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 ******************************************************************* List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *******************************************************************
