Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Universal Design of ICT: A Historical Journey from Specialized Adaptations Towards Designing for Diversity

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Design Approaches and Supporting Technologies (HCII 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12188))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Over the last decades, the field of computer science has moved from specialized adaptations and add-on assistive technologies, toward universal solutions catering to a diverse set of user needs. Two paradigm shifts have arguably occurred on this journey: 1) a shift in disability perspective (from a medical model to a psychosocial and situated model) and 2) a shift from reactive accessibility efforts to proactive inclusive design efforts. In addition, we have changed our perception of the end-user (from ‘Mr. Average’ to situated individuals), have expanded our disciplinary epistemologies (from positivist objective knowledge to critical and empathic qualitative insights), and changed the way we build digital solutions (from plan-based with little user contact to iterative with high user contact). This article tells the story of this journey, and how these shifts have all influenced the way we think today. We argue that different ways of thinking about and arguing for universal design today are not necessary confrontations – but can be seen as evolvements over time to complement the different societal systems in which we are designing.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Robinson, P., Lowe, J.: Literature reviews vs systematic reviews. Australian and New Zealand J. Public Health 39(2), 103 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Merriam, S.B.: Qualitative Research, A Guide to Design and Implementation. 2nd edn, Wiley, San Francisco (2009). Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint

    Google Scholar 

  3. Lazar, J., Goldstein, D., Taylor, A.: Ensuring Digital Accessibility through Process and Policy. Morgan Kaufmann, Burlington (2015). Elsevier

    Google Scholar 

  4. Begnum, M.E.N.: Views on Universal Design and Disabilities among Norwegian Experts on Universal Design of ICT, in Norsk konferanse for organisasjoners bruk av IT (NOKOBIT). Open Journal Systems: Bergen, Norway (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Rialland, A.: Models of Disability: keys to perspectives (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Retief, M., Letšosa, R.: Models of disability: a brief overview. HTS Teologiese Stud./Theolog. Stud. 74(1), 8 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  7. WHO, International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps, World Health Organization (1980)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Smeltzer, S.C.: Improving the health and wellness of persons with disabilities: a call to action too important for nursing to ignore. Nurs. Outlook 55(4), 189–195.e2 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Langtree, I.: Models of Disability: Types and Definitions. revised 2019 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Durell, S.: How the social model of disability evolved (2014). https://www.nursingtimes.net/roles/learning-disability-nurses/how-the-social-model-of-disability-evolved-09-12-2014/. Accessed 31 Jan 2020

  11. United States Public Health Service: The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Improve the Health and Wellness of Persons with Disabilities. (2005) II, Understanding Disability. Office of the Surgeon General (US); Office on Disability, Rockville (MD). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44671/

  12. Lid, I.M.: Developing the theoretical content in universal design. Scandinavian J. Disabil. Res. 15(3), 203–215 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Lid, I.M.: Universal design and disability: an interdisciplinary perspective. Disabil. Rehabil. 36(16), 1344–1349 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. ICF: Towards a common language for functioning, disability and health. WHO/EIP/GPE/CAS/01.3. The International Classification of Functioning. World Health Organization, Geneva. (2002). WHO: http://www.who.int/classifications/icf/training/icfbeginnersguide.pdf

  15. Hamraie, A.: Universal design and the problem of “post-disability”. Ideol. Des. Culture 8(3), 285–309 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  16. The History Press: How the talking book was born (2020). https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/how-the-talking-book-was-born/. Accessed 19 May 2020

  17. Kouba, B.J., Newberry, B.: Assistive technology’s past, present and future. In: Seok, S., Meyen, E.L., Boeventura, (eds.) Handbook of Research on Human Cognition and Assistive Technology: Design, Accessibility and Transdisciplinary Perspectives, IGI Global, US (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Sapega, M.: Remembering Jim Thatcher, Accessibility Pioneer (2019). Accessed 28 Jan 2020

    Google Scholar 

  19. Stephanidis, C.: User interfaces for all: new perspectives into human-computer interaction. In: Stephanidis, C., Salvendy, G. (ed.) User Interfaces for All - Concepts, Methods, and Tools. Human Factors and Ergonomics, 1 edn. Chapter 1, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Vanderheiden, G.C.: A journey through early augmentative communication and computer access. J. Rehabil. Res. Dev. 39(6), 39–53 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  21. W3C, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. 2018, W3C (World Web Web Consortium). https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/

  22. Carroll, J.M.: Human computer interaction - brief intro. In: Soegaard, M., Dam, R.F. (eds.) The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, 2nd edn., The Interaction Design Foundation: Aarhus, Denmark (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Myers, B.A.: A brief history of human computer interaction technology. Interactions 5(2), 44–54 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Abascal, J., Azevedo, L.: Fundamentals of inclusive HCI design. In: Stephanidis, C. (ed.) UAHCI 2007. LNCS, vol. 4554, pp. 3–9. Springer, Heidelberg (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73279-2_1

