decision systems. The importance of this new technology cannot be overestimated. And since the benefits that accrue from e-learning are multifarious, the technology is becoming increasingly popular. Typically, e-learning comprises [7,19]:  the content – educational materials are an integral part of the e-learning system; it is delivered to students via CDs, local area networks and the Internet,  communication – e-learning provides communication between teacher/ instructor and students, as well as between the students themselves; it is mediated by videoconferencing, electronic mail or online chat sessions, however, e-learning does not restrain face-to-face communication,  virtual reality – students use computer screens not only for the content, but also to experiment, watch simulations of events and devices; virtual reality allows visualization of cross-section of machines in operation, interactive maps, the internal parts of organisms, inaccessible localities, etc.,  collaboration – e-learning encourages teamwork, collaborative learning and problem-solving; virtual message boards and forums are virtual spaces for students interaction (sharing opinions and observations),  tools – an easy-to-use set of tools (which make up the platform for e-learning) for developing the educational content and managing the teaching/learning

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process; it allows teachers (even those with little technical know-how) to develop instructional materials and to assess student performance,  evaluation systems – computer-mediated instruction and extensive training management systems offer new ways of self-assessment and evaluation of students, e.g. a program may be designed to carry out diagnostic assessment and match training materials to the outcomes; modern LMSs (Learning Management Systems) offer easy performance-based assessment together with the identification of a suitable learning pathway and ways of monitoring it,  reports – LMSs generate teacher and student reports, enroll students on courses, monitor and ensure the desired course of study and verify achievements. It is essential to discriminate between e-learning and learning mediated by the Internet (online learning). E-learning is an umbrella term which refers to all types of distance education that use modern electronic technologies for training, education and instruction. Web-delivered learning is yet another type of elearning. It delivers instruction and communication with students via the Internet (global system of interconnected computer networks) or by means of less public, intranets and extranets. For the purposes of this study, the terms: ‘learning mediated by (or via) the Internet’ and ‘e-learning’ are used synonymously and interchangeably. There are four basic e-learning approaches:  Self-study – there is no interaction between the student and the teacher/ instructor,  Asynchronous learning – asynchronous education implies that the teacher’s instruction and the work of individual students occur at different times. The teacher is not directly involved as the students use instructional materials for the course and other e-learning facilities. Because the work of individual students is free from the synchronous constraints of time, they can start and finish their work at the time they choose, independently of other course participants, at their own pace, not affecting the pace of work of other distance learners,  Synchronous learning – when learners and the teacher participate in the learning experience during the same period and in the same place (traditional approach), or in different locations at the same time. This term can be understood technically if it refers to operating a program under the supervision of an educational services server. ‘Synchronous learning’ may also refer to the part of e-learning which requires that all participants proceed at the same time (e.g. in a virtual classroom). There are two methods to distance synchronous learning:  one-to-many – activities for learners who are in different locations,  one-to-one – activities for a group of peers who are gathered together in one place, with the teacher giving instructions from a different location.

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The methods differ in terms of the solutions they offer and their implementation costs. The latter is easier and more effective (allowing for the current level of technological infrastructure available to a regular internaut) as it requires special software and hardware devices arranged in two settings only. It is ideal for the learning courses run in different university branches.  Blended learning (also known as ‘mixed-mode’ or ‘hybrid’) – is a combination of e-learning and traditional classroom learning activities that occurs in the interaction between the learner (or a group of learners) and the teacher (qualified instructor). Blended learning still needs a clear and unambiguous definition and methodology-oriented revision of educational activities so that they are divided into either online delivery-based or locally run in a traditional ‘classroom’ environment. There are many criteria of division of the e-learning system. According to the use or absence of the e-learning platform (to be discussed later in the paper), elearning may be categorized into two types. In Computer Based Training (CBT) the learning process employs learning resources such as: CDs, course books (printed manuals), workbooks, audio and video cassettes. By contrast, Web Based Training (WBT) is delivered via the Internet. The following scheme presents the two categories within a general context of education: learning distance learning e-learning

Computer-Based Training

Web-Based Training

Fig. 1. CBT and WBT in the educational process [2]

E-learning platforms Web-delivered learning requires specialist computer systems. The e-learning platforms they use combine a database with the knowledge content (sometimes supplemented with multimedia), an electronic mail module, a discussion forum, a chat room, a knowledge-testing module, a student logging-in mechanism and an e-register.

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An e-learning system can be Content Management System (CMS) based. CMS is an online application allowing easy www service creations and their further updates (and development) by technically unskilled persons. Programming platforms are elaborate and flexible and they facilitate the creation of dedicated internet solutions of any kind. CMSs prove reliable in a vast www service environment where the content needs to be frequently updated and developed in several areas (large information services, corporate sites with advanced customer communication modules, online shops, web portals, vortals, etc.). CMS applications offer time-saving site updates and enable simultaneous collaboration of editing teams. A CMS-based service offers a freedom of use in terms of service functionality development, administration, management, updating and development of a www service in any direction, without the need for taking on qualified IT staff members. Popular examples of freeware and open source CMSs include: Drupal, Joomla!, Fedora, PHP-Nuke; there also exists a number of commercial CMSs. Institutions offering e-learning classes suggest that e-courses should be developed with education-dedicated solutions, i.e. Learning Management Systems (LMSs) and Learning Content Management Systems (LCMSs)[14]. They focus on: managing the web-based learning process, the provision of access to communication tools by students and teachers and access management concerning publications/educational records, etc. [3,12]. Typically, an LMS comprises various tools, i.e. communication tools (live chat rooms, discussion forums, message boards) and administrative tools (calendars, notebooks). LMSs facilitate the organisational control over the learning process, for both students and teachers. As a computer system, an LMS can be structured as follows: SERVER

LMS CBT

course authors, instructors

AU1

knowledge Methodological description and technical handling

...

AU N

AU in compliance with AICC and SCORM

ASP Enrollment. on and unsubscription from the course Performance assessment

client course participant

Fig. 2. E-learning LMS classroom model Source: individual study based on :12.

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Figure 2 – specification: LMS –Learning Management System. A system which administers, starts AU and tracks student progress. CBT – Computer Based Training. AU – Assignable Unit – a single computer-delivered lesson. ASP – Application Service Provider. A system providing users with system services. SCORM – Sharable Content Object Reference Model. An open standard for the e-learning content representation ensuring transferability of the content between systems from different manufacturers. AICC – Aviation Industry CBT Committee. An AU standard – it defines the rules for tracking student progress.

LCMSs are more advanced than LMS technologies. They are used for modifying (reusing/re-purposing) the WBT course content, whereas LMSs are dedicated to the e-learning content delivery only. For the sake of unification of the e-learning content, special compatibility standards between LMS and LCMS have been specified. One of them, called SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) has been developed by the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative which, itself, was established by the Department of Defense of the United States of America. Another institution committed to the related, technology-based activities is AICC (Aviation Industry CBT Committee). Polish e-learning market is at the preliminary stage of development. Hence, instead of proposing a number of original solutions or web-based platforms, it remains involved in implementing the technologies offered by the companies based in the USA or EU. However, it is often the case that e-learning institutions in Poland offer platforms tailor-made to educational needs of foreign audiences but unsuited to Polish users’ requirements. It is necessary, therefore, to study the features offered by a given platform before buying it [6]. The costs of purchase and installation of the platform are also of the essence. For many organisations which look to cut costs, the use of free applications is the answer. The examples of free platforms for e-learning are:  iStudy – based on phpBB forum (the languages currently used: English and German),  OLAT (Online Learning And Training) – written in Java programming language and available free of charge. The system offers translation into Polish,  Claroline – a free PHP and MySQL-based application. Translated into 31 languages, including Polish,  Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) – a software package written in PHP which uses MySQL and PostgreSQL databases.

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The authors of this study, while drawing on their personal experience, believe that Moodle is an optimal solution especially insofar as the education of people with disabilities. The platform has been developed with the use of Apache, PHP and MySQL. It contains a number of educational modules, separate from the main application and focused on performing its basic functions, i.e. aiding communication, online group collaboration and file creation, reproduction and storage. Today, Moodle is widely used by Polish institutions of higher learning, e.g. Warsaw University of Technology, Gdansk University of Technology, Cracow University of Economics, the University of Lodz, to mention a few. A great majority of e-learning courses is developed on the basis of previously devised electronic materials (e.g. Word, PowerPoint) which are later converted into e.g. HTML [7,9]. Some e-learning courses also use the popular multimedia resources (e.g. audio effects, animations) along with the feature of placing web links. Flash technologies are frequently chosen to enhance the interactive potential of the e-courses delivered via Web browsers. Alternately, teachers who are technically adept and comfortable enough with technological tools can create web sites for students by their own. Together with electronic mail and an e-register it may initiate the e-learning experience at school [8]. Even a simple site can prove beneficial by upgrading the learning process and equipping the students for the realities of information society and knowledgebased economy. Clearly, the best medium for student-teacher interaction is a platform for elearning [4,6]. It allows a student/course participant to access the training module (with the course content and class assignments) via a standard internet browser after logging-in. The teacher can access the administrative module which manages student registration and tracks student performance and progress. Additionally, the module mechanisms augment the training framework development process and the implementation of a specific instructional material. Student progress is monitored by a variety of tests. A good example of software focused on creation of extensive tests is Hot Potatoes. The suite includes six applications for creating exercises for the World Wide Web. After entering the data in a simple form (for instance, question and answer) the program generates a web site. The site enables interactions, correct answers and question hints count. Importantly, program handling does not require the knowledge of how www sites building. The created tests can be made available on the Internet and later used for testing. The added advantage of such tests is the fact that the way they assess knowledge does not raise suspicion about the fairness of marking, which has a positive impact on the students-teacher relationship. E-courses are considerably cheap and disabled participants are not required to ‘physically’ attend them. They allow students to work on their own schedule (selected days and times), but also promote creative activities, systematic approach to assignment completion and interactive exchange of opinions (chat 110


rooms). The courses deliver knowledge and facilitate skills acquisition. E-learning platforms, in turn, promote the reinforcement of discussed issues with mandatory tests, which raises the likelihood of students’ being better prepared for classes. Elearning platforms make it possible for students to send their finished assignments to the instructor and for the teacher to send back the feedback [9]. Another asset of e-learning platforms is featuring web pages with links to other web sites so that the students can use them either individually or to work more efficiently within the course framework. While browsing web resources, one can realize that online courses are becoming more and more popular in Poland. Applicability of e-learning tools to studying is wide. The tools provide students/course participants with the desired portion of knowledge at the time they choose, or prior to classes, to give them extra time for self-preparation and acquisition of knowledge which they can later apply to problem-solving tasks. E-learning platforms foster student collaboration and interactions during project assignments, which strengthens motivation and engagement in the learning process. E-learning systems help to remove the barriers disabled persons are faced with in the traditional ‘on-campus’ learning environment. Fares and accommodation costs are good examples of such hindrances. Implementation of e-learning technologies offers new opportunities in the provision of education to people with disabilities due to[19]:  the use of multimedia,  simulations of objects in operation (e.g. for a course in physics),  cost-effectiveness (there is no need for adapting special settings for disabled learners, printing course materials, etc.). Extremely beneficial though e-learning is, especially for disabled persons, it definitely lacks in the immediacy of face-to-face communication (direct, unmediated interaction) with the teacher and the group. As in the case of teleworking, distance education should be perceived as a provisional solution, for the primary purpose of rehabilitation is social integration. Criticism of the prospective growth in e-learning course offerings concerns the following aspects:  high costs of implementation of small group courses,  the need to access to the Internet,  costly development and setup of e-courses,  no progress control,  potential network problems. As distance learning methods develop, universities and other institutions which implement e-learning solutions use their (and other organisations’) previous experience in exploring the potential of modern technologies, e.g. by means of blended learning. This method combines the benefits of e-learning methodology with traditional learning approaches. The strategy is technology-

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based and allows the face-to-face communication between students/course participants and the teacher, and peer-to-peer interactions.

E-learning cybrary Libraries are the indispensible elements of any seat of learning. Because some of them can be inaccessible to disabled visitors, virtual libraries are an allembracing solution. They are capable of meeting all requirements of persons with disabilities by the provision of online access to selected sources, especially during the course of study. E-learning Cybrary, for instance, is a virtual library containing: web addresses, web portals, documents, research reports, news items and other information sources [19]. The Cybrary is a part of E-Learning Resource Center Project patronized by the European Foundation for Management Development and Community Intelligence Labs. With the use of an Internet browser, such as e.g. Mozilla Firefox, it helps to access a desired department, where the users can find items concerning online learning, grouped under adequate sections. The E-Learning Cybrary contains a news department ‘What’s new’ with recently added items of information. Cybrary page content contains additional annotations, which greatly reduces the time of information search. The Cybrary, however, fails to provide information in some thematic categories, which is a serious drawback. This may serve as an invitation for the users to supply the missing information. Internauts can also put web addresses to help other users find what they wish. The growing popularity of the mentioned technological offerings raises the question of whether all persons with disabilities can use the Internet with comparable ease. Sadly, some disabled users are denied access to web sites due to their dysfunctions-related problems. Today, the structure of many web pages places some internauts at a disadvantage, e.g. persons with poor vision or hard of hearing who need assistive devices to surf the net, slow internet connections users, owners of portable devices (palmtops, mobile phones, etc.), or owners of old low-resolution computers or text browsers. To aid this situation, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) responsible for developing international standards for writing and transferring web sites undertook the initiative. The organisation was founded in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web and the author of the first Web browser and the first Web server. Although the W3C recommendations are not legally-binding, they are widely regarded by web designers as reliable. Fuller accessibility of web sites is the primary purpose of the W3D project known as Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). The concept creators are intent on awakening the public opinion and state administration to the problem of web accessibility by disabled people, with a special consideration for the blind and the visually-impaired. As a widespread action, it has already resulted in a number of online applications offering web accessibility evaluation 112


resources. The applications, called WAI Validators, are extremely user-friendly. All they require the user to do is write a given web address. Only the final reports messages require a good command of HTML to update a source code.

E-learning platforms for the education of people with disabilities Within the next decades, advances in information technologies are expected to become inseparable from private and professional lives of a great majority of people worldwide. A plethora of jobs will be impossible to perform without a prior acquisition of technical and computer skills by an employee. Ordinary domestic or professional activities will concern (as they already do) the collection, re-using and implementation of information. Under this likely scenario of labour market development, disability is bound to be less essential and thus as limiting (i.e. a barrier to entry) as it is today. Hence, urgent action is needed to instruct graduate students how to use information and telecommunications devices and software. The increase in technological development coupled with the falling costs of software and hardware can help schools and universities equip laboratories with Internet-connected computers. Traditional ‘on-campus’ education can be successfully supplemented with various e-learning technologies. The use of blended learning, a combination of traditional classroom methods with e-learning activities, gives disabled persons the opportunity of joining in the learning environment. Distance education techniques prove invaluable in the process of knowledge consolidation. During classes/lessons a teacher focuses on the transfer of knowledge which the student/course participant will later review and reinforce using online platform-mediated resources. In a classroom setting, asynchronous learning can be put to good use, as it offers the following advantages [10,11]:  flexibility – from any selected location and at any time, on a twenty-four seven basis, the course content (web- or server-delivered) is made available to participants,  individuality – independence of time, place and pace of learning gives primacy to individual needs of all students,  individual control of student’s outcomes,  ease of updates/completion of learning resources,  tracking and monitoring of student performance and progress. Asynchronous learning is primarily mediated by e-learning platforms, but also via electronic mail (e-mail), discussion boards and multimedia. To use these communication formats effectively, the teacher must be well prepared and qualified. Nowadays, all universities offer at least one computer course for students. There is also a considerable variety of computer training courses (also postgraduate ones) for teachers. Standard courses, however, occur to be too 113


general and fail to achieve their ultimate goals. Such courses deliver the core skills, i.e. computer and web functions, software programs, such as: text editors, graphics software, spreadsheets, databases, web browsers, etc. This knowledge has a serious drawback – computer literacy is not the sole prerequisite for a successful delivery of IT-based learning. Experience shows that funds channelled into training courses in innovative learning methods are incomparably smaller than the ones invested in computer software courses. Multi-level training courses can solve this problem. The first level can be devoted to demonstrations of how to apply computers to selected course subjects and teaching methods; the second one to the use of information technologies by promoting interdisciplinary approach to learning. In a virtual classroom environment students still remain students. The shift from traditional learning methods may prove detrimental, since the lack of teacher immediacy can leave the student incapable of engaging in any interaction with the teacher. What is more, online course instructors may find it hard to motivate the participants to work on a regular, daily basis. Because normally some students attending traditional classes procrastinate when it comes to homework assignments, exemption or freedom from punishment and no supervision may grow more intense on the Internet. Table 1 shows the differences between a traditional classroom learner and an e-learner. Table 1. Comparison between a traditional classroom learner and an on-line learner Online learner Traditional classroom learner 1. Open to unassisted combining of acquired 1. Open, but more dependent on the knowledge and skills with theory. peers/instructor than himself/herself. 2. Communicates with ease in writing. 2. Gives primacy to face-to-face interactions. 3. Highly self-disciplined and motivated to work 3. Motivated to learn, but eager for immediate individually. learning success. 4. Straightforward and confident, assertive and 4. Upfront about his/her position, problems with intent on full understanding of the teacher’s tasks, class material, etc. intentions and the course content. 5. Devotes as much time to self-study as he/she 5. Devotes 4-15 hours a week to online learning. considers necessary. 6. Possesses hands-on skills – at least a handful 6. Relies heavily on the media, modern of basic ones – concerning the use of modern technologies and the Internet. technologies; Internet literate. 7. Capable of critical thinking and prompt 7. Critical of his/her milieu, the criticisms being decision-making. not always creative or constructive. Source: [19].

As the above comparison suggests, an online student/learner is more selfdisciplined and self-reliant (independent). This may stem from the fact that distance learning helps to go beyond a school-centred system and establish a school-decentred, flexible learning environment. The question remains if 114


e-education as a learning method is equally useful for persons with disabilities. Undoubtedly, it does open new educational opportunities to the physically disabled. Schools and universities which follow the traditional approach to learning insist that students physically attend the classes, which is either burdensome or impossible for people with impaired mobility due to various architectural barriers. Distance learning and the Internet remove these barriers and thus, provide access to education. As in the case of the fully-abled population, among disabled students there are those who are successful in self-paced, individually scheduled learning and those who require more external instruction and supervision, which, obviously, is disability or ability-independent. In consequence, it seems that e-learning hinges on the individual approach a student adopts to learning, and it cannot be perceived as a panacea for the low percentage of well-educated disabled citizens.

Summary On balance, distance learning of people with disabilities points to the basic fact that modern technologies provide them with better educational opportunities, and higher education is a sound base for starting a challenging job which involves the use of these technologies. E-learning systems model is not flawless and so it cannot radically supplant traditional learning theses days. For the time being, mixed-mode learning which blends the strengths of e-education with traditional ‘face-to-face’ learning, works most effectively. The good example of a blended course is Cisco Networking Academy, run in e.g. Computer Engineering Department of the Technical University of Lodz. There are many other examples of blended courses held in other institutions. The solutions outlined in this paper and applicable to both disabled people and a wider target audience, provide the mainstay of online courses and ‘off-campus’ higher education. Still, the fact remains that it is man that lies at the heart of learning experiences, namely, the teacher/instructor (normally the course creator and developer) and the student/course participant (course recipient). There is a need for adopting an individual approach and establishing whether and to what degree it may help the given learner integrate with society.

References [1] [2]

Don Morrison.: Elearning Strategies, Wiley Publishing, Inc. 2003. Hyla M.: „Przewodnik po e-learningu”, Wolters Kluwer Polska, 2007 [Hyla M.: A Guide to E-learning, Wolters Kluwer Polska 2007].

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DEMANDS OF USERS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IN TERMS OF INTERNET USE AS A GUIDELINE FOR THE ERGONOMIC DESIGN OF INTERNET WEBSITES Magdalena Wróbel Joanna Lecewicz-Bartoszewska

Introduction The end of the 20th century and the begining of the 21st century were times of great technological breakthrough. The changes in this area had an impact on the social changes, as well. However, what for some is an opportunity for further development or better job prospects, for others appears to be another barrier widening the gap between them and the world of progress. In the information society, where knowledge is the most important asset, the lead is taken by those who have a continuous and unlimited access to information – the so-called infocrats. Unfortunately, the parallel process to the informatization of the society is the process of gradual relative deprivation of certain social groups, thus the self-imposed increase of disharmony between the actual and the desired living standard or the degree of participating in social life. The elderly is a social group that is most threatened with being marginalized since they often have difficulties in finding themselves in the modern world. Another such group are people with disabilities who are generally regarded as being unable to function normally. The percentage of people with different level of disability in Europe is estimated at about 15%, which makes for 40 million potential Internet users. In Poland, number is about 5.5 million of people. One way, which helps to fight against social exclusion of these two groups is the Internet, as it helps to communicate with the world and also to prolong professional life. The Internet is an unlimited source of information, from which everyone has the same right to obtain the necessary resources however not everyone has the same set of skills and possibilities to do it which, as a result, may increase social exclusion.

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As numerous studies show, older people are using global web resources more willingly and more often. Gradually, the fear against the new is being replaced by the curiosity with the world and also by the necessity, since the Internet becomes more often the only available source of information. However, the weak ability to surf the Internet, as well as, numerous restrictions of Internet websites significantly lowers the percentage of older people using it regularly. A similar situation occurs in the case of people with disabilities, particularly with the dysfunction of the upper limb and with poor vision. The tool, which is supposed to facilitate participation in the world in full capacity, makes it harder by creating even bigger disproportions.

The Internet as a source of social inequalities The experiment, started on September 29th in 1969 at the University of California in Los Angeles and continued at three different American universities, marks the moment of birth of ARPANET ‒ a prototype of the modern Internet. The idea behind the experiment was to create a decentralized computer network, which would be able to function even in the case of failure of any element that comprises it. The success of the project encouraged the other scientists to further research web development, which has been called the Internet since 1983. Until 1989, the only network user was the American, which then made it available to universities and academic institutions. With time, the benefits of the Internet were noticed by companies, institutions and also individuals who were however unable to use it for commercial reasons until 1991. Since that time, the Internet has been widely used for advertising goals or as a tool for sales. In 1990, the first Internet website was designed and, in 1994, the first graphic web browser was created. Placing the information on the net was supervised by specialists called gatekeepers, who took care of hierarchy and checked if every piece of information was credible. A passive user could only perform a search in a traditional way by browsing the resources placed by specialists. A major breakthrough happened in 2004 when Tim O’Reilly, the creator of the term Web 2.0, started to propagate the idea of the new Internet during numerous conferences and conventions. The Web 2.0 ‒ a new generation of Internet is characterized by the architecture of participating namely creating of mass content by “web crowds”. The dynamic Internet became a place where people put their resources on it regarding of their quality, an area where a billion of interactions can take place every day [7]. It is believed that, in the beginning of 2009, the number of Internet users in the world reached 1.6 billion, which, compared to the population of 6.7 billion people, is an impressive value (23.8% of total) [20]. In Poland, the first connection to the Internet by means of the IP protocol took place in August 1991 between the Warsaw Coordination Science Team and 119


