Glossary

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Executive function(also: Executive functioning, Cognitive control)

A set of higher-order cognitive processes that enable goal-directed behaviour, including planning, working memory, attention control, task switching, inhibition of inappropriate responses, and flexible thinking. Executive function difficulties are common in TBI, ADHD, autism,…

Exercise Accessibility(also: Fitness Accessibility, Accessible Physical Activity)

The design of exercise environments, equipment, programs, and technologies to be usable by people with disabilities. Exercise accessibility encompasses both physical spaces (accessible gyms, adapted tracks, swimming pools with lifts) and the technologies and guidance systems…

Exergame(also: Exercise game, Active video game, Fitness game)

A video game that requires physical movement or exercise as the primary interaction mechanism, combining gameplay elements like scoring, levels, and achievements with physical activity. Accessible exergames for people with disabilities use alternative feedback modalities — such…

Exergame(also: Exercise Game, Active Video Game, Exergaming)

A video game that requires physical movement or exercise as the primary input mechanism, combining gameplay with physical activity. Exergames have been developed for consoles, virtual reality systems, and mobile devices, with applications in rehabilitation, fitness, and physical…

Exergame(also: Exercise Game, Exergaming, Active Video Game)

A video game that requires physical activity beyond traditional handheld controller manipulation, combining gaming with exercise. Exergames use motion sensors, cameras, balance boards, or other input devices to track body movements as game controls. In rehabilitation contexts,…

Exergames(also: Exertion games, Active video games, AVGs)

Video games designed to require physical exertion — whole-body movement, resistance, or sustained aerobic activity — as the primary input modality. Exergames span consumer titles (e.g., Wii Fit, Ring Fit Adventure) and clinical applications for rehabilitation, balance training,…

Exergaming(also: Exercise Gaming, Active Gaming, Exergames)

A category of digital games that require physical movement or exercise as the primary means of interaction, combining gameplay with physical activity. Exergames use motion sensors, pressure pads, cameras, cycling devices, or other physical interfaces to translate body movements…

Exif(also: Exchangeable Image File Format, EXIF)

A standard metadata format embedded within image files (JPEG, TIFF, and others) that stores information about how an image was created, including camera model, date, GPS coordinates, and orientation. Exif data travels with the image file through most sharing and editing…

Existential OCD

A non-standardized but clinically recognized subtype of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) characterized by obsessions about the nature of reality, consciousness, free will, mortality, or the fate of humanity. In the GenAI era, existential OCD commonly presents as intrusive…

Exoskeleton(also: Robotic Exoskeleton, Wearable Exoskeleton)

A wearable mechanical or robotic device that fits around a part of the body — typically the hand, arm, or leg — and provides powered movement assistance, resistance, or guided motion. In rehabilitation contexts, exoskeletons are used to support intensive, repetitive motor…

Expanded Core Curriculum(also: ECC)

A specialized curriculum for blind or visually impaired (BVI) students that supplements traditional academics with skills that sighted students typically learn through observation. The ECC covers nine areas of instruction: compensatory skills, sensory efficiency, orientation and…

Experience Sampling Method(also: ESM, Ecological Momentary Assessment, EMA)

A research methodology that collects data about participants' experiences, behaviors, and states in real time and in natural settings through repeated brief surveys or prompts delivered at predetermined or random intervals throughout the day. In accessibility research, ESM…

Experience sampling method(also: ESM, Ecological momentary assessment, EMA)

A research methodology that captures participants' experiences, behaviours, and psychological states in real time as they go about their daily lives, typically through repeated brief surveys triggered at random intervals or after specific events. ESM reduces recall bias compared…

Experience-Based Co-Design(also: EBCD)

A participatory methodology originally developed in UK health services research that treats people's lived experience - their 'emotional touch-points' of confusion, frustration, or insight - as the core material for designing services or systems. Canonical EBCD stages include…

Experiential Accessibility(also: Experience-Centric Accessibility)

An approach to accessibility that goes beyond removing barriers to ensure disabled people can have equitable, meaningful experiences with technology—not just functional access. In the context of experiential technologies like virtual reality or games, this means designing for…

Experiential Layer Accessibility

The dimension of VR accessibility concerned with the quality, comfort, and safety of the VR experience for disabled users. This includes physical comfort (avoiding pain, exhaustion, and motion sickness), safety (preventing real-world collisions, addressing harassment in…

Experiential Learning Theory(also: ELT)

