Accessibility of Mobile Services

Accessibility of Mobile Services
VeronikaJermolina, AbilityNet11:30–12:10 P02-C

Introduction
VeronikaJermolina (Accessibility and Usability Consultant at AbilityNet)
Presenting research project “Accessibility of Mobile Devices” carried out in 2008
Research conducted at City University London (supervised by Dr. P. Zaphiris) & AbilityNet
David Banes can’t be here today  hence the title of the presentation slightly changed

Presentation Outline

Accessibility and the reasons for accessible design
Why “mobile services”
How data was gathered
Findings
Conclusions & further work
Thanks & your questions
(Bibliography)
(User quotations)

The Carrot & Stick of Accessibility
Carrots
Penetration of mobile phones in Western Europe 112% and 121% in the UK (Informa Telecoms & Media 2007; ITU 2008)
14-20% of the UK population estimate to have a disability (DOH, 2001)
Estimated annual spending power is £50bn in the UK (DRC, 2005)
Repercussions on non-disabled and world-wide populations (Kurniawan & Zaphiris, 2007)
The Stick
Disability Discrimination Act

Web Accessibility
Web Accessibility (Henry & Duffy 2005)
The Web can be accessible if multiple components work together
If one component fails, there can be workarounds
But this makes more likely for accessibility to be overlooked

Mobile Service Stakeholders
Handset manufacturer –handsets and software to run the phone
Mobile network provider – network coverage, calling, SMS, internet browsing; decides on applications to be bundled with its firmware
Content or service provider –applications for bundling with firmware and for download
Assistive technology provider – allows disabled users to access all the features of a mobile phone
End user – uses the service for its purpose.
Stakeholders need to work together to provide accessible service

Research MethodsQuestionnaire / User Testing

Questionnaire
Disseminated through the Web
Mean age was 38 years old
Contract – 58.3%
PAYG – 36.1%

Percentage of Respondents by Impairment Type

Usability Testing
Mean age was 41.5 years
8 people
Visually impaired – 5
Dyslexia – 2
Motor – 1
Hearing – 1
Learning – 1
6 people had Nokia N95

Findings

Overview of Findings

What people like about their mobiles
Market share and penetration of mobile manufacturers
ATs used
Choosing, Buying, and Changing a handset
Mobile internet use and barriers
Other inaccessible Apps
A brief note on the iPhone

The Good Stuff: Size, Access, Functionality

Market Share
World penetration rates – 40% Nokia, 15% Samsung, 9% Motorola, 9% LG Electronics, 8% Sony Ericsson
Apple iPhone penetration not in the top 5 at the time of research (IDC, 2008)

Market Share vs. Respondent Share

Assistive Technology
The use of AT and customisation was significantly lower between mobile device users when compared to PC users

Choosing a Handset
Opinion of the community (contacts, friends, AT suppliers)
My Talks provider would let me know if “anything nice has come out”
“I had a brief trial of the Nokia N95 handset in the shop, but was not convinced until a colleague showed the text resizing feature”
Compatibility with Talks
Brand loyalty & historical factors
“I’m a Nokia fan”
“Someone mentioned that Vodafone were giving away a bunch of Talks licences on Nokia handsets”
No way to try out competing products
“Someone would have let me know” if anything better [than Talks on Nokia] came out

Choosing a Handset (cont)
“My choice of mobile phone is driven by my passion for technology and the latest features available”
“I think next time I’ll buy a phone that matches my RSI and not my outfit”

Changing a Handset
“Just grief”
Licence fees for ATs
Backing up and Restoring content is problematic
Nokia’s PC Suite inaccessible - “one big graphic”

Buying a handset
Awareness of accessibility needs and features among shop staff is very low making seeking advice in shops discouraging
“ People in the shops are confusing and distracting. I once got into a Vodafone shop to get some assistance with my handset but a member of staff told me that I should change my phone because it was “rubbish”. He tried to sell me a new contract. My disability is not obvious...”
No “try before you buy” option leaves no way to successfully verify if a handset would suit their access needs or not
Installing a screen reader is the pre-requisite for exploring handsets in the VI group

Mobile Internet Use

Very low mobile internet take-up among respondents

Non-disabled mobile internet use
UK population = 61.4m (Statistics.gov 2008)
Mobile penetration at 121% = 74.3m handsets
Yet, only about 17m mobile internet users (MDA, 2008)

Mobile Internet barriers
Cost
Surprise charges discourage people from using it
Formatting
Clicking every link is a lottery – it can be 1MB (costing you £3 on some PAYG plans)

Mobile Internet barriers (cont)
Complicated pay plans
Inaccessible mobile provider sites
Use of jargon – “web’n’walk day pass on U-fix and pay as you go” (T-mobile)
“Unlimited” defined in highly inaccessible “Terms and conditions”
Complex technology
Choosing the access point
“It’s back to the payment thing –
Oh no! I don’t really know how
to get out of here”

