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Project 2: Build a Better Button

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Learning Goals for the Project

  • Learn about Circuit design
  • Learn how to communicate between an Arduino and your phone
  • Build a simple circuit that is enhanced by its connection to your phone

Basic Requirements for Project

Your project should demonstrate your ability to either:

  • Take input from at least one button (or other sensor), and connect it to some interesting service
  • Your focus should be on circuit design and Arduino programming. You don’t need to create a custom phone app. You can if you want create a custom case or button using 3d printing.

You should make a case for why this is an assistive technology of some sort. For example, you could build a door opening sensor (using a button or proximity sensor) that causes your phone to announce the door was opened, or a single switch control for scrolling or tabbing through a web page, or a capacitive sensor that captures a log of how often a cane is used.

There is some great software that con be connected to the Arduino including 1Shield, AppInventor, Blynk and IFTTT. Some work only for Android, others for both Android and iPhone.

There are lots of really great examples online of arduino based projects, arduino projects that involve smartphones, and arduino projects that involve 3D printing or laser cutting. Many of them are too complex for the expectations of this project, though they might help to inspire final projects, or give you ideas for something simple you can do in a week. Here is a sample:

Hand In

Create a Thingiverse or Instructables page for your project with a brief description of the project, a video, any 3D printed files, and a schematic for your circuit. Turn the URL in by email with the subject: Project 2. Be prepared to demo your project in class.

PointsDescription
1 or 0 Project uses physical computing to solve an accessibility problem
1 or 0Project communicates with your phone in some way
1 or 0Project includes a working circuit that you designed
1 or 0Project includes at least one button
1 or 0 Project includes some kind of response to the button
1 or 0Thingiverse or Instructables page describes project in a reproducable fashion.

The Future of Access Technologies

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Sieg 322, M/W 9-10:20

How can physical computing enable new solutions to accessibility, including both access to the world and access to computers? Similarly, how can a disability studies perspective guide us in developing empowering and relevant solutions to accessibility problems? This course explores both of those questions through a combination of discussions, reading, and building.

Access technology (AT) has the potential to increase autonomy, and improve millions of people’s ability to live independently. This potential is currently under-realized because the expertise needed to create the right AT is in short supply and the custom nature of AT makes it difficult to deliver inexpensively. Yet computers’ flexibility and exponentially increasing power have revolutionized and democratized access technologies. In addition, by studying access technology, we can gain valuable insights into the future of all user interface technology.

In this course we will focus on two primary domains for access technologies: Access to the world (first half of the class) and Access to computers (second half of class). Students will start the course by learning some basic physical computing capabilities so that they have the tools to build novel access technologies. We will focus on creating AT using sensors and actuators that can be controlled/sensed with a mobile device. The largest project in the class will be an open ended opportunity to explore access technology in more depth. 

Class will meet 9-10:20 M/W

Class Syllabus

Private Class Canvas Website

Tentative Schedule

Week 1 (9/25 ONLY): Introduction

Week 2 (10/2 ONLY): Introduction

Week 3  (10/7; 10/9): 3D Printing & Laser Cutting

Week 4 (10/14; 10/16): Physical Computing

In class: Connect simple LED circuit to a phone

Pair Project: Build a Better Button (Demo 10/30; webpage due 11/1)

Week 5 (10/21; 10/23): Finishing Arduino; Disability Studies

  • Disability Studies reading due: Pick ONE only to read. Hopefully among us we will cover a range of them. We’ll compare and contrast.
  • Open work time on Arduino projects

Week 6 (10/28; 10/30): Disability Studies; Input [Tentative]

  • Discussion of Arduino Projects
  • Starting on Input
    • Characterizing the performance of input devices (‘Design space of input devices’)
    • Digital techniques for adapting to user input capabilities (e.g. voice control, eye gaze)
    • Novel interaction techniques (e.g. mobile phone interaction, at the time)
    • Passive sensing and other real world input challenges
  • Reading 1: Slide Rule
  • Reading 2: The Design Space of Input Devices

Week 7 (11/4; 11/6): Output

Week 8 (11/13 ONLY): Applications

Week 9 (11/18; 11/20): The Web

Learn about “The Web,” how access technologies interact with the Web, and how to make accessible web pages.