Academic Computer Network (NASK) and Computer Center of the University in Copenhagen. The Internet access was possible on a greater scale in 1992 when Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. (national telecommunications company) started its POLPAK Internet package. In 1993, the development of a local network began, first operating at academic centers in Warsaw, Lodz, Cracow, Wroclaw, Poznan, Gdansk, Szczecin, Lublin, Katowice, Torun and Rzeszow. The first Internet portal, Wirtualna Polska, was created in 1995 and, a year after, Onet.pl. Anonymous Internet access was possible from 1996. Year after year, together with Internet development, the number of users was increasing and their structure also changed. More young people started to use the Internet [26]. The number of Internet users in Poland increased from a mere 10000 in 1992 to almost 8 milion in 2003. From 2004 to 2008, the number of Polish Internet users doubled from 8 to 15.8 milion, which means that, in 2008, 45% used the Internet in the age of above 5.[6] An increasing availability of these kinds of services and the drop in prices of Internet usage resulted in 17.3 million Internet users aged between 15 and 75 according to one source of information (18% of the researched population) [18] and according to another, 20 million of Internet users from the age of 5 (52% of total population of Poland) [20]. In 2004, 21% of the surveyed adults by the Public Opinion Research Center admitted they have Internet access and over one fourth (26%) used it which meant browsing the websites or checking the email.[15] According to the results of the researches carried out in 2006, 29% of Polish adults had Internet access at home and the number of its users increased to 31%. It is a significant increase when compared to 2002 when only 17% Polish adults used the Internet and only 13% of the total had Internet access at home. [16] In 2008, the number of adult Internet users increased to 44% and almost half of Polish people had Internet access at home (48%) [17]. As other research results of the Public Opinion Research Center show, in 2008, men used the Internet more frequently (51% of the total) than women (40% of the total). The research also revealed that the dependency on the Internet usage is inversely proportional to the age of the respondents. It is also influenced by the education and the place of living. 84% of Interent users had higher education and 58% had high school education. Among people with vocational training, the number was much lower, 32%, and 22% with primary education. [11] In case of village areas, the number of Internet users in 2008 was 31% and in the case of little villages (up to 20 thousand) and medium sized cities (from 20 to 100 thousand) around 48%. The highest percentage of the city residents using the Internet occurs in big cities (62%) and in big metropolitan areas (59%), where the Internet access is much easier and cheaper. Among older people, particularly people in the retirement age (65+), called the third age generation, Internet usage is very low. In comparison to the United States, similar values (25% and 8%, respectively) were reached already in 1998. [4] At that time, people aged over 55 years constituted about 16% of all Internet 120


users in the USA, when in Poland, in 2000, the percentage of people above 55 was only 3.5% of all Internet users. Another significant research regarding Internet users in Poland was carried out in September in 2008 by the PBI Sp. z o.o15 on behalf of the Ministry of Interior Affairs and Administration, within the carried out analysis and consultations related to forming strategies of the development of the information society. The objective of this research was to learn about the opinions of Internet users in terms of key aspects of everyday life of the information society: education, health, safety, public life, work, culture, transport and finances. The discussed issues were: the barriers limiting the use of new technologies, the expectations of the Internet users towards the possibilities of realization of official issues on-line and also significant factors for the surveyed in the areas of social life. As it is reflected in the information society, in which the most important resource is such knowledge, an advantage and often the power is hold by those who have a continuous and unlimited access to information – the infocrats16. The term information society was defined for the first time in 1963 by Tadao Umesao, a sociologist of a Japanese origin. The term became popular very quickly in the United States. According to the accepted in the report of the IBM Community Development, the definition of the information society is characterized by high degree of benefiting from information every day, communicating it properly and receiving it by the whole society and organizations regardless of the distance. Information, communication technologies and should serve a purpose to gain information and proper technical infrastructure [22]. The closest definition was contained in the report Europe and the Global Information Society Recommendations of the Bangemann Group to the Europe Council. According to the report, the information society is charecterised by the user’s preparation and readiness to use information systems and uses the telecommunication services to convey and transfer information on-line [24]. Unfortunately, along with the informatization process of the society, the relative depravation occurs of the social groups namely the self-imposed identified and felt increase of disharmony between the actual state and the desired living standard or the degree of participation in social life. It results from a lack of appriopriate information skills and numerous physical limitations. As it was indicated in a 1991 report from the First Polish IT Congress The strategy of the development of Information in Poland, informatization brings a higher standard of living and common access to information education is the key element in the information society.

15

PBI – Polskie Badania Internetu (Polish Internet Research). Infocrat (pol. Infokrata) – author’s own term (“info” from the latin word information – imagination, notion “kracja” from the Greek word kratos – power). 16

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In the first years of the Internet presence in Poland the society had an indifferent attitude to information and it wasn’t convinced to the advantages resulting from its common use. Unfortunately, many Poles still don’t have the skill or the habit to use it every day regardless of it being the tool that fastens the individual development of a human being [21]. In information society, class division is clearly visible. Three classes can be distinguished [10]:  the aristocracy,  the dignitaries,  information lumpenproleteriat. The aristocracy has a vast knowledge from the area of knowledge from the area of new technologies and the unlimited access to it. It forms a group that is creative and guides the entire society, which has a symbolic power over the lower classes and hence its name – the cognitariat. The dignitaries are a group that can benefit from new technologies and yet it does not have power over information. The handicapped class using the so-called old media: phone and TV is called the information lumpenproletariat. This is an aging audience and also computer illiterate. A varied access to the Internet, along with different skills related to its usage among the representatives of particular classess result in the emergence of a civilization gap [13]. Limited access to information, or a complete lack of it, will in consequence lead to a technological social marginalization of the handicapped classes, which will descrease their chances and their position on the job market dominated by the infocrats. In the modern world, the word “access” is the key term. It is access, not the possessivness, as in the former generations, which determines the prosperity of a human being, as well as, limitations of his capacity. The 21st century was righly called by J. Rifkin “the century of access” [11]. Access means power, both over oneself and over those who do not have access. One of the leading researchers in the social life networking, a sociologist Manuel Castells, has created a divided city theory. According to it, apart from the global economy saturated by information, the disadvantaged groups, which the researcher calls the class of pariah, are continuously growing [3]. Persons particularly threatened with marginalization in the information society are the elderly, who often say about themselves that they "are from different age than computers" [9]. Often, they have problems with finding themselves in the very dynamic world of late modernity. The fear of technology, resulting from lack of knowledge, is intertwined with functional illiteracy, resulting in minimal use of the opportunities that Internet provides. The threat of social exclusion applies also to persons with disabilities, whom the majority of the society views as unable to function "normally". As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), a disabled person is a person with a 122


disturbed functional capacity or life activity to the extent of impeding performance of social roles [14]. The estimated percentage of people with varying degrees and types of disability in Europe is around 15%, which constitues 40 million potential Internet users. About 5.5 million of Poles are people with disabilities [5], of which over a half are those dealing with motor disabilities. Reduced mobility is a limited efficiency of upper limbs, lower limbs, or the spine, as a result of changes in the disease or injury to the central nervous system, or changes in the skeletal, muscular or nervous systems. This type of disability is related with functional disorders, consisting of impaired motor abilities in the locomotor system in its properly preserved structure. This can mean a paralysis, or total lack of movement ability or paresis, in which there is partial impairment of a physical force restricting manipulative movements [8]. Another important group from the standpoint of this work are the visually impaired. Persons with an impaired vision are those, who have suffered damage to the eye. The sense of sight, however, still constitutes the primary source of knowledge about the world and a method of understanding reality. The classification of the World Health Organization (WHO) provides five categories of sight impairment, taking into account the criterion of focus and the field of view. Two of these are categories of vision impairment, and three of them are categories of blindness [14]. According to the classification, visually impaired persons are thise who are able to read print and handwriting (category 1), as well as those who must use optical aids (category 2). The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is a unified and standard structure describing conditions related to health directly and indirectly. The classification combines various aspects experienced by persons with various health conditions, describing among others, the types of activities that can be, as well as those that cannot be, carried out by them. The ICF provides the description of these elements on the basis of body built, as well as, social roles to be fulfilled. In accordance with this classification, the health conditions are coded by using a complex code structure, comprised of letters (b, s, d, e), referred to a particular component, as well as, a multi-level numeric code. Furthermore, the code contains a classification, which identifies the level of health, that is, the degree of the problem. Category “0” means lack or a problem, category “1” refers to a mild problem, while category “2” refers to a moderate problem, “3” to a serioous problem and “4” to a complete problem [27]. This means that, according to the WHO classification, persons with an impaired vision are those, whose problem with eyesight can be considered as mild or moderate. Persons with a visual impairment can generally be divided into those with an impairment and those with poor vision. The defect can affect one eye or both eyes.

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The basis for diagnosing the degree of vision loss are eye tests, which rely on measuring the visual acuity and changes in the field of view, since it is these two functions that limit functioning in the society to the greatest extent possible. According to the Regional Labor Office in Lodz, in February 2009, among registered as unemployed, there were over 8000 persons with disabilities and 25000 people over 50 years of age. In Lodz itself, 3253 disabled persons registered themselves, which constitutes 40% of the total number of disabled unemployed persons in the Lodz district. The registered Lodz citizens over 50 years of age are 30% of the total number of unemployed elderly people in the district [28]. In order to prevent social exclusion, a range of programs have been launched. In the beginning of 2003, began the realization of Sectoral Operational Programme of Human Resources Development. The objective of the initiative, was to create opportunities for employment, raising professional qualifications by numerous training, in the areas where disabled persons are included as one of the groups threatened with social exclusion [2]. This objective is slowly being achieved. As shown by numerous studies in recent years, the elderly still more often and more willingly use the resources of the local web. Slowly, the fear against novelty is replaced by curiosity of the world and the necessity, as the Internet increasingly more often becomes the only source of information. However, poor skills related to browsing the web, as well as numerous limitations of the websites, significantly lessen the rate of elderly people using the Internet on a regular basis. The situation is similar when we are talking about people with disabilities, especially with minor motor dysfunction of an upper limb or with sight impairment. The tool supposed to facilitate the fullest possible participation in the life of the world, actually efficiently makes it more difficult, creating even greater disparities. Persons with disabilities and the elderly have to overcome numerous barriers to their full functioning in the society. Apart from architectural barriers that hinder moving in space, and social barriers, which stem from the tendency of modern societies to judge people according to their capacity, there are also barriers in communication [14]. These restrictions make it difficult to communicate and transfer information. These barriers result mainly from the lack of access or adjustment of modern technologies to the special needs users, i.e. the elderly and persons with disabilities. As quoted on the official EU site, only 3% of websites meet the web accessibility norms, which significantly hinder access to them [23]. As provided by Barbara Strug of the Department of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Information Science of the Jagiellonian University, Internet users can be divided into the following categories [25]:  experts,  beginners,

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 

incidental participants, special needs sers. Experts are users who consciously and skillfully use web data and know it well. The beginner users visit websites consciously, but they only begin to get familiar with their architecture. Incidental participants use the website by coincidence. They view it out of curiosity, without any particular purpose. The group most important from the perspective of this study is special needs users, who visit our webpage with a purpose, however their abilities to use it are strongly limited by their dysfunctions. This group includes also the elderly, the sight-impaired and persons with minor motor dysfunction of an upper limb. Information and communication technologies play a huge role in the information society. In principle, they are to prevent social exclusion, however very often they deepen the divisions, leading to digital divide. Therefore, to avoid this negative phenomenon, one should put all the effort to make the information society an integration society [19]. According to a 2008 report: Delphi. Technologie przyszłości (Delphi. The Technologies of the Future) by A. Rogut and B. Piasecki [12], technological development of our age includes three groups of key technologies: system technologies, transversal technologies and sector technologies. The system technologies, creating a skeleton, the frames of information society development, are based mainly on humanities, social and cognitive science. The transversal technologies are the nano- and biotechnologies, as well as information technologies. The last mentioned, sector technologiess, concern agriculture, environment, energy and healthcare. The study carried out by Piasecki and Rogut [12] shows that the trends in the information and communication technologies will be visible mainly in logistics, new business model, higher education and education in general. Skillfully used information technologies will allow persons with disabilities for full participation within the field of the new models of business, general education, and higher education. e-work, e-commerce, Lifelong Learning, an integrated educational offer or virtual research networks, are the solutions dedicate by principle to persons excluded from social life by dysfunctions or age.

