In recent years, playing games has become a popular activity for everything from socialising purposes to educating purposes, with billions of players worldwide. However, being able to play games is not evident for people with disabilities. The gaming industry is excluding masses of people by not creating enough accessible games. Indie gaming is a part of the gaming industry that has grown immensely during the last decades. Indie game companies are often smaller studios with independent publications, finances and creativity. Almost everyone has the tools nowadays for making games. Indie game companies do not usually have the resources for engaging as much in accessibility as bigger companies do. Since they are distributing a big share of the games on the market today it is necessary to explore their possibilities of creating more accessible games despite their resource constraints. The research question for this study is “What are the game development challenges that Swedish indie game companies face when implementing accessible design practices, and how can they overcome them?”. This was investigated through a survey study where the researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with employees at seven different indie game companies in Sweden. The results revealed perceived challenges in the tools that the investigated companies utilised, such as challenges in accessibility communication, resource constraints and how they aim to gather player feedback. Other challenges were identified in how the company operates, more specifically in their work tasks and planning of accessibility. Results also contributed to an understanding of how the investigated companies work with accessibility, through how they prioritise tasks and how they receive accessibility information. Possible solutions on how they can overcome challenges were identified, both on an individual and company level, as well as on an industry level for the indie gaming market. The results provided insights into the factors impeding indie game companies and developers from designing for accessibility as well as possible solutions to these challenges. These findings contribute to the understanding of the challenges with implementing accessible design practices and have added a nuanced perspective on the challenges faced by indie game developers and suggest potential directions for future investigation, both in research and in the indie game industry.

With the rise of e-learning and recent legislations of the European Union enforcing conformance to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 for web applications of public sector bodies, the issue of identifying and solving web accessibility issues in e-learning applications is more relevant than ever. This thesis is based on a case study of a publisher of course literature whose intention is to improve the accessibility of their e-learning applications. The thesis contains a theoretical foundation on disabilities, e-learning and web accessibility including assistive technologies, the web accessibility guidelines WCAG 2.0 and the web accessibility evaluation method WCAG-EM. This theory is used for developing solutions to accessibility issues found in the e-learning applications and comparing accessibility with e-learning theory. The results are presented as concrete examples to be useful for developers of e-learning applications. It was found that there exist a few instances where accessibility and e-learning contradict each other, but the solutions to accessibility problems are most often not affected by the learning premise of the applications.

Orientador: Silvana Aparecida Borsetti Gregório Vidotti / Banca: Maria Cândida soares Del-Masso / Banca: Marcos Luiz Mucheroni / Banca: Plácida Leopoldina Ventura Amorim da Costa Santos / Banca: Valter Vieira de Camargo / Resumo: A natureza atual da World Wide Web (Web) que destaca a participação colaborativa dos usuários em diversos ambientes informacionais digitais conduz ao desenvolvimento de diretrizes que enfocam a Arquitetura da Informação Digital Inclusiva para diferentes públicos nas mais diversas ambiências informacionais. O conceito de acessibilidade digital visa à inclusão de usuários com deficiência em ambientes informacionais digitais, com foco na melhoria da interação dos sujeitos com o ambiente de modo a proporcionar a melhoria de qualidade de vida. A pesquisa propõe diretrizes para um ambiente informacional digital inclusivo, visando apontar os elementos de acessibilidade que permitem a promoção da inclusão informacional digital, de forma a destacar os referenciais da Arquitetura da Informação Digital, de recomendações internacionais e das estruturas de representação das informações, em especial dos atributos de acessibilidade, com o olhar da Ciência da Informação e das novas Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação. Têm-se como hipóteses: os atributos de acessibilidade utilizados para representação de conteúdos em ambientes informacionais digitais não contemplam satisfatoriamente as descrições dos recursos digitais que atendam as necessidades especiais dos usuários; a Arquitetura da Informação carece de novos elementos de acessibilidade digital com foco nas necessidades especiais dos usuários; as recomendações de acessibilidade internacionais, isoladamente, não fornecem subsídios para o acesso universal. Tem-se como tese a necessidade de desenvolvimento de metodologias com diretrizes que contemplem os elementos de acessibilidade digital focados na tarefa do usuário. Como problema de pesquisa tem-se que a de que as atuais metodologias e recomendações utilizadas para o desenvolvimento de ambientes informacionais digitais não contemplam integralmente... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract:The current nature of World Wide Web (Web), which highlights the collaborative participation of users in some digital information environments, lead to development of guidelines with a focus on Inclusive Digital Information Architecture for a different audiences in multiples informational ambiences. The concept of digital accessibility aims to include users with special needs in digital information environments, focusing on improving the interaction between subjects and the environment in order to provide improved quality of life. This research proposes guidelines for a inclusive digital information environment, aiming to identify the elements of accessibility that allow the promotion of inclusion digital information, in order to highlight the references of the Architecture of Digital Information, the international recommendations and the structures representation of information (specially accessibility attributes), with the look of Information Science and New Technologies of Information and Communication. The research have the follow hypotheses: the accessibilities attributes used to represent the content in digital information environments do not satisfactorily contemplate descriptions of digital resources that supplies the special needs of users; the Information Architecture needs new elements of digital accessibility with a focus on special needs of users, international accessibility guidelines, in a singular way, does not provide subsidies to a universal access. The thesis is as to the need to develop methodologies with guidelines that contemplate the elements of digital accessibility focused on the task of the user. The research problem is that actual methodologies and recommendations used for the development of digital information environments do not cover all the elements of accessibility with a focus on user needs. The proposition is to present, through a methodological approach... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

