Wireless PICT Simulation Study

There is increasing commercial interest in providing retail and public services to people using cell phones and portable wireless devices as universal "remote controls" to operate bank machines, point-of-sale terminals, information kiosks, etc. To explore the feasibility of wireless access to public information and communications technologies (PICTs), Dis-IT researchers asked two groups of research participants – people with vision impairments and people with upper body impairments – to “test drive” prototype wireless devices to conduct transactions in a simulated restaurant setting at the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s (BCIT) Living Lab.

The restaurant setting was chosen because it provided the opportunity to include wireless information transactions (e.g., reading the menu, calling the server, ordering) in addition to the financial transaction of paying the bill. The simulations therefore were relevant to all of the settings (transportation, retail, restaurant, banking) that participants in the consumer focus groups said they accessed most frequently.

A total of 28 people with disabilities participated in the simulations:

• 15 people with vision impairments
• 13 people with severe upper body mobility impairments

They used wireless devices to interact with a computer that provided menu and other information about the restaurant. The persons with visual impairments used cell phones, while participants with upper body impairments used wireless-enabled Palm PCs. Both groups operated their devices using voice input. The Palm PCs used by people with upper body impairments provided visual feedback of the transactions, while the cell phones used by participants with visual impairments provided audio feedback.

In focus groups following the simulations, most participants said they liked conducting financial and information transactions with a wireless device. Cost topped their list of priorities, with almost all saying wireless devices would need to be inexpensive to be successful. They also said the most attractive devices would have multiple applications (e.g., mobile phone, personal digital assistant, opening doors, controlling elevators, way-finding and navigation using GPS global positioning).

Participants with upper body mobility impairments indicated that successful devices would require excellent voice recognition capabilities. Regarding the concerns about security expressed by participants in the consumer focus groups, most of the participants in the simulations felt that conducting wireless financial transactions was more or no less secure than current debit card transactions. Many thought wireless transactions provided greater privacy.

New technologies that closely replicate the prototypes used in the simulations are becoming available. Our goal is to identify promising technologies being deployed in the priority areas identified by our consumer focus groups and work with the manufacturers to identify how their technologies could be adapted to meet the needs of people with disabilities.