Assessing the inclusivity of digital interfaces - A proposed method

Abstract

In the assessment of the inclusivity of products with interfaces for digital devices, there are difficulty and validity issues relating the cognitive demand of using and learning an unfamiliar interface to the capabilities outlined in the population source data. This is due to the disparity between the types of cognitive tasks used to create the source data, and those needed to operate a digital interface. Previous work to understand the factors affecting successful interactions with novel digital technology interfaces has shown that the user’s technology generation, technology prior experience and their motivation are significant. This paper suggests a method which would permit digital interfaces to be assessed for inclusivity by similarity to known interaction patterns. For a digital device interface task that contained a non-transparent or novel interaction pattern, then the resulting cognitive workload could also be assessed.