SteppingStonesWeb Components for people with

cognitive disabilities & low digital literacy

T4I Nov 2016Steve Lee

steve@opendirective.com@SteveALee

Digital for All!?

Why important?

• Digital participation is increasingly critical for everyday activities and life experiences

• Technology can have positive effect on health and wellbeing

• Especially for elderly or those with disabilities

Cognitive Disabilities

• 10 functional areas• At least 8 medical ‘labels’• Situational or temporary– Stroke– Sleep deprivation– Stressful periods– Chemotherapy

W3C Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility taskforce (coga)

Dementia

• Age related and progressive cognitive disability• 850,000 people in the UK with Dementia• 670,000 informal carers– often same age partner or remote family

HT Good Things Foundation (Tinder)

Low digital literacy

• 12.6M in UK lack basic digital skills • 86% of whom are socially excluded

Good Things Foundation (Tinder)

Some Mainstream Success

• Tablet format popular with many• Touch is highly effective• Launchers and some apps easy to use• 31% of smartphone users make no voice calls

in given week *• Speech, AI and Bots developing fast

* Deloitte

Common Design Faults

• Complex with too many distractions• Tacit operational knowledge• Accessibility not good• A11y standards neglect cognitive

Digital experience?

Image: Remy by Stormy Peters

How do we…?

Close the gap through simplicity

Simpler access to digital

• Media• Communications• Services

A Cunning Plan

SteppingStones

• Collaborative open development• Framework for exploring best practices• Provide components for developers• Ease mainstream adoption• Media, communications & services

Enablers

• Prosperity4All project consortium• FP7 funded• Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure GPII

Builds on…

• Maavis research prototype• W3C coga taskforce WCAG extensions• Collaboration with InLife project members• Your project…..?

Key Attributes

• Minimal cognitive load and digital skills• Explicit carer support• Access existing services – not walled gardens• Selectable level of operational complexity– Hence the name SteppingStones

Key Coga Techniques

• Clear structure, content and navigation• Support user focus and orientation• Provide timely and direct feedback• Facilitate checking and undo• Supply “On Demand” help• Adapt through personalisation

W3C Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility taskforce (coga)

Which Technologies?

• We need– Agile– Widely usable in projects / products– Low dependencies– Low barrier to collaboration

• Native Apps or Web?• Web space is crazy with endless new things

Technology Base

• Plain HTML etc• Single Page Application / Progressive Web App• Progressive Enhancement• Reactive Programming with CycleJS• Microsoft Azure Serverless Cloud– Functions, LogicApps– Satya guiding towards open and accessible

Status

• Prototype Photo editor for InLife• Photo viewer component released soon• Developer site on Github– http://opendirective.github.io/steppingStones

Broader Inclusion

Questions?

http://opendirective.github.io/steppingStones

@SteveALeesteve@opendirective.com