- From: William Loughborough <love26@gorge.net>
- Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 10:28:30 -0700
- To: Francisco Godinho <f.godinho@mail.telepac.pt>
- CC: jonathan chetwynd <jay@peepo.com>, Wayne Myers-Education <wayne.myers@bbc.co.uk>, "'WAI Interest Group'" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>, Anne Pemberton <apembert@crosslink.net>
FG:: "...one of three different symbol systems which greatly enhance the
communicative abilities of persons with learning disability."
WL: Whenever I read this I wonder who says this "greatly enhances"
anything? My experiences in research, grants, academia, and all that
"theoretical analysis" stuff has left me a septagenaric skeptic. Sure we
can try whatever this is all about but the *results* for the client pool
(we're talking about real people here, not laboratory animals) are all
that ultimately matter. The usual ratio of experimenters to subjects is
alarmingly high and the efforts to design things almost invariably
leaves out the only people who matter. The appurtenances at the Web Site
http://www2.echo.lu/telematics/disabl/aldict.html are at least
suggestive of big problems of believability in what's being proposed. A
substantial investment in designing solutions when the basic problem is
still poorly stated. Jonathan and Anne deal with those with whom we need
to consult, so if we get to hear from them we can evaluate something and
go on from there with their input and direction. Those who feel that the
"subjects" aren't fit to lead these efforts should be of little
interest.
--
Love.
ACCESSIBILITY IS RIGHT - NOT PRIVILEGE
http://dicomp.pair.com
Received on Thursday, 29 July 1999 13:28:33 UTC