+

Mobile application generalization: An authoring tool for SignSupport

+Research question

How can we generalize SignSupport for any given limited domain conversation scenario and also accommodate different signed languages, and multiple mobile platforms?

+Rational

The current SignSupport version focuses on the pharmacy setting only, in South African Sign Language (SASL), on Android.

SignSupport needs to accommodate multiple limited domain communication scenarios, e.g . post office and police station.

SignSupport should also support multiple signed languages for illiterate Deaf users in developing regions, i.e. video content to be easily swapped out.

SignSupport also needs to be platform independent to work on a variety of mobile devices.

+Deaf community and communication challenges

adapted from [10]

+SignSupport background

Doctor to Deaf patient (v1) Help a Deaf patient to communicate symptoms to a doctor [10]. Computer based mock up.

Doctor to Deaf patient (v2) Ported to a Symbian mobile phone application [13]. Scenario deemed to be too wide to fully capture and store the

conversation flow.

Pharmacy to Deaf patient (v3) Help a Deaf patient understand medical instructions from a

pharmacist. A limited domain conversation flow was possible to contain on a

phone. An Android application; Samsung smart phone [6, 12 ]

+Current development of

authoring tools for SignSupport

ELearning authoring tool produces XML output (George)

XML parser for the mobile app to render the user interface (Marshalan)

Generalized authoring tool to produce XML (Sifiso)

+Literature review

Authoring tools

Multi-platform solutions

Language independence

Design for All

+Authoring tools

Types of authoring tools [8]

Wireframing UI Pilot [17] Microsoft Visio [19]

Software frameworks PhoneGap [1] Titanium Mobile [18]

+Multi platform solutions

Generic ui parts [3] Controls Window Menu bar Interaction

API's [7] Drag and Drop

XML [7] XML Dom

+Language independence

Icons Text-free icons[11] Universal icons and signs[2]

Manipulation More direct manipulation[2]

+Design for all

User sensitive inclusive design Designing products that accommodates the minority e.g.

people with disability [13]

Community based co-design Product design methodology where end users play the steer

role in the design process. E.g. SignSupport mobile application development process [c, co]

ethnographic methodology Engaging with the community members during the project

design process [5]

+Anticipated design

+Expected user interface for the conversation designer

+Incremental design

methodology

adapted from [16]

+Testing methods

Unit test Integration test Usability test

+Unit testing

Create a driver program for each unit.

Test independent methods or classes with sample inputs.

Compare the output against the expected results.

If the output do not match the expected results, we trace the error and fix it, otherwise conclude that the functions work correctly

+Integration test

We divide the system into different subsystems namely Screen builder , assets upload and XML output.

Test each sub-system individually and observe the results.

If the output do not match the expected results, we trace the error/bug and fix it We then do regression test

We then test the whole system for correctness

+Usability testing

Testing it out with a couple scenarios with domain experts Pharmacy some other scenario determined by the Deaf

community

Testing it out with the app renderer (Marshalan's work)

+Resources required

Software assets Icons Sign language videos

Hardware Computer Mobile phones

Programming languages XML [4] Javascript [15] HTML 5 [15] CSS3 [9]

+Year 2014 Project plan

Timeline Tasks

Term1 User requirements gathering

Research problem definition

Proposal preparation

Term2 Presenting the proposal to the DepartmentSubmiting 5 pages article about improved pattern passcode to SATNAC

Refining my user requirementsSubmiting 2 pages article on WIP of my masters project to SATNACStart developing a prototype

Term3 Start developing a prototype

Term4 Finish developing a prototype

Test the prototype with the stakeholders

Analyze feedback from stakeholdersModify the prototype based on the feedback from stakeholder

+Year 2015 Project plan

Timeline Task

Term 1 Verify the modified prototype with domain specialists

Obtain feedback from domain specialists

Term 2 Analyze feedback from domain specialists

Make final changes of the prototype

Make final testing with domain specialists

Term3 Analyze the feedback from domain specialists

Start writing my thesis

Term 4 Finish writing my thesis

Submit my thesis

+References

[1] Allen, S., Graupera, V., & Lundrigan, L. (2012). PhoneGap. In Pro Smartphone Cross_Platform Development (pp. 131-152). Apress

[2] Benbasat, I., & Todd, P. (1993). An experimental investigation of interface design alternatives: icon vs. text and direct manipulation vs. menus. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 38(3), 369-402.

[3] Bishop, J. (2006, May). Multi-platform user interface construction: a challenge for software engineering-in-the-small. In Proceedings of the 28th international conference on Software engineering (pp. 751-760). ACM.

[4] Bourret, R. (1999). XML and Databases.

[5] Chamberlain, A., Crabtree, A., & Davies, M. (2013, June). Community engagement for research: contextual design in rural CSCW system development. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Communities and Technologies (pp. 131-139). ACM.

[6] Chininthorn, P., Glaser, M., Freudenthal, A., & Tucker, W. D. (2012). Mobile communication tools for a South African Deaf patient in a pharmacy context. Information Society Technologies-Africa (IST-Africa). Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: IIMC International Information Management Corporation.

[7] Coninx, K., Luyten, K., Vandervelpen, C., Van den Bergh, J., & Creemers, B. (2003). Dygimes: Dynamically generating interfaces for mobile computing devices and embedded systems. In Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (pp. 256-270). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

[8] Harris, J. (2002). An introduction to authoring tools. Learning Circuits.

[9]Hogan, B. P. (2011). HTML5 and CSS3: Develop with Tomorrow's Standards Today. Pragmatic Bookshelf.

[10] Looijesteijn, K. (2009). The design of a Deaf-to-hearing communication aid for South Africans. Unpublished MSc thesis, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands.

[11]Marcus, A. (2003). Icons, symbols, and signs: visible languages to facilitate communication, interactions, v. 10 n. 3. May+ June.

+References (Cont.)

[12] Motlhabi, M. B., Tucker, W. D., Parker, M., & Glaser, M. (2013). Improving Usability and Correctness of a Mobile Tool to help a Deaf person with Pharmaceutical Instruction. In 4th Annual Symposium on Computing for Development (DEV-4) (Article 13, 10 pages). Cape Town, South Africa: New York: ACM Press.

[13] Mutemwa, M., & Tucker, W. D. (2010). A mobile Deaf-to-hearing communication aid for medical diagnosis. In Southern African Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC) (pp. 379-384).

[14] Newell, A. F., & Gregor, P. (2000, November). “User sensitive inclusive design”—in search of a new paradigm. In Proceedings on the 2000 conference on Universal Usability (pp. 39-44). ACM.

[15] Padley, R. (2011). HTML5–bridging the mobile platform gap: mobile technologies in scholarly communication. Serials: The Journal for the Serials Community, 24, S32-S39.

[16] Pressman, R. S. (2005). Software engineering: a practitioner’s approach. McGraw Hill International Edition, 41-43.

[17] Puerta, A., Micheletti, M., & Mak, A. (2005, January). The UI pilot: a model-based tool to guide early interface design. In Proceedings of the 10th international conference on Intelligent user interfaces (pp. 215-222). ACM.

[18] Xanthopoulos, S., & Xinogalos, S. (2013, September). A comparative analysis of cross-platform development approaches for mobile applications. In Proceedings of the 6th Balkan Conference in Informatics (pp. 213-220). ACM.

[19] http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/visio/