Educating Children with Autism

The Internet of Things vision: Key features, applications and open issues

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM)-5による分類と診断 (特集 周産期メンタルヘルス : 妊婦の不安とどう立ち向かうか)

Over the last six years there has been a major increase in online activity by children up to eight years old, a leading international internet survey has found. The trend has prompted growing concern for children’s safety – and especially the risks they may be exposed to through videos, apps and touch-screens, says the EU Kids Online Report, to which Australia contributes through the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI). This report critically reviews recent research to understand the internet use, and emerging policy priorities, regarding children from birth to eight years old. Executive summary EU Kids Online has spent seven years investigating 9-16 year olds’ engagement with the internet, focusing on the benefits and risks of children’s internet use. While this meant examining the experiences of much younger children than had been researched before EU Kids Online began its work in 2006, there is now a critical need for information about the internet-related behaviours of 0-8 year olds. EU Kids Online’s research shows that children are now going online at a younger and younger age, and that young children’s “lack of technical, critical and social skills may pose [a greater] risk”. Key findings This report critically reviews recent research to understand the internet use, and emerging policy priorities, regarding children from birth to eight years old. Key findings are as follows: Over the last five to six years there has been a substantial increase in internet usage by children under nine years old. This increase is not uniform across countries but seems to follow usage patterns among older age cohorts – in countries where more children overall use the internet, they also go online younger. The substantial increase in usage by very young children has not yet been matched by research exploring the benefits and risks of their online engagement, so there are many gaps in our knowledge. Children under nine years old enjoy a variety of online activities, including watching videos, playing games, searching for information, doing their homework and socialising within children’s virtual worlds. The range of activities increases with age. It has not been established that children under nine years old have the capacity to engage with the internet in a safe and beneficial manner in all circumstances, especially when it comes to this age group socialising online, either within ageappropriate virtual worlds or as underaged participants in sites intended for teenagers and adults (Facebook, You Tube etc.). Video sharing sites are popular with children in this age group and are one of the first sites very young children visit. As such, the ease with which children can access inappropriate video content is of concern. There is an emerging trend for very young children (toddlers and pre-schoolers) to use internet connected devices, especially touchscreen tablets and smartphones. This is likely to result in an increasing number of very young children having access to the internet, along with a probable increase in exposure to risks associated with such internet use. The variety of internet connected devices and apps available today risks compromising the privacy and safety of young children. Different operating environments complicate the use of security and safety settings on individual devices, and the numerous applications (apps) available for children tend not to disclose the company’s data collection and sharing practices. Nor do they usually provide easy-to-use opt-out options for parents or children. Children’s digital footprints are now taking shape from very young ages. Some parents are writing blogs, and parents and grandparents regularly post photographs and videos of babies and children. These digital footprints are created for children who are too young to understand or consent (or who may not even be born, if their parents post ultrasound scans). Children’s future ability to find, reclaim or delete material posted by others is uncertain.

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Zero to eight: young children and their internet use

Purpose – Since its introduction in 2006, messages posted to the microblogging system Twitter have provided a rich dataset for researchers, leading to the publication of over a thousand academic papers. This paper aims to identify this published work and to classify it in order to understand Twitter based research.Design/methodology/approach – Firstly the papers on Twitter were identified. Secondly, following a review of the literature, a classification of the dimensions of microblogging research was established. Thirdly, papers were qualitatively classified using open coded content analysis, based on the paper's title and abstract, in order to analyze method, subject, and approach.Findings – The majority of published work relating to Twitter concentrates on aspects of the messages sent and details of the users. A variety of methodological approaches is used across a range of identified domains.Research limitations/implications – This work reviewed the abstracts of all papers available via database search...

