1,721,021 research outputs found
How can participatory design inform the design and development of innovative technologies for autistic communities?
No full textPurpose –This paper reflects upon on the opportunities and challenges of engaging with a wide variety of stakeholders during the design, development and evaluation of innovative technologies for people with autism. Autism is defined in part by difficulties in social communication and interaction, and is therefore particularly pertinent when considering the opportunities and challenges of participatory design.Design/methodology/approach – A series of presentations from key researchers and practitioners are reviewed, highlighting contemporary issues about how technologies have been designed to improve educational support using a range of methods and processes for stakeholder involvement. Findings – Involvement per se does not constitute engagement as a design partner. The interdisciplinary nature of Participatory Design, combined with the viewpoints of communities beyond academia, need to be integrated in a manner that allows for different perspectives and voices, and for the ‘trace’ of the contribution to be evidenced. The level of evidence required for demonstrating effective support needs to be considered in terms of both the outcomes of projects and the processes for involving stakeholders in participatory design.Originality/value – This paper offers an up-to-date insight from lead researchers into key debates about the benefits and challenges of Participatory Design with autistic people and the broader autism community. Its value lies in raising questions about, and discussing evidence that challenges, some of the assumptions that underpin both Participatory Design processes and the needs of the autistic community.<br/
Look up! Digital technologies for autistic people to support interaction and embodiment in the real world
No full textXLBlocks: a Block-based Formula Editor for Spreadsheet Formulas
No full textSpreadsheets are frequently used in industry to support critical business decisions. Unfortunately, they also suffer from error-proneness, which sometimes results in costly consequences. Experiments in the field of program education have shown that programmers tend to make fewer errors and can better focus on the logic of a program if they use a block-based language instead of a textual one. We hypothesize that a block-based formula editor could support spreadsheet users in a similar way. Therefore, we develop XLBlocks and conduct a think-aloud study with 13 experienced spreadsheet users from industry. Participants are asked to create and edit several formulas, using our block-based language. We then ask them to evaluate this editor using the Cognitive Dimensions of Notations framework. We found that for all dimensions the block-based formula editor received a better evaluation than the default text-based formula editor.Accepted author manuscriptSoftware Engineerin
Virtual reality and robots for autism: moving beyond the screen
Full text linkPurpose: This short paper reports on the fourth seminar in a seven-seminar series entitled, “Innovative Technologies for Autism: Critical Reflections on Digital Bubbles”, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council. The purpose of this paper is to consider in more depth the technologies being developed and used in the autism field, and to critically reflect on their relative benefits and potential pitfalls.Design/methodology/approach: Presentations from key researchers and practitioners are reviewed, highlighting contemporary issues in the area of autism and technology. The presentations include descriptions of cutting-edge technologies as well as the role of technology in human-human interaction.Findings: Despite its potential, technology for autism is regarded by many with some caution: technology per se cannot provide solutions to key issues in the field. However, by looking in more depth at the features of new technologies and the interactions that take place with and around them, we can begin to build up a picture of best practice around technology for autism.Originality/value: This paper offers up-to-date insights from leading academics on the benefits and challenges of innovative technologies in the field of autism research and practice. Specifically, it highlights the importance of including a breadth of expertise in the design of such tools, and the need to consider technology as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself
“Whose agenda? Who knows best? Whose voice?”: Co-creating a technology research roadmap with autism stakeholders
No full textTechnologies play vital roles in the learning and participation of autistic people and yet have mostly been conceptualised according to a medical model of disability. In this stakeholder review, the comments of 240 participants from a two-year seminar series focusing on autism and technology were analysed to co-construct an understanding of how research could develop more inclusively. Our socio-cultural analysis shows that stakeholders were very positive about the roles that technologies can play in many areas of life, but that these technologies need to be developed and evaluated according to the needs and preferences of autistic people and their families. We propose an inclusive common social framework for research based on the core themes of social inclusion, perspectives, and participation and agency. Such a framework requires the field to recognise that some current practices are exclusionary and that a commitment to action is needed in order to make positive changes
Knowing me, knowing you: perspectives on awareness in autism
No full textPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to raise important questions from the different perspectives onautism research that arose from a seminar on autism and technology, held as part of an ESRC-funded serieson innovative technologies for autism.Design/methodology/approach – The paper focuses on the roles of technology in understandingquestions about different perspectives on autism: how do people on the spectrum see neurotypicals (peoplewithout autism) and vice versa?; how do the authors use eye gaze differently from each other?; how mighttechnology influence what is looked at and how the authors measure this?; what differences might there be inhow people use imitation of others?; and finally, how should the authors study and treat any differences?Findings – The authors synthesise common themes from invited talks and responses. The audiencediscussions highlighted the ways in which the authors take account of human variation, how the authors canunderstand the perspective of another, particularly across third-person and second-person approaches inresearch, and how researchers and stakeholders engage with each other.Originality/value – The authors argue that the question of perspectives is important for considering howpeople with autism and neurotypical people interact in everyday contexts, and how researchers frame theirresearch questions and methods. The authors propose that stakeholders and researchers can fruitfullyengage directly in discussions of research, in ways that benefit both research and practice
What technology for autism needs to be invented? Idea generation from the autism community via the ASCmeI.T. app
No full textIn autism and technology research, technologies are often developed by researchers targeting specific social and communication difficulties experienced by individuals with autism. In some technology-based projects, children and adults with autism as well as parents, carers, teachers, and other professionals, are involved as users, informers, and (more rarely) as co-designers. However, much less is known about the views of the autism community about the needs they identify as areas that could be addressed through innovative technological solutions. This paper describes the ASCmeI.T. project which encourages members of the autism community to download a free app to answer the question: If there was one new technology to help people with autism, what would it be? This project provides a model of e-participation in which people from the autism community are involved from the start so that new developments in digital technologies can be better matched to support the needs of users
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Interdisciplinary perspectives on designing, understanding and evaluating digital technologies for autism
Full text linkPurpose: Interdisciplinary perspectives and collaboration in technology research are regarded as vital for producing effective and usable solutions that meet real needs. The purpose of this paper is to draw upon the fifth seminar in an Economic and Social Research Council funded series in the UK on “Innovative Technologies for Autism”. This seminar focused on the contributions that different disciplines can make to the field of autism and technology, and offers some interesting avenues for future research.Design/methodology/approach: A synthesis of key messages from the speakers’ talks is presented, interspersed with comments and observations from delegates which were written on post-it notes during the day and shared amongst the group.Findings: Interdisciplinarity can be conceptualised in many different ways and is not simply about academic contributions. Collaborative research involving genuine stakeholder participation can provide fertile grounds for respecting and exploring individual differences and needs. Investigating the uses of existing technologies as well as developing innovative ideas and prototypes through inclusive design are important avenues for future research.Originality/value: This paper offers a rare glimpse into a range of perspectives within a broad field of research and draws out some important connections between these different viewpoints. There are valuable avenues for collaboration and further exploration that would extend research in productive ways
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