Accessibility,usability, and security evaluation of Hungarian government websites

Public sector bodies are increasingly relying on the Internet. On this channel, indispensable information is transmitted to the public and a wide range of services is already available. Therefore, the usability, accessibility, and the security of these websites are very important. Accessibility is particularly crucial for persons with disabilities. The accessibility of public service websites is regulated by a number of laws; among others, the directive “on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies” adopted by the European Parliament in 2016. This obliges all European Union member states to make all public sector websites and mobile applications accessible by 23 September 2021. In practice, this means that websites must fulfil the level AA recommendations in WCAG 2.1. In our study, a website assessment method is developed by comparing different analytical tools. With this method, we analysed how Hungarian websites of public sector bodies fulfil the requirements of the directive. We have also investigated how well they comply with usability and security guidelines. The results showed that none of the 25 websites of the examined Hungarian public sector bodies could completely fulfil the recommendations of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and that half of the websites had only the lowest level of compliance in usability tests. From the security point of view, almost half of the websites use outdated server versions and programming language, which is very critical. We have proposed several suggestions to address the major problems, so website developers and administrators can improve the accessibility, usability, and security aspects of these websites.

     

The identification,implementation, and evaluation of critical user interface design features of computer-assisted instruction programs in mathematics for students with learning disabilities

Critical user interface design features of computer-assisted instruction programs in mathematics for students with learning disabilities and corresponding implementation guidelines were identified in this study. Based on the identified features and guidelines, a multimedia computer-assisted instruction program, ‘Math Explorer’, which delivers addition and subtraction word problem-solving instruction for students with learning disabilities at the early elementary level, was designed and developed. Lastly, usability testing was conducted to assess whether Math Explorer was well-designed in terms of the interface for students with learning disabilities. Given the results of the usability testing, this study corroborated the fact that the critical user interface design features and guidelines in mathematics computer-assisted instruction programs would be essential for facilitating the mathematical learning of students with learning disabilities. Implications for practice and future research were discussed.     

An Accessible Platform for People With Disabilities

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

Determining effective distance learning designs through usability testing

To add to the developing understanding of Web-based writing instruction, we conducted usability testing to assess the design of our online first-year composition courses at a large community college in the Southwest. Beyond the course-specific results, this study offers two primary contributions. First, it offers a model for conducting usability testing of Web-based writing classes to diagnose potential design problems in a course. This includes providing an indication of what kinds of results and data teachers should expect to gather, how to interpret that data, where to go for assistance, whom to involve in the testing process, and what to do with the results. Second, this study provides an initial understanding of guidelines for course design using Web-based technologies. These guidelines were developed by examining writing classes in the study and then comparing the results with already established principles of design from usability engineering.     

Text-based synchronous e-learning and dyslexia: Not necessarily the perfect match!

The introduction, in the United Kingdom, of the Special Education Needs and Disabilities Act (SENDA) published and approved in 2001, has removed the exemptions given to educational institutions by the Disabilities Discrimination Act (DDA) of 1995. This applies to learning web sites and materials that must now undergo “reasonable adjustments”, in order not to disadvantage students with learning disabilities as well as non-disabled students. This paper discusses how e-learning and the inherent use of online learning activities raises problems for students with dyslexia far beyond accessibility and web design. This paper aims at proposing that the so widely proclaimed advantages of e-learning to bridge distances, different learning paces and cognitive styles, is at the same time producing close to insurmountable barriers to students with cognitive disabilities in general, and dyslexia specifically. It presents the results of a research project aiming at uncovering evidence that students with dyslexia are in fact less likely to thrive in a synchronous e-learning environment. The paper reports on a set of experiments undertaken with students when engaged in online authentic synchronous learning activities. The paper focuses on text-based synchronous activities, since it is the widest and most commonly used synchronous technology, and provides clear evidence that it can marginalise, demotivate and disappoint students with dyslexia with difficulties in reading, spelling, word order and argumentation.     

Towards standardisation of user models for simulation and adaptation purposes

The use of user models can be very valuable when trying to develop accessible and ergonomic products and services taking into account users’ specific needs and preferences. Simulation of user–product interaction using user models may reveal accessibility issues at the early stages of design and development, and this results to a significant reduction in costs and development time. Moreover, user models can be used in adaptive interfaces enabling the personalised customisation of user interfaces that enhances the accessibility and usability of products and services. This paper presents the efforts of the Virtual User Modelling and Simulation Standardisation ‘VUMS’ cluster of projects towards the development of an interoperable user model, able to describe both able-bodied and people with various kinds of disabilities. The VUMS cluster is consisted by the VERITAS, MyUI, GUIDE, and VICON FP7 European projects, all involved in user modelling from different perspectives. The main goal of the VUMS cluster was the development of a unified user model that could be used by all the participant projects and that could be the basis of a new user model standard. Currently, within the VUMS cluster, a common user model has been defined and converters that enable the transformation from each project’s specific user model to the VUMS user model and vice versa have been developed enabling, thus, the exchange of user models between the projects.     

