accessibility challenges of the next decade: cloud and mobile computing and beyond

Y4iT XI, 17-19 September 2013

Accessibility Challenges of the Next Decade:Cloud and Mobile

Computing and Beyond

Bebo White

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Stanford University

[email protected]

Sunday, September 22, 13

mailto:[email protected]



Agenda - Remember

the grass is greener on the other side...

to be inspired!

to listen to stories and more stories...

to be informed!

that the devil is in the details...

to constantly be challenged!

(courtesy of Irwin King)



Let’s revisit some definitions



New definition of Cloud

• “Traditionally” thought of as a “service environment” - SaaS, PaaS, IaaS - providing storage, software, computing resources, etc.

• Now includes

• social networks

• big data

• a platform for the “Internet of Things” - “Sensor as a Service” (SenaaS)



From the Web to the Cloud



What is “The Internet/Web of Things?”

• The networked interconnection of everyday things that can be uniquely identified and accessed

• An interactive universe of objects, things, data, ideas/concepts and processes both real & virtual

• A communications revolution

• Actual communicating not just copying

• All objects can be integrated & communicate - an environment of co-dependency



The Cloud/IOT/WOT is a very “noisy” place• An unbelievable of objects (theoretically

more than 10e38) will be able to talk to us and to each other (orders of magnitude more than now)

• We will be interested in hearing what some of them have to say

• How can we manage these conversations?

• Traditional interfaces break down



New definition of Accessibility

• For “challenged” users, the ability to

• perceive, understand, navigate, interact, contribute

• For general users, mechanisms to support

• different user needs, preferences, situations

• For all users, providing “unprecedented access to information and interaction”

• Means more that just access to Web pages

• Users are not just humans



How accessible is the IOT in the cloud?



New definition of Mobile

• We are in a BYOD (“Bring Your Own Device” society)

• More than just a mobile phone or tablet, but a fully-functional computer

• Is a “first class citizen” within a wireless network infrastructure

• Our mobile devices are (in many instances) the closest technical manifestations of us

• Can act as a magic wand or a sensory extension or an agent in aiding accessibility



“By 2040 the Web will exceed humanityin processing power”

--- Kevin Kelly

How will this power be accessed?

How will all this processing power be used?



IOT/WOT Accessibility• Number of components in the IOT will make

navigation un-doable

• Relationships between components could provide a navigational model

• Components are capable of participation in social groups and exhibiting crowd/group intelligence

• Component negotiation could result in manageable individual accessibility

• How might this work?



Negotiable Interfaces• Ordinary interfaces plus behavioral/contextual/temporal

information

• Objects negotiate according to specific criteria and reach an agreeable outcome

• Similar to format negotiation or client details (e.g., browser, mobile, etc.) in the “old” Web - but these negotiations are one-to-one (e.g., client-server)

• A reasonable negotiable outcome could be interface details

• What interface components are negotiable? (not simply “look and feel”)



Interactions

• People2People, Objects2Objects, People2Objects, Objects2People

• Without intermediaries or with intermediaries in the background

• MHC (Model-Human Computer) interaction has limited range; in WOT range is universal

• Things/objects become transmitters and receivers that can initiate and respond to stimuli



Intent

• Objects/things are named entities

• Objects/things have attributes

• Intents are satisfied by presenting objects/things and their attributes



Natural Objects

• Transmit & receive - atoms/molecules, animals/plants, stars/galaxies

• All with deliberate intent according to natural laws

• If you believe in QM, “spooky action at a distance”



Why Shouldn’t Man-made Objects?

• Intent defined by programming and personalization

• Can turn on & off - not always subject to natural law

• Sensitive to security & privacy

• The technology exists



• Premises

• Nature is data processing engine (and the best)

• The best engineering emulates nature

• Forget the human brain - the Internet/brain comparison is lame

How to Do This?



Consider Field/Gauge Theory

• Objects/things exchange ‘hard data’ & ‘soft data’

• How is the data received?

• Objects/things obey interaction rules



How Does That Differ From This?

• B, C, & D in coverage range of A - when A sends a message who gets it?

• A, B in range of C - when C sends a message who gets it?



Self-Organizing Mesh Networks

• Societies of cognitively cooperating devices “growing from the edges”

• Artificial life, “swarm intelligence”

• Mutual security, group-aligned self interest

• Network as memory

• Emergent sync - they will decide how we interact with them most efficiently - new interfaces - correlation discovery - this is where the negotiable interfaces happen



Making this happen - social computing & social machines(1)

• Rather than planning for certain properties (e.g., interfaces) and functions at design time, create a platform that achieves them at run time

• Social computation = social behavior + algorithmic computation



Making this happen - social computing & social machines(2)

• Social machines are integrated systems of people and computers

• Unprecedented involvement about user behavior, intent, goals, motivations, etc. into the software system’s structure

• Interaction between a user and the system is mediated by the aggregation of explicit and implicit data from other users/objects



Scenario (1)• User enters a supermarket with smartphone (which acts

as their agent into the IOT)

• Location, time, etc. suggests the need for a shopping list

• Context-aware mobile applications connect to home appliances, family members, family budget information, etc.

• Negotiated interface yields display of items that are required, desired, affordable, available in the supermarket and identifies their specific location

• Question: Does the computing occur on the smartphone or in the cloud? Does it matter?



Scenario (2)

• “Learning at the ‘speed of need’”

• Location and context determines that user is in a workshop

• Skills are recognized via user personalization

• State of objects in workshop are recognizable

• Negotiated interface uses augmented reality to guide required task



Summary

• Widespread implementation of Cloud and Mobile technology in the Internet/Web of Things forces a new definition of accessibility

• All networked objects have accessibility requirements

• Accessible interfaces will be defined during run time rather than during the design phase

• A whole new generation of user interfaces needs to be explored driven by object features and behaviors

• Accessible interfaces between objects can be negotiated using social computing

• There are greater Accessibility challenges than ever before!


About ACM

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ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.

With over 100,000 members from over 100 countries, ACM works to advance computing as a science and a profession. www.acm.org


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Maraming salamat !Questions? Comments?

[email protected]




accessibility challenges of the next decade: cloud and mobile computing and beyond

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