An educational theory emphasizing the value of hands-on experiences and reflection in learning. Developed by David Kolb, it posits that effective learning occurs through a cycle of concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active…

Experiential Transcoding

An approach to web page transcoding that restructures content based on actual user behaviour rather than relying solely on source code analysis or predefined heuristics. By analysing how sighted users interact with web pages — typically through eye-tracking data — experiential…

Experiential learning(also: Learning by doing, Experience-based learning)

Experiential learning is a pedagogical approach in which knowledge and skills are acquired through direct, concrete experience rather than passive instruction. Grounded in theories by Kolb and others, it involves a cycle of experiencing, reflecting, conceptualising, and…

Expert User(also: Advanced User, Power User)

A user who has substantial experience with a system and has internalised its structure, commands, and idioms. Expert users typically prefer direct, efficient interaction — keyboard shortcuts, command-line syntax, scripting, and customised workflows — over step-by-step menus.…

Explainable AI(also: XAI, Interpretable AI)

A set of methods and design approaches that make the outputs and decision-making processes of artificial intelligence systems understandable to human users. Explainable AI aims to provide transparency about why an AI produced a particular result, typically through confidence…

Explanatory Sequential Design(also: Sequential Explanatory Design, QUAN → QUAL)

A mixed-methods research design in which a quantitative phase is conducted first — typically a survey or other structured measurement — and its results are then used to guide a follow-up qualitative phase (often semi-structured interviews) that explores or explains the…

Exploratory Procedures(also: EPs)

Exploratory procedures are stereotyped movement patterns that people use when examining objects through touch to identify specific properties. Defined by Lederman and Klatzky in tactile perception research, these are hand and finger configurations that do not correspond to…

Explore by Touch(also: Touch Exploration)

A screen reader interaction mode on touchscreen devices in which users drag their finger across the screen to discover and hear descriptions of interface elements beneath their fingertip. When Explore by Touch is active, a single tap does not activate a control — instead, the…

Exposure and Response Prevention(also: ERP, Exposure Therapy)

The gold-standard evidence-based treatment for OCD in which individuals gradually confront situations that trigger their obsessions (exposure) while refraining from performing their usual compulsive responses (response prevention). ERP follows a structured approach using a…

Expressive Aesthetics(also: Expressive Design Aesthetics)

A dimension of visual aesthetics in web design characterised by creativity, originality, visual sophistication, and design ingenuity. Identified by Lavie and Tractinsky as one of two main dimensions of perceived web aesthetics, expressive designs tend to be more complex and…

Expressive Captions(also: Affective Captions, Emotion Captions, Typographic Captions)

Captions that go beyond literal word-for-word transcription to convey the prosodic, emotional, or speaker-identity information that traditional captions strip out. Expressive captions may modulate font weight, size, colour, position, or animation to signal loudness, pitch,…

Expressive Communication(also: Expressive AAC, Rich Communication)

Communication that conveys not just informational content but also emotion, personality, attitude, humor, and social nuance. For AAC users, achieving expressive communication is a significant challenge because most AAC technology prioritizes efficient message transmission over…

Expressive Content Creation(also: Expressive Visual Creation)

The creation of digital content — images, videos, documents, social media posts — with intentional aesthetic choices that communicate personal style, identity, mood, or artistic vision. Expressive content creation goes beyond functional tasks (like conveying information) to…

Expressive Writing(also: Pennebaker Paradigm)

A therapeutic writing practice, formalised by James Pennebaker in the 1980s, in which individuals write about emotionally significant or traumatic experiences for short, repeated sessions. Decades of empirical evidence link expressive writing to measurable benefits in physical…

Extended Audio Description(also: Extended AD, Paused Audio Description)

A form of audio description in which the video is temporarily paused to allow time for a longer, more detailed description of visual content before resuming playback. Extended AD is used when gaps between dialogue are too short to convey all essential visual information through…

Extended Audio Description(also: Extended Description)

A form of audio description in which the video playback is paused to allow time for a description that would not otherwise fit within natural gaps in the audio track. Extended audio descriptions are used when the density of dialogue or other important audio leaves insufficient…

Extended Digital Scaffolding(also: WhatsApp-Based Scaffolding)

A new zone in the Digital Scaffolding Framework that extends classroom-based digital skills training through ongoing support via digital communication platforms such as WhatsApp groups. In this zone, trainers continue to assist participants after formal training ends,…

