Bridging the Digital Divide with Universal Usability
Abstract
How do you explain a trashcan to a culture that doesn't have one? How do you
describe a "stop loss limit order" to retirees managing their funds? Can you
design a text-only interface that conveys the contents and experience of an
animated Flash presentation?
These puzzles emerged during the first ACM Conference on Universal Usability
(http://www.acm.org/sigchi/cuu/), held on November 15-17, 2000 near Washington,
DC. The international group of organizers, presenters, and attendees of this
conference shared an unusual commitment and passion for making information and
communications services accessible, usable, and useful. They want to see
effective healthcare services and appealing distance education. They want to
create successful e-commerce and accessible government services for all.
Realizing these possibilities requires more than low-cost hardware or broadband
networks. These mass-market services are often too complex, unusable, or
irrelevant for too many users [1]; usability and design become the keys to
success.
(UMIACS-TR-2001-83)
(HCIL-TR-2001-01)