Accessibility and Product Ecosystems
Abstract
Products, including assistive and accessible
technologies, do not exist in isolation. They are all part of rich product
ecosystems; they inhabit specific niches of economics, functionality, and
technology, and they interact with other products. The concept of product
ecosystem goes beyond technological interoperability. For accessibility to
advance, we must understand more about the interactions among products.
This article sketches an explanatory approach that may be useful in
understanding how accessible technologies thrive, survive, or fail within
their ecosystems.
|
Keywords:
assistive technologies; design for all;
economics; ecosystem; interoperability; universal design
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INTRODUCTION
When we use a product, we tend to think of it in isolation: We turn on
an electric shaver, use it, turn it off, and put it away. Similarly,
corporate marketers may consider their new product as a bold and unique
object. But surrounding and penetrating the human use of any product is a
complex set of essential relationships: the plug (what country are we
in?), the power (how is it generated and distributed?), the packaging, the
cleaning brush, the oil, the manual, the case, the bathroom cabinet, the
lights, the mirror, and others.
Using the concept of ecosystem
1
found in ecological science, a set of relationships among products can be
called the
product ecosystem
.
2
In that context we understand that a specific collection of plants and
animals may form a food chain; a plant may provide shelter for an animal;
an animal may assist the pollination of a plant; a smaller animal may
parasitize a larger one.
Plants and animals, however, are living beings capable of more or less
independent action. Products do not have much of a life independent of
their human users (or at least we don't think they do!), so product
ecosystems must be highly integrated with human behaviors, such as design,
market activities, information seeking and sharing, usage habits,
preferences, expectations, etc.
This article examines how the concept of product ecosystems relates to
accessibility,
3
.
universal design,
4
and assistive technologies (AT).
5
PRINCIPLES OF PRODUCT ECOSYSTEM
All Products Interact with Other Products
As mentioned in the example in the Introduction, all products interact
somehow with other products and the environment in which they are created
and used. Even the simplest, seemingly most autonomous product is merely a
temporary artifact of a broad network of design, production, distribution,
use, and disposal, all of which processes involve the use of other
products. Cookies have packaging that must be opened. A cell phone must
connect to a wireless network; a mouse must connect to a computer. Any of
these use-oriented relationships may pose problems for people with
disabilities. We examine the accessibility implications as we explore the
concept of product ecosystems.
Product Ecosystems Include Elements of Primacy
A television may be the dominant or primary product in a household's
video product ecosystem: Without it, there is no such ecosystem. There's
no point in subscribing to cable service if you do not have a TV. But such
primacy may not be absolute: The availability of high-definition
programming from the cable service provider may motivate a household to
purchase a new HD-compatible television long before the old one wears out.
However, people rarely make such a decision because the new television has
a better remote control. There are hierarchies of potential primacy.
A product may be primary in one ecosystem and secondary in another. A
battery is a secondary product in the television remote control ecosystem,
because the consumer will buy whatever battery the remote requires.
However, batteries are primary in the battery charger ecosystem, which is
why battery chargers are designed to fit all sizes of batteries.
Similar relationships exist in the world of operating systems and
applications: Some consumers will continue to use the operating system
(OS) that best supports the applications they most need. Video game
platforms compete frantically to secure exclusive licensing for the most
compelling games.
Some Important Relationships Occur Outside of Typical
Use
Although we are most concerned with the accessibility of products
during their use, other relationships affect accessibility as well. Take a
simple example regarding manufacturing: the nib required on the "5" key of
a phone. Users want the nib to be in the center of the key. However, some
manufacturing processes use a plastic insert of another color to show the
key's numeral, rather than printing the numeral, which would soon wear
off. The insert cannot have a nib; this precludes the nib being in the
center of the key. Other designs or manufacturing technologies may arise
to resolve this problem, but it is unlikely that the requirement for the
nib itself will drive that process.
Installation and maintenance are important "rites of passage" in a
product's life outside of everyday use; these often involve special
product relationships. For example, software may need to be installed from
a CD; replacing a cordless phone's battery may require opening a hidden
compartment.
A person who is unable or unequipped to perform the required task may
be blocked from full use of the intended product. The otherwise accessible
software application may not serve its intended users if some of them
cannot manipulate the CD or operate the CD drive. The otherwise accessible
cordless phone may not serve its intended users if some of them cannot
find the battery compartment. For universal design to succeed, it must be
extended far beyond the "boundaries" of the product itself during its
normal usage, to embrace all the product's interactions during its life
cycle.
Product Ecosystems and "Value Chains"
Product management theorists developed the concept of the
value
chain
(
Porter,
1985
), an expression of the fact that suppliers, manufacturers,
distributors, retailers, and customers may all affect the value of a
product. For example, a customer who complains about a problem with the
product may cause the manufacturer to use a different component from a
supplier, resulting in an improved, more valuable product.