Study results Objectives   

The work at hand aims for the following objectives: to define the particular needs of users with special demands related to internet use, initial development of guidelines for ergonomic website design, development of guidelines for further research. 125


Methods The study took on an explorative character, as shown by the following definition of the overall problem: which interface elements pose probolems to the previously defined user groups, what are the problems and what is their importance? Due to the nature of the research, no hypothesis were drawn prior to initiating the emiprical part of the study. The research gave special attention to the analysis of the elements of websites related to their usability, allowing easy access to information, enabling intuitive navigation, ensuring the effectiveness of communication from the user’s point of view, as well as, elements deciding on the aesthetics of the website. In order to identify the elements of websites making it difficult for special needs users, i.e. older persons and the disabled, to browse the Internet, common methods and techniques of social research were applied. Three groups of respondents were identified, in line with the assumptions made by the research:  the elderly (persons aged above 55),  persons with a slight upper limb mobility dysfunction,  persons with an impaired vision. One of the assumptions made was that only respondents who did not present the mentioned multiple dysfunctions were considered in the study because such a circumstance could pose certain difficulties with the interpretation of results. Only in the case of the elderly group, there was an acceptance of the presence of multiple dysfunctions of a slight degree, resulting from older age, such as eyesight problems, pain in upper limbs, as well as, rheumatism. However, these persons formed one separate group. In case of each group a quantitative method of a questionnaire, based on direct communication with a subject, was applied. The results obtained during the interview were analyzed in a quatitative, as well as, a qualitative way, which allowed for a deeper understanding of the question. The results of the research allowed for a formulation of initial guidelines for ergonomic design of websites, to make webpages that are useful and functional for the earlier mentioned special needs population. A large emphasis was made on aesthetic aspects of websites, understood as one of the ergonomic requirements. The interview consisted of three parts:  initial – arrangement,  actual,  final. The initial phase of the research questionnaire presented the objective and the scope of the study, the actual part contained the questions, while the final part included an annex for the respondent, as well as, a thank you note.

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The research tool used in the study was an interview questionnaire (annex 2) with 20 questions, mainly of the closed type. It included conclusive questions (whether), as well as, supplementary questions. The closed questions took on a dychotomous form, “yes/no” type or they were based on a scale. There were also cafeteria-style questions, as well as, open questions. Additionally applied tool was an annex for the respondent, which included information about the date and time of the conducted interview, its progress and the respondent’s attitude towards the study. Description of the study groups The selection of respondents was intentional, which means that only persons fulfilling certain criteria were considered for the study. As earlier mentioned, the criteria consisted of a slight disability in the upper limb, older age (55+) or vision impairment. Two hundred declated Internet users were asked to participate in the study, 190 of which agreed to take part. The interview averaged 20 minutes. According to the established assumptions, the number of people in each group oscillated in the range of 30 persons. In case of older persons, who did not fulfill any of the described criteria, the number of participants was 37. 46% of the study sample were women and 54% were men. Within the studied group, a definite majority (78%) were people with employment, while pensioners and retirees made up for 22% of respondents. The majority of respondents (76%) had higher education, 16% high school education. People with vocational education (5%) and primary (3%) were a minority. Among the elderly persons subjected to the study, the majority (73%) lived in a town above 500 thousand of inhabitants, 14% of the respondents lived in a town of an average size and in a smaller town (from 20 to 100 thousand), 8%. 5% of respondents lived in the countryside. Sixty persons with poor vision took part in the study, out of which 30 belonged to the 40-54-age category, and the remaining 30 were persons over 55 years old. 47% of respondents are women, 53% of respondents are men. Among the surveyed groups of people with poor vision, 83% are working. 14% of them are on a disability pension or pension and 3% are not working or on unemployement. In the case of persons with poor vision, more than half (53%) possesses higher eduction. 37% of them have high education, including college, 8% with vocational education and 2% with primary education.

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Among the respondents with poor vision, the majority (63%) lived in a town of above 500 thousand of residents. 15% of the respondents lived in a town of an average size and in a smaller city (from 20 to 100 thousand), 12% persons. 7% lived in a city up to 20 thousand, 3% of respondents lived in the countryside. The surveyed groups gave shortsightedness as the main reason for poor vision (45%). Low (up to -3 diopters) and average (from -3 to -7 diopters) sightedness have been taken into account. Not a single person with high shortsightedness took part in the study (above -7 diopters). The far-sightedness group followed in size (29%). Astigmatism, both low and high, has been observed in 8% of respondents. The other diseases are: cataract (5%), lacrimation (3%), flickertext (3%), tired of high contrast (3%), color blindness (2%) and merging of smiliar colors (2%). The reasons for poor vision are illustrated in Figure 1. When asked about the influence of their problems with vision on the Internet use comfort, the surveyed said that the negative impact is low (43%) or very low (28%). Rather high negative impact of Internet use has been observed in 12% of the respondents and 15% of them has not noticed any negative influence. The negative impact has been present mainly during browsing the website for a long time. The interfaces with flashy, intensive or merging colors have also unfavorable impact on the respondents. Too small font sizes, inefficient contrasts between the text and the background have also been problematic. An overload of banner ads, as well as, a high level of their changeability and movement posed a difficulty in using the Internet for persons with poor vision.

Fig. 1. How has the problem with your eyes been diagnosed? Source: own study.

Sixty persons with upper limb dysfunction took part in the study, 30 of which belonged to the 40-54-age category and the other 30 were aged over 55.

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This group involved an equal number of men and women. 82% of respondents are working, 13% are pensioners or persons with disability pensions and 5% are unemployed. Persons with higher eduction constitute half of the surveyed group (52%). 37% possess high school education, 10% vocational education and 2% primary education. Half of the respondents with slight upper limb dysfunction lived in a town of above 500 thousand (52%). 20% lived in a town of an average size and 15% in a smaller town (from 20 to 100 thousand). 10% lived in a town up to 20 thousand and 3% in the countryside. The upper limb dysfuction occurred in respondents for various reasons. The most common reasons were: rheumatism (21%), phalangeal joint degeneration (21%), and arthritis (18%). The diseases resulted also from an elbow injury (11%), limited limb mobility (10%), and carpal tunnel syndrome (8%). Occassional ocurrance was noted for shaking (3%), numbness (2%) and osteoporosis (2%) and radial – wrist inflammation (3%) – Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. How was your ailment diagnosed? – Persons with upper limb dysfunction Source: own study.

Asked about the influence of their disease on the comfort of the Internet use, half of the respondents with upper limb dysfunction, claimed it had a very large (18%) or large (36%) negative impact. For 38% of the surveyed, the impact has been rather small and for 9% very small. The technical difficulties meant mainly the difficulties of moving the cursor around the screen. In a situation where interactive elements have been near to one another, the choice of the right one has caused big problems.

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Similar situation has orrcured in case of advertising banners, which pop up on the page covering its content. In this case, the difficulty has occurred in the attempt of closing such window. The small sign “x” allowing closing the window with the banner and the movement of the banner around the screen mean huge problems in using Internet for users with upper limb dysfunction. Study results The respondents who declared themselves as Internet users have been asked whether they have a personal computer or laptop. 85% of all respondents had a PC and 61% had a laptop (Fig. 3). The answers are very similar in every one of the analyzed groups. Only among people above 55 years old, there has been a small number of laptop owners (54%) and yet it is a high value.

Fig. 3. Do you have a computer at home, a notebook or a loptop? Source: own study.

A large percentage of respondents enjoyed Internet access at home (Fig. 4). In the case of older people, this percentage was the lowest but still quite high (78%)

Fig. 4. Does your computer at home have Internet access? Source: own study.

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Among the surveyed respondents, the majority (69%) uses Internet at home. 28% of respondents have declared using Internet at work. Only 3% uses the Internet at friends’ or acquaintances’ houses. Such results should not be surprising considering the high number of persons having Internet access at home. These values are also appriopriate for certain surveyed groups. 69% of the respondents use the Internet on a daily basis or almost every day. 31% of the respondents use the Internet a few times a week. The results in particular groups are on a similar level. The respondents spend 2.9 hours a day on the Internet. The eldery use the Internet for the shortest amount of time, that is, 2.5 hours a day. The rest of the groups achieved almost the same result identical to the average one for the entire group. The most frequently visited websites by the respondents are information and entertainment portals (36%) such as: onet.pl, wp.pl, interia.pl or gazeta.pl. They visit Internet shops and auctions as well (18%), entertainment websites (17%), business and hobby-related websites (16%). The results are appriopriate for the entire studied population and the age or disability has no impact on them. The surveyed were asked which of the mentioned issues cause problems for them when they browse the Intenet. A problem that was cited as occurring very often is outdated information (41%), as well as, imprecise and unreliable information (35%). A significant procentage of respondents mentioned the following problems: problems with returning to the top of the page (64%), problems with returning to the main web page (54%), the web pages are too long (you need to scroll down), there is too little information on the website (51%), the information is not grouped by subject (65%), problems with finding the needed information (59%), lack of knowledge about where they can find the necessary information (66%). The respondents were asked to determine which issues related to the appearance of web pages caused them most problems during their browsing (Fig. 5). Problems, most often encountered in the opinion of the surveyed, were as follows:  text color making it difficult to read the information (47%),  chaos on the web page making it difficult to read the information (36%),  problems with changing the text/font size (31%),  problems with background pictures or images making it difficult to read the information (30%),  chaos on the web page, which is tiring to the eyesight (24%),  problems with background color making it difficult to read the information (23%).

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Fig. 5. Which problems related to web page layout do you encounter while using the Internet? Source: own study.

Problems, sometimes encountered during the browsing of the surveyed, were as follows:  text/font size too small (70%),  background color making it difficult to read the information (69%),  overload of colors that is tiring to the eyesight (66%),  selection of colors that is tiring to the eyesight (66%),  chaos on the web page tiring to the eyesight (62%),  background pictures or images making it difficult to read the information (53%),  chaos on the web page making it difficult to read the information (47%), 132


  

lack of text/font size changing option (46%), text color making it difficult to read the information (41%), lack of knowledge of how to change text/font size (39%). The presented problems are characteristic of all surveyed groups and age categories: the elderly, persons with poor vision, persons with upper limb dysfunction and persons with spinal problems. The extent of the problem among these groups of respondents is very similar. The appearing differences among these oscillate in the range of ±5%; therefore, there is no need to consider them separately. The surveyed population evaluated problems related to flash banners, which they encountered during the browsing of web pages. They were questioned on the volume of advertisements, the options of deactivating them and problems encountered during an attempt to deactivate banners. In the opinion of the respondents, on the web page (often - 50%, sometimes 50%) there appears to be a lot of flash advertising that hinders the reception of information. As many as 41% of the surveyed often do not know how to disable the ads, wheras 51% did not know the same occasionally. Problems with clicking on the pop-up ad disable button with the mouse cursor were faced often by 24% of respondents, while these were faced sometimes by as many as 54% of respondents. In case of older people, as much as 65% felt that the pages often have too many ads. People with upper limb dysfunction (47%) and spine injuries (52%) indicated that they often have problems with deactivating the pop-up ad. The respondents were asked to rate the importance of selected elements/ aspects of web pages, such as:  simplicity / clarity of the layout,  comprehensiveness of the range of information,  readability / clarity of information,  speed of information display,  possibility of changing the size of text/font,  possibility of adapting the web page to one’s own needs,  graphic attractiveness of the web page,  moderate use of advertising,  website searching capability. According to the respondents, the readability and clarity of information (88%), as well as, simplicity and transparency of the system (77%) is very important. Furthermore, moderate amount of advertising (64%) and a comprehensive range of information (49%) are also very important. The following were recognized as somewhat important: speed of information display (62%), ability to change the size of text/font (62%), website search engine (58%), and the ability to customize the page to suit one’s needs (47%).

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The layout of responses for the entire group of the surveyed population is presented in Figure 6.

Fig. 6. Which of the problems related to pop-up/flash advertising do you encounter while using the Internet? Source: own study.

Respondents were asked to define visual attractiveness of an Internet website. The disparity of answers provided was very high. In the opinion of 22% of the surveyed, visual attractiveness of a website consists of a well-chosen, interesting, and harmonious color scheme. In the opinion of 15% of respondents, a visually appealing site is one that is readable, clear and simple. A visually attractive site is also a pretty and eye pleasing one (15%), containing valuable information (13%) and elements that draw attention (11%). The attractiveness of a website is also influenced by its logical structure (6%), as well as, an interesting and proper composition (4%). The distribution of answers to this question was not determined by age, nor by the incidence of visual disorders or dysfunctions of the upper limb. Responses within each group were shaped in a very similar way to the answers of the overall survey population. The overall layout of answers provided by all repondents is shown in Figure 7.

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Fig. 7. What makes the website attractive for you? Source: own study.

The respondents were asked how important visual attractiveness of websites is to them. In each of the surveyed groups, half the respondents considered that visual attractiveness of web pages is rather important while one-fourth of the respondents considered it very important (Fig. 8). None of the surveyed groups answered that the visual attractiveness of websites is completely unimportant.

Fig. 8. How important or unimportant is the visual (artistic) attractiveness of the web pages? Source: own study.

