Usability and Accessibility Progress and Challenges

12/9-10/2009 TGDC Meeting

Usability and Accessibility Progress

and Challenges

Sharon Laskowski, PhDNational Institute of Standards and Technology

http://vote.nist.gov


Progress has been substantial

Requirements answered ~80% of critical usability and accessibility issues

Most of VVSG 2.0 Chapter 3 was included in VVSG 1.1 VVSG 1.1 includes updated requirements for color and contrast Style guide for documentation usability completed, plain language

benefits confirmed Design vs. Performance requirements

We have made progress with test methods that measure usability performance

User testing with pass/fail criteria (“benchmarks”) Universal usability continues to be an overarching goal

Electronic machines need to be designed for the wide range of voters There are still a number of challenges that need more

research (the 20%)

Page 212/9-10/2009 TGDC Meeting


Performance-based test protocols are completed and will

be validated Usability benchmarks

Stable for the original demographics too much variability when demographics expanded

Validating in 3 locations to finalize protocol and obtain values for “calibration machine”

Accessibility throughout the voting session Poll worker documentation usability Accessible Voting Station usability testing needs more

research Wide variability of benchmark values Difficult to obtain large sets of test participants Issues with wheelchair and dexterity testing Challenge is to establish pass/fail criteria



Wheelchair access requirements

VVSG 2.0 requirements are harmonized with ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities (ADAAG)

Designed for non-motorized wheelchairs Should be updated to account for motorized

wheelchair anthropometry based on new Access Board research



Dexterity Dexterity has been inadequately addressed in

existing system designs and hence, in the VVSG, for both navigation and for paper ballots

One size does not fit all (huge individual variability) Possible solution is universal plug to support

alternate switches or devices Research for more universal solutions covering

broader sets of voters is needed Think out of the box, e.g., control by voice/sound

command EAC Accessibility Grants Program has potential to provide

solutions



Audio ballot usability Current audio ballots are difficult to navigate

due to a high cognitive load Research is needed to create requirements to

improve usability Studies exist in other domains having audio

interfaces, such as automated phone interfaces VBP is a special subset as it has no visual interface



Cognitive disabilities Thus far our approach to cognitive disabilities is based on the

concept of universal usability Clear instructions in plain language Clean design and navigation to lower cognitive load for everyone

But, there is more that could be investigated We started with an analysis in “Implications of graphics on

usability and accessibility for the voter”, VOTE-ID 2009 Proceedings, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 5767 Springer 2009 : 54-74

In general, graphics may not help and may harm voter performance

Further research is needed using carefully designed experiments EAC Accessibility Grants Program has potential to provide

solutions



Usability for poll workers and other audiences

We have focused on poll worker tasks during voting, but have not examined the human factors challenges in other parts of the process

Audits, early voting, etc. Further research in these areas is needed

VVSG, VVSG test methods, and other explanatory documents

We have many lessons learned, public comments, and empirical evidence about our audiences and the use of these documents

As we finalize these documents, we are considering how to further improve their usability for these audiences



Usability and accessibility testing by the VSTLs

Our research shows that Testing needs to be performed by usability and accessibility

experts Testing with human participants requires an appropriate

facility We are in the process of developing a set of

qualifications for the VSTL (Voting System Test Lab) personnel and lab facilities for NVLAP

ISSUE: Current accreditation appears to require VSTLs to have permanent staff and onsite capability for human factors conformance testing



VVSG 2.0 and Beyond

We have a mature set of requirements Test methods exist and require validation BUT, addressing the challenges in the “20%”

gap is critical to achieving fully accessible, usable systems


Documents

Usability and Accessibility Progress and Challenges