The value chain concept makes sense from the firm's perspective. The
better a manufacturer understands its suppliers and distributors, not to
mention its users, the better it can economize and plan. Knowing the
capabilities and motivations of potential partners and competitors gives a
company insight into its opportunities and limitations. The product
ecosystem concept presents similar relationships from a user's
perspective,
6
because it incorporates all the conceivable ways that a user could choose
to perform a particular function.
Consider someone shopping for a television. Our shopper is confronted
by an enormous array of choices - a jungle, really. The shopper will make
a single selection, using criteria based on his/her own television product
ecosystem. What will fit the cabinet? Which models have enough of the
right kind of connectors? Can I use my DVD's remote (my favorite) to
control the TV instead of adding to my clutter? Some of these criteria may
be mild preferences, while some are essential.
SPECIFIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE PRODUCT ECOSYSTEM CONCEPT
FOR ACCESSIBILITY
Accessibility Requirements Depopulate the Product
Ecosystem
This distinction between essential and preferential criteria is
fundamental to accessibility. For any given person with a disability
attempting to perform a given function, there may be one or more criteria
that are essential for him/her, while preferential for a non-disabled
user.
Let's resume our shopping trip in the television store. Consider that
one of our shopper's criteria has to do with accessibility; let's say our
shopper is hard of hearing and lives with other people who are not hard of
hearing. For effective use and the peace of the household, the television
must have a headphone jack on the front and a closed caption button on the
remote. Instead of a dozen models, we may be left with only one - or none.
Our jungle has become a desert. With these two additional requirements,
the television ecosystem is narrowed down to a dangerous level. Our
shopper has become the equivalent of an organism that can only feed on one
species.
Assistive Technology De-populates It Also
When we consider assistive technology (AT) products, we see a similar
effect on the richness of the product ecosystem. An electric scooter may
fit into only some cars, which fit into only some garages. An alternative
input device for a computer may only work on one operating system.
Assistive technology products essentially add another link to the value
chain, but with a difference, from the product ecosystem's perspective.
Instead of adding value, the additional link can only jeopardize the
existing value.
7
At best, compatible assistive technology maintains the product's value. An
incompatible product, or one that often fails or requires maintenance,
reduces the value.
In addition, AT itself is a sparse ecosystem. There are usually only a
few models for each product type. In some cases only one company
manufactures all models within a product category, or has an overwhelming
market share. The net effect on consumer choice is radical: A truly unique
AT product comes to dominate the consumer's product ecosystem. Our shopper
must enter the marketplace with the AT's compatibility requirements - its
"needs" - foremost in mind!
Product Availability Is Not Uniform in Time or Space
Just as in the organic world of plants and animals, products have life
cycles and geographic concentrations. They are not available forever and
everywhere.
Companies remove even successful products from the market on a periodic
basis, to encourage new rounds of consumer spending. They may replace the
old model with something functionally identical, or just similar. If the
new model unintentionally lacks a specific feature, it may no longer be as
accessible. For example, in the 1970s a particular tape recorder was sold
with an indexing feature: While recording, the user could press a button
and have a special tone encoded onto the tape. The tape could be played
back in a mode that sought out these indexing tones. This feature was very
useful for people who are blind, as it let them "highlight" a passage in a
lecture. After a few years the company withdrew the product
8
and did not offer a comparable one.
If the accessibility is provided by an AT product, the mainstream
product may change so that it can no longer interoperate with the AT
product. For example, Windows 95 was not compatible with some screen
readers at the time it was released. This jeopardized the business of
screen reader companies and the integration of users. It took several
months to develop compatible versions, and several years for users to
upgrade. This phenomenon of unsynchronized development cycles
persists.
Similarly, products and services do not distribute themselves evenly
over the surface of the world. France's Minitel offered some useful
functionality for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, but it was not
extended to or duplicated in all other countries. As another example, the
antenna lights on mobile phones, whose flashing indicated an incoming
call, could be found in Japan as early as 10 years ago, but were not
available in North America until 2002.
Low availability of products and services further restricts the
richness of the product ecosystem. Rural areas, developing countries, and
impoverished communities often have narrower ranges of choices.
Whole Product Ecosystems Evolve, Also Jeopardizing
Accessibility
It is not only individual products that change form over time: Whole
ecosystems appear to evolve, either as a response to a market-driven
change in a primary product or as part of a fundamental change in
technological capabilities. The entire wireline telephony ecosystem is in
the midst of evolving from analog to digital. Analog text telephones
("TTYs") cannot connect directly to digital lines, but they can be
connected through an analog-to-digital adapter. Currently there are many
available adapters, because there are many analog fax machines in use. The
need for adapters for text telephones is not large enough to sustain the
adapter market. As users migrate away from fax, or to digital fax servers,
the market for adapters will erode and may eventually disappear. Unless
TTYs also evolve, text users may be jeopardized.
