Climbing crags recommender system in Arco, Italy: a comparative study.

Outdoor sport climbing is popular in Northern Italy due to its vast amount of rock climbing places (such as crags). New climbing crags appear yearly, creating an information overload problem for tourists who plan their sport climbing vacation. Recommender systems partly addressed this issue by suggesting climbing crags according to the most visited places or the number of suitable climbing routes.

Exploring Practical Metrics to Support Automatic Speech Recognition Evaluations.

Recent studies into the evaluation of automatic speech recognition for its quality of output in the form of text have shown that using word error rate to see how many mistakes exist in English does not necessarily help the developer of automatic transcriptions or captions. Confidence levels as to the type of errors being made remain low because mistranslations from speech to text are not always captured with a note that details the reason for the error. There have been situations in higher education where students requiring captions and transcriptions have found that some academic lecture results are littered with word errors which means that comprehension levels drop and those with cognitive, physical and sensory disabilities are particularly affected.

AI Supporting AAC Pictographic Symbol Adaptations.

The phenomenal increase in technological capabilities that allow the design and training of systems to cope with the complexities of natural language and visual representation in order to develop other formats is remarkable. It has made it possible to make use of image to image and text to image technologies to support those with disabilities in ways not previously explored. It has opened the world of adaptations from one picture to another in a design style of a user's choosing.

AI Data-Driven Personalisation and Disability Inclusion.

This study aims to help people working in the field of AI understand some of the unique issues regarding disabled people and examines the relationship between the terms "Personalisation" and "Classification" with regard to disability inclusion. Classification using big data struggles to cope with the individual uniqueness of disabled people, and whereas developers tend to design for the majority so ignoring outliers, designing for edge cases would be a more inclusive approach. Other issues that are discussed in the study include personalising mobile technology accessibility settings with interoperable profiles to allow ubiquitous accessibility; the ethics of using genetic data-driven personalisation to ensure babies are not born with disabilities; the importance of including disabled people in decisions to help understand AI implications; the relationship between localisation and personalisation as assistive technologies need localising in terms of language as well as culture; the ways in which AI could be used to create personalised symbols for people who find it difficult to communicate in speech or writing; and whether blind or visually impaired person will be permitted to "drive" an autonomous car.

Comparing Accessibility Auditing Methods for Ebooks: Crowdsourced, Functionality-Led Versus Web Content Methodologies.

This paper presents a gap analysis between crowdsourced functional accessibility evaluations of ebooks conducted by non-experts and the technical accessibility standards employed by developers. It also illustrates how combining these approaches can provide more appropriate information for a wider group of users with print impairments.

Designing Web-Apps for All: How Do We Include Those with Cognitive Disabilities?

Accessibility guidance for the development of web-apps for users with cognitive disabilities is sorely lacking despite the availability of extensive web content accessibility standards. This paper examines additional requirements suggested by specialists in the field, in order to further aid developers looking to create accessible interactive web experiences for all.

Democratisation of AAC Symbol Choices Using Technology.

The use of an online voting system has been developed to enable democratic choices of newly designed symbols to support speech, language and literacy skills in a localisation situation. The system works for those using and supporting Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) symbols on electronic systems by the provision of simplified scales of acceptance and adapted grids. The methodology and results highlighted the importance of user participation at the outset and concrete examples of symbol adaptations that were found necessary to ensure higher levels of user satisfaction.

GOLIAH: A Gaming Platform for Home-Based Intervention in Autism - Principles and Design.

Children with Autism need intensive intervention and this is challenging in terms of manpower, costs, and time. Advances in Information Communication Technology and computer gaming may help in this respect by creating a nomadically deployable closed-loop intervention system involving the child and active participation of parents and therapists. An automated serious gaming platform enabling intensive intervention in nomadic settings has been developed by mapping two pivotal skills in autism spectrum disorder: Imitation and Joint Attention (JA).

A Participatory Research Approach to develop an Arabic Symbol Dictionary.

The purpose of the Arabic Symbol Dictionary research discussed in this paper, is to provide a resource of culturally, environmentally and linguistically suitable symbols to aid communication and literacy skills. A participatory approach with the use of online social media and a bespoke symbol management system has been established to enhance the process of matching a user based Arabic and English core vocabulary with appropriate imagery. Participants including AAC users, their families, carers, teachers and therapists who have been involved in the research from the outset, collating the vocabularies, debating cultural nuances for symbols and critiquing the design of technologies for selection procedures.

Stepwise Approach to Accessible MOOC Development.

Developing resources for online learning in its many guises and more recently for MOOCs has been discussed across the educational sector, usually by individuals working for one institution or organisation. Rarely are there discussions that highlight the issues of collaborative working on content that is delivered over a period of weeks for a wide range of abilities and skills. In particular there is a reluctance to face the issues presented by barriers to access for those with disabilities and even the issues that could arise should an academic be unable to access the development platform to present content.

Measuring verbal communication in initial physical therapy encounters.

Background: Communication in clinical encounters is vital in ensuring a positive experience and outcome for both patient and clinician.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to measure verbal communication between physical therapists and patients with back pain during their initial consultation and trial management of the data using a novel, Web-based application.

Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted.