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HF Activity Report 2008
Chairman:
Stephen Furner (BT Group PLC)
Responsible
for human factors in all areas of telecommunications; taking a scientific and
engineering approach, ETSI’s Human Factors Technical Committee produces
standards, guidelines and reports to help achieve the widest possible access to
converging information and communications technology (ICT). TC HF has a special
responsibility within ETSI to ensure that the needs of all users, including
those who are older, young or disabled, are considered.
With the steady
development of ICT, new and diverse applications are flooding the market. ICT in
the home are now becoming more complex than the office; on-line gaming, social
networking, freeware and Open Source systems for hobbies, for example, are
opening up exciting new opportunities for social and leisure use – and the
market is booming.
In the past, technical innovation tended to originate in the military and
academic arenas; now, in a complete reversal, consumer demand is leading the
drive for new products and services. The customer is playing a more
collaborative role in new developments. Inevitably this raises issues for human
factors. Security and personalising the way users connect with products, for
example, are critical in achieving eInclusion and eAccessibility. The goal is to
enter a new era of ICT where services and devices can be personalised to meet
the needs of every user, even when those needs may be different from those of
the majority. Different services and terminals must understand users’
preferences and offer an expected user experience. TC HF has a special
responsibility to ensure that the needs of all users, including those who are
older, young or disabled, are considered – and has developed an international
reputation for its work.
ETSI is working on general user profile management, aimed at producing an ETSI
Standard on objects (including settings, values and operations) related to
personalisation and user profile management. This standard is aimed at
developers and manufacturers who provide services and devices that can be
personalised by their customers. It will describe objects with the aim of
meeting all users’ needs, including those of disabled, young and elderly people.
An ETSI Technical Specification is also being prepared on architectural issues
related to networks, terminals and smart cards, targeted at profile providers,
telecom companies and device manufacturers who will implement and provide the
underlying infrastructure and architecture of the networks and devices necessary
to achieve the user profile management concept.
The European Commission (EC) is active in the human aspects of ICT as it affects
equality and diversity in building society, particularly in the light of an
ageing population. This problem affects not only Europe; it is a global trend,
and the EC is increasingly setting these issues in a global context and looking
for international co-operation.
In 2008, Phase 1 of the collaborative work between ETSI, the European Committee
for Standardisation (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical
Standardisation (CENELEC) to examine the impact of EC Mandate 376 on procurement
and the accessibility of ICT – procurement by the EC and by local and national
government – was successfully completed. Negotiations are now underway over the
organisation of Phase 2.
With ever greater numbers of ever younger children now accessing the Internet on
a daily basis through a host of new applications, children’s use of ICT is a
major concern. In 2008 ETSI made a significant contribution to the safeguarding
of children and young people with the publication of a guide to provide advice
for service providers who wish to deliver their services to children.
ETSI’s ongoing work on health and care services is also now focussing on the
personalisation of services. In parallel with the general user profile
management activities, ETSI is working on user profile management specifically
for health and care services.
Work also continues on multicultural studies, reflecting yet another aspect of
personalisation, aimed at removing or reducing cultural barriers that can
exclude people from communicating.
In August 2008, ETSI published a Technical Specification which sets out the
requirements for a number of Assistive Technology commands that can be used to
enable assistive devices to interwork with mobile terminals. Standardised
communication with assistive mobile devices will improve the quality of life for
millions of disabled citizens in the European Union, and will open up
opportunities for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) producing assistive
devices. Work in this area will now concentrate on dissemination of the
requirements.
Work is also being undertaken on ICT and cars, examining how we use
communication services while in a vehicle and identifying where guidelines are
needed. This project addresses the potential dangers of driver distraction and
its consequential impact on road safety. Issues with services and devices used
by both the driver and passengers are being studied. Although the focus is on
users’ needs and applications in this area, the work is also expected to open up
new service opportunities.
New work for 2009 includes eServices – increasing access to new user interaction
technologies. In the past, the needs of people with disabilities have always
lagged significantly behind the initial availability of innovative new
technologies which have been developed for and targeted at mainstream consumers
and frequently at closed target groups of early adopters. Subsequent measures to
accommodate users with impairments have been late and costly. Unless a different
approach is taken, the introduction of emerging interaction technologies such as
ambient intelligence and ubiquitous communications enabled by next generation
mobile networks could follow the same pattern. As with all devices and services,
the aim is to have the specific requirements of elderly users and users with
disabilities taken into account prior to the large-scale introduction of the
technologies, in a true ‘Design-for All’ approach.
However, current guidance to device manufacturers and service providers focuses
on existing technologies. ETSI is therefore embarking on an analysis to
anticipate the demands of emerging technologies and is beginning to develop
guidelines on service design, an interaction technologies roadmap, an
identification of accessibility problems and proposed solutions. The first stage
of this work will be an analysis of and report on forthcoming eServices and of
the technologies enabling them.
2008 was significant for the increased interest in the human factors aspects of
ICT from within a wide sector of industry. As ICT penetrates ever further into
the fabric of daily life in Europe, the importance of user issues and
expectations looks set to continue to grow, both in Europe and globally. The
consumer is becoming increasing influential in the development of ICT.
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