Re: [WSG] card sort with disabled users (OT?)

[lisa herrod]

hi Andreas

On 30/10/2007, Andreas Boehmer [Addictive Media] 
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:


 I am working on a website that targets people with many different
 disabilities. So that will include users with visual, mental, hearing or
 physical impairments.

 The website has got quite a large amount of content, so in a normal
 situation I would conduct a card sort to get feedback from all target
 groups
 as to how to structure the information. But I am wrecking my brain at the
 moment how to best put this into practice with the group of users I have.
 Using normal index cards for the card sort probably won't be a good idea
 in
 particular for some of the visually disabled users. Also normally I would
 let the users create new cards/categories by writing on the index cards,
 but
 this could be a problem with some of the physically disabled users.


 Maybe somebody has got a different suggestion on how to achieve this?

 Thanks heaps.

 Andreas.




I think you probably need to work with individual groups in a way that is
appropriate for them, rather than trying to find one way to do it all.  For
example, unless you transpose labels into braille (for the blind users who
read Braille) you'll probably need to read out the cards and write down the
answers. Obviously this wouldn't be appropriate for the deaf users.

For the deaf participants, this actually requires other considerations. I
would ask them to read the cards and write the labels themselves. But you
really need to engage an interpreter if you're planning on working with deaf
participants. And I want to stress here that it's really essential that if
you're including deaf users in card sorting activities (which focuses on
content and navigation labelling etc.) you remember that Auslan and English
are two unique languages. most likely English will be their second language.
So in essence this is an ESL consideration as well. Please don't rely on lip
reading (I don't mean to infer that you would Andreas). I have to say
personally I find that really very offensive and dismissive of the
participants needs. And on a technical point, you will not know how much
information the participant has clearly understood e.g. when briefing/
giving instructions for the session. This goes for providing a written
explanation as well.

Users with physical disabilities may require other support, such as writing,
but this will depend on the individual and the assistive technology they're
using.

Given your work you're probably already aware of this, but I thought it
might be useful info for others on the list.

I understand your concerns about your time and effort, but for the sake of
data integrity, if you have to establish different ways of working with each
profile to get accurate results, then there really isn't a choice.

Have a look at this online card sorting tool, I don't really think it's
going to help you much in this situation, but it is a good tool and there
may be something you can use it for, even if it makes recording participant
responses easier for you.

http://www.optimalsort.com/pages/default.html

All the best! It sounds like a really interesting project...

lisa

-- 
Lisa Herrod
Web Usability: User Experience Research, Consulting and Training

Business: http://www.Scenarioseven.com.au
Blog: http://www.Scenariogirl.com


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RE: [WSG] card sort with disabled users (OT?)

[Andreas Boehmer [Addictive Media]]

 -Original Message-
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 On Behalf Of lisa herrod
 
 I think you probably need to work with individual groups in a way that
 is appropriate for them, rather than trying to find one way to do it
 all.  For example, unless you transpose labels into braille (for the
 blind users who read Braille) you'll probably need to read out the
 cards and write down the answers. Obviously this wouldn't be
 appropriate for the deaf users.
 
Yeah, I was afraid that it would come down to this. It will require a lot
more planning beforehand, because I will need to find out what exact
disabilities each of the users have and need to consider individual
limitations. And I won't be able to just chuck all people with visual
disabilities into one pot. Reading out cards will be very hard. I mean, card
sort is such a visual tool, I personally would never want to try to do a
card sort without constantly seeing the words in front of me. 

Users with hearing disabilities will be easier in that way. 

Physical disabilities could be difficult depending on the user. But as long
as they can express which card to move into which group or how they want to
label groups its fine. I just need to ensure that the cards are lying in a
position where the user can easily see them. Some users may have
difficulties looking down onto a flat table all the time. 

Phhh... this is certainly going to be a tough one.

 Have a look at this online card sorting tool, I don't really think it's
 going to help you much in this situation, but it is a good tool and
 there may be something you can use it for, even if it makes recording
 participant responses easier for you.
 
 http://www.optimalsort.com/pages/default.html

That's not bad! As you said, it probably won't work for this situation, but
it's good to know there's an online card sort tool that I could use. Might
be handy in some situations.

Thanks for the reply.



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