Expanded Interactions: Broadening Human-Centered Computing
Richard A. Foulds, Arthur W. Joyce · 1998 · Proceedings of the Third International ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies (Assets '98) · doi:10.1145/274497.274508
Summary
This paper reports on the preliminary results of an NSF-sponsored invitational workshop titled "Expanded Interaction: Broadening Human-Centered Computing," held at the Winterthur Museum and A.I. duPont Institute in Wilmington, Delaware in May 1997. Approximately 40 participants from academia, industry, government, and the disability community gathered to examine the commonalities between human-computer interaction and universal design. The workshop argued that human-centered computing must be broadened beyond traditional scientific computing to accommodate the full diversity of human physical, sensory, and cognitive capabilities. Cornerstone presentations were delivered by David Rose (Center for Applied Special Technology and Harvard) and Elliot Soloway (University of Michigan), with a summary overview by Alan Newell (University of Dundee). The workshop identified several key research issues: recognizing broadened responsibilities in developing learning technologies, understanding the roles of universal design and assistive technologies, exploring the impact of illiteracy on computing, addressing different interface strategies and modes (sight, hearing, touch), including user input and promoting participation, and determining new materials for HCI curricula.
Key findings
The workshop identified four broad research categories: understanding people (creating intelligent interfaces, understanding knowledge representations, and the broad social and cultural changes initiated by technology); foundational science (recognizing that individuals are adaptive and flexible, that understanding diversity in human performance means studying how alternative representations can improve human-machine interaction); research goals (integrating multiple disciplines as no single field can fully understand diversity in human performance — cross-disciplinary fertilization is necessary); and methods for achieving goals (integrating education and applied practice, with the perceptual nature of experience and applied use of improving performance being the most applied goal). The concept of "intermedia" was adopted as a framework for discussing how information should be represented — encompassing diverse, adaptable, and flexible presentation modes that allow the same information to be accessed through alternative forms suited to individual needs and capabilities. The workshop emphasized that user-centered systems should present and receive knowledge in forms that suit the user, with alternative forms supporting intermedia interactions across modalities.
Relevance
This workshop report captures a pivotal moment in the intellectual development of accessible computing — the explicit argument that accessibility is not a specialized add-on but a fundamental expansion of what human-centered computing means. The call to broaden HCI to account for the full diversity of human capabilities anticipated the mainstreaming of inclusive design principles that occurred over the following decades. The concept of intermedia — flexible, multimodal representations that adapt to individual needs — directly presaged modern responsive and adaptive interface design. For accessibility practitioners, the paper's emphasis on cross-disciplinary collaboration (combining computer science, cognitive science, education, rehabilitation, and disability studies) remains essential advice. The workshop's social goals — promoting independence of all citizens, avoiding information castes, and transforming information into alternative formats — articulated accessibility principles that are now codified in standards like WCAG and legislation like the ADA and Section 508.
Tags: human-centered computing · universal design · universal access · multimodal interaction · inclusive design · disability · research agenda · human-computer interaction