This thesis evaluates a DEMO version of the mobile web site for medical recordsonline, m.minavardkontakter.se, from a web accessibility point of view. The evaluationis an expert evaluation based on the ISO standard for web accessibility, Web ContentAccessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 that is complemented with an evaluation basedon fictitious characters, so called personas. The personas were used to representthree groups of people with different kinds of disabilities; perceptual impairment(aniridia), physical impairment (rheumatism) and cognitive impairment (aphasia). Bycombining and comparing these two methods of evaluation, the thesis also evaluatesthe methods themselves. It was seen from both evaluations that the mobile web sitedoes not entirely fulfill the requirements (success criteria) for web accessibility.WCAG 2.0 found more problems in accessibility than did the personas. However, thepersonas found some problems that were overseen by WCAG 2.0, especially whenthe mobile web site was explored using voice synthesis. The results from the twoevaluations were combined in a set of recommendations for improvement, ranked inorder of importance according to the author. The results conclude that WCAG 2.0 isa good tool for evaluating web accessibility but it is recommended to continue to usethe personas in the future development of the mobile web site.

Enabling access for people with disabilities, brings benefits to everyone, notonly people with disabilities. Therefore, accessibility is an important aspect to consider when designing a website. The purpose with this research paper is to explore how media agencies within the private sector that provides this service to others, work with web accessibility towards their customers and on their own websites. This report aims to examine media agencies’ level of knowledge  about web accessibility as well as their attitude and perception towards it. Furthermore, possible improvements of media agency’s websites will be investigated and suggested.   To answer our research questions, we have chosen a qualitative research approach. The method chosen is semi-structured interviews, these were conducted with three media agencies in Sweden. Additionally, an accessibility evaluation was performed of the media agencies websites with the accessibility tools AChecker and WAVE.  How much each media agency worked with web accessibility and WCAG differed, one of them did stand out among the others. The media agencies knowledge was broad, and their perception was comparable to the result from the accessibility evaluation of their website. The accessibility was high according to the accessibility tools, but there's room for improvements mainly when it comes to contrast issues, naming and labeling. In conclusion all media agencies are aware of web accessibility and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines which could be  seen on the results from the accessibility evaluation.

Web forms are one of the main points of user interaction on the internet. It is important that these forms are developed to be accessible to as many people as possible. The project aims to reduce the complexity for application developers when developing accessible web forms that conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) using HTML and React. The result is a prototype library that creates an abstraction that application developers can use to build accessible web forms that conform to the WCAG.

