Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
UX framework and integrated model of interaction evaluation (Section 15.3.1). The authors
endorse the assumption that UX evaluation concerns not only the user's experience with
an assigned technology but also the user's experience of the action of the center for tech-
nical aid (i.e., ATA process functioning), proposing an ATA process under the lens of UX
evaluation to assess both the relation between the AT and the users and that between the
users and the center for technical aid (Section 15.4.1). Finally, the authors present different
examples concerning the application of the UX framework to the design process of systems
for rehabilitation (Sections 15.4.2 and 15.4.2.1).
All of the other chapters in Section III, by aiming to present new landscapes and
visionary AT projects, are explicitly or implicitly linked to the integrated model presented
in Chapter 15.
In Chapter 16, “Web Solutions for Rehabilitation and Daily Life,” Liotta, Di Giacomo,
Magni, and Corradi focus on the relationship between users and new ATs. The authors
present two studies that share a user-centered design (UCD) perspective (Norman and
Draper 1986) to reduce the digital device neutralizing barriers due to both the physical and
the virtual environment. The authors' theoretical background endorses the perspective
provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) that considers “the use of information,
communication, and related technologies for rehabilitation as an emerging resource
that can enhance the capacity and accessibility of rehabilitation measures by providing
interventions remotely” (WHO and World Bank 2011, p. 118).
Chapter 16 describes new Web technologies by making two assumptions about the
WWW:
1. The WWW is a means of accessing and using information—AT, to allow users to
achieve their goal (i.e., accessing and using information), has to reduce the digital
divide by increasing the accessibility and usability of websites and search engines.
2. The WWW is a means of providing a service—AT, to allow users to obtain a ser-
vice (i.e., rehabilitation), uses the Internet to provide a remote/online service.
The first AT presented, called WhatsOnWeb, is a clustering web search engine (Section
16.2) that makes use of both the information visualization approach (Sections 16.2.3 and
16.2.3.1) and the sonification of the graphical elements of the interface (see Chapter 15,
Section 4.2 and Chapter 16, Section 16.2.3.2) to improve the effectiveness and efficiency
of Web searching for blind users. The WhatsOnWeb evaluation results (Sections 16.2.3.3,
16.2.3.3.1, and 16.2.3.3.2) are presented to analyze the properties and features of this
technology as an assistive device.
The second AT discussed is called Nu!Reha Desk, a telemedicine tool for rehabilitation
(Sections 16.3.1 and 16.3.2) created to supply personalized exercises for execution at home
by users in a distant but monitored manner. The system has been designed as a main
application for extending the “traditional approach” of the neurological rehabilitation
service (Sections 16.3.3 and 16.3.4). The Nu!Reha evaluation results are presented to discuss
the role of AT in providing distance data to practitioners to optimize users' access to a
rehabilitation program (Sections 16.3.5 and 16.3.5.1).
Chapter 17, “Brain-Computer Interfaces: The New Landscape in Assistive
Technology,” discusses brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) for restoring communication
and movement in patients with severe and multiple disabilities (Section 17.1). It presents
the history of BCIs and brain activity measures (Sections 17.2.1-17.2.4 and 17.3). The
authors endorse the idea that BCIs are information and communication technologies
that support the daily life activities of people with disabilities (Section 17.7). In this
