- From: Joe Clark <joeclark@contenu.nu>
- Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 18:50:58 -0400
- To: w3c-wai-ig@W3.org
I had a lengthy discussion with a Nielsen Norman Group functionary about the alleged you-can't-miss-it posting of the details of its usability survey involving blind or mobility-impaired subjects. Of course, even to this very moment there is no information whatsoever at useit.com or alertbox.com, the two related sites. I was eventually given the following information, which I pass on for the good of humankind without especial endorsement. I particularly love the "must be in the job market" proviso, which presumably includes people without jobs who are trying to find one. It would be cynical to view this phrase as a malapropist euphemism for "no long-term-unemployed need apply"-- a group who, because their disabilities are often particularly severe or uncommon in effect or combination, might make for a more demanding test cohort in the first place. I think you know what I'm getting at here without my beating the drum any further. HIGH-PROFILE, CONSPICUOUSLY-POSTED, WIDE-OPEN WORLDWIDE ANNOUNCEMENT begins: Nielsen Norman Group is a usability and user experience company that specializes in making things simple for people to use. Our principals have written some great books, among them "The Design of Everyday Things" and "Designing Web Usability- the Practice of Simplicity." We are in the process of conducting a study to determine the usability of the Web for people who use assistive technology, either 1) a screen reader, or 2) screen magnifiers. Braille devices seem to be a lot less common in the US, but we would also be interested in these devices. While there are general guidelines about designing for the Web, we have not seen much research where people actually ran usability studies with real people. We would like to do this to learn the extent of the kinds of issues people face, and recommend ways Web developers can fix these problems or avoid them in the future. We need people to participate in our study. If you would be willing to forward the following information to any adults who use assistive technology and the Web, we would appreciate it. We would be willing to make a donation or pay an honorarium to any people who choose to participate in the study. Thank you very much. STUDY PURPOSE: Learn about usability and the Web for people who either use a screen reader or screen magnifier. Based on findings, we will recommend guidelines for developers to design websites that are easy-to user for everyone. Although we will publish the results of our research, no personal information about the participants will be released. Note that the users are not being tested or evaluated in any way. Instead, it is the websites we will be evaluating. TIMING: June, 2001 through August or early September. Each individual study will last between one and two hours. Studies are conducted with one user at a time, not a focus group. PARTICIPANTS: We need many. These are the three groups of people: 1) People that need to use (and do use) a screen reader (or Braille device for the Web) - They must be in the job market. - They must be between the age of 20 and 55, as evenly distributed as possible, and no more than one student. - They should have been using the Internet for at least three months. 2) People who are not totally visually impaired. They do not use or need to use a screen reader. They do use a screen magnifier (blow up the screen in some way.) - They must be in the job market. - They must be between the ages of 20 and 55, as evenly distributed as possible, and no more than one student. - They should have been using the Internet for at least three months. 3) People with motor impairments; defined as people who cannot use a mouse. - They must be in the job market. - They must be between the ages of 20 and 55, as evenly distributed as possible, and no more than one students. - They should have been using the Internet for at least three months. We're especially interested in finding users who live in/near NYC and California Bay Area (but please also respond if you are in a major New England or West Coast metro area). Those on the East Coast should contact <coyne@nngroup.com> (Kara Coyne). West Coast volunteers should respond to <farrell@nngroup.com> (Susan Farrell) by replying to this message. Again, thanks for your interest! Susan Farrell http://www.nngroup.com (about our firm) http://www.useit.com (about usable web design) http://www.useit.com/alertbox (Jakob's usability newsletter and archive) West Coast Susan Farrell <farrell@nngroup.com> User Experience Specialist - Nielsen Norman Group Important! I will be out of town until July so please write to Kara@nngroup.com if you need more information in June. East Coast Kara Pernice Coyne Senior User Experience Specialist Nielsen Norman Group kara@nngroup.com www.nngroup.com New York, NY 646.613.1122 -- Joe Clark | joeclark@joeclark.org Author, _Building Accessible Websites_ (New Riders Publishing, October 2001) Bookpage: <http://joeclark.org/book/> Bookblog: <http://joeclark.org/bookblog/>
Received on Monday, 4 June 2001 18:53:04 UTC