Other software currently inaccessible
Camera
Inaccessible due to the lack of clearly labelled control
GPS and Maps
Nokia Maps completely inaccessible to the screen readers

Nokia Maps were difficult to use and counter-intuitive for sighted participants
“I don’t really know if I’m being charged for accessing the Maps. It’s not a nice feeling”
The users preferred the working commercial alternatives, such as Wayfinder Access & Trekker Maestro (costly!)
“Wayfinder’s brilliant! They listen to their customers. I like giving directions to taxi drivers, the ones who don’t have GPS”

iPhone
The incidence of iPhone amongst the survey respondents was zero
Caused an initial positive reaction amongst some participants
“I was in the States and went to an Apple shop to find out about what accessibility features there were. None, I was told”
Was completely inaccessible to the blind participants
Upset by the complete disregard for accessibility
“An expensive brick”
Was poorly accessible to the RSI participant due to cold metal panel and small fonts.
The web page zoom feature was helpful to the partially sighted participant
New 3GS accessibility features need testing with real users

Can you trust this research?
Statistically significant results were not one of the objectives of the project
Therefore representativeness and generalisability cannot be guaranteed
We should try to study and accommodate diverse user needs without the need for statistically significant results

Conclusions

Conclusions
Holistic approach to mobile services
We might see it firmware, software, customer services, provider websites, price plans, access points, high street shops
… BUT to the user it’s all the same (in)accessible service
Nokia are ahead of the competition amongst the visually impaired
There are fewer ATs(or awareness?) for mobiles compared to PCs
Community and loyalty define the buying choice
Changing a phone is challenging
Testing in shops is difficult
The mobile internet is currently inaccessible
Camera & Video and Maps & GPS are difficult to use or inaccessible
iPhoneintroduced accessibility features 2 years after first release

Some Ideas for Further Work
Test for accessibility – content, applications, and other important parts of the mobile service, such as the mobile operators’ websites
Provide fair “try before you buy” opportunities
Use user-centred design and reach out to users with relevant information about products and services (e.g. “other people bought this phone”)
Provide the facility to personalise text size and background colours

Special Thanks

Participants, especially Andre Louis
Kath Moonan & Caleb Tang (AbilityNet)
Nigel Lewis (AbilityNet) and Dr. Panayiotis Zaphiris (City University London)

Join Us for Accessibility 2.0 Conference on 22nd September

Topics: Mobile, Understanding Deafness, Graphic Design, Silverlight …
Speakers from: Yahoo!, BBC, Opera, Microsoft …
http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/accessibility2/

Contact

veronika.jermolina@abilitynet.org.uk
Twitter @welikethis

Bibliography
DDA 1995 (c.50) [online] http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1995/ukpga_19950050_en_4#pt3-pb1-l1g19
Department of Health (2001) Survey Health for England [online] http://www.archive2.official-documents.co.uk/document/deps/doh/survey01/disa/disa01.htm
Henry S.L., (2008) Essential Components of Web Accessibility [online] http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/components.php
IDC (2008) IDC – Press Release [online] (Updated 31 July 2008) http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS21369208
Informa (2007) Western European Subscriptions By Country. Mobile Communications Europe [online] 466 (Updated 15 April 2008) http://www.informatm.com/pdf/Mar-2007/29/mce442_032007.pdf
International Telecommunications Union (2008) Worldwide mobile cellular subscribers to reach 4 billion mark late 2008 [online] (Updated 25 September 2008) http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2008/29.html
Kurniawan , S., Zaphiris, P. (2007) Advances in Universal Web Design and Evaluation [e-book] Chapter 1, Web Accessibility and the Needs of Users with Disabilities, Aspasia Dellaporta, Cimex Media Ltd., UK http://books.google.co.uk
Mobile Data Association (2008) Latest WAP Figures [online] http://www.text.it/mediacentre/wap_figures.cfm

User Quotations
I used to use my phone as a modem. Then I received a bill for £30 for using it. I didn’t know that I could do it cheaper.
T9... If it could remember your preferred option would be nice. Sometimes it forgets. And it drives me crazy!
I can’t take photographs, I can’t do video.
I want to take a photo of my friend’s baby. He smells so lovely!
Just because I can’t see doesn’t mean I wouldn’t want to take a picture or a video to share with my family. I’m going on a cruise next month…
The [mobile] internet is rubbish! It’s about confidence, so I stopped trying
Wayfinder’s brilliant! They listen to their customers. I like giving directions to taxi drivers, the ones who don’t have GPS.
The GPS with Nokia Maps doesn’t work. Seriously, I don’t know a single person for whom it works.
Does your condition affect your choice of mobile phone? No! [laughs] Being addicted to technology affects my choice!
I don’t really know if I’m being charged for accessing the Maps. It’s not a nice feeling.
I’d like it to blend in
It’s the iPhone! It’s quite cold. That might put me off immediately, using it outside;
[iPhone] I don’t have big hands, but those keys are very small.