EAGER: Mobile Interfaces and Cognitive Disabilities

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This research, which involves collaboration between scientists from two institutions, will explore the intersection of interface design approaches for mobile users and users with cognitive disabilities, with the goal of identifying ways that best practices in each community can help the other create better interfaces. Initial investigation by the PIs, who possess individual expertise in the two fields, has identified similarities in the interface concerns between the two communities (e.g., the number and size of buttons, the use of icons and graphics to communicate, and the need for multiple paths to information collection). The PIs will create and study interfaces that use and expand the interface design guidelines for both communities, bringing together domain experts to launch a new generation of interfaces that are less cognitively demanding and more widely usable by important user populations. To these ends, the team will employ two types of interventions: a prototype driven development effort and an analytic evaluation effort. The prototype driven development effort will seek to address needs of mobile communities and communities of users with cognitive disabilities through user focused interface design. The analytic evaluation effort will draw upon the opinions of experts in the fields of cognitive disabilities, mobile interfaces, cognitive science, human interruption, and health and wellness, to identify the most promising avenues for research and development. The PIs expect that this work will connect two fields with promise for mutual benefit through continued research and teaching. Broader Impacts: This project connects two fields that are not generally considered to be related, and has the potential to transform key principles for interface design by increasing cross-domain intellectual output between the mobile interfaces and cognitive disabilities communities. This research will result in the creation and distribution of interfaces to members of an under-represented group, and in so doing will draw attention to the issues faced by people with cognitive disabilities and focus efforts to address them by providing avenues toward non-litigious, scientific approaches to deal with all people's needs and desires to communicate on the go with mobile interfaces.. The project will enhance partnerships between researchers at the University of Colorado and Virginia Tech, with benefits extending across the United States and the world through publications and workshops at top venues in the fields of mobile interfaces and cognitive disabilities.