WebAim.org — WebAIM has long been a leader in providing information and tutorials on making the Web accessible. A great source where you can read about accessibility issues, making content accessible, etc. Run it on your website or web page and look at the results before class.

Reading 1: Google Video on Practical Web Accessibility — this video provides a great overview of the Web and how to make web content accessible. Highly recommended as a supplement to what we will cover in class.

Optional Reading: If you want to supplement the reading with written guidance, check out WebAim.org Introduction to Web Accessibility, specifically the section titled ‘Principles of Accessible Design’ (which has links to how to properly write alt text; appropriate document structure, and so on).

Reading 2: What’s the problem?

Discussion: How can we make the web accessible when individual authors don’t? Also how can we improve web authoring?

Assignment: Assess a Web Page. In class, we will also make it more accessible. Please come prepared on 11/18.

Week 10 (11/25; 11/27):  Screen Readers (AKA Bigham (plus a few others) week 🙂

Week 10 (12/2; 12/4):  Working with Cognitive Impairment

Finals Week

Final Project Presentations will take place from 8:30-10:20 on Wednesday of finals week.

Final Project
Final project presentations

Clench Interaction: Biting As Input

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Shows human faced diagraming where the clench sensor should be placed between the teeth; the settings for correctly sensing clench, and the hardware platform used.
Clench Interaction: Novel Biting Input Techniques
Xuhai Xu, Chun Yu, Anind K. Dey, Jennifer Mankoff
Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’19)
People eat every day and biting is one of the most fundamental and natural actions that they perform on a daily basis. Existing work has explored tooth click location and jaw movement as input techniques, however clenching has the potential to add control to this input channel. We propose clench interaction that leverages clenching as an actively controlled physiological signal that can facilitate interactions. We conducted a user study to investigate users’ ability to control their clench force. We found that users can easily discriminate three force levels, and that they can quickly confirm actions by unclenching (quick release). We developed a design space for clench interaction based on the results and investigated the usability of the clench interface. Participants preferred the clench over baselines and indicated a willingness to use clench-based interactions. This novel technique can provide an additional input method in cases where users’ eyes or hands are busy, augment immersive experiences such as virtual/augmented reality, and assist individuals with disabilities.

Who Gets to Future?

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Picture of potted plants and a bench with the word Africatown in the background, painted in bright red and green colors

Who Gets to Future? Race, Representation, and Design Methods in Africatown

Jasper Tran O’Leary, Sara Zewde, Jennifer Mankoff , Daniela K. Rosner
CHI 2019

This paper draws on a collaborative project called the Africatown Activation to examine the role design practices play in contributing to (or conspiring against) the flourishing of the Black community in Seattle, Washington. Specifically, we describe the efforts of a community group called Africatown to design and build an installation that counters decades of disinvestment and ongoing displacement in the historically Black Central Area neighborhood. Our analysis suggests that despite efforts to include community, conventional design practices may perpetuate forms of institutional racism: enabling activities of community engagement that may further legitimate racialized forms of displacement. We discuss how focusing on amplifying the legacies of imagination already at work may help us move beyond a simple reading of design as the solution to systemic forms of oppression.

“Occupational Therapy is Making”

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Splint that has been 3D printed in a material of an appropriate skin color and fit to a client's hand.
Best Paper Award Icon “Occupational Therapy is Making'”: Design Iteration and Digital Fabrication in Occupational Therapy

 

Consumer-fabrication technologies potentially improve the effectiveness and adoption of assistive technology (AT) by engaging AT users in AT creation. However, little is known about the role of clinicians in this revolution. We investigate clinical AT fabrication by working as expert fabricators for clinicians over a four-month period. We observed and co-designed AT with four occupational therapists at two clinics: a free clinic for uninsured clients, and a Veteran’s Affairs Hospital. We find that existing fabrication processes, particularly with respect to rapid prototyping, do not align with clinical practice and its \textit{do-no-harm} ethos. We recommend software solutions that would integrate into client care by: amplifying clinicians’ expertise, revealing appropriate fabrication opportunities, and supporting adaptable fabrication.