The procurement of usable and accessible software

This article discusses the need for the inclusion of usability and accessibility requirements in public procurements of software to be included in public electronic services. Legislation on public procurement in Europe requests clear, well-defined criteria for accessibility and usability. Accessibility criteria exists, but there is a lack of usability criteria. The use of suppliers declarations is a possible approach.     

What we know about dyslexia and Web accessibility: a research review

Compared to the online interaction behavior of other users, little is known about the difficulties dyslexic Web users encounter online. This paper reviews existing literature at the intersection of dyslexia and accessibility research to determine what useful knowledge exists regarding this important and relatively large group of users. This review uncovers that, although there are few published usability tests with dyslexic users, there is a considerable body of knowledge on dyslexia as well as many design guidelines for authoring dyslexic-accessible interfaces. Through a comparison of existing accessibility guidelines for dyslexic and non-dyslexic users and discussion of the plain language movement, it is argued that dyslexic-accessible practices may redress difficulties encountered by all Internet users. This conclusion suggests that usability testing yielding a clearer profile of the dyslexic user would further inform the practice of universal design, but also that enough knowledge is already available to allow doing more to increase accessibility for dyslexic Internet users.     

Exploring perceptions of web accessibility: a survey approach

The equality of access – accessibility – is difficult to quantify, define, or agree upon. Our previous work analysed the responses of web accessibility specialists in regard to a number of pre-defined definitions of accessibility. While uncovering much, this analysis did not allow us to quantify the communities’ understanding of the relationship accessibility has with other domains and assess how the community scopes accessibility. In this case, we asked over 300 people, with an interest in accessibility, to answer 33 questions surrounding the relationship between accessibility, user experience (UX), and usability; inclusion and exclusion; and evaluation, in an attempt to harmonise our understanding of web accessibility. We found that respondents think that accessibility and usability are highly related and also think that accessibility is applicable to everyone and not just people with disabilities. Respondents strongly agree that accessibility must be grounded on user-centred practices and that accessibility evaluation is more than just inspecting source code; however, they are divided as to whether training in ‘Web Content Accessibility Guidelines’ is necessary or not to assess accessibility. These perceptions are important for usability and UX professionals, developers of automated evaluation tools, and those practitioners running website evaluations.     

So you are going to be an online writing instructor: issues in designing,developing, and delivering an online course

Online education is increasing exponentially in colleges and universities. In this article, writing instructors are introduced to theories of instructional design that form the foundation to support effective student learning. We present a series of guidelines, derived from these theories and our research and teaching, that writing instructors may use to design, develop and deliver their online courses. We present considerations for instructors such as the need for the course, an analysis of the learners, appropriateness of the course for online delivery, pedagogical concerns, and resources. We then discuss how best to support students in online environments. We conclude with suggestions for faculty support and training for online course delivery.     

Usability Testing: A Journey, Not a Destination

Usability testing for interfaces can fit into a design project in several ways. The author looks at how good testing techniques can make projects run better and faster, and produce an improved result. The primary point is that there's no incompatibility between usability testing and a rational product process. We can think of usability testing as simply another aspect of quality assurance, and can fold it into the product process in much the same way as software quality assurance (QA). By having usability people involved from the beginning, big problems get found earlier, and small problems get found in time. The fear of losing control of a project to a usability person who finds a last-minute interface design problem is therefore a red herring. You can indeed find usability problems that might affect project completion late in the development process, just like you can find system architecture problems. But the way to keep this from happening is to test your system and your ideas during each stage of development, gathering the kind of information you need at each of those stages. That's why usability testing is a journey, not a destination     

Applying a critical approach to investigate barriers to digital inclusion and online social networking among young people with disabilities

Despite the seeming ubiquity of young people's Internet use, there are still many for whom access to the Internet and online social networking remains inequitable and patterned by disadvantage. The connection between information technology and young people with disabilities is particularly under‐researched. This article contributes to the field of critical information systems research by exposing significant barriers and facilitators to Internet accessibility for young people with disabilities. It uses Bourdieu's critical theory to explore how the unequal distribution of resources shapes processes of digital inclusion for young people with disabilities. It highlights access needs and experiences that are both disability and non‐disability related. The article draws on interviews in South Australia with 18 young people aged 10–18 years with a physical disability (such as cerebral palsy) or acquired brain injury and with 17 of their family members. Interviews evaluated participants' and parents' reflections on the benefits of a home‐based, goal‐oriented intervention to increase the young person's Internet use for social participation purposes. The Bourdieuian analysis demonstrated how varying levels of accrued individual and family offline capital resources are related to digital/online resources and disability‐specific online resources. This revealed how unequal resources of capital can influence technology use and hence digital inclusion for young people with disabilities. Our study demonstrates that young people with particular types of disabilities require intensive, personalised and long‐term support from within and beyond the family to ‘get online’. We conclude that Internet studies need to more frequently adopt critical approaches to investigate the needs of users and barriers to information technology use within sub‐groups, such as young people with disabilities. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

