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In the recent years, software applications for medical assistance, including the tele-rehabilitation, have known a high and continuous presence in the medical field. Guaranteeing the correct use of these applications induces to incorporate a study of usability in the life cycle of any interactive system. This paper synthesizes the results obtained from a study of effectiveness, efficiency, and subjective user satisfaction conducted with ePHoRt. ePHoRt is a web-based platform for home motor rehabilitation; 39 participants tested the platform. We report the empirical results based on the subjective usability perception and self-reported feedback based on the IBM Computer System Usability Questionnaire. The results suggest that ePHoRt is useful, effective, efficient, easy to use, and its interfaces are acceptable. Overall, the participants are satisfied to use the platform. The main findings of this paper show that the user guidance is a critical aspect to ensure a good usability of the tele-rehabilitation platform.

Gentrification is a territorial process that is affecting the social dynamic by dispossession that is causing the displacement of the population. This process is due to characteristics such as heritage, economic and political model, social construction, low economic resources, culture, identity, among others in Latin America. This paper presents an analysis of the gentrification phenomenon in the Cuenca city displayed on maps. The analysis of the quantitative data extracted from the government webpages and the qualitative data obtained from the surveys were visualized on maps generated by Geographic Information System (GIS). The result could contribute with the local government to the decision-making process to decrease this phenomenon in the historic center of the Cuenca city.

Assistive technologies have allowed people with disabilities to overcome many barriers. For instance, people with visual disabilities are able to access information on the Web by using screen readers and generating different actions in their navigation, which would not be possible without assistive technology. The generation of accessible resources and understanding user behavior from the journal editorial process point of view have created changes in the editorial process itself, from the reception to the publication of the articles. In this digital age, in which information has become global and open to a diverse population, resources should be accessible. Unfortunately, this is not usually the case. Resources must be made accessible to people with different conditions, including visual and hearing impairments. The goal of this study is to identify the challenges faced by a person with a visual disability during the editorial process of journals on the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform. Such challenges include understanding the layout of the elements and controls on the platform interface, creating HTML versions of academic articles, configuring journal websites, and so on. The aim of addressing these challenges is to create accessible resources that can be used by all readers of OJS journals regardless of their conditions. The information presented in this study was collected over six months, and a descriptive analysis was performed. It can be noted that some accessible resources have already been implemented, such as the presentation of academic articles in MP3 format (which can be downloaded or reproduced online) and the publication of HTML versions of complete articles with navigation levels. There is also a video resource in which authors expose their research, and the articles themselves are presented in an accessible PDF format (which respects levels of accessibility that allow greater reading enjoyment for users with vision impairments). These contributions allow people with visual disabilities to better integrate into editorial teams of scientific journals. Work continues so that the resources published on the OJS platform can reach readers with disabilities at greater regional and global levels.

In the actuality there are many devices to help people with visual disability, at the level of mobile devices like Smart Phones, tablets, PCS, some of them increasing the size of the letter, or reading icons or maybe incorporating voice technology to read the text or to recognize the voice, these devices help to people with visual disability that they can interact and do things that people couldn’t do every day, helping their day by day, and above all do activities of interaction of man with machine. Additionally there are several applications that incorporate GPS navigation technology, for localization and geography location, one person can use navigation applications for be able to locate even using just the GPS module without the need to have internet connection, little by little this service has become very popular, it is include in autonomous cars, to be able to go to one place to another easily, just showing the destination the people are directed without the need to drive, however this system doesn’t work inside of the buildings or internal structures because the GPS signal could be lost and the navigation and obtaining the location is not accurate.

It is important to raise awareness among people who create web content about barriers that exist for people with visual disabilities to perceive images. This study had for purpose the implementation of features and controls for insertion of accessible images in two open online editors: TinyMCE and Summernote. TinyMCE is used in content management systems such as WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. Summernote is an open online editor distributed under an open MIT license. The accessibility of TinyMCE was improved in the insertion of images by adding entry fields for the type of image to be inserted, long description and title. As for Summernote, in the option to insert images, entry fields were added for the type of image to be inserted, alternative text, long description and title. Controls were implemented to validate mandatory and optional fields according to the type of image. The purpose is that open online editors comply with Part B of the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines. A discussion is presented about how the original code of the two open online editors was written, how image accessibility was improved and how evaluation was performed via test scenarios, automated tools and usability surveys to both content authors and blind users. The HTML code generated with both editors showed compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Blind users stated that they were able to perceive the images when interacting with web pages created with both editors.

