Peter Gregor

University of Dundee · Computing

This paper presents the results of an evaluation of an automated teller machine (ATM) that provides the facility for depositing bunches of bank notes and cheques without the need to use an envelope. Results are presented and discussed with measures of performance and self-reported ratings being given. Conclusions are drawn as to the usability of th...

Although “User-Centred”, “Participatory”, and other similar design approaches have proved to be very valuable for mainstream design, their principles are more difficult to apply successfully when the user group contains, or ...

A course on computers was run for computer beginners aged over 55. An iterative and flexible approach aimed to ensure that students’ anxieties and difficulties were addressed as the course proceeded. Several layers of difficulty were encountered, ranging from initial difficulties understanding Windows systems and the working of the mouse to more fu...

The concept of Universal Usability is an important one, and requires researchers and designers to consider all potential user groups of systems, including minority groups such as people with disabilities. Unlike ethnic minorities and economically disadvantaged people, however, including people with disabilities may have a major impacts on the desig...

Eye-tracking is a valuable tool for usability research. Studies into the effect of age on eye-movement behavior tend to indicate a propensity for slower viewing and longer times spent examining information. This pattern is usually attributed to the general physiological and cognitive slow-down associated with normal aging. In this paper, however, a...

Toilets and toilet habits are perceived as a taboo subject that people may be reluctant or embarrassed to talk openly about. In the past, appropriately designed Computer Based Interviews have been shown to encourage more honest answers to sensitive questions than other forms of interview, and can be more interesting and engaging that filling out a...

In this study, the aim was to investigate if an electronic prescribing system designed specifically to reduce errors would lead to fewer errors in prescribing medicines in a secondary care setting. The electronic system was compared with paper prescription charts on 16 intensive care patients to assess any change in the number of prescribing errors...

The reliable identification of protein interaction partners and how such interactions change in response to physiological or pathological perturbations is a key goal in most areas of cell biology. Stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC)-based mass spectrometry has been shown to provide a powerful strategy for characterizing...

In this paper, we describe the User Centre at the University of Dundee which provides a space for older people and technology to come together for the benefit of new learning opportunities, social interaction and research.

Information technology has been widely promoted in the healthcare sector to improve current practice and patient safety. However, end users are seldom involved extensively in the design and development of healthcare systems, with lip service often paid to the idea of true user involvement. In this case study the impact of sustained authentic user p...

Usability is a growing issue for developers of scientific software. Scientists seeking software to support scientific discovery and funding bodies seeking better return on investment increase the pressure to produce scientific software that has an impact beyond a limited set of users (that is, scientists in a single lab). However, developing softwa...

An experimental data handling system has been created as an update to the previous Nucleolar Proteome Database (NOPdb3.0: http://www.lamondlab.com/NOPdb3.0/). This updated system is able to manage large data sets identified by multiple mass spectrometry and has been used to analyse highly purified preparations of human nucleoli from different cell...

The purpose of the current research was to test the psychological impact of learning how to use computers and the Internet in old age, hypothesizing that such activities would contribute to seniors' well-being and personal sense of empowerment. Employing a quasi-experimental research design, we offered a course, conducted in small groups, in comput...

In this paper we discuss our human computer interaction research on improving the accessibility and supportiveness of information systems for people with cognitive difficulties, whether these are developmental impairments, such as dyslexia, or acquired difficulties, most often an effect of the ageing process. The aetiology and symptoms of these con...

In October 2005, the IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center and T.J. Watson Research Center hosted a symposium on “cognitive and learning difficulties and how they affect access to IT systems”. The central premise of the symposium was the recognition that cognitive and learning difficulties have a profound impact on a person’s ability to intera...

Objective To develop and pilot two computer-based decision aids to assist women with decision-making about mode of delivery after a previous caesarean section (CS), which could then be evaluated in a randomized-controlled trial. Background Women with a previous CS are faced with a decision between repeat elective CS and vaginal birth after caesarea...

The prevalence of mild hypoglycemia is difficult to document, particularly, in young people with diabetes. The usual method is to ask for subject recall using written 'diaries'. In 2004, we investigated if new technology could be used to ascertain an accurate prevalence of mild hypoglycemia, particularly self-treated. We compared the use of 'text m...

As educators' awareness of their responsibilities towards ensuring the accessibility of the learning environment to disabled students increases, significant debate surrounds the implications of accessibility requirements on educational multimedia. There would appear to be widespread concern that the fundamental principles of creating accessible web...