O presente trabalho tem como premissa investigar diretrizes, técnicas, métodos e padrões de acessibilidade existentes no contexto do governo eletrônico, via desktop e dispositivos móveis, de forma a identificar e analisar o que pode ser aplicado no processo de desenvolvimento para tornar acessíveis suas aplicações. Diante do crescimento da tecnologia e da necessidade de inclusão digital, o foco do trabalho destina-se a pessoa com deficiência, visando algo que possa atingir a todos de forma mínima. Assim, o trabalho teve como objetivo elaborar um conjunto de 35 recomendações de acessibilidade para aplicações móveis, adaptado do Modelo de Acessibilidade em Governo Eletrônico (e-MAG), padrão que consiste em recomendações específicas para o desenvolvimento de sítios e portais web do governo brasileiro. Após a adaptação das recomendações, foi realizado uma avaliação de 12 aplicativos do governo eletrônico, a avaliação foi uma inspeção por revisão de guidelines feita por um especialista, no caso, o próprio autor. A avaliação teve como objetivo validar as recomendações propostas, verificando a forma como o conteúdo e a informação são disponibilizados, isto é, se os aplicativos são efetivamente acessíveis. Pelos resultados obtidos, foi possível identificar que todas as aplicações apresentaram problemas de acessibilidade, prejudicando assim, a interação do usuário com a aplicação móvel. Também foi elaborado um questionário de acessibilidade formado pelas mesmas recomendações adaptadas, onde foi solicitado que pessoas voluntárias com deficiência o respondessem. Desta forma, o usuário atribuía um nível de relevância para cada recomendação do questionário, identificando ser muito ou pouco relevante para ele. Ao todo obtivemos 103 respostas, e de acordo com as análises realizadas, foi identificada variações de relevância entre os grupos e subgrupos de usuários que responderam o questionário, principalmente de pessoas com deficiência visual, nosso grupo mais expressivo neste trabalho, variando de usuários com visão próximo do normal a total cegueira. Com isso, foi possível elaborar uma lista de prioridades de recomendações de acessibilidade. A lista de prioridades tem como objetivo garantir que os principais requisitos de acessibilidade sejam implementados nas primeiras versões do software, ou seja, as recomendações consideradas mais relevantes pelos usuários, são consideradas prioritárias para o processo de desenvolvimento de aplicações móveis do governo eletrônico / The present work has as premise to investigate guidelines, techniques, methods and standards of accessibility existing in the context of e-government, via desktop and mobile devices, in order to identify and analyze what can be applied in the development process to make its applications accessible. Faced with the growth of technology and the need for digital inclusion, the focus of the work is aimed at people with disabilities, aiming at something that can reach everyone in a minimal way. The purpose of this study was to elaborate a set of 35 accessibility recommendations for mobile applications, adapted from the Electronic Government Accessibility Model (e-MAG), a standard that consists of specific recommendations for the development of websites and web portals of the Brazilian government . After adapting the recommendations, an evaluation of 12 e-government applications was carried out, the evaluation was a revision review of guidelines made by a specialist, in this case, the author himself. The evaluation aimed to validate the proposed recommendations, verifying how content and information are made available, that is, whether applications are effectively accessible. From the results obtained, it was possible to identify that all the applications presented accessibility problems, thus impairing the user interaction with the mobile application. An accessibility questionnaire was also prepared, which was made up of the same adapted recommendations, where volunteers with disabilities were asked to respond. In this way, the user assigned a level of relevance to each recommendation of the questionnaire, identifying it to be very or slightly relevant to it. In all, we obtained 103 responses, and according to the analyzes, we identified variations of relevance among the groups and subgroups of users who answered the questionnaire, mainly of people with visual impairment, our most expressive group in this study, ranging from users with vision close to normal to total blindness. This has made it possible to draw up a list of priorities for accessibility recommendations. The list of priorities aims to ensure that the main accessibility requirements are implemented in the first versions of the software, that is, the recommendations considered most relevant by the users, are considered as priorities for the process of developing e-government mobile applications

