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Web Posted on: August 24, 1998


Assistive Technology Research and Technological Development

Professor Alan F. Newell, F.R.S.E.

Department of Applied Computing, The University of Dundee, Scotland.
tel: +44 1382 344144, fax: +44 1382 325509,

email: afn@computing.dundee.ac.uk

 

1. Statistics of Assistive Technology Research

Due particularly to the wide range of topics covered by the contributions, it is not an easy task is to give an overview of the papers which have been submitted in this section of this conference. In general the quality of the of papers is good, and I am heartened to note that, over the medium term, the quality of Assistive Technology research has been improving. We have to thank the EU, and particularly the TIDE commission, for their part in ensuring that this has happened. We must not be complacent, however, improvement is always possible.

A survey of the spread of papers within this conference which were made available for me to read when preparing this papar could be divided roughly into the following topics

 Topic

No. of Contributions

Wheelchair 4
Robots 4
HI and Deaf 1
AAC 4
Motoric 4
VI and Blind 8
Smart House 8
General 13

 

This is of course only a single crude snap shot of research in this field and is undoubtedly unrepresentative of the whole picture of Assistive Technology research, but it is still worth taking the above distribution of research activities as the starting point for a discussion about priorities in the field.

The figures above do not reflect statistics of prevalence of disabilities: the most striking case being the lack of attention to hearing impaired people, and the prevalence of work focused on the needs of visually impaired and blind people. To some extent this may be because acoustically amplifying hearing aids tend not to be considered as "Assistive Technology". Also there is a sense in which blind people in "cyberspace" are analogous to wheelchair users within the built environment: a very important group, which are obviously and extremely disadvantaged within the environment. There is a potential danger, however, that these groups can be mistakenly thought of as the only ones which need to be considered by researchers and developers. A little more disturbing is that, although there are a number of projects investigating "smart houses", there is not a great deal of research investigating the special characteristics of elderly disabled people and research and development of technological support which is appropriate for them.



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2. Priorities for Assistive Technology Research

A fundamental question is what should the distribution of research in Europe reflect. Politicians, and even some bureaucrats, are very keen on setting priorities and making strategic choices. It is not entirely clear to me, however, how we should suggest setting our priorities. Is there some area which, above all else, shows great promise? Perhaps the field is too diverse to be able to make such judgements, but it would be helpful to have a feel for the most promising research area, or the one in which the greatest change is likely to occur. Priorities in Assitive Technology research can be affected by considerations such as:

  • The greatest support for an individual,
  • Support for the largest number of clients,
  • The most effective lobby, and
  • The most popular cause.

Priorities for any research are also often affected by concepts of what is:

  • The easiest problem,
  • The low hanging fruit (not necessarily the same thing),
  • The most exciting problem,
  • The most glamorous problem, or
  • The most fashionable research area.

I believe that there is no over-riding consideration from the above list: they are all relevant in their own ways. Unfortunately, however, these concepts tend to favour the "quick technological fix for a problem we understand". Our field is a very young one, and much too young to have developed a clear sense of what are the major issues. It would thus seem reasonable to attempt to steer a middle course between these various parameters, and produce a portfolio of interests which take account of all these aspects rather than focus on any specific priority. There are, however, other criteria which are important for a rapidly changing field such as ours, and these include what are:

  • The most difficult problems (both intellectually and practically),
  • The unfashionable areas for research, and
  • The areas we know least about.

I believe that these criteria also suggest that we should consider how technological support can be provided to elderly disabled people as a special initiative.



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3. Relationship between Assistive Technology and Mainstream Research

An important aspect of Assistive Technology research is its relationship to mainstream research. This is a two way process:

1) Research in Assistive Technology can be of great value to main-stream research and development. I have discussed this previously (Newell1993 & 1995), and Greg Vanderhieden's paper on "Design for All", in this conference also addresses these issues

2) Assistive Technology can benefit more than it does by the advances in main-stream technology. The list of areas of interest is a very long one, but could include:

  • The products of large commercial companies
  • The Internet
  • User Centred Design techniques
  • Re-usable software techniques

Plus a very long list of enabling technologies such as:

  • Telecommunications
  • Radio Communications
  • Satellite navigation
  • Natural Language Processing
  • Data Browsing
  • Data Fusion
  • Novel HCI

and many others.

We need more mainstream researchers to become aware of the problems posed by elderly and disabled people, and we need to consider how to encourage this to happen. The TIDE initiative is helpful in this respect, and more consortia are including leading edge main-stream research groups ( it is important, however, that at least one person in the consortium has an understanding, even if only limited understanding, of all aspects of the project). Researchers can also encourage the interest of mainstream researcher in our field by publishing in main-stream conferences and journals as well as conferences devoted to Assistive Technology (for example see Newell et al., 1994 ).

We need to be aware, and take advantage of the leading edge issues in these enabling technologies. Assistive Technology research can often be the first to take advantage of the early manifestations of new technologies. There are many examples such as hearing aids being one of the first commercially successful examples of miniaturisation, speech recognition and synthesis systems were, and in many cases still are, used much more widely as Assistive Technology rather than in mainstream application areas, and many AAC devices are a very fruitful application area for Natural Language Processing Research (Newell et al 1998) . By ensuring that we are always aware of leading edge technology, and taking full advantage of it we can ensure that our field is both an academically and commercially successful one. Again this can be particularly important in areas which have traditionally had a "low tech" approach to research, such as assisting elderly disabled people.



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4. The Importance of long term research in Assistive Technology

Assistive Technology research has very different priorities and characteristics of health research, and its overall aims are different. Thus the research methodologies will be different and the medical model is seldom appropriate for either planning or executing what we do.

