Managing accessibility in local e-government websites through end-user development: a case study

This work discusses accessibility problems concerning content creation and publication on e-government websites, and proposes an approach based on end-user development (EUD) techniques to overcome them. To deal with the huge and diverse amount of documentation to be published, content management systems (CMSs) are usually adopted in government institutions to support content creation by a large set of publishers, who typically have no competencies in information technology. This paper proposes the integration of EUD techniques in CMSs in order to limit CMS personalization and, at the same time, relieve publishers from managing the low-level details of content representation. To demonstrate the validity of the approach, a case study research has been performed by involving some employees of the Brescia Municipality in Italy. The results of the study confirm the positive impact of EUD techniques on content accessibility and publishers’ work practice, and suggest their possible use in more sophisticated tasks.     

Website accessibility: a survey of local e-government websites and legislation in Northern Ireland

The provision of accessible websites is a legal requirement under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, which applies throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Equality (disability, etc.) (Northern Ireland) Order 2000. A survey of local e-government websites indicated that few local councils in the devolved administration of Northern Ireland offered websites which were adequately usable by people with a disability, yet most citizen-government transactions occur at the local level. Design for all has obvious commercial benefits, but it has also become a legal obligation, and application of accessible design principles should improve the online experience of all users.     

Evaluation of e-commerce websites accessibility and usability: an e-commerce platform analysis with the inclusion of blind users

Considering the importance associated with e-commerce website accessibility and usability, a study on one of the most relevant Portuguese e-commerce websites has been performed using both automatic and manual assessment procedures. In an initial stage, we evaluated the chosen website with a Web accessibility and usability automatic tool called SortSite; after that, we performed a manual evaluation to verify each previously detected error and present possible solutions to overcome those faults. In a third phase, three usability specialists have been used to perform a heuristic evaluation of the chosen website. Finally, user tests with blind people were carried out in order to fully assess the compliance with accessibility and usability guidelines and standards. The results showed that the platform had a good score regarding the automatic evaluation; however, when the heuristic and manual evaluations were performed, some accessibility and usability problems were discovered. Moreover, the user test results showed bad marks regarding efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction by the group of participants. As a conclusion, we highlight user interaction problems and propose seven recommendations focused on enhancing accessibility and usability of not only the evaluated e-commerce website, but also of other similar ones.     

A unified methodology for the evaluation of accessibility and usability of mobile applications

This article reports a unified methodology developed to evaluate the accessibility and usability of mobile computing applications, which is intended to guarantee universal access as far as possible. As a basis for the methodology, this paper presents an analysis of the accessibility guidelines, conducted to take into account the specificity of mobile systems, as well as a set of usability heuristics, specifically devised for mobile computing. Finally, it presents the results of the application of the proposed methodology to applications that have been semi-automatically developed by the MAIS Designer, a new design tool that provides applications suited to different mobile devices.     

The importance of usability in product choice: A mobile phone case study

Usability has become established as an important aspect of product design. This paper describes an investigation that was carried out to identify the importance of usability in product choice related to other product attributes. Interviews were initially carried out to identify possible attributes that contribute to product choice. Experiments were then undertaken using the methods of active information search, structured preference elicitation, ranking and interviews in order to find out what attributes were important to people when choosing an example product – mobile phones. It was found that usability is indeed important in product choice but perhaps not as much as users themselves believe. Other attributes that were found to be more important were features, aesthetics and cost. The process of product choice was found to be complex and it may be the case that people have come to expect usability in their products. Further research is needed to understand more fully the changing role of usability in product choice and to further improve the quality of the user–product relationship.     

Evaluating the accessibility of public health websites: An exploratory cross-country study

Universal Access in the Information Society - Public health websites are regarded as official references that citizens of any country rely on for domestic and individual health affairs. For people...     

Methods for quantitative usability requirements: a case study on the development of the user interface of a mobile phone

Quantitative usability requirements are a critical but challenging, and hence an often neglected aspect of a usability engineering process. A case study is described where quantitative usability requirements played a key role in the development of a new user interface of a mobile phone. Within the practical constraints of the project, existing methods for determining usability requirements and evaluating the extent to which these are met, could not be applied as such, therefore tailored methods had to be developed. These methods and their applications are discussed.

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Accessibility and findability of local e-government websites in the Czech Republic

This article focuses on the accessibility of local e-government web pages. Accessibility is herein considered in a broader perspective, taking also into account that information must be findable within the Internet through conventional fulltext search engines. Based on this assumption, an analysis of 39 local e-government websites in the Czech Republic was carried out in two testing periods (March 2006 and April 2008). The web pages were analysed both from a citizen’s point of view (with disadvantage due to disability or to technical equipment) and from the point of view of fulltext search engines. In the analysis of results, there is an overall evaluation and comparison between testing periods and recommendations for improvement of the current conditions.     

Designing a usability lab: a case study from Taligent

Abstract

This paper describes Taligent's current user studies facility and the process we followed to upgrade and redesign our lab to n more functional usability laboratory. The paper begins with the existing studies lab at Taligent, Inc. Next, we continue with the redesign process. Our group is moving to a new building so this gave us the opportunity to request more space for our lab and include additional features. Finally, we outline our design process as well as our design goals for our new facility.     

Municipal web sites accessibility and usability for blind users: preliminary results from a pilot study

Despite the existing regulations and standards at national and international level, web content is still difficult to use, if not completely unusable, for visually impaired people. This paper presents the evaluation results for three municipal web sites. A combined method, based on conformance review and expert review, was employed. Overall, the results reveal a low conformance to WCAG2 and many accessibility and usability problems. The content is not properly structured, and this reduces usability even for sighted user. The analysis of the evaluation data suggests that many accessibility barriers could be avoided by adopting a user-centered approach during web design.     

Countering design exclusion: bridging the gap between usability and accessibility

It is known that many people are being excluded unnecessarily from using products, services and environments that are essential for supporting independence and quality of life. Such exclusion often arises from designers taking inadequate account of the end users functional capabilities when making design decisions. This paper addresses how traditional usability techniques can be extended to include accessibility issues by considering the spread of user functional capabilities across the population. A series of measures for evaluating the level of design exclusion based on those capabilities is also presented.     

Web site accessibility,usability and security: a survey of government web sites in Kyrgyz Republic

The information in government web sites, which are widely adopted in many countries, must be accessible for all people, easy to use, accurate and secure. The main objective of this study is to investigate the usability, accessibility and security aspects of e-government web sites in Kyrgyz Republic. The analysis of web government pages covered 55 sites listed in the State Information Resources of the Kyrgyz Republic and five government web sites which were not included in the list. Analysis was conducted using several automatic evaluation tools. Results suggested that government web sites in Kyrgyz Republic have a usability error rate of 46.3 % and accessibility error rate of 69.38 %. The study also revealed security vulnerabilities in these web sites. Although the “Concept of Creation and Development of Information Network of the Kyrgyz Republic” was launched at September 23, 1994, government web sites in the Kyrgyz Republic have not been reviewed and still need great efforts to improve accessibility, usability and security.     

Evaluating the usability of a mobile guide: the influence of location, participants and resources

When designing a usability evaluation, choices must be made regarding methods and techniques for data collection and analysis. Mobile guides raise new concerns and challenges to established usability evaluation approaches. Not only are they typically closely related to objects and activities in the user's immediate surroundings, they are often used while the user is ambulating. This paper presents results from an extensive, multi-method evaluation of a mobile guide designed to support the use of public transport in Melbourne, Australia. In evaluating the guide, we applied four different techniques; field-evaluation, laboratory evaluation, heuristic walkthrough and rapid reflection. This paper describes these four approaches and their respective outcomes, and discusses their relative strengths and weaknesses for evaluating the usability of mobile guides.     

User engagement in e-government systems implementation: A comparative case study of two Singaporean e-government initiatives

Noting that user engagement is a key issue in e-government systems implementation and that the actual form and strategies of user engagement, especially within the context of e-government, is poorly defined, this paper intends to contribute to the research and practice of e-government systems implementation by conducting a comparative case study of two e-government systems implementation within a single government agency in Singapore. The comparative analysis of these two e-government systems implementation was accomplished through using stakeholder theory as a sense-making theoretical lens. This generated four findings pertaining to the form and strategies of user engagement in e-government systems implementation.     