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What do people study when they study Twitter? Classifying Twitter related academic papers

In this paper we analyze the interaction of blind users with Apple touchscreen devices iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, accessible to the visually-impaired thanks to their pre-installed VoiceOver screen reader or magnifier. Specifically, we focus on the gestures offered by VoiceOver to simplify interaction for blind users. A usability inspection of the devices' user interfaces has been performed and integrated with user feedback collected via an online survey taken by 55 totally blind users. Results confirm that VoiceOver makes the Apple devices basically accessible to blind users, but there are still some issues related to usability. Users normally believe that accessibility integrated with VoiceOver is an important innovation, but some operations, such as the writing of long text, take too long or are not comfortable. Results suggest that a multimodal approach on mobile touchscreen devices does not offer a simple and satisfactory interaction paradigm for all and it deserves further investigation. Three possible solutions for improving user interface interaction and offering a simpler and more comfortable experience for blind individuals were proposed to the survey participants, gathering their positive feedback.

Interacting with mobile devices via VoiceOver: usability and accessibility issues

This article describes a research project aimed at improving search engine usability for sightless persons who use assistive technology to navigate the web. At the beginning of this research, a preliminary study was performed concerning accessibility and usability of search tools, and eight guidelines were formulated for designing search engine user interfaces. Then, the derived guidelines were applied in modifying the source code of Google’s interface, while maintaining the same look and feel, in order to demonstrate that with very little effort it is possible to make interaction easier, more efficient, and less frustrating for sightless individuals. After providing a general overview of the project, the paper focuses on interface design and implementation.

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Improving search engine interfaces for blind users: a case study

We present an analysis of how visually impaired people perform gestures on touch-screen smartphones and report their preferences, explaining the procedure and technical implementation that we followed to collect gesture samples. To that end, we recruited 36 visually impaired participants and divided them into two main groups of low-vision and blind people respectively. We then examined their touch-based gesture preferences in terms of number of strokes, multi-touch, and shape angle, as well as their execution in geometric, kinematic and relative terms. For this purpose, we developed a wireless system to simultaneously record sample gestures from several participants, with the possibility of monitoring the capture process. Our results are consistent with previous research regarding the preference of visually impaired users for simple gestures: with one finger, a single stroke, and in one or two cardinal directions. Of the two groups of participants, blind people are less consistent with multi-stroke gestures. In addition, they are more likely than low-vision people to go outside the bounds of the display in the absence of its physical delimitation of, especially with multi-touch gestures. In the case of more complex gestures, rounded shapes are greatly preferred to angular ones, especially by blind people, who have difficulty performing straight gestures with steep or right angles. Based on these results and on previous related research, we offer suggestions to improve gesture accessibility of handheld touchscreen devices.

Analyzing visually impaired people's touch gestures on smartphones

Search engines are a fundamental tool for retrieving specific and appropriate information on the Internet; for this reason it is essential for any user to be able to interact with simple, clear and accessible interfaces. In this paper we describe the main design issues affecting the user interface of a search engine when a sightless user interacts by means of a screen reader or voice synthesizer. In particular, the most important differences between a visual layout and aural perception are discussed, in order to propose appropriate and specific guidelines for improving the design of search engine interfaces.

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Designing search engine user interfaces for the visually impaired

Visual maps deliver content in a simple and effective way. They can be useful for various purposes in areas such as street guidance, surrounding information, and education. However, sightless persons are unable to explore visual maps and risk being cut off from several multimedia Web applications. In this paper, starting from accessibility issues of map-based applications, we discuss possible interaction modalities and devices to use for truly achieving usage perspectives desired by blind people. New ways to interact with a mobile device (such as gestures or touch commands) and possible solutions for making a map truly effective are investigated. In order to better explain the issues and needs of blind users accessing visual maps, an example of an interaction is presented.

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Marina Buzzi

Papers

Interacting with mobile devices via VoiceOver: usability and accessibility issues

Improving search engine interfaces for blind users: a case study

Analyzing visually impaired people's touch gestures on smartphones

Designing search engine user interfaces for the visually impaired

Making visual maps accessible to the blind