Web Accessibility

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This course was originally an introduction to accessibility centered on web in particular for graduate and undergraduate student. Jeff Bigham and I co-created it and he has since expanded it and taught it multiple times.  The current iteration can be found at: http://www.accessibilitycourse.com/

Jeff Bigham’s new framing is wonderful inspiration for future accessibility courses. To quote his website:

Access technologists are the ultimate interface hackers. They take existing technology and make it work for people and situations for which it wasn’t designed — they transform visual interfaces into landscapes of sound and touch, they overlay interfaces that people with low dexterity can use on top of interfaces requiring fine motor control, and they turn speech and sound into visual displays. This course teaches how access technology is built to work within the tough technical and human constraints in which it must operate. As early adopters, people with disabilities have inspired a host of future user interface technologies, e.g., conversational assistants, text-to-speech, speech recognition, optical character recognition, predictive typing, tactile displays, etc. People with disabilities continue to be the first users of interface next-generation technologies that are gradually adopted widely. This course will not only teach you the deep inner workings of today’s user interface technology, but will also serve as a guide for building the user interfaces of the future.

Assistive Technology

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Instructor: Jennifer Mankoff, jmankoff@cs.cmu.edu
Spring 2005

HCII, 3601 NSH, (W)+1 (412) 268-1295
Office hours: By Appointment & 1-2pm Thurs

Course Description

This class will focus on computer accessibility, including web and desktop computing, and research in the area of assistive technology.

The major learning goals from this course include:

  • Develop an understanding of the relationship between disability policy, the disability rights movement, and your role as a technologist. For example, we will discuss we will discuss the pros and cons and infrastructure involved in supporting mainstream computer applications rather than creating new ones from scratch.
  • Develop a skill set for basic design and evaluation of accessible web pages and desktop applications.
  • Develop familiarity with technologies and research relating to accessibility including a study of optimal font size and color for people with dyslexia, word-prediction aids, a blind-accessible drawing program,
  • Develop familiarity with assistive technologies that use computation to increase the accessibility of the world in general. Examples include memory aids, sign-language recognition, and so on.

Requirements

Students will be expected to do service work with non-profits serving the local disabled community during one to two weekends of the start of the semester. This course has a project component, where students will design, implement, and test software for people with disabilities. Additionally, students will read and report on research papers pertinent to the domain.

Grading will be based on service work (10%); the project (60%); and class participation, including your reading summary and the lecture you lead (30%).

Other relevant documents

Course Calendar, Assignments, Bibliography

Prerequisites

Prerequisites for this class are: Familiarity with basic Human Computer Interaction material or consent of the instructor (for undergraduate students)

It is recommended that you contact the instructor if you are interested in taking this class.

James Gan

James Gan is a M.S. Technology Innovation student at the Global Innovation Exchange program at the University of Washington. He is working with Megan Hofmann on a project expanding on the work of her paper “PARTs: Expressing and Reusing Design Intent in 3D Models”, particularly towards allowing the system to create Advanced Tactile Maps. He pursues numerous personal projects, and is an avid Hackathon attendee, having won prizes from Google, BlackRock, and Bloomberg. He hopes to grow his Computer Science skills as much as possible while a student, to help him pursue becoming a Product Manager and potentially pursuing a Ph.D. in the future.
Previously, James was a Program Manager and Consultant at srnd.org, working with Microsoft Philanthropies and managing CodeDay, a series of 24 hour events to promote CS education. Through this role, he was able to promote equality in CS education and get hundreds of students from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue CS studies. He graduated from Cornell University in 2018 with a B.A. in Economics with minors in Computer Science, Information Science, and Asian American Studies.
You can find more information about him at https://bellevue.tech