A multidisciplinary team from industry, government, and academia developed prototype email, Web search, and navigation systems for users over 60 years old who were inexperienced in using computers and had never used the Internet. The academics encountered problems in persuading other team members of the specific challenges of designing for and work...

Technology is frequently presented as a panacea for the support needs of the ageing population, based in part upon the commonly cited assertion that computer and internet use has an empirically verified positive effect on the well-being of older people. In this paper we review the studies that this assertion is based on and conclude that they do no...

The move toward digital switchover increases content and introduces interactive services available through the television. UK legislation advocates universal access and equitable provision of services, across all platforms and equipment, particularly for 'vulnerable' groups. However, key aspects of usability and accessibility have been overlooked b...

This paper describes research carried out within the Queen Mother Research Centre for Information Technology to support older and disabled people and how this led to the development of an approach to research into accessibility and usability which is instantiated in the facilities of the new building.

We have investigated the possibilities of using theatre, including professional actors, scriptwriters and artistic directors, within requirements gathering, and usability testing, and for communicating the results of such work to the design community, or individual designers. The research on which we will report focuses on older people, but we beli...

As educators' awareness of their responsibilities towards ensuring the accessibility of the learning environment to disabled students increases, significant debate surrounds the implications of accessibility requirements on educational multimedia. There would appear to be widespread concern that the fundamental principles of creating accessible web...

The use of theatrical techniques to provoke discussion amongst potential users of gerontechnology in order to assist with the design process was investigated. Specifically, the technology being developed was automated visual tracking and monitoring to support older people within their homes by analysing their activity and raising the alarm should t...

In this chapter, the authors explore the relationship of technology to disability, and how technology can be both a source of liberation and an agent of exclusion for disabled people. The impact of the ‘digital divide’ on people with specific access needs, is examined and discussed, while the physical, cognitive and environmental factors that can c...

Information is increasingly displayed digitally, yet less than half of the population of the UK use the Internet. Older people are especially unlikely to be Internet users and the consequent risks of digital exclusion must be addressed. A training course in computers and web use for older adults took place at the University of Dundee, with 15 parti...

In this paper we discuss our human computer interaction research on improving the accessibility and supportiveness of information systems for people with cognitive difficulties, whether these are developmental impairments, such as dyslexia, or acquired difficulties, most often an effect of the ageing process. The aetiology and symptoms of these con...

As the Web becomes more integral to day-to-day life, there is a danger that many older people will be excluded if their access needs are not considered by content designers. Although accessibility guidelines for designers are available, experience shows that these guidelines have not been successful enough in producing Web sites accessible to older...

To determine the uptake of multiple eHealth facilities enabled by the NHS Scotland Electronic Clinical Communications Implementation Programme (ECCI) and to ascertain primary and secondary care users' perceptions. Prospective monthly measurement of 37 indicators of roll-out and adoption. Retrospective questionnaire survey of users. Scottish health...

Lack of consensus on the meaning of eHealth has led to uncertainty among academics, policymakers, providers and consumers. This project was commissioned in light of the rising profile of eHealth on the international policy agenda and the emerging UK National Programme for Information Technology (now called Connecting for Health) and related develop...

The difficulties that older adults encounter browsing the web have been reported by a number of researchers. Hitherto, research has focused on improving content with little attention being given to the effects that the browser itself may have on the difficulties people encounter. We report on the development of an alternative browser which was desi...

A system providing fall detection and movement monitoring to support older people living at home using computer vision technology is being developed. Sensitive design with user involvement is important if such a system is to be experienced as supportive rather than invasive. Four scenarios, based on material from focus groups and anecdotal evidence...

Electronic memory aids have been used successfully to give reminders to individuals with memory problems. These aids usually present short action reminders that are acknowledged by the user. The recent enhancement of handheld computers with wireless technology has rendered them multi-functional and presents an opportunity to be exploited to meet th...

Memory problems are often associated with ageing and are among the most common effects of brain injury. Such problems can severely disrupt daily life and put huge strain on family members and carers. Electronic devices have been used successfully to provide short and timely reminders to memory-impaired individuals. We are currently developing an el...

Memory problems are often associated with ageing and are among the most common effects of brain injury. Such problems can severely disrupt daily life and put huge strain on family members and carers. Electronic devices have been used successfully to provide short and timely reminders to memory-impaired individuals. The Memojog project has developed...