Evaluating the usability of a mobile guide: The influence of location,participants and resources

When designing a usability evaluation, choices must be made regarding methods and techniques for data collection and analysis. Mobile guides raise new concerns and challenges to established usability evaluation approaches. Not only are they typically closely related to objects and activities in the user's immediate surroundings, they are often used while the user is ambulating. This paper presents results from an extensive, multi-method evaluation of a mobile guide designed to support the use of public transport in Melbourne, Australia. In evaluating the guide, we applied four different techniques; field-evaluation, laboratory evaluation, heuristic walkthrough and rapid reflection. This paper describes these four approaches and their respective outcomes, and discusses their relative strengths and weaknesses for evaluating the usability of mobile guides.     

Assessing architectural evolution: a case study

This paper proposes to use a historical perspective on generic laws, principles, and guidelines, like Lehman’s software evolution laws and Martin’s design principles, in order to achieve a multi-faceted process and structural assessment of a system’s architectural evolution. We present a simple structural model with associated historical metrics and visualizations that could form part of an architect’s dashboard. We perform such an assessment for the Eclipse SDK, as a case study of a large, complex, and long-lived system for which sustained effective architectural evolution is paramount. The twofold aim of checking generic principles on a well-know system is, on the one hand, to see whether there are certain lessons that could be learned for best practice of architectural evolution, and on the other hand to get more insights about the applicability of such principles. We find that while the Eclipse SDK does follow several of the laws and principles, there are some deviations, and we discuss areas of architectural improvement and limitations of the assessment approach.     

An empirical study of factors affecting the perceived usability of websites for student Internet users

This study analysed Student Internet Users’ (SIUs’) perception of Web usability. Adopting a user testing method, seven Web Usability Factors (WUFs) were tested for their significance in affecting the ease of use of website. Several elements in websites were also tested for their significance in affecting the WUFs. Result shows the most significant WUF is related to the aesthetic appeal of a website, i.e., Use of Colour and Font. However, it was found that most Web developers are not focusing on this important WUF. Elements such as site map, site search, product image catalogue and others were also found to positively affect SIUs’ perception of the WUFs. The results presented in this paper can be used as guidelines for designing usable websites for SIUs.     

Data triangulation and web quality metrics: A case study in e-government

The work discussed here focused on the evaluation of quality perceptions of users of an electronic government website. As government organizations have begun to enhance transparency, communicate, and interact with citizens via the web, the development of appropriate online services has demanded better understanding of user requirements and thus for tailoring of solutions. The site we examined enabled the online submission of self-assessed tax returns in the UK. Survey data were used to model the perceptions of site users. In addition to the quantitative data, we also collected comments from respondents. These, using data triangulation, provided additional insight into the perceptions of site quality. The results of the comment analysis both supported the instrument and pointed to additional factors determining the perceptions of quality of e-government services needing attention in instrument development.     

Assessing the success of e-government systems: An employee perspective

By using information system (IS) success-based approaches from the perspective of government employees, this paper investigates the success of e-government systems. Structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques were applied to data collected by a questionnaire from 154 employees of e-government systems in Serbia. In this study, we empirically evaluated the model for measuring the success of e-government systems consisting of constructs from the updated DeLone and McLean IS success model coupled with the demographic conditions. Seven out of ten hypothesized relationships between the seven success variables are significantly supported. The findings of this study can be used to assess the success of e-government systems from the standpoint of the government employees.     

Assessing the usability of icons in user interfaces

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology and results of an experiment to assess the usability of menu items constructed of text, icons, and text-and-icons. Attributes of menu items are used to form a matrix which can be used to classify menu items for use in certain applications, tasks, or with users of particular experience levels. An experiment was conducted to validate a portion of the attribute matrix. Performance measures were accuracy of selection and time to make a selection. Results suggest that menus constructed of a mixed format (text and icons) result in the fewest number of incorrect selections by users. No significant differences in the time to make a selection were found.