O presente trabalho tem como premissa investigar diretrizes, técnicas, métodos e padrões de acessibilidade existentes no contexto do governo eletrônico, via desktop e dispositivos móveis, de forma a identificar e analisar o que pode ser aplicado no processo de desenvolvimento para tornar acessíveis suas aplicações. Diante do crescimento da tecnologia e da necessidade de inclusão digital, o foco do trabalho destina-se a pessoa com deficiência, visando algo que possa atingir a todos de forma mínima. Assim, o trabalho teve como objetivo elaborar um conjunto de 35 recomendações de acessibilidade para aplicações móveis, adaptado do Modelo de Acessibilidade em Governo Eletrônico (e-MAG), padrão que consiste em recomendações específicas para o desenvolvimento de sítios e portais web do governo brasileiro. Após a adaptação das recomendações, foi realizado uma avaliação de 12 aplicativos do governo eletrônico, a avaliação foi uma inspeção por revisão de guidelines feita por um especialista, no caso, o próprio autor. A avaliação teve como objetivo validar as recomendações propostas, verificando a forma como o conteúdo e a informação são disponibilizados, isto é, se os aplicativos são efetivamente acessíveis. Pelos resultados obtidos, foi possível identificar que todas as aplicações apresentaram problemas de acessibilidade, prejudicando assim, a interação do usuário com a aplicação móvel. Também foi elaborado um questionário de acessibilidade formado pelas mesmas recomendações adaptadas, onde foi solicitado que pessoas voluntárias com deficiência o respondessem. Desta forma, o usuário atribuía um nível de relevância para cada recomendação do questionário, identificando ser muito ou pouco relevante para ele. Ao todo obtivemos 103 respostas, e de acordo com as análises realizadas, foi identificada variações de relevância entre os grupos e subgrupos de usuários que responderam o questionário, principalmente de pessoas com deficiência visual, nosso grupo mais expressivo neste trabalho, variando de usuários com visão próximo do normal a total cegueira. Com isso, foi possível elaborar uma lista de prioridades de recomendações de acessibilidade. A lista de prioridades tem como objetivo garantir que os principais requisitos de acessibilidade sejam implementados nas primeiras versões do software, ou seja, as recomendações consideradas mais relevantes pelos usuários, são consideradas prioritárias para o processo de desenvolvimento de aplicações móveis do governo eletrônico / The present work has as premise to investigate guidelines, techniques, methods and standards of accessibility existing in the context of e-government, via desktop and mobile devices, in order to identify and analyze what can be applied in the development process to make its applications accessible. Faced with the growth of technology and the need for digital inclusion, the focus of the work is aimed at people with disabilities, aiming at something that can reach everyone in a minimal way. The purpose of this study was to elaborate a set of 35 accessibility recommendations for mobile applications, adapted from the Electronic Government Accessibility Model (e-MAG), a standard that consists of specific recommendations for the development of websites and web portals of the Brazilian government . After adapting the recommendations, an evaluation of 12 e-government applications was carried out, the evaluation was a revision review of guidelines made by a specialist, in this case, the author himself. The evaluation aimed to validate the proposed recommendations, verifying how content and information are made available, that is, whether applications are effectively accessible. From the results obtained, it was possible to identify that all the applications presented accessibility problems, thus impairing the user interaction with the mobile application. An accessibility questionnaire was also prepared, which was made up of the same adapted recommendations, where volunteers with disabilities were asked to respond. In this way, the user assigned a level of relevance to each recommendation of the questionnaire, identifying it to be very or slightly relevant to it. In all, we obtained 103 responses, and according to the analyzes, we identified variations of relevance among the groups and subgroups of users who answered the questionnaire, mainly of people with visual impairment, our most expressive group in this study, ranging from users with vision close to normal to total blindness. This has made it possible to draw up a list of priorities for accessibility recommendations. The list of priorities aims to ensure that the main accessibility requirements are implemented in the first versions of the software, that is, the recommendations considered most relevant by the users, are considered as priorities for the process of developing e-government mobile applications

Web accessibility guidelines have textual representation and provide little support in systematic analysis and usage. The study hypothesizes that the guidelines can be reorganized and represented using the goal oriented technique and design patterns which will allow their usage in a more systematic manner and accommodate detailed analysis of the guidelines with other competing goals. For this study, knowledge from web designers’ experiences in using the guidelines, researchers’ findings, and the actual guidelines have been amalgamated. Six web designers have been consulted on a one-on-one basis and difficulties in using the guidelines for (1) specific scenarios, (2) systematic application, and (3) detailed systems analysis have been reported. Goal oriented modeling and design patterns have been introduced for (1) graphical representation of the guidelines using goal graphs, and (2) keeping the technical details separate from the goal graphs. The proposed representation allows for the accessibility guidelines to be systematically applied into interface design, and systems design using the goal oriented modeling technique.

Web accessibility guidelines have textual representation and provide little support in systematic analysis and usage. The study hypothesizes that the guidelines can be reorganized and represented using the goal oriented technique and design patterns which will allow their usage in a more systematic manner and accommodate detailed analysis of the guidelines with other competing goals. For this study, knowledge from web designers’ experiences in using the guidelines, researchers’ findings, and the actual guidelines have been amalgamated. Six web designers have been consulted on a one-on-one basis and difficulties in using the guidelines for (1) specific scenarios, (2) systematic application, and (3) detailed systems analysis have been reported. Goal oriented modeling and design patterns have been introduced for (1) graphical representation of the guidelines using goal graphs, and (2) keeping the technical details separate from the goal graphs. The proposed representation allows for the accessibility guidelines to be systematically applied into interface design, and systems design using the goal oriented modeling technique.