Survey participants were asked to respond to the question of what they would change if they could improve the attractiveness of the website. Small gaps between the frequency of individual responses point to the existence of different

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perspectives on website attractiveness shown by the surveyed. None of the given responses dominate over others. The majority of the respondents, considering all groups, would change the graphic design of the website (18%), the layout of the information and elements (18%), as well as, the method of communication (14%). In order to improve the attractiveness of the website, the respondents would:  change the background (10%),  simplify the website (10%),  organize the contents (10%),  change the composition (8%),  reduce the amount of advertising (8%),  and, enrich the website with pictures (6%). The distribution of answers within the individual survey groups is in line with the distribution of answers for the overall surveyed population (Fig. 9).

Fig. 9. If you could improve the attractiveness of the website, what would you change? Source: own study.

Respondents were asked about the impact of the website’s color scheme on the reception of information. The participants in each group agreed that the impact of color on information reception is very big (39%) or rather big (53%). The highest percentage of "very big" answers occurred among the elderly. As many as 51% of respondents in this group felt that the colors affect the way information is conveyed. No one in the surveyed groups answered that the effect of colors is very small or even absent. The distribution of responses pertaining to this question is shown in Figure 10.

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Fig. 10. What is the impact of the website’s color scheme on the reception of information? Source: own study.

Respondents were asked for their opinion on the best color scheme for a website. The results of answers to this question presented a huge disparity. The most commonly appearing answer was an enigmatic one that the site should be colored. Some respondents, who tried to determine their preference for colors, pointed out vivid, bright, juicy colors, while almost the same number of people mentioned colors that are less bright, subdued, peaceful, pastels. As often as the answers that the page should be colorful, there were answers that the ideal website should be black and white, that is, black letters on a white background or vice versa. There were also suggestions that the website should be black and white but with subtle color accents or with a small amount of very intense colors. Respondents who reported the use of specific colors, for example: blue, green, or yellow, admitted that these are usually their favorite colors, and for this reason, they would like to see them when browsing web pages. The responses that should be considered significant are those, in which the participants indicated that the colors should match the subject of the website or they should match the corporate colors of the website owner. This use of color also allows for the brand and visual identity and is an important information and communication factor. Such differing responses are true for the entire sample, as well as, for the various groups of respondents. Based on these results, it is not possible to draw clear conclusions with regards to a color scheme that is most suitable and desired by the users with special needs. The answers respondents gave to this question were mainly due to color preferences, that is, personal taste.

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Older people pointed to websites that had both, lots of colors, as well as, had a minimalist, almost ascetic, use of colors. Similar results were seen for the visually impaired. In their case, intense colors could both impede information reception, as well as, be a positive factor in communication. The conclusions resulting from the answers also clearly show that it is not possible to apply a universal color scheme or determine the optimal number of colors appearing on the website; such a solution would always fail to respond to the preferences of some portion of users. However, one valuable advice gained from this question is the suggestion of the use of corporate colors and subject themes, as well as, adjusting the colors to the individual preferences of potential user groups (e.g. children, adolescents, women). The surveyed population received an open question, in which they had to define, in as little words as possible, what a website should be like. Almost half (46%) of the surveyed considered that the website should be readable. 22% of the respondents said the website should be clear. 15% of the surveyed said that the website’s interface should be pretty and aesthetic. Responses that the website should be interesting (7%), simple and without decorations (7%), as well as, adapted to its subject, appeared considerably less often. The distribution of answers to this question in the scale of the entire surveyed population is shown in Figure 11.

Fig. 11. What should the Internet website be like? – Results for the whole community Source: own study.

As shown in Table 1, the results within the specific survey groups correspond to the overall tendency. Only in case of the surveyed elderly, the website’s simplicity has more importance over its aesthetics. The results received in this group may be explained by the fact that it is easier to navigate through a simple website, which is important to older persons.

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Table 1. What should the Internet website be like? – Specific group results

Suited to the subject Simple Interesting Pretty and aesthetic Clear Readable

In total

The elderly

Persons with poor vision

3% 7% 7% 15% 22% 46%

4% 12% 4% 6% 20% 54%

3% 9% 8% 15% 23% 43%

Persons with upper limb dysfunction 2% 6% 7% 18% 22% 44%

Source: own study.

Each of the surveyed groups considered readability and clarity of the website as the most important element. The definition of these terms were elaborated on in a subsequent part of the research published in the article titled “A user

friendly website interface for people with disabilities as a response to their needs within the scope of ergonomic design”.

Summary The vast majority of participants in each group of the study reported having a desktop PC or laptop with Internet access at home. The surveyed mostly used the Internet daily or almost daily, and the average time spent online is 2.9 hours. A common problem was outdated information on websites (41%), as well as, inaccurate and unreliable information (35%). A considerable number of the surveyed also expressed that they sometimes had problems with: returning to the top of the page (64%), returning to the home page (54%), web pages that are too long and require lots of scrolling (59%), too little information on the website (51%), lack of subject-grouping of information (65%), difficulty finding needed information on the website (59%), lack of knowledge where needed information can be found (66%). In the opinion of respondents, there appears to be (often - 50%, sometimes 50%) a lot of flash advertising on the website, which hinders information reception. As much as 41% of respondents often do not know how to disable the ads, and 51% did not know how to do that occasionally. 24% of respondents often have problems with hitting mouse cursor on the button to turn off the pop-up ad; while as many as 54% of respondents have such problems only sometimes. The surveyed individuals in each group agreed that the impact of the color scheme on information reception is very big (39%) or rather big (53%).

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Almost half of respondents (46%) considered that the website should be readable. According to 22% of respondents, the website should be clear. In the opinion of 15% of respondents, the website interface should be pretty and aesthetic. As shown in the research, the needs of users with special demands in terms of Internet use focus primarily on usability and functionality of the web page. A huge role is played by the actual content of the website. The amount, up-todateness, arrangement influence the overall reception of the website itself. Ease of navigation resulting from, among others, the ability of finding the needed information, as well as, ease of moving among the subpages, also has an effect on the evaluation of website usability. An important ergonomic condition during the process of website design is also an aesthetic factor. A pretty web page is a clear and readable web page but, above all, a functional one. Speaking of ergonomic design of website interfaces, one should remember to fulfill the basic needs of its users, especially, the users with special needs resulting from various types and levels of disability, as well as, resulting from older age.

References [1]

Boguszewski R.: Czy Polacy są nowocześni? Komunikat z badań, Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej, BS/174/2008, Warsaw 2008, p. 3-7. [2] Długosz J.: Społeczeństwo informacyjne a wykluczeni. Zadania edukacji i polityki społecznej. Potencjalny udział bibliotek, [in:] Społeczeństwo informacyjne – co i jak budujemy?, Biuletyn EBIB, No. 7 (47), 2003. [3] Goban-Klas T., Sienkiewicz P.: Społeczeństwo informacyjne: szanse, zagrożenia, wyzwania. Wydawnictwo Fundacji Postępu Telekomunikacji, Cracow 1999, p. 48. [4] Gogołek W.: Trzeci wiek w sieci, [in:] Wprost, 42 (829), Warsaw 1998. [5] Iwanek A.: Wybrane informacje dotyczące sytuacji osób niepełnosprawnych na rynku racy w Polsce w latach 2003 i 2004, Ministerstwo Pracy i Polityki Społecznej, www.mps.gov.pl (21.03.2009). [6] Karbowski M., Pelc M.: Raport: Polski Internet 2008/2009, Gemius S.A., Warsaw 2009, p. 5. [7] Keen A.: Kult amatora. Jak Internet niszczy kulturę, Wydawnictwa Akademickie i Profesjonalne, Warsaw 2007, p. 11-24. [8] Kurkus-Rozowska B.: Wpływ rehabilitacji na poprawę zdolności fizycznej osób niepełnosprawnych, Bezpieczeństwo Pracy, 3 (368), 2002, p. 21. [9] Ostrowski M., Kolibabska K.: Dotykanie Internetu. Seniorzy wobec technologii, Kultura Popularna, 2 (20), 2008, p. 27. [10] Pizło W.: Ocena zaawansowania społeczeństwa informacyjnego versus efektywność marketingu internetowego, [in:] Efektywność zarządzania marketingowego, Adamowicz M. (red.), Wydawnictwo SGGW, Warsaw 2005.

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[11] Rifkin J.: Wiek dostępu. Nowa kultura hiperkapitalizmu, w której płaci się za każda chwile życia, Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie, Wrocław 2003, p. 204. [12] Rogut A., Piasecki B.: Delphi. Technologie przyszłości, Społeczna Wyższa Szkoła Przedsiębiorczości i Zarządzania w Łodzi, Łódź 2008, p. 22-23. [13] Strzyżewska M.: Wpływ rynku Internetowego i Internetu na rynek tradycyjny, [in:] Wykorzystanie Internetu w marketingu, Zeman-Miszewska E. (red.), Wydawnictwo AE im. K. Adameckiego w Katowicach, Katowice 2003, p. 51. [14] Tokarski T., Myrcha K., Kamińska J. et al.: Materiały szkoleniowe dla służb BHP tworzonych w spółdzielniach ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem stanowiska pracy, CIOP, Warsaw 2007, p. 7, 18, 13. [15] Wenzel M.: Internet i komputery w gospodarstwach domowych. Komunikat z badań, Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej, BS/50/2004, Warsaw 2004, p. 3-7. [16] Wenzel M.: Internet i komputery: wyposażenie gospodarstw domowych, sposoby i cele korzystania. Komunikat z badań, Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej, BS/58/2006, Warsaw 2006, p. 1-9. [17] Wenzel M.: Polacy w sieci. Komunikat z badań, Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej, BS/58/2008, Warsaw 2008, p. 1. [18] Badanie GfK Net Index – Polacy w Internecie - marzec 2009, GfK Polonia, 2009, http://www1.gfk.pl/podstrona.php?page=/prasa.php?typ=krajowa (27.03.2009). [19] Information Society and Inclusion: Linking European Policie, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxemburg 2006, http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/policy_link/ (17.05.2009). [20] Internet World States – usage and populations statistics, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats4.htm (01.04.2009). [21] Raport Pierwszego Kongresu Informatyki Polskiej, Poznań 1994, http://www.kongres.org.pl/on-line/1-szy_Kongres/index.htm. [22] Społeczeństwo informacyjne w Polsce. Wyniki badań statystycznych w latach 20042007, Główny Urząd Statystyczny, Warsaw 2008, http://www.stat.gov.pl/gus/spoleczenstwo_informacyjne_PLK_HTML .htm (15.01.2009). [23] http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/tl/soccul/eincl/index_pl.htm (17.05.2009). [24] http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/infosoc/backg/bangeman.html (15.01.2009). [25] http://users.uj.edu.pl/~uistrug/dydaktyka.html (18.02.2009). [26] http://www.nask.pl/run/n/Historia (21.02.2009). [27] http://www.who.un.org.pl/aktualnosci.php?news=369&wid=10 (29.06. 2009). [28] http://www.wup.lodz.pl/index.php?id=stat_index.php (31.03.2009).

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THE USER FRIENDLY INTERFACE OF THE WEBSITE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN RESPONSE TO THE NEEDS WITHIN THE SCOPE OF ERGONOMIC DESIGN Magdalena Wróbel Joanna Lecewicz-Bartoszewska

Introduction In information society beyond a human factor the technical infrastructure plays the crucial role. A human being is not able to communicate with machines directly therefore the dialogue is possible only through devices which are equipped in appropriate user’s interface responsible for the interaction with the user. The science of usability deals with ergonomics of interactive devices and applications. From the ergonomic point of view, the usability refers to the intuition of navigation, easy access to information and enabling the understanding of communication. The usability is also defined as a measure of productivity, effectiveness and satisfaction from the using a given product to achieve specified results by particular users. The ergonomically designed interface should be attractive for the user and using such a website should give him a sense of satisfaction. An ergonomic website should meet the needs and requirements of the target users.

Ergonomics of the interfaces of websites The user’s dialogue, namely an individual entering the interaction with the system [17] or the product [18] is possible only by means of “entry” and “exit” devices equipped with the appropriate user’s interface. A human-computer interaction is a specified interdependency between an organic living creature and non-organic machine being the subject of interest of among others ergonomics. This special case of steering system where a human being and a machine become a unified control team is characterized by the user’s continuous action and the computer responses. The elements of such a system are shown in Fig.1.

