RE: summary for techniques

Hi Mike and All,

FYI: I’m working on an automatic text-simplification project with IBM. The plan is that IBM’s supercomputer, Watson, will automatically summarize Web text, and convert the summaries into simplified text using plain-language standards.

John

John Rochford<http://profiles.umassmed.edu/profiles/display/132901>
UMass Medical School/E.K. Shriver Center
Director, INDEX Program
Instructor, Family Medicine & Community Health
www.DisabilityInfo.org
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From: Michael Pluke [mailto:Mike.Pluke@castle-consult.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2015 6:58 PM
To: lisa.seeman <lisa.seeman@zoho.com>; public-cognitive-a11y-tf <public-cognitive-a11y-tf@w3.org>
Subject: RE: summary for techniques

Hi Lisa

I like most of what you have written, but I have very serious reservations about two items:


-          Where you say “Personalization and good use of semantics can help make the symbols and design as familiar to the user as possible, without requiring the author to create alternative versions for different groups or users.” And;

-          Enable adaptability and personalization.

At a minimum I would strongly urge a greater emphasis on personalization that enables the delivering of the most appropriate alternative versions of content over “adaptability”.

This has always been my gut instinct, but when I saw an app, produced by a well-funded research project, that claimed to provide automatically generated simplified text and symbol variants of any content I was prepared to be proven wrong.

I took a fairly easy to understand piece of text and entered it into the app. The results I got confirmed my very worst fears:


-          The so-called simplified text comprised a string of garbage that was quite impossible to understand (unlike the original);

-          The set of symbols that were generated was also completely impossible to understand. I was able to link one of the symbols to one of the concepts in the original text, but however hard I tried I was unable to understand what any of the other symbols had to do with anything in the original text. Obviously I was not familiar with the symbol set being used (or of its associated syntax), but if the potential meaning of each symbol and the syntax was so impossible to ascertain I suspect  that the automatic process had totally failed (just as it did with the text simplification).

Whereas this dismal result could be put down to a very bad implementation of adaptation in one project, I fear that it is probably more symptomatic of the inherently exceptionally difficult task of automatically adapting content.

In conclusion I think we should imply that solutions that rely on adaptability are somewhat speculative at this time and that we should always emphasise that the best end result will always come from swapping between separately authored alternative versions of the same content. I know that this option may rarely be available (as it is very costly to deliver), but we should not imply that adaptation is an suitable alternative as this is rarely going to be the case (at least at present).

Best regards

Mike

From: lisa.seeman [mailto:lisa.seeman@zoho.com]
Sent: 27 August 2015 19:41
To: public-cognitive-a11y-tf <public-cognitive-a11y-tf@w3.org<mailto:public-cognitive-a11y-tf@w3.org>>
Subject: summary for techniques


Hi Folks

I would like to suggest the following as a summary for the beginning of the techniques document.

Summary

Most designers want people to be able to use their site. However designs that might be difficult for some people to use can actually bar people with cognative and learning disabilities from using the content at all. Typically this happens because content providers may not be familiar with the needs of different people.

This document contains detailed techniques that should enable content to be usable by people with cognitive and learning disabilities.

We have identified the following themes though the techniques.

Help as many users as possible understand the site and know to use it. This often involves using things that are familiar to the user so that they do not have to learn new symbols, terms or design patters. Personalization and good use of semantics can help make the symbols and design as familiar to the user as possible, without requiring the author to create alternative versions for different groups or users.

Prevent the user from making mistakes and make it easy to correct mistakes when they do occur. A good design and use of scripts will make errors less likely, but when they do occur the user should know how to correct them, without having to renter other data or start from the beginning.

Help the use focus and to restore context if attention is lost. Items like breadcrumbs can help orientate the user and help the user restore the context when it is lost. (Making breadcrumbs clickable can also help the user undo mistakes)

Main techniques include:


  *   Use a clear structure with easy to follow sections short paragraphs manageable chunks
  *   Use an easy to follow writing style
  *   Provide rapid and direct feedback
  *   Help the user understand the content and orientate themselves in the content.
  *   Help users complete and check their work by less likely that the user will make mistakes and easy to undo mistakes when they occur
  *   Provide help
  *   Help the user focus and help restore the context if attention is lost
  *   Enable adaptability and personalization, so that symbols text and other features rare familiar and helpful to the user
  *   Minimize the cognitive skills required to use the content and avoid barriers that stop people with cognitive disabilities from using content, such as hard to use security mechanisms.
(with links to the detailed techniques)




All the best

Lisa Seeman

Athena ICT Accessibility Projects <http://accessibility.athena-ict.com>
LinkedIn<http://il.linkedin.com/in/lisaseeman/>, Twitter<https://twitter.com/SeemanLisa>