Automatically Tracking and Executing Green Actions

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We believe that self-reporting is a limiting factor in the original vision of StepGreen.org, and this component of our research has begun to explore alternatives. For example, we showed that financial data can be used to extract footprint information [1], and in collaboration with researchers at Intel and University of Washington, we used a mobile device to track and visualize green transportation behavior in the Ubigreen project (published at CHI 2009 [2]). We have also worked on algorithms to predict the indoor location of work and home arrival time of residential building occupants so as to automatically minimize thermostat use [3, 4]. Finally, we moved away from individual behavioral remedies to structural remedies by exploring tools that could help tenants to pick greener apartments [5]

[1] J. Schwartz, J. Mankoff, H. Scott Matthews. Reflections of everyday activity in spending data. In Proceedings of CHI 2009.  (Note). (pdf)

[2] J. Froehlich, T. Dillahunt, P. Klasnja, J. Mankoff, S. Consolvo, B. Harrison, J. A. Landay, UbiGreen: Investigating a Mobile Tool for Tracking and Supporting Green Transportation Habits. In Proceedings of CHI 2009. (Full paper) (pdf)

[3] Indoor-ALPS: an adaptive indoor location prediction system Christian Koehler, Nikola Banovic, Ian Oakley, Jennifer Mankoff, Anind K. Dey
UbiComp ’14 Proceedings of the 2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing, 2014

[4] TherML: occupancy prediction for thermostat control Christian Koehler, Brian D. Ziebart, Jennifer Mankoff, Anind K. Dey UbiComp ’13 Proceedings of the 2013 ACM international joint conference on Pervasive and ubiquitous computing, 2013

[5] Jennifer Mankoff, Dimeji Onafuwa, Kirstin Early, Nidhi Vyas, Vikram Kamath Cannanure: Understanding the Needs of Prospective Tenants. COMPASS 2018: 36:1-36:10

Lyme Disease’s Heterogeneous Impact

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An ongoing, and very personal thread of research that our group engages in (due to my own journey with Lyme Disease, which I occasionally blog about here) is research into the impacts of Lyme Disease and opportunities for helping to support patients with Lyme Disease. From a patient perspective, Lyme disease is as tough to deal with as many other more well known conditions [1].

Lyme disease can be difficult to navigate because of the disagreements about its diagnosis and the disease process. In addition, it is woefully underfunded and understudied, given that the CDC estimates around 300,000 new cases occur per year (similar to the rate of breast cancer) [2].

Bar chart showing that Lyme disease is woefully under studied.

As an HCI researcher, I started out trying to understand the relationship that Lyme Disease patients have with digital technologies. For example, we studied the impact of conflicting information online on patients [3] and how patients self-mediate the accessibility of online content [4]. It is my hope to eventually begin exploring technologies that can improve quality of life as well.

However, one thing patients need right away is peer reviewed evidence about the impact that Lyme disease has on patients (e.g. [3]) and the value of treatment for patients (e.g. [4]). Here, as a technologist, the opportunity is to work with big data (thousands of patient reports) to unpack trends and model outcomes in new ways. That research is still in the formative stages, but in our most recent publication [4] we use straightforward subgroup analysis to demonstrate that treatment effectiveness is not adequately captured simply by looking at averages.

This chart shows that there is a large subgroup (about a third) of respondents to our survey who reported positive response to treatment, even though the average response was not positive.

There are many opportunities and much need for further data analysis here, including documenting the impact of differences such as gender on treatment (and access to treatment), developing interventions that can help patients to track symptoms, manage interaction within and between doctors, and navigate accessibility and access issues.

[1] Johnson, L., Wilcox, S., Mankoff, J., & Stricker, R. B. (2014). Severity of chronic Lyme disease compared to other chronic conditions: a quality of life survey. PeerJ, 2, e322.

[2] Johnson, L., Shapiro, M. & Mankoff, J. Removing the mask of average treatment effects in chronic Lyme Disease research using big data and subgroup analysis.

[3] Mankoff, J., Kuksenok, K., Kiesler, S., Rode, J. A., & Waldman, K. (2011, May). Competing online viewpoints and models of chronic illness. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 589-598). ACM.

[4] Kuksenok, K., Brooks, M., & Mankoff, J. (2013, April). Accessible online content creation by end users. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 59-68). ACM.