Inclusive Design in Digital Musical Instruments

This talk has been given at DICE festival in Berlin 2018 and at Monki Gras 2019.

It looks at a small snapshot of inclusive design, citing the four principles of web accessibility as outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) as a good place to start. You can read more about WCAG here: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/

If you would like to join the Accessible Instruments community, you can sign up here: https://goo.gl/forms/mrJahCsTiRdC1umA3

Please feel free to contact me about any of the content in this workshop.

Transcript

1. Inclusive Design in Digital Musical Instruments Making music accessible to EVERYONE Amy Dickens @RedRoxProjects
2. I started out as a curious Musician then I studied to become an Audio Engineer not long after I became a Computer Scientist I found a voice as an Ambassador for Women in Tech and a job as Web Developer Advocate @RedRoxProjects
3. Accessibility in Digital Musical Instruments What does it mean to be “Inclusive”? The affordances of technology in music making Barriers that need breaking Current “Accessible” Technologies Design a DMI Showcase What the research is telling us... @RedRoxProjects
4. Inclusive? What does it mean for technology designers? @RedRoxProjects
5. Building accessible products is the right thing to do. As technology becomes more ingrained into everyday life, the ability to use digital products is a necessity; therefore, from an ethical perspective, ensuring that a diverse set of customers can use your product is a moral imperative. Emily Tate, Mind the Product |Putting Accessibility First, Interactions 2018 @RedRoxProjects
6. @RedRoxProjects The overall goal should be… Making sure that everyone has equivalent access… If it takes the average person who can see 10 seconds and the average person with a visual impairment 5 minutes, that is not equivalent usability… That is not equivalent access Jonathan Lazar, recipient of SIGCHI Social Impact Award |Putting Accessibility First, Interactions 2018
7. A quick nod towards web standards: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WCAG 2.0 @RedRoxProjects
8. #1 PERCEIVABLE @RedRoxProjects
9. Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive. It must not be invisible to all of their senses. @RedRoxProjects
10. #2 OPERABLE @RedRoxProjects
11. User interface components and navigation must be operable. It cannot require an interaction that a user cannot perform. @RedRoxProjects
12. @RedRoxProjects #3 UNDERSTABLE
13. Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable. The information nor operation of the interface should be beyond the user’s understanding. @RedRoxProjects
14. @RedRoxProjects #4 ROBUST
15. Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. It shouldn’t break easily. @RedRoxProjects
16. 19% of the world’s population is estimated to suffer from some form of disability at some point in their lives. @RedRoxProjects
17. 1 in 5 of potential users. @RedRoxProjects
18. Inclusive Design considers these users throughout the entire design process Walkthroughs with Personas Walkthroughs using Assistive Technology Paid user testing - by people with a range of accessibility requirements Using the Microsoft Inclusive Design Tool Kit as a guide @RedRoxProjects
19. Affordances of digital technologies in music making @RedRoxProjects
20. Technology has come a long way since the 1930s From Synthesizers to Apps the range of Digital Musical Instruments is vast. Some are sound generators, some are MIDI controllers, some can be both. Technology allows us to interact with sound in many ways. @RedRoxProjects
21. @RedRoxProjects @RedRoxProjects
22. Touch-able interfaces Sensitivity Malleable Visual Independence Familiarity of Devices @RedRoxProjects
23. Gesture interfaces In-air Gestures Wearables Thresholds Tailorable @RedRoxProjects
24. Apps Familiarity of Device Generative Audio Scapes Gamification Integration with Assistive Technologies @RedRoxProjects
25. What does the technology tell the user? How to interact with it? How soon they can interact with it? What kind of sound it will generate? Seeing vs feeling What can be changed about it? What it can’t do? @RedRoxProjects
26. Barriers to music making with digital musical instruments @RedRoxProjects
27. @RedRoxProjects
28. Non Visual Interaction Orientation & Positioning in Space Unconventional scores & creating common understanding Multiple User Requirements Different Devices, Networks & OSes Roles that change throughout the process @RedRoxProjects
29. @RedRoxProjects
30. The Research stuff the data is telling us... @RedRoxProjects
31. Field study - a quick overview A group of students with a range of abilities (Aged up to 19) 5 days Recording found sounds, instrument parts & creating music together using traditional & digital instruments & a technology probe Record some parts, create “scores” or section notes & a mix in Ableton from which the performance is built. A live performance, with pre-recorded backing & live section solo parts played using technology @RedRoxProjects
32. Three Interaction Modes @RedRoxProjects
33. Two Interaction Cycles @RedRoxProjects
34. @RedRoxProjects
35. There is no “one size fits all” solution @RedRoxProjects
36. Provide options : “tailorability” is key @RedRoxProjects
37. What now? The FAME framework (Facilitating Access to Musical Experiences) The Accessible Instrument Finder & Community Exploring the tailoring of DMIs Taxonomy of Musical Gestures Industry Partners & Research Collaborations @RedRoxProjects
38. and YOU @RedRoxProjects
39. Let’s build better things! Amy Dickens Samsung Internet | The Mixed Reality Laboratory amy.dickens@nottingham.ac.uk Twitter :: RedRoxProjects GitHub :: RedRoxProjects Website :: adickens.co.uk