This study proposes the use of Think Aloud and Focus Group methods for evaluating the usability of the Intelligent Police Patrolling System (I-Pat). The study was conducted with twenty-one students of computer engineering. The study included two evaluation methods. First, the application of Think Aloud using audio recordings, image capturing and questionnaires. Second, the application of a Focus Group for brainstorming. The total number of the usability problems identified was fifteen. Comprehensiveness (46%) and layout (43%) problems were the most frequently found. The study showed that the problems encountered were due to the lack of understanding of the system’s functions, so it is recommended increasing the users’ levels of knowledge about the system. The application of these methods caused the students to find a greater number of errors than when applying a single method, allowing them to generate a report with usability improvements according to the reported errors.

The goal of a telerehabilitation platform is to safely and securely facilitate the rehabilitation of patients through the use of telecommunication technologies complemented with the use of biomedical smart sensors. The purpose of this study was to perform a usability evaluation of a telerehabilitation platform. To improve the level of usability, the researchers developed and proposed an iterative process. The platform uses a digital representation of the patient which duplicates the therapeutic exercise being executed by the patient, this is detected by a Kinect camera and sensors in real time. This study used inspection methods to perform a usability evaluation of an exploratory prototype of a telerehabilitation platform. In addition, a cognitive workload assessment was performed to complement the usability evaluation. Users were involved through all the stages of the iterative refinement process. Usability issues were progressively reduced from the first iteration to the fourth iteration according to improvements which were developed and applied by the experts. Usability issues originally cataloged as catastrophic were reduced to zero, major usability problems were reduced to ten (2.75%) and minor usability problems were decreased to 141 (38.74%). This study also intends to serve as a guide to improve the usability of e-Health systems in alignment with the software development cycle.

In this research, a hybrid solution for indoor localization for users with blindness or visual disabilities is developed to be able to move inside a building. The solution has two subsystems that communicate through an accessible mobile web interface. The first subsystem determines the location of the user's mobile device in an indoor place. This subsystem uses Wi-Fi networks because they are a very common existing infrastructure and they are economically feasible. An approach named Network Beacon Analyzer is proposed and tested to verify the level of accuracy of the location calculations. This approach analyzes Wi-Fi signals radiated by different access points (APs) to calculate the physical position of the user mobile device. The tests performed showed that accuracy of the calculation depends on the number of APs used within the Wi-Fi networks. Four APs provided the correct calculation of the location in 85% of the samples with a minimum error. The second subsystem is an accessible mobile web application that complies with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. Level AA is the level required by the legislation in most countries. The mobile web application displays an indoor map built in Scalable Vector Graph format. This format helps the screen reader software to interpret the visual information and translate it to audio output for blind users. In addition, the application simulates main routes that users can select to get an idea of the environment of the indoor place before actually going there. Finally, a group of twenty users tested the application, included blind and blindfolded people. The solution is independent of the type of mobile device and operating system, since the first subsystem analyses Wi-Fi signals and the second subsystem executes on top of any browser.

This study presents the design of a conceptual software architecture for the development of accessible web maps for visually impaired users. The conceptual software architecture proposed has three components: the database component is responsible for storing the web maps, the accessible web server component is responsible for converting a web map into an accessible web map, and the user side component is responsible for presenting the accessible web map to the user. A web application has been developed that shows the feasibility of implementing the proposed architecture. This application displays accessible web maps that provide additional information for visually impaired users. In addition, the application offers some alternatives for better interpretation of each map element. Visually impaired users receive feedback from the map displayed on the interface using a screen reader. The application has accessibility features based on WCAG 2.0 that facilitate the interaction of the visually impaired users.

The present work proposes a model of detection of movements of patients in rehabilitation of hip surgery in real time. The model applies the Fuzzy Logic technique to identify correct and incorrect movements in the execution of rehabilitation exercises using the motion capture device called XBOXONE Microsoft’s Kinect. An algorithm generates a multivalent logical model that allows the simultaneous modeling of deductive and decision-making processes. This model identifies the correct and incorrect movements of the patient during the execution of rehabilitation exercises. This model uses all the information collected from 24 points of the body with their respective axes of coordinates (X, Y, Z). Using data mining analysis, the algorithm selects the most remarkable attributes, eliminating non-relevant information. The main contributions of this work are: creation of a patient profile based on the movement of the human being in a generic way for the detection and prediction of execution of physical exercises in rehabilitation. On the other hand, an avatar was developed in 3D, which copies and evidences graphically the exercises performed by patients in real time.