Extended Reality(also: XR, Cross Reality)

An umbrella term encompassing all immersive technologies that blend physical and virtual environments, including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). In accessibility, extended reality technologies offer promising assistive applications — smart…

External Human-Machine Interface(also: eHMI, External HMI)

A class of interfaces on the exterior of a vehicle — typically an automated or autonomous vehicle — designed to communicate the vehicle's intent, awareness, or state to pedestrians, cyclists, and other road users who would otherwise rely on cues from a human driver (eye contact,…

External Memory

Information held outside the brain — in notes, calendars, photographs, voice recordings, alarms, labelled objects, or digital systems — that a person draws on to remember names, dates, tasks, procedures, or autobiographical content. External memory is a core accessibility…

External Metadata(also: Accessibility Metadata Overlay, Third-Party Metadata)

External metadata in the context of web accessibility refers to supplementary information stored separately from a web page that can be applied to improve the page's accessibility without modifying the original source code. This approach allows volunteers, developers, or…

Extra-Speech Information(also: ESI, Paralinguistic Information)

Aspects of spoken language beyond the words themselves that convey additional meaning, including how something is said rather than what is said. Examples include tone of voice (yelling, whispering), vocal emotion (sarcasm, anger, joy), singing, the language being spoken, speaker…

Extractive Research(also: Extractive UX Research)

A critique of research practices — common in industry UX and academic HCI — in which researchers take data, insights, or stories from a community, often marginalized, without ongoing relationship, reciprocity, or benefit flowing back. Extractive research is associated with…

Extractive Summarization(also: Extractive Text Summarization)

Extractive summarization is a natural language processing technique that creates summaries by selecting and preserving key words, phrases, or sentences directly from the original text, rather than generating new text (which is called abstractive summarization). In accessibility…

Extraneous Cognitive Load(also: Extraneous Load)

One of three types of cognitive load identified by cognitive load theory, referring to the unnecessary mental effort caused by poor instructional design or interface presentation rather than the learning material itself. Extraneous load arises from confusing layouts, irrelevant…

Extreme Users(also: Lead Users, Edge Cases)

A design methodology that focuses on a small set of users with unusual, demanding, or outlying needs rather than statistically representative users. Developed by Pullin and Newell (2007), the approach recognizes that the variability among older and disabled users is too great to…

Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation refers to engaging in an activity to achieve external rewards, avoid punishment, or meet external expectations rather than for inherent enjoyment. In accessibility and technology design, extrinsic motivators include gamification elements like badges, points,…

Eye Cursor(also: Gaze Cursor)

A visual indicator displayed on screen that shows where an eye tracking system has determined the user is currently looking. The eye cursor serves the same function as a mouse cursor but is controlled by eye gaze rather than hand movement. Because eye gaze is inherently less…

Eye Gaze(also: Gaze, Gaze Direction, Visual Gaze)

The direction and focus of a person's eyes during visual attention, used both as a communication signal and as a measurable indicator of cognitive processing. In sign language communication, eye gaze serves critical linguistic functions including marking grammatical…

Eye Gaze Communication(also: Gaze-Based Communication, Eye Tracking Communication)

The use of eye movements and gaze direction as a means of communication, either naturally (making eye contact, looking at objects to indicate interest) or through technology (eye-tracking systems that allow users to select items on a screen by looking at them). For AAC users,…

Eye Gaze Technology(also: Eye Control Technology, Gaze Control)

Technology that tracks and responds to eye movements, enabling users to control electronic devices using only their eyes. Eye gaze technology typically uses infrared cameras to track pupil position and gaze direction, allowing users to move cursors, make selections, type text,…

Eye Tracking(also: Gaze Tracking)

Technology that detects and follows the movement of a user's eyes, enabling gaze-based interaction, attention monitoring, and foveated rendering. In accessibility contexts, eye tracking serves as an alternative input method for users who cannot use traditional controllers,…

Eye Tracking(also: Eye-Tracking, Gaze Tracking)

A research methodology that uses specialized hardware (such as infrared cameras) to measure where a person is looking on a screen or in an environment, recording the sequence and duration of gaze fixations. In accessibility research, eye tracking provides objective behavioral…

Eye Tracking(also: Gaze Tracking, Eye-Tracking)

A research methodology and assistive technology that measures where a person looks (fixation points), how their gaze moves across a display (saccades), and how long they focus on specific areas (dwell time). In accessibility research, eye tracking reveals how users visually…