UniversalUsability.org

Attaining the benefits of universal access to web-based and other information, communications, entertainment, and government services will require a more intense commitment to lowering costs, coupled with human-computer interaction research and usability engineering. A starting point for research would be a program that addressed at least these universal usability challenges:

• Technology variety: Supporting a broad range of hardware, software, and network access
• User diversity: Accommodating users with different skills, knowledge, age, gender, disabilities, disabling conditions (mobility, sunlight, noise), literacy, culture, income, etc.
• Gaps in user knowledge: Bridging the gap between what users know and what they need to know

Research could pave the way for broad citizen participation in quality online services and novel social, economic, and political programs. America OnLine claims that "It's so easy to use. That's why we are number one." They recognize the centrality of usability, and have done well to make their services usable by many. Their success is admirable in reaching a fraction of the potential audience, but much work remains to achieve the goal of universal usability.

References

1. Anderson, R.H., Bikson, Tora, Law, Sally Ann, and Mitchell, Bridger M., 1995. Universal access to e-mail: Feasibility and societal implications. Santa Monica, CA: The Rand Corporation. URL: http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR650/
2. Clement, Andrew and Shade, Leslie Regan, The Access Rainbow: Conceptualizing universal access to the information/ communications infrastructure, In Gurstein, M. (Editor), Community Informatics: Enabling Communities with Information and Communications Technologies. Idea Publishing, Hershey PA (1999, forthcoming).
3. Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB), National Research Council, More than Screen Deep: Toward an Every-Citizen Interface to the Nation's Information Infrastructure, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1997.
4. Kobsa, Alfred and Stephanidis, Constantine, Adaptable and adaptive information access for all users, including disabled and elderly people, (1998).
5. Kraut, Robert, Scherlis, William, Mukhopadhyay, Tridas, Manning, Jane, and Kiesler, Sara, The HomeNet field trial of residential Internet services, Communications of the ACM 39, 12 (December 1996), 55-63.
6. Laux, L. F., McNally, P. R., Paciello, M. G., Vanderheiden, G. C., Designing the World Wide Web for people with disabilities: a user centered design approach, Proc. Assets '96 Conference on Assistive Technologies, ACM, New York, (1996), 94-101.
7. National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U. S. Dept. of Commerce, Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide, Washington, DC (July 1999).
8. Perry, J., Macken, E., Scott, N., and McKinley, J. L., Disability, Inability and Cyberspace, in Human Values and the Design of Technology, Friedman, B. (Editor), CSLI Publications & Cambridge University Press (1997), 65-89.
9. Shneiderman, B., Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction: Third Edition, Addison-Wesley Publ. Co., Reading, MA (1998),
10. Silver, David, Margins in the wires: Looking for race, gender, and sexuality in the Blacksburg Electronic Village, In Kolko, B., Nakamura, L. and Rodman, G., Race in Cyberspace: Politics, Identity, and Cyberspace, Routledge, London (1999, in press).
11. Thomas, John C., Basson, Sara, and Gardner-Bonneau, Daryle, Universal design and assistive technology, In Gardner-Bonneau, Daryle (Editor), Human Factors and Voice Interactive Systems, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston (1999).
12. van der Meij, Hans and Carroll, John M., Principles and heuristics in designing minimalist instruction, Technical Communication (Second Quarter 1995), 243-261.