Re: Remote usability testing with disabled people

Wow. What a discussion.

I agree that it is important to separate:
– accessibility conformance testing
from
– extended usability testing (usability testing using a much wider range of users especially those who have the most trouble with technology and including people with and without disabilities)

Both are very important but they are both very different

The first one should not be done by anybody who is not expert in doing this type of testing. It is very difficult to do and you end up with false positives and false negatives in droves if you don’t know what you’re doing. 

Also, if you do not do it all the time you will not know the techniques and it will be inordinately expensive and time-consuming.    I for example was cochair and coeditor of the Web content accessibility guidelines. However I do not do web testing myself because it would take me forever to do a good job since I do not daily and do not have tools to practice to do it both well and efficiently. I could do a good job, eventually, but I would not be nearly as good at both identifying and being able to easily remediate solutions as someone who does this all the time. My father used to say “if you want to design a television hire an electrical engineer. If you want to repair one hire a  television repair man. The latter will do it in one 100 the time because the former will have to figure out all the problems starting from theory.”

As a part of the  DeveloperSpace  we talked about setting up a feature where people can find consumers who would like to help them test things. We are looking for someone who could help coordinate such an activity. For the most part this deals with software and will therefore be remote testing. I would imagine that this would include both general usability testing by people with a wide range of disabilities and perhaps also accessibility testing. I do not think that the accessibility testing needs to be done by people with disabilities however. That is a question of technical conformance of the software. The usability testing however needs to be done by users with whatever range of disabilities the product is intended to be used by. And that should be all disabilities even if you talking about a screenreader sense one does not know in advance that the reader user will not have any other disability as well.

 but we won’t be able to be all things to all people. We are just hoping to have a feature or function that can help match users with disabilities to people looking for users with disabilities for testing.

If interested in helping us to put together such a feature on our  public DeveloperSpace let me know

