FW: Re: introducing myself

Dear All 
I'm a new member of EOWG and participating in the WAI-AGE. 
I am a Research Fellow at Middlesex University UK, where I am a member of the Design for All Research group within the School of Computing Science. We are part of the European design for all network on e-accessibility (EDeAN) and we are leading a work package on education and training for the Design for All @ einclusion project.  (For more information see www.edean.org). Currently I am completing a case study survey of best practice in teaching design for all in ICT and working towards the development of practical syllabus guidelines. We are aiming for a bottom up approach that will appeal to academics and educators by including  learning outcomes, teaching strategies and examples drawn from best practice.
My interests are in the design, development and use of information systems by older and disabled people. I particularly like to apply participatory design principles to engage older people in the design process. Recent projects have included working with older car drivers on innovating and evaluating  in-car information systems. We built up a large pool of users and then brought in small groups to take part in focus groups and testing  which really helped us understand the context and aspirations of our older drivers. I recently also tried to look at the  challenges to accessibility faced by the small businesses commissioning websites. Despite all that useful information in WAI or developers resources such as W3schools there are a lot of small businesses out there who appear more tempted by low cost quick fix solutions. The only examples of best practice in accessibility I could find had been hand-crafted in XHTML by experts. 

In my previous life before children I worked in industry as a human factors consultant in the telecommunications and electronics industries - working alongside product designers and software developers. The boys are grown up and my youngest graduates about now. I rely on them to keep me up to date with the latest technology.
Favourite quote at the  moment:

"Ageing well in the information society":
By 2020, 25% of the EU's population will  be over 65. Spending on pensions, health and long-term care is expected to increase by 4-8% of GDP in coming decades, with total expenditures tripling by 2050. However, older Europeans are also important consumers with a combined wealth of over €3000 billion. 
(http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?ite

m_id=3457)

Best Wishes
Suzette
www.mdx.ac.uk/edean

Received on Monday, 9 June 2008 23:42:27 UTC