Software design is an area where it is most important to elicit an accurate and complete set of requirements. Determining the users’ requirements and their qualitative satisfaction with a developing product are two major problems which arise, often due to the different backgrounds and perspectives of the different stakeholders, including the softwa...

Electronic devices such as personal digital assistants have been used successfully as aids for people with memory problems. However, limitations of currently available technology can create difficulties in the day-to-day use of such devices, particularly for memory impaired and older users. These limitations are discussed in terms of both the softw...

The work introduced here concerns the user interface requirements of older users of e-mail. The main goal is to understand better the e-mail needs of older people, and to form a foundation for further developments in simplified and rationalised e-mail interfaces. The approach involved working closely with older computer users to establish their ess...

Memory problems are often associated with the ageing process and are one of the commonest effects of brain injury. Electronic memory aids have been successfully used as a compensatory approach to provide reminders to individuals with prospective memory problems. This paper describes the usability issues surrounding the development of a new memory a...

This paper describes the experiences and insights obtained while using children-centred design during two software development projects. The authors describe critical difficulties experienced and how measures had to be taken to adapt the children-centred design methodologies to allow full involvement of children in the project design.

This paper describes the development, with full involvement by children, of a web development tool which reflects truly how children view the World Wide Web. The tool was designed in such a way that it promoted the understanding and implementation of accessibility principles to the users.

The idea of consulting pupils about developments in their schools is now established in legislation and practice in schools. While many methods of performing such consultations have been employed for a number of years, a new system has been developed which can offer a consultation environment previously not available. An online pupil consultation s...

SeeWord is a highly configurable word processing environment, which assists dyslexic users when producing and reading text. The software was developed using a user-centred development cycle where user feedback contributed to each revision. Evaluations showed that users were able to find individualised combinations of settings using the specialised...

Research with older adults indicates that despite considerable demand for help and support, the existing facilities built into computers are rarely used. Using evidence from our work with older adul ts, we argue that this is because they are often hard to find, h ard to use and inappropriate. Reconsidering the way s in which support is presented to...

Dyslexia is a condition which varies widely between individuals and affects not only the sufferer's ability to read, but is also likely to affect sequencing ability; taking these as the initial framework for a system to help dyslexic readers to process text more easily on a computer screen, we have produced a system called SeeWord which allows easy...

As the identity of the computer user becomes more diverse, software developers can no longer assume familiarity with legacy systems or perfect vision, motor control and memory. The development of Piloot (for users with learning difficulties) and SeeWord (for dyslexic readers) shows that systems can be usable and accessible for 'non-typical' user gr...

The idea of consulting pupils about developments in their schools is now established in legislation and practice in schools. While many methods of performing such consultations have been employed for a number of years, a new system has been developed which can offer a consultation environment previously not available. An online pupil consultation s...

Drama on video is being used as a tool to investigate user requirements for a fall detector within the context of a monitoring system based on visual tracking. The system is being designed to have the ability to provide passive monitoring in the homes of older people so that in the case of a fall being detected, the emergency services are called au...

Online educational resources have the potential of providing enhanced access to education for everyone. To achieve this, these resources must be accessible both to the increasingly diverse range of potential users and via the diverse browsing environments now available. Legal and moral obligations also exist to ensure that disabled people are not u...

Online educational resources have the potential of providing enhanced access to education for everyone. To achieve this, these resources must be accessible both to the increasingly diverse range of potential users and via the diverse browsing environments now available. Legal and moral obligations also exist to ensure that disabled people are not u...

The significant changes in the social, legal, demographic, and economic landscape over the past 10–15 years present enormous opportunities for the human–computer interface design community. These changes will have a significant impact on the design and development of systems for older and disabled people. This paper brings together a number of prop...

In the absence of a full understanding of the nature of dyslexia, the researchers' approach was to identify some of the most commonly noted problems which dyslexics encounter when reading and producing text. On the basis of these common difficulties, they identified ways in which each individual might be able to minimise the consequences of their o...

In this paper, we describe why designers need to look beyond the twin aims of designing for the 'typical' user and designing "prostheses". Making accessible interfaces for older people is a unique but many-faceted challenge. Effective applications and interface design needs to address the dynamic diversity of the human species. We introduce a new d...

In this paper, we describe why designers need to look beyond the twin aims of designing for the 'typical' user and designing "prostheses." Making accessible interfaces for older people is a unique but many faceted challenge. Effective applications and interface design needs to address the dynamic diversity of the human species. We introduce a new d...