Universal Design Is Proposed As a Solution to
Constricted or Rapidly Evolving Product Ecosystems
Universal design can be proposed as a solution to all of these
problems. If more mainstream products contain features that enhance
accessibility, the depopulating effects on the product ecosystem of the
accessibility criteria are lessened, as is the user's dependence on
adapters or AT. Similarly, it is argued, once designers are made aware of
the principles of design-for-all, they will never need to be reminded
again of the need to avoid exclusionary barriers.
In an extreme vision of a fully realized designed-for-all world, every
television would have a headphone jack on the front and a closed caption
button on the remote. But even the most ardent universal design (UD)
enthusiasts realize that it would not be technically feasible to add every
possible accessibility feature to every model of every product. That is
why realistic supporters of UD refer to it as a direction in which design
should move, not an absolute goal.
Universal design's detractors add that, feasible or not, it would not
be economically optimal to include all such features. They argue quite
correctly that there would be some wasted investment, as non-disabled
people were forced to pay for features they did not need or could not use.
They point to text telephones, which cost the telecom industry millions of
dollars a year just in compatibility testing, as an example of such a
waste. Additionally, they argue that the more required or standard
features there are, the less products can distinguish themselves in the
market, and that such distinctions - product mutations - are the source of
overall improvements in the product ecosystem.
Of course, such analyses only make sense when applied to a specific
product. We know that ramps (part of the wheelchair product ecosystem) pay
off their investment when handtrucks, baby strollers, and skateboards use
them. We are less sure that Braille markings on a drive-up bank machine
9
pay off. Unfortunately, for now at least, we seem to lack the tools to
analyze the total costs and benefits of universal design decision
options.
CONCLUSIONS
We believe that the product ecosystem approach both enlivens and
enlightens the discussion of accessibility, universal design, and
assistive technology. It puts accessibility in the context of other
domains where product interactions are important.
We would like to be able to analyze how to rationally enhance
accessibility, but we are far from able to perform the necessary economic
analyses regarding optimal accessibility. We are farther still from being
able to authoritatively assign responsibility to the diverse participants
in the ecosystem: Which should change, the mainstream product or the AT
product?
However, we do think that the product ecosystem concept does provide
some elements of near-term good guidance for enhancing accessibility:
-
Accessibility evaluations should take into account all the
relationships in the product ecosystem.
-
Points where the ecosystem is sparsely populated should receive more
attention.
-
"Technological horizon scanning" may be able to identify where new
accessibility opportunities and barriers may arise.
-
Better coordination between mainstream and AT companies may be able
to enhance accessibility by comanaging the evolution of product
ecosystems.
Notes
NOTES
1
An ecosystem is the dynamic and interrelating complex of
plant and animal communities and their associated non-living environment."
(Biology Online, 2006).
2
Although there are some current references to this term,
there is no fundamental definition available, and little theoretical work
appears to have been done to clarify its meaning. In some cases it is used
to refer to a single company's line of related products rather than a set
of relationships. Where it is used to refer to relationships, it almost
always refers to comarketing of products or relationships between major
manufacturers and smaller entities.
3
"Accessibility" is defined as the "usability of a product,
service, environment or facility by people with the widest range of
capabilities" (International Standards Organization, ISO/TC 16027,
2001).
4
"Universal design" ("UD") or "design for all" is defined as
"the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to
the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or
specialized design" (Center for Universal Design, 1994).
5
"Assistive technology" has been defined as "technology used
by individuals with disabilities in order to perform functions that might
otherwise be difficult or impossible" (National Center on Accessible
Information Technology in Education, 2006), or, more formally in the
Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act, as
"any item, piece of equipment or product system, whether acquired
commercially off the shelf, modified or customized, that is used to
increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with
disabilities." The term is used here to refer to products that
interoperate with mainstream, "nonassistive" products to permit disabled
users to perform the functions of the mainstream products.
6
Less relevant for this discussion is the "product's-eye
view" of the ecosystem, but it is important nevertheless. Cable-ready
televisions "migrate" into markets when cable service is available;
universal remote controls "prey" upon single-device controllers. The
product view of the ecosystem principally influences the availability of
products and features; users can only adopt available products, no matter
what their needs and preferences are.
7
Of course, from the disabled user's view, the AT product
provides essential value! Without it, there is no accessibility.
8
The indexing functionality later returned to the market,
and many new recorders have it. But it was unavailable for more than 10
years.
9
These are implemented in the United States for the benefit,
it is said, of blind taxicab riders who do not want to share their PINs
with the driver.
REFERENCES
-
1. Porter and Michael, E. (1985)
Competitive
advantage: Creating and sustaining superior performance
Free Press ,
New York
[your library's links]
Browse Publications A-Z
University of Manitoba
The Information Society
, Volume
23, Issue 3 May 2007 , pages 183 - 186