Abstract
“User centred design” (UCD) has become a central, largely unquestioned, tenet of good practice for the design of interactive systems. With the increasing recognition of the importance of special needs in influencing design, UCD needs to be re-examined, in particular to be clear about the difference between using its methods, which may not suit special needs, and achieving its objectives. This paper introduces a simple two-category classification of special needs, to which UCD applies very differently and which are heavily affected by developments in technology; in other words, the role of UCD, particularly with respect to special needs, will continue to change and demand close scrutiny.
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Thimbleby, H. (2008). Understanding User Centred Design (UCD) for People with Special Needs. In: Miesenberger, K., Klaus, J., Zagler, W., Karshmer, A. (eds) Computers Helping People with Special Needs. ICCHP 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5105. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-70540-6_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-70540-6_1
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