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entry

exit

Signaling device

Machine (device))

R

Human being (representation s, assessment, predicting, choice)

E

Signaling device

A

R – receptor E – effektor A – regulacja automatyczna (programowanie)

Fig. 1. Human – machine (device) system ‒ information flow Source: Lewandowski J., Projektowanie systemów informacyjnych zarządzania w przedsiębiorstwie, Wydawnictwo Politechniki Łódzkiej, Łódź 1999, s. 198.

According to the telecommunication law an interface: “is an electric, electronic or optical system with or without the software enabling connecting, cooperation and exchange of signals linked through the interface according to the technical specification” [own translation] In other words, the user’s interface is the entire software together with appropriate devices designed for the exchange of the information between the user and the computer. [8] In the case of the interface of the website, entry and exist are performed by 17 the website displayed in the web browser. These interfaces should carry a high level of usability or functionality (in a different terminology). A website, called differently WWW or internet website is a hypertext document developed in 18 HTML language shared for the public view in the Internet by means of WWW service for the information, commercial and propaganda objectives [8] or just to satisfy the needs of expression. The persons responsible for designing interfaces are called interaction designers or information architects. Although the job tittles may be a bit abstract they entirely reflect the nature of their work. Their job involves combining skillfully the technical knowledge with the knowledge of such fields as psychology, sociology and marketing and far and foremost – ergonomics. In the process of designing, they establish the pattern of interactions between the user and the system. In other words, the interaction designers define what the product needs to do and how. The project prepared by designers goes to graphics and 17

Web browser – a computer program which allows to download and display the document contents from the servers of the websites and also to play multimedia files. 18 HTML – Hypertext Markup Language - is a currently domineering language used to design internet websites allowing to define partially the way of the visual presentation of the document in the web browser.

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computer programmers who deal with the development of the internet website in a version available to a user called an Internet user. Interactions designing involves the user who helps to develop the product = in this case a website ‒ from the beginning is called a user - oriented designing. The interface may be called “user – friendly” only when the way of communication between a human being and a computer is the least problematic for the former one and does not cause uncomfortable stresses. [8] It is a common knowledge that a graphic interface is more user – friendly than a text one due to the speed and ease of communicating information. The role of ergonomics in designing of the user’s interfaces Ergonomics, a an interdisciplinary field, sets a goal to adjust the work and material working conditions to psychological and physical characteristics of a human being. The tasks of ergonomics are [4]:  carrying out a research on the adjustment of work and working conditions to natural limitations both physical and psychological of a human being,  defining working conditions allowing to optimize the work performed by a human being,  identifying and eliminating of threats and problems for a human being in the process of work,  defining the biologically optimal cost of the performed work through appropriate technical and coordinating actions. Ergonomics plays a crucial role in the designing process. The ergonomics in question is the conceptual and corrective ergonomics. [2] The former one – the conceptual ergonomics takes into account the ergonomic ideas from the early stages of the designing process linked with diagnostical methods applied in corrective ergonomics. As for the corrective ergonomics, it deals with the improvement of the existing system and takes into consideration the changes in the design. They are both interdependent and complete each other which allows to create an environment with a human being established in it. In the reference to the interfaces of the websites we can talk about both conceptual ergonomics and corrective one. The conceptual ergonomics is found in the case of designing new internet websites whereas the corrective one in a situation when the website in subjected to a change. In any case, the basic objective is to increase the usability of the interface of the website. User – oriented designing is an example of the interfaces of the websites in which the principles of ergonomics are applied. According to PN-EN ISO 13407:2005 standard The human - oriented designing processes in the case of interactive systems, the designing process should take into account the user’s requirements as well as the context of usage of the given interface. The proposed designing solution should then be subjected to assessment and only after positive evaluation it is approved for the public use. The design which meets the 144


requirements given by the users means the success of the designing process. However, when the requirements are not met the entire process starts from the beginning.

Analysis and specification of use context Designing

The design process Requirements analysis and specification Evaluation of design solutions Planning of design process

The project meets the users requirements

Fig. 2. The user – oriented process according to PN-ISO 13407:2005 standard Source: Own study based on PN-EN ISO 13407:2005 The human – oriented designing processes in the case of interactive systems.

Such an ergonomic attitude to the designing is far from the traditional one in which the IT projects were designed by the engineers focused on technological requirements not on the user’s convenience. According to the new approach to the interactive systems design, designing of the user’s interface should be prior to designing the systems from the technological side. When the user is involved in the designing process, the functionality of the system reflects his needs and limitations. The interfaces designed in such a way should be verified on a regular basis, on each stage of the development which will allow for eliminating some potential errors and lowering the cost of implementing changes. Usability of website interfaces The science that deals with the ergonomics of the interactive devices and applications is called usability. According to the ergonomics, usability refers to:  intuition of the navigation,  easy information access,  ensuring the understanding of communication from the user’s point of view.

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The PN-EN ISO 9241-11:2002 (U) standard defines the usability as a degree to which a product can be used by indicated users in order to reach specific objectives effectively, efficiently and satisfactory in a specified context of usage. In other words, the usability role should be considered in the early stage of designing products since it is combined with the degree of how efficiently, effectively and satisfactory the users’ products are able to work with them. The usability of the products can be improved/corrected through switching on the features and attributes which bring benefits to the users in a specific context of usage. The product can have different usability levels when used in different contexts [18]. The ergonomic guidelines on the user’s interfaces applied in the World Wide Web have been defined in section 151 of PN-EN ISO 9241-151:2008 (U) [19]. standard. The standard defines the usability as a measure of the user’s efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction from using a given product for reaching particular objectives by given users. The usability of the websites is determined by numerous elements. One of the is the navigation layout that should be developed in such a way so that it would be fast and smooth for the users. Therefore the menu should be clear and ordered however not with many options. These requirements are in the opposition to the dynamic development of the Internet that requires providing more and more information. Taking so many elements into account it is hard to maintain the simplicity of the navigation layout. In addition to the usability term, the key notion of functionality also refers to the WWW websites. The term “usability has been kept in its Polish version until now but in the process of liking the English equivalents, the word has been translated. In the case of functionality it currently involves establishing the amount of functions or possibilities of a given WWW website whereas the usability means the convenience of using them. At present, it is recommended to replace the word “usability” with “usage”. Such a solution will help to keep the compliance with an English terminology as well as to use the term in accord with Polish understanding of the word. The usability may mean both: the process of interaction with an application and as a marketing communication function. Regardless of the context, the usability allows the information to better reach the user by enhancing the level of satisfaction from an interaction. The very first two seconds of interaction may influence the decision of leaving or staying on the internet website. This decision may be affected by the user’s subjective aesthetic feelings, lack of intuition in the interface architecture and not following the principles of ergonomics [5]. The websites usability in the light of standard acts In the EU legislation there have been few acts referring directly or indirectly to the issue of the usability of website interfaces. One example of the current EU 146


guidelines in force referring to the user’s interfaces is the 90/270/EWG regulation passed by European Economic Community from May 29th in 1990 on the minimum requirements in safety and health protection when working with devices equipped in monitor screens [10] which came into force on December 30th in 1992. According to the regulation, the used software has to be appropriate to the given task so that the user would be able to complete it. On top of that, it has to be easy to learn and appropriate for the user but most importantly intuitive. The interface should be adapted to the user’s capacity and his possibilities. The regulation highlights also that the principles of software ergonomics need to be applied during the designing of the user’s interfaces. As a response to the limited number of legal regulation, there have been new regulations created of the normative nature referring to the functional recommendations for the website interfaces. The first regulation is the series of PN-EN ISO 9241 standards Ergonomic requirements referring to office work with application of terminals equipped in monitor screens (VDT). The ISO 9241 Standard is list with 17 sections referring to the usability of the computer software for a specified purpose and group of users. The most important one is the part of eleven standard: Recommendations on usability. It involves the definition of the mentioned usability term together with the recommendations on the evaluation of the terminals usability equipped in monitor screens and widely used measures. What is important is the principles of the usability assessment have been provided early in the designing stage. In 2007 and 2008 the standard was completed with several regulations labeled with the same name The Ergonomics of the Human Interaction and the System. The most important is part 151 referring directly to the website interfaces ‒ Guidelines on the User’s Interfaces used in World Wide Web [19]. The recommendations and guidelines mentioned in the norm were the user’s oriented designing of the interfaces to apply in the World Wide Web so that their usability could be increased. The recommendations refer mainly to the following aspects of the user’s interface designing as: the reference model for the user’s oriented designing of the user’s interfaces used in the World Wide Web, the designing strategy, content design, navigation and search, content presentation. Taking into account the development in the field of monitor screens guaranteeing the changes in the office facilities the series of standards has been created in 1999: PN-EN ISO 13406 The Ergonomic Requirements on the Office Work with the Application of the Flat Monitor Screen published in Poland in 2002. The Standard consists of two sections: introduction [11] and the ergonomic requirements on monitors with flat screen [12]. In these standards, the definition of the flat screens has been provided as well as the ergonomic requirements for the quality of the picture has been established.

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Another standard ‒ crucial for the work in question ‒ from the PN-EN ISO 14915 series The Ergonomics of the Software for the User’s Multimedia Interfaces has three sections. The first section The Principles and Range of Designing [14] involves the principles of design on multimedia design of the user’s interfaces. It entails the range of conditions in design and the requirements and guidelines on the ergonomic design of multimedia applications mainly in a field of work or gaining knowledge. The second section Navigation and Control in Multimedia [15] presents the requirements, guidelines and principles on interactive, multimedia user’s interfaces integrated and synchronized with different media. It also discusses an issues related to the application of different integrated media. The last section PN-EN ISO 14915-3:2005 The Choice and Combination of Media [16] gives suggestions on how to choose media for a given task or objective and also considering the character of information. This part includes also guidelines on combining different media and recommendations for integrating the multimedia elements in browsing and reading sequences. The ergonomic guidelines on human and computer interaction should be considered early in the design process which is reflected in the PN-EN ISO 13407:2005 standard The Human Oriented Design Process in the case of Interactive Systems [13]. The standard provides the guidelines referring to the oriented –user design in the whole living cycle of the computer interactive systems including human – oriented design management. It also gives a range of design actions aimed at a human – being. The PN-EN ISO 13407:2005 standard describes the design process oriented towards a user and highlights the value of assessment of the applied design solution as a verification method to meet the requirements of the user’s interfaces of interactive systems. The design process should include the functionality design and information architecture of the user’s interface, including the structure and the processes of interactions. As a result the model of user’s the interface should be designed with the description of the system. The PN-EN ISO 9999:2002 standard Technical Aids for the People with Disabilities – Classification refers to the expectations and needs of the disabled [20]. Its objective is to build a common approach to technical aids. It involves the functional breakdown of the technical aids used individually by the disabled in each area of their use with particular consideration for new technologies. The summary of the described normative acts are shown in table 1.

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Table 1. Standards relating to the usability of websites PN-EN ISO 9241

PN-EN ISO 9241 PN-EN ISO 13406 PN-EN ISO 13407:2005 PN-EN ISO 14915 PN-EN ISO 9999:2002

The ergonomic requirements on office work with the application of the terminals equipped in monitor screens (VDT) – the series of standards. The ergonomice of human – system interaction – the series of standards. The ergonomic requirements on office work with the application of monitor screens with flat screen – the series of standards. The design processes towards a human being in the case of interactive systems. The software ergonnomics for multimedia user’s interfaces the series of standards. Technical aids for the disabled - Summary Source: own study.

When you design the website interface WWW you should consider the accessibility criteria developed by such organizations as among others Word Wide Web Consortium ‒ W3C. The main objective of W3C established in 1994 is to make the Internet the universal tool of information exchange. The founder of the organization, Tim Berners – Lee is the pioneer of WWW and the designer of the very first web browser and WWW server. Currently, W3C has 400 organizations, non – governmental agencies, universities and the companies as: Apple, Hewlett – Packard and Microsoft. The aims established by the organization are planned to be reached through technical specifications such as Web Content Accessibility Guide – WCAG (the accessibility guidelines of internet contents) enabling the codification of good practices and the legislation against discrimination. The established standards have no legal power but are a recommendation however the rank of the organization has a key impact on how they are perceived [24]. The early mentioned Web Content Accessibility Guide recommendation (WCAG) 2.0 involves [26], to which more attention has been paid in this work, involves the recommendations on the content accessibility of the internet websites. Following the discussed guidelines, the interface designers can create internet websites accessible to the wider group of users, including the people with disabilities together with:  the blind and the people with poor vision,  the deaf and the people with poor hearing abilities,  the mute and with speech dysfunction,  with cognitive disability,  with motor disability,  with light sensitivity,  with mixed disabilities.

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The recommendations in the guidebook help to make the Internet content more useful for users in general. WCAG involves four general main principles from which the detailed guidelines are formed. The general main principles refer to:  perceptibility,  operation,  understanding,  robustness. According to the first principle, the components of the information and the user’s interface need to be presented in such way to the user so that he would be able to perceive them. When designing the interface of the website you need to:  provide alternative text for all non – textual elements allowing for their change according to the user’s needs, so creating the possibility of a change in a font size (from a small one to a big one), Braille, symbols, audio alternative or just simplifying the language,  use the alternatives for the media operating in the real time, for example to ensure the possibility to play the radio or TV shows with a delay or to offer other forms of communication which do not require the participation in a given time,  ensure the content adaptability understood as a way of presentation of the content in a different way for example by simplifying the layout without losing the information and its structure,  ensure the differentiation, perceptibility so that the user could easily perceive and hear the content which includes separating the foreground from the background. The second principle mentions that the components of the user’s interface and navigations need to be possible to apply. In the reference to that principle you need to:  ensure the keyboard accessibility understood as using practical improvements by means of keyboard,  ensure users the ample time for reading and understanding the content,  prevent from hacking the website,  ensure the possibility of the navigation in order to help the user to navigate, find the content and decide where they want to go at a certain moment. The third principle says that the information and operations undertaken by the user’s interface need to be understood. In the case of user’s interface you need to:  ensure the possibility of reading and understating the information you need to use the commonly used words that are easy to understand and use the language typical for an average person with a high education background,  ensure predictability so that the WWW page would display and work in a predictable way,

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provide help in entering data so that the users would avoid mistakes and would be able to correct their errors,  ensure compatibility with the current and older software version including supporting technologies in the process (the equipment and software working as a User – Agents). The last one from the main principles, the fourth one, mentions that the content needs to be resistant enough so that it could be accurately interpreted by means of varied software including technological aids. The maximum of compatibility needs to be ensured with current and potential software (User – Agents). Another project, still in the process of development, of W3C Widgets 1.0: Requirements [27] published in April 2009 involves the requirement for the widgets to meet so the element of interaction between the user and the system. The 4.4 section User experience involves the requirements which help to standardize the experiences that the users have when working with widgets. The first recommendation refers to the accessibility of the interfaces for the user, to the used language in particular ‒ it should be clear for everyone and possible to enter by means of the used keyboard. Americans, as Internet pioneers, have been highlighting for years that the websites of their agencies would be easily accessible for people with difficulties. The government unit formed particularly for that reason educates its state employees and build the needed infrastructure. The guidelines and the requirements have been listed in 508 Section valid in the USA. The 1194.22 clause of this regulating law Intranet (based on WWW) and Internet information and application involves criteria for technology and information based on the Internet. According to them among many others [25]:  for each non – textual element on the page there should be a text element displayed on the website which you can start by a particular button,  for each multimedia presentation there should be a synchronically played equivalent available,  the www websites should be programmed in such a way so that the information displayed in color could also be shown without color,  the documents should be organized in such a way so that they could be read without the need of using the accompanying style of sheets card,  the headings of the lines and columns should be defined for the table with data,  the frames should be called in such a way so that it would be possible to identify them and the navigation should be doable,  if there is a need for a response over a short amount of time, the user should be informed about this and you need to give him an ample time for response.

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An example of Section 508 shows how to implement the guidelines developed by World Wide Web Consortium in the Recommendation of Web Content Accessibility Guide to national legislation. It is an example of good practices to which you can refer in the process of the design of user’s interfaces in Poland.

Evaluation methods for usability of website interfaces A website designer is not able to critically evaluate his or her work and, therefore, it is very important to subject his work to frequent and varied assessments. This helps to reduce the cost of frequent usability improvements resulting from its inadequacy, or even to improve its aesthetics. There are several completely different methods of assessing the interface usability of websites. In principle, they differ in applied research methods, tools and scope. The most famous include the following [21]:  automatic method  eye-tracking,  method of empirical research with a user  user experience  IDI  individual depth interview,  formal method  using models,  informal method  using knowledge,  usability engineering. In eye-tracking study, the usability factor is calculated by using software that measures the subjects’ eyeball movements. Eye trackers, or special devices, calculate, among others, how long the user concentrates on a given element, the path the eyes follow while browsing the website. The eye-tracking method is now applied and used more willingly in website usability research and allows one to specify in what way the user browses the page, what elements he focuses his greatest attention on and what he tends to ignore. This type of research must involve a significant number of participants, mainly because of huge differences that exist between people [22]. It can be used for both, interactive prototypes and implemented websites. The method of empirical research with the user (user experience) involves observing the subject during his or her website browsing. The user executes a command given to him by the investigator to evaluate the functional aspects of the designed web page. The researcher then determines what problems the subject has encountered while using the website. The individual in-depth interview (IDI) with a representative of the target group is a very detail-oriented discussion on the functional aspects of the designed website.

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The formal method involving the research of applied models is based on the focus group research, where groups of several subjects are presented with models of websites for assessment. The spontaneous and voluntary views of respondents are a major contribution. Another method, developed by Nielsen, is usability engineering. It is a relatively cheap and quick way to test the web page interface usability involving primarily user observation, scenario, simplified thinking aloud and heuristic evaluation. Usability engineering can examine the website for problems with its use. Each of the participants evaluates the interface several times, from a different point of view each time, which is specifically defined by the researcher on the basis of usability principles. The participant searches and defines the problems that he has encountered during the study and proposes solutions to them. Similarly to eye-tracking, it can be used for interactive prototypes, as well as, implemented web services. Visual assessment for the aesthetic values of the user’s interfaces Despite the usability aspect helping the user to work efficiently, effectively and with satisfaction, the crucial requirement for the website interfaces is the aesthetical one. The aesthetical values of the website interfaces are becoming a key factor when it comes to choosing a given website. What is found to be visually attractive, in extreme cases beautiful is often regarded as good. The stereotype “kalokagathia” from greek “kalós kagathós” ‒ beauty and good is the most often encountered cognitive abbreviation. The evaluation of beauty deals with aesthetics, one from the three section in philosophy. As Wladyslaw Tatarkiewicz describes [7] “the psychological conditions, experiences, feelings experienced under the influence of the beauty and art are called aesthetic”[own translation]. He stresses as well a significant difference between the scope of the aesthetic and the beauty experience. The aesthetic experience is the experience of intensive pleasure gained from looking and listening; the pleasure is so intensive that a human being finds it difficult to tear away from it”[7, own translation] because “according to hedonistic theory (…) the aesthetic experience is nothing else but the experience of the feeling of pleasure”[7, own translation] Since the ergonomics has the objective to adjust the work and the material environment to the psychological and physical characteristics of a human being, the design with considering aesthetical values is also its preliminary interest. Aesthetic values, as proved by Stanislaw Ossowski, can be divided into two basic levels: artistic and aesthetic values. The artistic values can be assessed against the category of good and evil, the esthetic values are evaluated against the category of beauty and ugliness. It is worth remembering, as Ossowski later mentioned: “the values assigned to objects for the sake of their beauty are democratic; everyone can make a judgment about them. The values assigned due 153


to artism have the aristocratic character: the experts decide about them”.[6, own translation]. There are many factors that decide about the aesthetics, both cultural and social ones. There is a strong correlation between “how modern technologies are designed – what technologies and interfaces have a visual impact on the users ‒ and how these visualizations shape the desire in the reality and even the awareness” [1]. The graphic side of the website interfaces has an enormous impact during general assessment of the website. In reality, the graphic side determines its character. As the research shows, the internet websites are browsed briefly and the internet user spends only a while on them. This means that the more attractive the website, the higher the chances are that the user will spend more time on it and will start to browse its content. The graphic side may have a key meaning in the way the website is perceived and also it may become one of the assessment criteria for the website interface. Through evaluation of the visual aspect of the internet website involves applying the range of general requirements. As B. Jarosz suggests, the following requirements should be implemented [3]:  educational, methodical and methodological and IT needs  functional and psychological,  aesthetic, vivid and artistic,  technical. The role of aesthetics is significant in every of the aspects mentioned above. An attractive website can increase the possibilities to grasp its content. It is possible to highlight the needed content through bolding of the specified content which makes it easy to remember. Most importantly, the visual effect should enhance each time and yet not dominate the educational or informative message on the website. In the case of functional and psychological requirement, aesthetics also plays an important role. It can have a direct impact on the ease of navigation and the intuitiveness of the usage of the website. For example, the size of the font, its character line and color decide if the information on the website is perceived easily enough including the color of the background. The balanced amount of graphic elements is particularly important from the point of view of website readability. The aesthetical requirements are interdependent with others previously mentioned requirements. Here the structure of the website plays a key role, together with used colors which have an impact of the vibe of the website. The screen display should have a perfectly thought out and logical whole like a painting observed in a museum [3].

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Therefore to be able to visually assess the aesthetical value of the website, there should be listed a range of criteria and sub criteria based on among many others the above considerations.

The results of the study Objective of the study   

The work in question has an objective to: determine the website interface that is user friendly towards people with disabilities, define the assessment criteria of the aesthetical values for the website interfaces, establish the guidelines for the further research.

The strategy of the research In order to define the aesthetic assessment of the website interfaces there has been a visual evaluation carried out on the chosen group of the websites published in the Internet. The subject of the visual assessment was the screen shots of thirty websites. The group of unified internet bank websites has been selected. Three thirty person groups: two groups from The Management and Production Engineering at Technical University in Lodz, and the group of students from the Academy of Fine Arts were recommended to carry out an ergonomic quality assessment of an internet website in the aspect of aesthetic values. Individual assessment was based on the previously established criteria by the researcher resulting from his own experiences, feelings, needs and analogies towards the discussed in classes by the lecturers other carriers of information. The criteria given by the subjects were grouped and assigned to wider categories. Next, the frequency of listing the criteria by the subjects from particular categories was calculated. As a result, the main categories were ranked. The results of the visual assessment of aesthetic values formed the basis for determining the criteria of evaluation of the usefulness of web pages. Results of the study – visual assessment of aesthetic values After a thorough examination of the visual aesthetic values of websites carried out by the subject groups, the criteria listed by them were grouped and assigned to more general categories. On the basis of written answers provided by the respondents, the following categories (criteria) of aesthetic values assessment of websites were determined:  web page composition,  color scheme, 155


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web typography, graphic elements, photos, banners. In the judgment of the respondents, the most important criterion for assessing the aesthetic value of the webpage is its composition. As many as 46% of mentioned sub-criteria were included in this category. The replies of the surveyed population do not differ significantly from average results, which are illustrated in Figure 3. Another important criterion in the aesthetic value of web pages is color and the color scheme. Among the sub-criteria listed by the respondents, as much as 35% can be classified into this category. As in the case of composition, the responses of individual surveyed groups were consistent. Only within the third group ‒ with the students of the Academy of Fine Arts the color scheme were evaluated above average whereas the composition was evaluated below average (Fig. 3). Third most important criterion for assessing the aesthetic value of web pages is web typography. 16% of the following sub-criteria belonged to this greater category. The results in the individual survey groups were parallel to the average (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Criteria for the visual assessment of aesthetic values in terms of their relevance during the assessment Source: own study.

