Minor Accessibility and Universal Design

• Shadi Abou-Zahra (W3V, Vienna)
• Jérôme Dupire (CNAM, Paris)
• Mai-Anh Ngo (Université Côte d'Azur, GREDEG)
• Pierre Thérouanne (Université Côte d'Azur, LAPCOS) 
• Marco Winckler (Université Côte d'Azur, I3S)

According to the ISO 9241 norm (2008), accessibility is defined as the ease of use of a product, a service, an environment or a facility, regardless of individuals' capabilities. Many forms of legislation have been ratified, stating the duty to ensure access to information and communication technologies (ICT). Drawing on contributions from Computer science, Human-Computer interaction, Ergonomics, and Law, this minor aims to provide theoretical and practical bases to ensure accessibility of ICT. Specific situations will be further examined: Accessibility for people with blindness or visual impairment, Web accessibility, and video game accessibility.

The course presents:

• Definition of accessibility and universal design; Current views on impairment, disability, and handicap;
• Social issues and simulations of handicap situations (physical limitations, use of a screen reader);
• Visual, auditory, motor and cognitive impairments and the resulting disabilities;
• Assistive technologies for visual interfaces: responsive design; video games accessibility;
• Guidelines for designing computer interfaces ensuring access for all;
• Legal regulatory issues; overview of different cases (e.g., American Section 508); Deep examination of recent European directives;
• Recommendations from the World Wide Web Consortium about tools and web content to make the Web accessible to all; Methods for checking web accessibility;
• Models of accessibility and universal design.

• 18 students

• Directive (eu) 2016/2102 of the European parliament and of the council of 26 October 2016 on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/FR/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32016L2102
• Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2019.151.01.0070.01.ENG&toc=OJ:L:2019:151:TOC
• Giraud, S., Thérouanne, P., & Steiner, D. D. (2018). Web accessibility: Filtering redundant and irrelevant information improves website usability for blind users. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 111, 23-35. http://dx.doi.org//10.1016/j.ijhcs.2017.10.011
• Hans Persson, H., Åhman, H., Arvei, Yngling, A., & Gulliksen, J. (2015). Universal design, inclusive design, accessible design, design for all: different concepts—one goal? On the concept of accessibility—historical, methodological and philosophical aspects. Universal Access in the Information Society, 14, 505–526. http://dx.doi.org//10.1007/s10209-014-0358-z
• Jonathan Lazar, J. Bern Jordan, Gregg C. Vanderheiden. Toward unified guidelines for kiosk accessibility. Interactions 26(4): 74-77 (2019). http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/july-august-2019/toward-unified-guidelines-for-kiosk-accessibility
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) (2018). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/
• Jacob O. Wobbrock, Krzysztof Z. Gajos, Shaun K. Kane, Gregg C. Vanderheiden: Ability-based design. Commun. ACM 61(6): 62-71 (2018)

• 1 written exam: April, 22nd
• 1 oral: April, 22nd