Assistive Technology research should be a long term activity which must have a generic flavour, whilst retaining a focus on using technology to support people with disabilities.

Research is a risky business - if you can guarantee success, it is probably not research. If you can guarantee commercial success it is certainly not research.

Researchers need to be sensitive to the needs and wants of the current generation of people with disabilities, and this should illuminate their activities. The responsibility of the research community, however, is to the next generation of people with disabilities. Particularly in this field, there is a tendency to avoid leading edge issues, because these are thought to be of little practical value, or involve new, expensive and/or untried technology. We do a great disservice to disabled citizens of the future by not giving such work a high priority.



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5. Assistive Technology research responding to the needs and wants of users

We need to focus on the needs and the wants of users, and a User Centred Design methodology is absolutely vital in the field of Assistive Technology. The involvement of clinicians and potential and actual users is very important, but this needs to be done with care. Researchers should not slavishly follow the requirements which disabled people and/or clinicians may suggest. Within reasonable limits, researchers should be allowed to use their imagination and try out ideas which are either not understood by the users, or are not popular with them. People with disabilities have as much right to eventually reap the benefits of Blue Sky research as able bodied people. A number of the more successful ideas which have come from my research group, and other groups in the world were very much less than popular with the majority of clinicians and users in the early stages of their development than they subsequently became, and some were positively pilloried in these formative stages (Newell, 1992, Newell & Alm, 1994).

In addition, the contribution expected of disabled user groups, and their expectations from the project, must be clear. If they are participating in a long term research project, the disabled users must realise that they personally may not benefit from the outcomes of the research. It is also sometimes necessary to undertake research to show that certain techniques are not successful. All these considerations apply to user groups in mainstream user-centred design teams, but it often means that it is appropriate to budget to pay the users for their participation in a research project. An aspect which is not common to mainstream research, however, is the problem of informed consent and this can raise ethical issues, of which the researchers need to fully aware.

At Dundee University, we do take into account the needs and wants of users, but this is often greatly modified by our own visions of what can be achieved by Assistive Technology (Newell et al 1995). We have a number of panels of users with disabilities who have contributed greatly to our research. Some will have eventually been provided the commercial outcomes of the research to which they contributed, but this can be a number of years after the particular piece of research in which they were involved. We also have two non-speaking researchers (McGregor, 1992), who, for various reasons, have a volunteer status. Over many years they have made a tremendous contribution to our research, and to the commercial products which have grown from our research. Their rewards come from being internationally known in the field, attending international conferences, and giving lecture tours. These are truly members of the research team, and we are very fortunate to have them as part of our research. This is a model I can strongly recommend to research groups.



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6. Conclusions re Assistive Technology Research

Good Assitive Technology research is, by no means easy, but it is an exciting and a very worthwhile activity. We should encourage the TIDE office to play their part in continued success within the following guidelines:

  • Continue to seek to improve the quality of research within this field,
  • More attention needs to be paid the particular problems of elderly disabled people,
  • Detailed priority setting is extremely difficult and should not be a dominant factor,
  • Links with main-stream technological researchers should be encouraged,
  • Users are an important part of research teams, but their roles need to be carefully defined, and
  • Above all, long term research should be a major part of the portfolio

A Canadian hockey player once remarked that he was successful because he skated to where the puck was going to be. That is a good motto for all researchers and also for those who set priorities for funding for research.



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7. Other reading:

A. McGregor, A. & Alm,N., (1992) "Thoughts of a non-speaking member of an AAC research team", abstract in AAC Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 8(2), 1992, p. 153 (presented at the 5th Biennial International Conference of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC), Philadelphia, PA, USA, 6-13 August 1992).

Newell, A.F., (1992), "Today's dreams - tomorrow's reality" , Phonic Ear Distinguished Lecture, Augmentative and Alternative Communication , 8 , June 1992 (Decker Periodicals Inc., Ontario, Canada), pp. 1-8.

Newell, A.F., and Cairns, A.Y. (1993) "Designing for extra-ordinary users", Ergonomics in Design, Oct 1993, pp 10-16

Newell, A.F., (1995) "Extra-ordinary Human Computer Operation", in "Extra-ordinary Human-Computer Interactions" by A. D. N. Edwards (Ed.), Cambridge Univ. Press 1995

Newell, A.F., Alm, N., & Arnott, (1994) "Techniques for improving computer-assisted communication for physically impaired non-vocal people through using prestored texts" , Winner of the Franklin V. Taylor Award for Best Paper in Proc. IEEE Systems, Man, Cybernetics Conference, San Antonio, Texas, pp 1446-1451, Oct. 1994.

Newell, A.F., & Alm,.N., (1994) " Developing AAC technologies: a personal story and philosophy", A. F. Newell and European Journal of Disorders of Communication, 29, 1994 (College of Speech and Language Therapists), pp. 399­411.

Newell, A.F., Arnott , J.L. Cairns, A.Y., Ricketts, I. W. & Gregor, P., (1995) "Intelligent systems for speech and language impaired people: a portfolio of researchin Extra­ordinary Human­Computer Interaction: Interfaces for users with disabilities by A. D. N. Edwards (Ed.), Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995 (ISBN 0-521-434-13-0), pp. 83-102.

Newell, A.F., Langer, S., & Hickey, M., (1998). "The Role of Natural Language Processing in Augmentative and Alternative Communication" (in press), Natural Language Engineering, Cambridge Univ. Press.



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For other details of research at Dundee University see also:

http://www.computing.dundee.ac.uk

Dundee University is responsible for the Disability Information Systems in Higher Education web site. This is bringing together research, development, and provision of Information Technology Support for Students with Disabilities in Higher Education. You are invited to visit:

http://www.disinhe.ac.uk



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