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The least effect on aesthetics of web pages is believed to be decided by graphical material and photos. This criterion appeared in only 2% of all subcriteria listed by the surveyed. The last listed criterion, though slightly more important than graphics and photos, was considered to be banners (4% of all sub-criteria). The aesthetic experience drawn from the use of the website is determined primarily by the composition of the website. According to one definition: composition is an arrangement defining the function of its elements, a mutual attitude in terms of content and form between these elements and within the whole [8]. The sub-criteria mentioned by the surveyed, which can be classified as the determinants of aesthetic composition include, among others:  the number of elements and the quantity of information contained on the web page,  proper arrangement of elements and information, for example, by providing relevant information in a central field of vision,  the arrangement of content, for example, by segregating relevant information and grouping together similar elements and information, or creating bullet points,  page orientation (vertical or horizontal),  page division, allowing for sorting and grouping of information,  the clarity of page organization achieved, for instance, by adequate spacing between the elements and blocks of text,  the intuitiveness of the web page layout, allowing a first-time web page user to navigate through without a problem,  maintaining proportions between specific elements of the page, as well as, between the various fields of the page,  using icons instead of text, thus increasing the speed of communication between the user and the website owner,  standardization of icons, that is, using graphic symbols that are generally established to express specific activities, so that users instantly know the function of icons,  skillful selection of continuous text, that is, a division of continuous text that allows for text to be clear, and its reading would not cause any difficulty,  differentiation of the importance of information through the use of different colors and font size,,  highlighting important information through the distinction or variation of the font size,  placement of the logo or name in a prominent place while maintaining appropriate proportions. The most important sub-criterion in the "composition" category is proper arrangement of elements and information on the web page (17%). The next subcriteria of similar weight are: content arrangement through segregation and 157


grouping of items and information (12%), maintaining clarity of the page with appropriate spacing between elements (10%), differentiation of information transfer through the use of different degrees and color of text (10%), placement of the logo or name in a prominent place while maintaining appropriate proportions (9%), and also highlighting important information through the distinction or variation of the font (8%). What also matters is the number of elements and the quantity of information contained on the website (7%), as well as, a proper balance between individual elements and fields (6%), division of the web page (6%), use of icons instead of text (6%) and the intuitiveness of the web page’s organization (5%). All of the above sub-criteria affect the fact that a website can be considered as being clear. In addition, the evaluation of the page’s composition is influenced, to a lesser extent, by aspects, such as, a skillful selection of continuous text (2%), page orientation (1%) and standardization of icons (1%). The next determinant in the visual assessment of aesthetics of the website is the applied color scheme. The color scheme is a set, choice of colors, characteristic of a given painting composition, the work of the artist or the direction in the art of painting [8] However, the coloring is a set of colors giving a general character to a certain object, especially a painting composition, dominant hues in a painting [8]. It is the color scheme and coloring that decide on the overall tone of the website, giving it a certain mood and atmosphere. The following aspects can be included in this criterion of assessment of aesthetic values of websites:  background colors,  text colors,  colors of the photos,  colors of the graphic material,  frame colors,  colors of gadgets,  colors of icons,  contrast,  colors of links,  combination of colors,  intensity of color,  variation of color,  number of used colors,  use of corporate colors,  use of colors related to the website’s subject matter,  use of colors corresponding to the preferences of users.

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The key aspect in the “color scheme/coloring” category is the background color of the web page (21%). It is somewhat fundamental in comparison to other elements; therefore, it should determine the colors of these elements. Equally important is the text color (18%), as well as, the contrast between the background color, and the text color (19%). The assessment of the aesthetics of the webpage is also affected by the diversity of colors (7%), and combinations of colors (7%). A positive impact on the aesthetic reception of web pages is also due to applying corporate colors (5%), as well as, using color matched to the theme of the website (5%) and corresponding preferences of its potential users (4%). The remaining aspects according to the surveyed have a marginal impact on the aesthetic evaluation of the website. Typography refers to the use of characters in print or on a website. According to the dictionary definition, it is the graphical layout of the book [8] In the case of the interface we can talk about the internet typography that is another aesthetic criterion of the internet website. Typography is one of the key concepts in DTP so generally the actions connected with preparing materials on a computer for further copying by means of printing methods or to publish on line. The following elements mentioned by the respondents can be considered as its sub-criteria:  typeface – popularly called a font,  type size – popularly called font size,  interline – that is, the space between the lines within the text,  type style – that is a typeface version (for example: bold, italic or underline)  character spacing,  typographic consistency – understood as a consistent use of typefaces,  text fragment formatting – known as text aligning, for example, justified, left, right or center. In terms of typography, the most important determinant of the aesthetic evaluation of web pages is the type size, commonly referred to as the font size (39%). Another very important sub-criterion is typeface, the so-called font type (29%). Also of great importance in assessing the aesthetics of web pages is the applied line spacing (16%). However, a slightly lesser role is played by: character spacing (5%), typeface used (4%), text fragment formatting (4%) and typographic consistency (2%). Proper layout of the web page in conjunction with the use of font color matched with the background color influence readability of the page. In addition to the composition, color scheme/coloring, as well as, typography, aesthetic evaluation of web pages is also influenced by the use of graphical material and photos. Graphic elements can be of verbal character, when they are combined with text, or non-verbal, when only visual material is present. 159


According to the surveyed, a visual assessment is made based on:  the photo placed – its overall attractiveness, correct and interesting composition, color scheme, including saturation, sharpness, brightness, and grain, size, shape, orientation (vertical or horizontal), location on the page,  graphic elements – images, drawings (AutoShapes, diagrams, curves, lines),  icons – their intuitiveness, size and their adaptation to the character of the web page. In this criterion, the significance of individual sub-criteria is very similar. The surveyed similarly assessed the impact of images on the aesthetics (38%) as the impact of graphic elements on aesthetics of the web page (38%). Slightly less important is the role of icons placed on the web pages (23%). The last element that influences aesthetic assessment of web pages consists of banner ads. These form a separate category from the previous one, graphics and photos, mainly because of their additive character. In general, the web page designer only leaves free space on the web page, where banners supplied by advertisers are placed. Thus, the site owner’s impact on the appearance of the web page is diminished. The appearance of banners on a web page can have a negative effect on its aesthetic assessment. It is another reason why it the topic of banners is being considered as a separate category. In the opinion of the surveyed students, the aesthetics of the banners can be evaluated on the basis of their:  overall attractiveness,  placement on the web page – where it is located on the page,  space occupied on the page,  number,  variability – that is, whether they change,  readability and clarity. The most important factor is the number of banners (32%), their overall attractiveness (24%) and size (20%). Secondary importance has to do with their placement (8%), variability (8%) and readability (8%).

Summary On the basis of the visual assessment of aesthetic values of web pages the following key criteria were identified for the visual assessment of aesthetic values of web pages:  composition of the web page – 46%,  color scheme/coloring – 35%,  web typography – 16%,

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graphic elements, photos – 1%, banner ads – 2%. The most important assessment criterion is the web page composition, which significantly affects the clarity of the page. When referring to clarity of the page, the following aspects that influence composition are considered:  proper distribution of elements and information on the web page,  organization of contents through separation and grouping of elements and information,  maintaining proper spacing between the elements,  variation of the message by using alternative font sizes and font colors,  placement of a logo or name in a visible place and respecting the proportions,  highlighting important information through the distinction or variation of the font size,  appropriate number of elements and information contained on the web page,  balance between the individual elements and the fields of the web page,  page division,  use of icons instead of text,  intuitiveness of the layout. The next criterion of aesthetic value assessment of web pages is the color scheme/coloring. The dominant role in this criterion is the background color, the font color and the contrast between the two. Also meaningful is the diversity of the colors used, combination of colors and the use of corporate colors or colors that can be associated with the subject of the web page. Appropriate matching of the background color and the font color, along with a proper graphic layout of the web page influences the readability of the web page. Web typography is mainly decided by the following aspects:  font size,  font type,  interline. During their assessment of aesthetic values of web pages, the students barely paid attention to photos, illustrations or graphic elements, placed on the web page. Their impact on the overall aesthetic evaluation of the web page is marginal. The presence of banner ads on the web page does not have a positive effect on the aesthetic evaluation. These can destroy the positive effect achieved by a transparent composition, use of attractive colors, or a readable graphic layout. The assessment of the attractiveness of the web page is affected by the amount of banners, their overall attractiveness, size, variability, location on the page, as well as, clarity and readability.

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[19]

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Flanagan M.: Kultura zabawy, Kultura Popularna, Wydawnictwo SWPS „Academia”, 2(20)/2008, p. 25. Górska E.: Ergonomia. Projektowanie, diagnoza, eksperymenty, Oficyna Wydawnicza Politechniki Warszawskiej, Warsaw 2007. Jarosz B.: Kryteria oceny szaty graficznej stron internetowych wykorzystywanych w edukacji, Materials from XV National Scientific Conference „Komputer” w edukacji”, Kraków 23-24 September 2005, http://www.ap.krakow.pl/ptn/ref2005/jarosz.pdf (21.05.2009) Lewandowski J.: Projektowanie systemów informacyjnych zarządzania w przedsiębiorstwie, Wydawnictwo Politechniki Łódzkiej, Łodz 1999. Nowicki Z.: Użyteczność stron www: użytkownik rezygnuje po 2 sekundach, Marketing w praktyce, 3/2009. Ossowski S.: Podstaw estetyki, PWN, Warsaw 1958, p. 258. Tatarkiewicz W.: Dzieje sześciu pojęć, PWN, Warszawa 1982, p. 363, 366, 378. Słownik Encyklopedyczny Informatyka, Płoski Z. (red.), Wydawnictwo Europa, Wroclaw 1999, entry: interfejs. Wielka Encyklopedia PWN, T. 8, Wojnowski J., (red.), Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warsaw 2002. Dyrektywy 90/270/EWG z dnia 29 maja 1990 r. w sprawie minimalnych wymagań w dziedzinie bezpieczeństwa i ochrony zdrowia przy pracy z urządzeniami wyposażonymi w monitory ekranowe (piąta dyrektywa szczegółowa w rozumieniu art. 16 ust. 1 dyrektywy 89/391/EWG) (Dz. Urz. WE L 156 z 21.06.1990). PN-EN ISO 13406-1:2002 Wymagania ergonomiczne dotyczące pracy biurowej z zastosowaniem monitorów ekranowych z płaskim ekranem – Part 1: Wprowadzenie. PN-EN ISO 13406-2:2002 Wymagania ergonomiczne dotyczące pracy biurowej z zastosowaniem monitorów ekranowych z płaskim ekranem – Part 2: Wymagania ergonomiczne dotyczące monitorów z płaskim ekranem. PN-EN ISO 13407:2005 Procesy projektowania ukierunkowane na człowieka w przypadku systemów interaktywnych. PN-EN ISO 14915-1:2005 – Ergonomia oprogramowania do multimedialnych interfejsów użytkownika – Part 1: Zasady i zakres projektowania. PN-EN ISO 14915-2:2004 – Ergonomia oprogramowania do multimedialnych interfejsów użytkownika – Part 2: Multimedialna nawigacja i kontrola PN-EN ISO 14915-3:2005 – Ergonomia oprogramowania do multimedialnych interfejsów użytkownika – Part 3: Dobór i kombinacja środków przekazu PN-EN ISO 9241-10:2002 (U) – Wymagania ergonomiczne dotyczące pracy biurowej z zastosowaniem terminali wyposażonych w monitory ekranowe (VDT) – Part 10: Zasady dialogu. PN-EN ISO 9241-11:2002 (U) – Wymagania ergonomiczne dotyczące pracy biurowej z zastosowaniem terminali wyposażonych w monitory ekranowe (VDT) – Part 11: Wskazówki dotyczące użyteczności. PN-EN ISO 9241-151:2008 (U) – Ergonomia interakcji człowieka i systemu – Part 151: Wytyczne dotyczące interfejsów użytkownika stosowanych w sieci World Wide Web.


[20] PN-EN ISO 9999:2002 – Pomoce techniczne dla osób niepełnosprawnych – Klasyfikacja. [21] http://users.uj.edu.pl/~uistrug/dydaktyka.html (03.03.2009) [22] http://webmade.org/artykuly/eye-tracking-usability.php (01.02.2009) [23] http://www.iea.cc/browse.php?contID=what_is_ergonomics (31.03.2009). [24] http://www.ikeris.com/pl/liczba-ilosc-uzytkownikow-internetu-na-swiecie/ (11.03.2009). [25] http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12#Web (12.03.2009). [26] Web Content Accessibility Guide (WCAG) 2.0, W3C Recommendation, 11 December 2008, http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-WCAG20-20081211/ (08.05.2009). [27] Widgets 1.0: Requirements, W3C Working Draft, 30 April 2009, http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/WD-widgets-reqs-20090430/ (08.05.2009).

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