Braillenote from human Ware; http://www.humanware.com/en-usa/home.
PhotoGraPh by russ Weakley
ure and workarounds, rather than on a
single technology or task. Second, because emerging technologies involve
a choice of what to place in hardware
and what to place in software, such
as whether to have physical or virtual
buttons on a cellphone, we wanted to
investigate user interaction with both
digital and physical objects to better
understand the trade-offs in hardware
vs. software design choices. Third, the
investigation was situated within the
individual’s home rather than in the
laboratory to better understand artifact use in a naturalistic setting. And
fourth, our interviews concerned not
only usability but aesthetics, affect,
meaning, historical associations of use
in context, and envisioning of future
technologies. Overall, we were concerned about what technologies were
most valued and used, when they were
used and for what purpose, the difficulties experienced in their use, the workarounds employed, and the meanings
and interpretations associated with
their use.
Without careful consideration for
both the limitations in usability and
the meaning of the interactions affecting blind users, sighted technology designers may unwittingly create
interfaces with the wrong affordances
or that are dissonant with a user’s personal preferences, resulting in task
failure. Already known is that the visually impaired must make alternative
accommodations to accomplish the
same tasks day in and day out. What is
little known is how much of an influence an individual’s personal values
and surroundings have on the choice
of where, when, and how technology
is used. Observations in a user’s home
of interactions with existing technologies may provide insight into the way
surroundings and personal preferences are drawn on to help complete
daily tasks.
As we suggest in the study, the com-
bination of functionality and socially
situated meaning determines for the
user the actual usability of a technology to accomplish specific tasks. These
technologies hold meaning that affects
the ways individuals understand themselves in relation to the communities
to which they belong.
Background
Developing the study, we drew on a
number of literatures, including in assistive technology for people with visual impairments, task breakdowns and
workarounds, and design ethnography
in the home:
Design ethnography. The study design reflects Clifford Geertz’s view that
“man is an animal suspended in webs
of significance he himself has spun.”
8
Significance is constructed not only
from behavior and discourse, but in
the materials with which people interact. Many are mundane objects—
measuring cups, cellphones, sticky notes.