Situation Definition and the Online Synchronous Writing Conference

Since the mid 1990's, more and more college and university writing centers have been offering online synchronous writing conferences to students. Writing center researchers have published extensively on how tutors can promote collaboration in online conferences, but comparatively few have used Lev Vygotsky's conception of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) to analyze activity in these conferences or to develop specific methods for working with students in these environments. Using more recent developments in the theory of the ZPD, such as the concept of situation definition, I will discuss how tutors can apply strategies related to the ZPD to promote student learning. By focusing on students’ definitions of rhetorical concepts that often implicitly guide students’ writing processes, tutors can help students improve how they approach their writing tasks. Progress through the ZPD, then, is more related to how students grow their own understanding, rather than on the correcting of students’ texts. I will illustrate this theoretical discussion by presenting examples of two online synchronous writing conferences, and I will describe the implications and possible shortcomings of a method of tutoring that applies the concept of situation definition and the ZPD.     

Students Weigh In: Usability Test of Online Library Tutorials

Librarians can improve their online tutorials by borrowing usability testing techniques from the computer science field to improve the human-computer interface. This study involved a multimethod usability test of librarian-created tutorials to determine what students learned, how they felt on several affective questions, and what they suggested for improving the tutorials. Results of pre- and post-tests showed that student knowledge increased, and surveys and focus group findings lean to several suggestions for improving engagement and placing tutorials where they will be most effective. This case study demonstrates the value of user input to improve the effectiveness of online instruction for information literacy.     

The user experience [Internet]

In this article the author provides perspective on user experience, usability and user-centered design. User experience is a broad collection of user-centric issues that cut through the full extent of a project. The author points out new developments in the user experience world that are opening up new opportunities for research and projects. The author also discusses how good user experience processes can be built into the kinds of system development projects that many of us are involved in.     

Eighth graders,gender, and online publishing: A story of teacher and student collaboration

During the 1997 through 1998 school year, a group of 35 gifted and talented eighth-grade students at Fall Creek Valley Middle School in Lawrence Township, Indianapolis, had the task of creating the school’s first online literary and art magazine. The process of creating such a publication was unique to Fall Creek and a significant step toward incorporating networked writing technologies into a middle-school language-arts curriculum. This article explores issues of access, gender, and collaboration as they relate to this middle-school class and its magazine project. The purpose of the article is to present one way that writing for online publication (a literary magazine World Wide Web site) fits within a language-arts curriculum and presents the ways collaboration between a university teacher, a middle-school teacher, and eighth-grade students can develop new curricular opportunities for students and new collaborative ventures for teachers.     

The masquerade: Gender,identity, and writing for the web

This article explores the nature of gender in cyberspace by reporting a case study of two classes that used online posting of student papers to facilitate peer response critiquing. When posting their papers, students could use their real identities or pseudonyms. In the study, we track online responses, breaking them down by gender and identity. The diversity of pseudonyms chosen, the way those choices impacted students' writing, and the types of responses generated by both pseudonyms and real names are examined. The nature of the pseudonym selection process and its implications for Web-based writing are also considered. This investigation sheds light on a number of important Internet writing issues. First, it reveals how some students feel disempowered by their own gender, in particular how many women may feel that choosing a male pseudonym is necessary for credibility. Second, it sheds light on the readers' responses to particular identities. Finally, we consider the significance of gender choices in terms of classroom conflict.     

Negotiating What's at Stake in Informal Writing in the Writing Center

How do students learn expectations for “informal” online composition? This article details the results of a qualitative study that examines how students and writing consultants negotiate and define writing conventions for “low-stakes,” digital composition: that is, writing assignments that are composed for Blackboard discussion forums and receive only completion grades. Study results are based on both a survey of student experiences with digital composition and a writing center consultation case study at a large, southeastern, RU/VH university. Student anxiety about digital composition and classroom instruction have contributed to writing centers’ status as space for students to work out their fears and questions about new media. This study reports on how digital composition in writing classes has impacted the ways in which writing centers must address issues of audience, consider new methods for invention, and contend with a renewed focus on grammatical correctness. The article presents suggested pedagogy for emerging digital composition and poses questions to those in computers and composition about how we might best approach classroom instruction as digital composition genres evolve.     

“It wasn’t me,was it?” Plagiarism and the Web

Issues of plagiarism are complex, and made all the more complicated by students’ increasing use of the World Wide Web as a research space. In this article, we describe several situations we faced as teachers in writing-intensive classrooms—experiences common to most teachers of writing. We share these examples to explore how issues related to plagiarism and its effects are both reproduced and change in new research spaces. We also share these stories to discuss how we can best handle plagiarism in first-year writing classrooms and how we can best equip students with the tools necessary to do appropriate research—both online and offline.