gregg
--------------------------------------------------------
Gregg Vanderheiden Ph.D.
Director, Trace R&D Center
Professor, School of Information Studies 
University of Maryland - College Park
Co-Director, Raising the Floor - International - http://Raisingthefloor.org <http://raisingthefloor.org/>
and the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure Project -  http://GPII.net <http://gpii.net/>
> On Feb 26, 2017, at 3:14 AM, Juliette <piazza.juliette@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello Bob,
> 
> This is actually a good remark and I thought about it already.
> For now, I offer a remote testing service as it allows disabled people who have a good use of technologies from all over the world to get involved. However, I am aware of the huge pool of people who struggle with computers. I am actively reaching out to them in London, UK. I am very involved in charities who help vulnerable people to learn how to use computers.
> 
> That's why the benefit of Inclusight will be donated to set up a physical room with computers, smartphones and tablets. Free IT classes will be offered to vulnerable people and obviously if there is a remote opportunity for them they could come to the IT room to do it.
> 
> I am really passionate about this project and the positive impact it will have. I am currently looking for funding for the development of the Inclusight platform. I am also looking for meeting UX researchers, or any professionals that can share with me their feedback on remote usability testing or handling testing with disabled people. To be honest, I have a background in biomedical engineering so I am not an expert in accessibility. However, I am totally passionate by digital inclusion. I think all together we can make a big impact and this is very important to share our knowledge and help each other as much as we can.
> 
> Have a good Sunday!
> Kind Regards,
> 
> Juliette
> 
> On 26 February 2017 at 04:34, <accessys@smart.net <mailto:accessys@smart.net>> wrote:
> 
> question was why only use people who are proficient in IT and AT skills.
> 
> thay are not the most common users
> 
> Bob
> 
> 
> On Sun, 26 Feb 2017, Beranek, Nicholas wrote:
> 
> Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2017 04:28:22 +0000
> From: "Beranek, Nicholas" <Nicholas.Beranek@capitalone.com <mailto:Nicholas.Beranek@capitalone.com>>
> To: "accessys@smart.net <mailto:accessys@smart.net>" <accessys@smart.net <mailto:accessys@smart.net>>,
>     Lars Ballieu Christensen <lbc@sensus.dk <mailto:lbc@sensus.dk>>
> Cc: Wayne Dick <waynedick@knowbility.org <mailto:waynedick@knowbility.org>>,
>     Juliette <piazza.juliette@gmail.com <mailto:piazza.juliette@gmail.com>>,
>     "w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>>
> Subject: RE: Remote usability testing with disabled people
> 
> 
> We want to make things better. The best way to do that is get real users to test your product. I see no problem with wanting to use remote usability testing specific to those with disabilities.
> 
> The face-to-face interviews: have you gone to them? That seems to be the best to satisfy both worlds: effective user testing and convenience for the tester.
> 
> 
> 
> Sent with Good (www.good.com <http://www.good.com/>)
> ________________________________
> From: accessys@smart.net <mailto:accessys@smart.net> <accessys@smart.net <mailto:accessys@smart.net>>
> Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2017 5:42:31 PM
> To: Lars Ballieu Christensen
> Cc: Wayne Dick; Juliette; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
> Subject: Re: Remote usability testing with disabled people
> 
> 
> 
> Why????
> 
> they won't be the only ones using it
> 
> Bob
> 
> 
> On Sat, 25 Feb 2017, Lars Ballieu Christensen wrote:
> 
> Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2017 23:29:56 +0100
> From: Lars Ballieu Christensen <lbc@sensus.dk <mailto:lbc@sensus.dk>>
> To: accessys@smart.net <mailto:accessys@smart.net>
> Cc: Wayne Dick <waynedick@knowbility.org <mailto:waynedick@knowbility.org>>,
>     Juliette <piazza.juliette@gmail.com <mailto:piazza.juliette@gmail.com>>,
>     "w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>>
> Subject: Re: Remote usability testing with disabled people
> Resent-Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2017 22:30:39 +0000
> Resent-From: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
> 
> Talking strictly about accessibility, it would probably make sense only to involve users with proficient IT and AT skills for these kinds of user tests.
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Lars
> 
> Sendt fra min iPad
> 
> Den 25. feb. 2017 kl. 23.14 skrev accessys@smart.net <mailto:accessys@smart.net>:
> 
> 
> another item that must be considered is the braod spectrum of people, disabilities, platforms and adaptive equipment being used. also the level of skill that various users have.
> on this list we have many who could probably plow their way thru just about any old hack but will the new user. or person using odd software that may be generations old be able to use the sites.
> hard to know with remote or any kind of testing that is not controlled.
> 
> X number with this disability
> Y using this software
> etc etc etc.
> 
> Bob
> 
> 
> On Sat, 25 Feb 2017, Wayne Dick wrote:
> 
> Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2017 12:22:08 -0800
> From: Wayne Dick <waynedick@knowbility.org <mailto:waynedick@knowbility.org>>
> To: Juliette <piazza.juliette@gmail.com <mailto:piazza.juliette@gmail.com>>
> Cc: "w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>>
> Subject: Re: Remote usability testing with disabled people
> Resent-Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2017 20:48:22 +0000
> Resent-From: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
> This is a critical enterprise. There are others that are similar. In all
> these cases I have started to worry about the ethical treatment of human
> subjects. How do you address this?
> Sincerely, Wayne Dick
> 
> 
> On Saturday, February 25, 2017, Juliette <piazza.juliette@gmail.com <mailto:piazza.juliette@gmail.com>> wrote:
> Hello,
> I launched,  Inclusight, a startup that provides disabled participants
> for user testings. After providing for a while, disabled participants for
> face-to-face user testing, I figured out this was not the best solution.
> It's not convenient at all for disabled people as they need to travel and
> to plan the session a long time in advance. And when they start the
> testing, they figure out they cannot use their own familiar configurations.
> It's also a pain for user researchers who, on top of that, are not always
> aware of how is it to work with disabled people.
> That's how I came up with the ambition of offering remote usability
> testings for disabled people. At this stage, I am looking for professionals
> willing to share with me their experience in doing remote user testing with
> vulnerable or disabled people. I want to understand how you could make the
> most benefit from Inclusight.
> I am looking forward to hearing from user researchers, web accessibility
> experts or any other professionals.
> Kind Regards,
> --
> Juliette
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
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> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Juliette