ACM Sigaccess Accessibility and Computing 

About: ACM Sigaccess Accessibility and Computing is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Web accessibility & Usability. Over the lifetime, 272 publications have been published receiving 1811 citations.

Combating obesity trends in teenagers through persuasive mobile technology

Abstract: Throughout the last decade, there has been an alarming increase in obesity prevalence among adults and teens throughout the world. Obesity has been found to increase the risk of developing diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and some cancers. Due to the many health risks associated with obesity, an increase in prevalence has also pressured health care systems and the finances of the individual. Our research proposes to decrease obesity prevalence in adults by motivating teens to become or continue being physically active so that they can continue these healthy lifestyles as adults. Our goal is to encourage long term adoption of physically active behaviors by introducing a motivating application running on a mobile device. We use the Technology Acceptance Model, the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Theory of Meaning Behavior, and the Big 5 Personality Theory to guide our design.

Toward fairness in AI for people with disabilities SBG@a research roadmap

Abstract: AI technologies have the potential to dramatically impact the lives of people with disabilities (PWD). Indeed, improving the lives of PWD is a motivator for many state-of-the-art AI systems, such as automated speech recognition tools that can caption videos for people who are deaf and hard of hearing, or language prediction algorithms that can augment communication for people with speech or cognitive disabilities. However, widely deployed AI systems may not work properly for PWD, or worse, may actively discriminate against them. These considerations regarding fairness in AI for PWD have thus far received little attention. In this position paper, we identify potential areas of concern regarding how several AI technology categories may impact particular disability constituencies if care is not taken in their design, development, and testing. We intend for this risk assessment of how various classes of AI might interact with various classes of disability to provide a roadmap for future research that is needed to gather data, test these hypotheses, and build more inclusive algorithms.

Designing smart home interfaces for the elderly

Abstract: In this paper we highlight the importance of tailoring the design of dialogue systems to the targeted user group. We propose a human-centered design cycle and report the results from a survey conducted among the intended users of a smart home for the elderly.

The impact of aging on access to technology

Abstract: Two major demographic trends underscore the importance of considering adaptation to technology by older adults: the aging of the population and rapid dissemination of technological innovations. In the past decade, developments in computer and information technologies have occurred at an unprecedented rate and technology has become an integral component of work, education, communication and entertainment. Technology is also increasingly used within the health care arena for service delivery, in-home monitoring, interactive communication (e.g., between patient and physician), transfer of health information and peer support. For example, in 2003, 76 % of Americans reported that they used the Internet and 65% have Internet access at home (UCLA Internet Report -- "Surveying the Digital Future", 2003). Use of automatic teller machines, interactive telephone-based menu systems, cellular telephones, and VCRs is also quite common. Furthermore, telephones, television, home security systems and other communication devices are becoming more integrated with computer network resources providing faster and more powerful interactive services. In essence in order to function independently and successfully interact with the environment, people of all ages need to interact with some form of technology.

Automatic readability assessment for people with intellectual disabilities

Abstract: My research goal is to advance our understanding of, and quantify, what makes a text easy or difficult to read, in particular for readers with intellectual disabilities. Previous research in automatic readability assessment has looked at a limited class of lexi-cal and syntactic properties of texts. Moreover, these models are usually not targeted towards any particular group of readers. In my own work, by contrast, I have used sophisticated computational tools to build an automatic readability metric that exploits global semantic (discourse level) properties of a text, in addition to well-studied lexical and syntactic features. Our preliminary results (Feng et al., 2009) confirm the value of discourse attributes. My research is targeted towards understanding the particular difficulties faced by readers with intellectual disabilities. The ultimate goal is not simply to model and understand readability issues, but also to aide in the development of automatic language processing tools that can rewrite texts to be more readable.