Given the increasingly important role the World Wide Web plays as an information source, and yet with the continuing problems that certain individuals, particularly those with disabilities and those using ‘non-standard’ Web browsing technology, it is vital that web resource providers be aware of design features which introduce barriers affecting th...

An abstract is not available.

This paper discusses the role of children as expert evaluators in the assessment of accessibility and usability of a number of websites primarily aimed at children. It also discusses how children's awareness of accessibility issues can be raised through such a process.

In this paper, we describe why designers need to look beyond the twin aims of designing for the 'typical' user and designing "prostheses." Making accessible interfaces for older people is a unique but many faceted challenge. Effective applications and interface design needs to address the dynamic diversity of the human species. We introduce a new d...

The paper discusses recent web Accessibility Audits produced by the authors (8) - audits that have the dual aims of raising accessibility levels of the subject sites and the general awareness of accessible design principles. The presentation of the information has been shaped by the desire that it should be digestible by both technical and administ...

A majority of Web based information, facilities and services is unnecessarily inaccessible to people with certain disabilities, largely due to a lack of awareness of accessibility issues on the part of developers. This paper argues that currently available accessibility evaluation methods are unsatisfactory in the scope and presentation of their re...

This research describes the development of a highly configurable word processing environment to alleviate some of the difficulties encountered by dyslexics when producing and reading text. It also describes a pragmatic, empirical methodology, closely involving dyslexic users, which has proved highly effective. All dyslexic subjects tested were able...

A lack of awareness of disability issues in the provision of digital educational material is resulting in a situation where much of this material is, to some degree, inaccessible to people with certain disabilities. Current and proposed disability legislation in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom means that any educational m...

A computer interview involves a program asking questions of the user, who responds by providing answers directly to the computer. Using a computer interview has been shown to be an effective method of eliciting information, and particularly personal information which many people find difficult to discuss face to face. While the simulation of some o...

In the world of computing, women are in the minority. Computer software and systems in common use have been developed by male-dominated teams. As designers design systems that they like, a male perspective comes through the software and leads to the belief that computing is a male subject. Girls therefore do not find computing interesting nor is it...

This paper considers appropriate research methodologies for the development of Universal Usability. It is written from the viewpoint of research which has the long term objective of developing technological systems for everyone, including people with disabilities. It considers whether new research paradigms are appropriate and how they are differen...

This paper discusses the need for an all-encompassing methodology for determining the level of accessibility of web resources, and the requirement that the results of such a procedure are as meaningful as possible to developers. It is argued that current accessibility evaluation methods are unsatisfactory in the scope and presentation of their resu...

: When specifying, designing and implementing technology for work, it is very important to consider the whole of the potential user group, and not to forget that this might include people with disabilities. Obvious reasons for this are demography, disabled people forming a significant and growing proportion of the workforce, and legal obligations c...

A computer-based learning (CBL) system has been an integral part of first- and second-year computing courses at the University of Dundee for several years. The system uses the World Wide Web (WWW) for its implementation, and includes question–answer tutorials, programming tutorials, and animated demonstrations. Here, we report on an evaluation of t...

This paper provides an overview of the major areas of research within the Department of Applied Computing at the University of Dundee. This research focuses on the areas of Interactive Communication Systems, Telecommunications and Remote Learning, Computer based Interviewing and Knowledge Elicitation, Health Informatics, Software Engineering, and D...

This chapter is concerned with the design of human computer interfaces for people with disabilities. However, the main purpose of the chapter is not to tell the reader exactly how to cope with the peculiar demands of people with disabilities but to examine the question of why human computer interface engineers should seriously consider the problems...

A gesture is a motion of the body that contains information (e.g. waving goodbye, beckoning with an index finger, signs in a sign language). There are four classes of gestures; signs (substitutes for spoken language); indications (pointing and showing direction); illustration (conveying ideas such as size and shape); and manipulation (for example m...

An abstract is not available.

The occurrences of fusion and suppression were determined from stereograms which produced two retinal images located at equal distances but in opposite directions from the fovea. Subjects reported whether the dichoptic stimulus appeared single or not, and if single whether it appeared in the center of the visual field. The report of centrality is p...

The population trend in Japan, the UK and worldwide is shifting the balance towards a predominantly older population. The current generation of older people has not achieved a familiarity with computer and information technology through their work and leisure. Information technology, however, offers older people an opportunity to participate more f...