The Tele-Rehabilitation platform for hip surgery allows patients to carry out part of their rehabilitation at home, without the need to travel long distances to a rehabilitation centre. A lack of usability that may prevent effectiveness, efficiency, and the satisfaction of patients, may lead to problems of confusion, error and delay, or even abandonment of the physical therapy. To perform the usability analysis, a set of heuristics were selected relating to aspects such as navigation, visual clarity, coherence, prevention of errors, user guidance, online help and user control. A cognitive walkthrough technique was also applied. With the results of the analysis, the design and implementation of improvements were performed. The web interfaces of the Tele-Rehabilitation platform were evaluated once again and compared with the baseline to ensure there was an improvement in usability.

Using a tele-rehabilitation platform for motor recovery obliges the user to interact at a remote distance from the computer. In such a situation, a natural user interface can be used both to record the therapeutic movements performed by the patient, and to navigate in the web application. Nevertheless, it is necessary to assess the user experience to validate the system usability. The present paper describes an experiment to test the usability of a platform designed to enhance the recovery of patients after hip replacement surgery. The user experience is evaluated through several metrics (completion time and usability questionnaire) and the results are related to a sociodemographic questionnaire. A clustering approach is implemented to identify a relationship between the user’s profile and the interaction performance with the platform.

In the use of the Web, one of the main problems for people with visual disability is the use of geographic maps which are visual by nature. This paper presents an accessible map visualization prototype that is designed with WCAG 2.0. For the development of the prototype, we have designed an architecture that helps to mitigate the visual barriers of the online geographical maps. As case study, the prototype displays some maps of the Ecuador. In addition, the prototype has been tested in different browsers and has been evaluated by accessibility tools, thereby, the degree of accessibility of the prototype has been determined in a real environment.

This paper presents the description of a project to develop an accessible indoor plan to help blind people to localize landmarks within a building from a pedagogical perspective. This project has been employed to foster engineering students to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to use technologies and tools to develop accessible engineering products within the context of a collaborative learning experience. This paper describe the step by step process followed to make an accessible indoor plan that complies with WCAG 2.0 accessibility guidelines. Also, conclusions and future work regarding the potentialities of the approach used in this project for generating collaborative learning experiences are presented.

A massive open online course (MOOC) is a type of online course that can be taken for a huge number of participants. Originally, MOOCs scope was to provide introductory university level courses to students worldwide. Currently, the MOOC model is expanding is scope to training in both private and public sectors. There are more than 30 million of public sector employees only in Latin American and Caribbean Region. Given the huge number of public employees that need to be continuously trained at regional, national, and local range, using MOOCs for training in public sector is not only a valid option but also a necessity. Among the government topics that public employees need training are public service culture, national political constitution, government structure and policies, national development plans, institutional strategy, macroeconomics, monetary and fiscal policy, sovereign debt, regulatory and legal frameworks, and tools for public administration such as management for results. Also, in recent years, government and private organizations have recognized the importance of training their employees on space technologies that manage geographic information for the primary purpose of increase development through getting knowledge of the territory and its behavior. This paper presents four cases of use of MOOCs for public sector training. It also presents strategies to address three major challenges: enrollment, completion and web accessibility. Finally, it states some conclusion and future research.

This paper describes some of the challenges that exist to make accessible massive open online courses (MOOCs) on Geographical Information Systems (GIS). These courses are known by the generic name of Geo-MOOCs. A MOOC is an online course that is open to the general public for free, which causes a massive registration. A GIS is a computer application that acquire, manipulate, manage, model and visualize geo-referenced data. The goal of a Geo-MOOC is to expand the culture of spatial thinking and the use of geographic information, enabling geospatial web technologies for widespread use. However, the Geo-MOOCs, by nature, have inherent problems of accessibility. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), Article 24, recognize the right of persons with disabilities to education. “States Parties must ensure that persons with disabilities are able to access general tertiary education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning without discrimination and on an equal basis with others”. Therefore, it is important to have accessible Geo-MOOCs. In this paper, we present the results of the evaluation of a Geo-MOOC called “Maps and the Geospatial Revolution” using three tools available for free on the Internet: Chrome Developer Tools – Accessibility Audit, eXaminator and WAVE; and included a selection of web content and geographical data representative of the course. This provided feedback for establishing recommendations to improve the accessibility of the analyzed course. Other Geo-MOOCs can also benefit from these recommendations. This work has been partially supported by the Prometeo Project by SENESCYT, Ecuadorian Government.