Designing a Digital Future That Meets Your Needs
By Jutta Treviranus
Information and communication technologies have become an inextricable part of our lives. Almost everything we do—buying groceries, reading the news, applying for a passport, taking a course, finding our way—involves using some form of digital technology.
While these technologies have the potential to make our lives much easier, sometimes it seems as if the designers were not thinking about the needs—or the diversity—of the people who would be using them.
Frequently, developers design for the “typical” user, ignoring the needs of anyone that is not “typical.” Given how pervasive technology has become, this approach can create major barriers to essential parts of our lives. In response to this problem, an alternative approach has emerged. It engages the diversity of potential users in designing the tools and systems that will soon become part of their daily lives. This is called inclusive participatory design.
The Ontario College of Art and Design (recently renamed OCAD University) will soon host a unique regional research centre called the Inclusive Design Institute (IDI). The purpose of the IDI will be to ensure that emerging information and communication technologies are designed to be useful for all potential users, including people with disabilities, varying language needs, and diverse cultural preferences.
The IDI includes eight partner postsecondary institutions, namely: OCAD University, Ryerson University, University of Toronto, University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), York University, George Brown College, Seneca College and Sheridan College. It also includes more than 100 other collaborating organizations (national and international) from both the private and public sectors.
The IDI is supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Research Fund of the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, as well as many private and public sector sponsors. The program is led by Professor Jutta Treviranus, who has recently joined OCAD University with her research team from the University of Toronto. The IDI team of researchers also includes world leaders in inclusive design from the eight partner institutions, networked to experts around the world. Most importantly, the Institute will engage a diverse group of “end users” in the process—this means you, the most reliable authority on your design needs.
The IDI will provide everyone, but especially individuals and groups who have been marginalized by the mainstream design process, an opportunity to preview and test emerging technologies and give input to the design. A prominent and accessible gallery at 49 McCaul St., in Toronto, will showcase new software applications, mobile systems, collaboration tools, communication tools, Web applications and innovative technologies that are part of the “internet of things.”
You are welcome to participate in the design of these new technologies and have your say on: what does not work, what should have been done, and what would be great if only it had been done this way. The IDI will also provide information to technology developers regarding how to design for diversity and inclusion. The Institute will be the only centre in Canada to ensure that researchers with disabilities can participate in all research activities. It will also include a fully accessible performance space (accessible to both the audience and the performers) as part of the infrastructure, to support research into inclusive design of culture and the arts.
In addition to the physical labs and galleries, the IDI will provide uniquely accessible network tools and applications so that previously marginalized groups can take advantage of online collaboration, design, learning management, digital repositories and Web-content management tools that are inclusively designed. The Institute will also support collaboration among groups from all over the world who have varying means of connectivity and alternative access needs.
Construction will be completed and the Institute will launch in several stages this fall and winter. Look for further news, as well as invitations to celebrations and events, over the next few months. For more information or to offer suggestions, please visit www.inclusivedesign.ca.