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  25. Dahlbom, B. and L. Mathiassen, Computers in Context: The Philosophy and Practice of System Design. 1st edn, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Begnum, M.E.N., Thorkildsen, T.: Comparing user-centred practices in agile versus non-agile development. In: Norsk konferanse for organisasjoners bruk av IT (NOKOBIT), Ålesund, Norway (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Muller, M.J., Kuhn, S.: Participatory design. Commun. ACM 36(4), 24–28 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Kensing, F., Blomberg, J.: Participatory Design: Issues and Concerns. Comput. Support. Coop. Work 7, 167–185 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. UN, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (2006). https://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/convention/convoptprot-e.pdf

  30. Fuglerud, K.S., Sloan, D.: The link between inclusive design and innovation: some key elements. In: Kurosu, M. (ed.) HCI 2013. LNCS, vol. 8004, pp. 41–50. Springer, Heidelberg (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39232-0_5

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  31. Silva, J.L., Silva, J.C.: Graphical user interface redefinition addressing users’ diversity. In: Bogdan, C., Kuusinen, K., Lárusdóttir, M.K., Palanque, P., Winckler, M. (eds.) HCSE 2018. LNCS, vol. 11262, pp. 319–326. Springer, Cham (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05909-5_20

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  32. Shneiderman, B.: Universal usability. Commun. ACM 43(5), 84–91 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Harder, S.K., Begnum, M.E.N.: Promoting and obstructing factors for successful universal design, in Norsk konferanse for organisasjoners bruk av IT (NOKOBIT), Open Journal Systems, Bergen, Norway (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  34. Bianchin, M., Heylighen, A.: Fair by design. Addressing the paradox of inclusive design approaches. Des. J. 20(sup1), 3162–3170 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Heylighen, A.: About the nature of design in universal design. Disabil. Rehabil. 36(16), 1360–1368 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Story, M.F.: Maximizing usability: the principles of universal design. Assist. Technol. 10(1), 4–12 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Connell, B.R., et al.: The principles of universal design (1997). Accessed 28 Jan 2020

    Google Scholar 

  38. Rossetti, R.: The Seven Principles of Universal Design. Action Magazine (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Begnum, M.E.N.: Universal design approaches among Norwegian experts. In: Antona, M., Stephanidis, C. (eds.) Universal Access in Human–Computer Interaction. Design and Development Approaches and Methods, UAHCI 2017. LNCS, vol. 10277, pp. 3–20. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58706-6_1

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  40. Winance, M.: Universal design and the challenge of diversity: reflections on the principles of UD, based on empirical research of people’s mobility. Disabil. Rehabil. 36(16), 1334–1343 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Hjartnes, Ø.N., Begnum, M.E.N.: Challenges in agile universal design of ICT. In: NordDesign 2018. Linköping, Sweden: NordDESIGN Series (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  42. Begnum, M.E.N.: Methodology for universal design of ITs; epistemologies among norwegian experts. In: Miesenberger, K., Bühler, C., Penaz, P. (eds.) ICCHP 2016. LNCS, vol. 9758, pp. 121–128. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41264-1_17

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  43. Erete, S., Israni, A., Dillahunt, T.: An intersectional approach to designing in the margins. Interactions 25(3), 66–69 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. D’souza, N.: Is universal design a critical theory. In: Keates, S., Clarkson, J., Langdon, P., Robinson, P. (eds.) Designing a More Inclusive World. Springer, London (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-372-5_1

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  45. Newell, A.F., Gregor, P.: User sensitive inclusive design in search of a new paradigm. In: CUU 2000, Arlington, ACM (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  46. Newell, A.F., et al.: User-sensitive inclusive design. Univ. Access Inf. Soc. 10, 235–243 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Schlesinger, A., Edwards, W.K., Grinter, R.E.: Intersectional HCI: engaging identity through gender, race, and class. In: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery, Denver, pp. 5412–5427 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  48. Treviranus, J.: The value of the statistically insignificant. In: EDUCAUSE Review, New Horizons (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  49. Inclusive Design Research Centre: The Inclusive Design Guide. https://guide.inclusivedesign.ca/. Accessed 31 Jan 2020

  50. Choi, Y.S., et al.: Are “universal design resources” designed for designers? In: ASSETS 2006: Proceedings of the 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, USA, ACM (2006)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NAV Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, Department of Design, Sannergt. 2, 0557, Oslo, Norway

    Miriam E. N. Begnum

  2. NTNU, Department of Design, Teknologiveien 22, 2815, Gjøvik, Norway

    Miriam E. N. Begnum

Authors
  1. Miriam E. N. Begnum
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miriam E. N. Begnum .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Margherita Antona

  2. University of Crete and Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH), Heraklion, Crete, Greece

    Constantine Stephanidis

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Begnum, M.E.N. (2020). Universal Design of ICT: A Historical Journey from Specialized Adaptations Towards Designing for Diversity. In: Antona, M., Stephanidis, C. (eds) Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Design Approaches and Supporting Technologies. HCII 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12188. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49282-3_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49282-3_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-49281-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-49282-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation