Keywords. E-inclusion, digital TV, input/output interfaces.

Transcription

1 Digital and social inclusion from innovative D-TV integration Alessandro ANDREADIS a,1, David BALDO a, Giuliano BENELLI a and Riccardo ZAMBON a a Department of Information Engineering, University of Siena, ITALY Abstract. Ageing of population and the percentage of disabled people are constantly growing, as well as the digital gap between them and the information society. In this paper we propose a new e-service provisioning model adopting TV as the most familiar channel to reach these audiences and to favor digital inclusion (e-inclusion) and social inclusion. The convergence of different DTT, IPTV and IPHN technologies allows to adopt new interfaces and input/output devices for an easier and more familiar interaction with this enhanced platform. Keywords. E-inclusion, digital TV, input/output interfaces. Introduction In the last years the offering of ICT applications and services is becoming so much wide and differentiated, thanks mainly to the development of many digital devices with great communication capabilities. Unfortunately, the digital gap between people that are info-skilled and people usually info-marginated, such as elderly and disabled people who have less access possibilities to those digital technologies, is quickly growing. The system here described, developed inside the European project T-Seniority [1], is designed to improve quality of life and to provide efficient health and social care for elderly people. It envisages innovative ICT enabled services based on the integration of digital technologies addressed to the elderly and to info-marginated audiences in general. The main aim is to support and improve the elderly and disabled social independence through a set of e-services that puts them in a user-centric scenario focusing on their needs, preferences and rights. The system provides a set of integrated care TV-oriented e-services to the elderly, disabled people and their informal carers, thus favoring digital TV (D-TV) inclusion towards prevention and early action side of the social care. Finally, with the convergence of different TV technologies into the same platform, new interfaces and devices are taken into account and tested in laboratory for an easier and more familiar interaction with enhanced TVs. 1. Social and Digital Inclusion issues In this work we focus on the concept of adopting ICT technologies in support of social inclusion, with the purpose of allowing elderly or disabled people with impairments (i.e. vision, hearing, mobility, dexterity etc ) to live and to access ICT 1 Corresponding Author: Alessandro Andreadis, Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell Informazione, Università di Siena, via Roma 56, Siena, Italy; andreadis@unisi.it

2 services without perceiving marginated by modern information society. Social inclusion in strictly correlated with digital inclusion, intended as the aim to overcome the digital gap between people who are familiar with the PC s world and internet (infoskilled), and people not capable of interacting with computers and their common interfaces (info-marginated). Benefits in social inclusion can be achieved by enabling elderly and disabled people to access services available in the network in an easy way. In fact, often ICT services are designed with the aim at helping people with impairments to be introduced in social care programs, in order to effectively reduce the social gap with other people. Moreover, ageing of the population is constantly growing, as well as the percentage of population affected by disabilities. For this reason there is a growing demand for longterm care, and new ICT technologies could be used to satisfy this demand and to face the challenge of digital and social inclusion. An interesting way to meet this target is a new service provisioning model that adopts D-TV as the most widely available, familiar and preferred channel for info-marginated sectors, so as to reach difficult-toreach audiences, such as disabled people getting older, who may have less access to other forms of digital technology (i.e. web). The system here proposed has been developed inside the European project T- Seniority. It regards a set of integrated care e-services throughout TV, oriented towards the elderly and/or disabled people and their informal carers. The same User-friendly interfaces are applied to all sorts of TV systems, taking into account the impairments in vision, hearing, mobility or dexterity. 2. Adopted TV Technologies In order to make a coherent classification about the types of care e-services that is possible to reach through TV, it is convenient to make a distinction among the following television technologies: DTT (Digital Terrestrial TV); IPTV (Internet Protocol TV); IPHN (Internet Protocol Home Networking). DTT is a free-to-air broadcasting model of interactive TV. With an European general target switch-off of analogue broadcasts by 2012, this alternative will be highly diffused. Unfortunately, its interactivity features based on Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) are quite limited and many DTT set top boxes cannot take advantage of the return path interaction [2] [3]. IPTV is a private broadcasting model supplied over infrastructures of Internet Service Providers (ISP). TV broadcasting is offered over digital subscriber lines (xdsl) under payment. This alternative could be strongly deployed in a next future and it would provide a higher (but still limited, as it is based on proprietary platforms) interactivity level [4]. IPHN combines TV broadcasting with high interaction personalized services (including Voice and Video over IP). IPHN is deployed by plugging small devices (e.g. mini-pcs, media centres, Play Station, Wii or X-BOX) to a TV screen. In this way,

3 beyond the use of the familiar TV remote control, T-Seniority interactivity features draw benefits from specific input devices coming from the adopted consoles [5] [6] [7]. The T-Seniority platform adopts the same user-friendly interfaces for all the mentioned TV systems, taking into account impairments in vision, hearing, mobility or dexterity. It only differentiates the delivered set of services depending on the interactivity level of each television technology. 3. Convergence and New Interfaces The concept of hidden PCs is beginning to play a more central role in how content is managed for the user. A key point is the fact that the TV s role will change and users will exploit a range of display devices for different activities and services. In this way, it is possible to enhance the IPHN using PCs as media centres, reaching a convergence of the television technologies mentioned before and obtaining benefits of a real PC. It is also possible to receive DTT and/or IPTV contents, in order to substitute the set-top box (or the box of IPTV) with a mini-pc, creating an integrated platform and maintaining the TV screen for displaying DTT, IPTV and services as well, enhanced with the higher level of interactivity given by PC. Also web TV can be taken into account in this architecture, thus augmenting its fruition beyond the computer screens to the living room scene. The hidden PC is reachable by several internet access networks (xdsl, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, HSDPA). Moreover, integration of PC features into the familiar TV technology permits to overcome the limits of the TV remote control as the only interactivity tool. In general, considering the typology of users, an additional effort is needed to overtake the barriers of common PC user interfaces (hardware and software) and to increase accessibility and usability in both input and output modalities Output interfaces In this enhanced IPHN context, user-friendly output interfaces should be suitably designed in order to present information and services to the target user. At this purpose, the following features are needed: Big icons and short sentences, easy to be understood and to be selected (for vision impairments); Tree menu, with a low number of icons (max 6 per level), or radial menu [8]; An intuitive navigation menu for the tree browsing; The possibility of reading contents with short sentences of easy comprehension for blind people, and reading louder for hearing impairments; Inclusion of audio feedback (or vibrations) in new controllers for blind or impaired people Input interfaces Input modalities can be empowered by innovative devices for an easier user interaction. Wiimote and new interesting wiimote-like devices (e.g. eeestick or acer stick) or 3D

4 mouses [9] with a few buttons provide a higher satisfaction and more friendliness for elderly people, usually reluctant to attempt complex interactions. Moreover, an on screen qwerty keyboard designed to be easily typed may appear on the TV. The possibility of speech commands can be useful for blind people who can easily choose from a low number of options (in the tree menu navigation). Wiimote-like devices can also be useful in case of mobility or dexterity impairments. It is possible to position the device on the part of the body with greater dexterity, making interaction easier than with the use of a mouse, a keyboard or a trackball. As regards the user identification (i.e. for delivering personal services), the unfriendly username-password insertion can be replaced by biometrics identification (i.e. fingerprint, hand palm, iris, voice etc [10] [11]) or specific movements [12] for enhancing accessibility. Identification via a personal USB key should also be considered as a valid option. In a first stage, smart or RFID cards with pluggable readers can solve the problem. 4. The Tested Solution Laboratory testing on hardware and software integration have been performed, in order to evaluate the main functionalities of the enhanced IPHN T-Seniority platform. First of all, we have used an Asus eee-box [13] as enhanced media centre, connected to a TV screen. As input devices, a wiimote has been interfaced with the PC using open source libraries and drivers (figure 1). A Logitech MX air mouse is also connected, using its proprietary drivers. Figure 1. User interaction devices (RFID and wiimote). User identification has been facilitated through the adoption of an RFID reader and a card (figure 1) for the username-password phase. Finally, an on-screen keyboard (figure 2) is provided in case of text insertion (minimized as much as possible). As regards the described output interfaces, the platform implements the possibility of automatic content reading. Those contents are organized using tree menus, with big icons to simplify and facilitate the elderly navigation (figures 1 and 2). Basic navigation commands are also provided and the possibility of speech commands is added for blind or movement/dexterity impaired people. The tests of the described platform carried out in laboratory have been oriented toward the solution of compatibility and set-up problems. Usability testing on targeted

5 groups are envisaged in seven pilots to be deployed in several European countries, where DTT, IPTV and IPHN scenarios will be involved in order to exhaustively test the accessibility and usability benefits provided by the platform. Figure 2. User interface screenshots. 5. Concluding remarks The e-service provisioning model here described is based on different D-TV technologies as the most familiar channel to reach info-marginated audiences such as the elderly. Laboratory testing on the enhanced IPHN platform prototype have been carried out in order to evaluate its main functionalities. Although exhaustive tests on usability will soon be performed on targeted groups in several pilots, preliminary tests show how the integration of new input/output interfaces can enhance digital and social inclusion for elderly and disabled people. References [1] [2] U. Ladebusch and C.A. Liss, Terrestrial DVB (DVB-T): A Broadcast Technology for Stationary Portable and Mobile Use, Proc. of the IEEE, Vol. 94, Issue 1 (2006). [3] J. Piesing, The DVB Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) and Related Specifications, Proc. of the IEEE, Vol. 94, Issue 1, (2006). [4] A. Yarali and A. Cherry, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), Proc. of the IEEE Tencon (2005). [5] [6] [7] [8] D. B. Dustin, R. Byers and J. J. LaViola, Evaluation of menu techniques using a 3D game input device, Proc. of the IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces, 3DUI (2009). [9] [10] M.S. Alam and M. Akhteruzzaman, Real time fingerprint identification, Proc. of the IEEE National Aerospace and Electronics Conference, NAECON (2000). [11] M. Rafael Diaz, C. M. Travieso, J. B. Alonso and M. A. Ferrer, Biometric system based in the feature of hand palm, Proc. of the International Carnahan Conference on Security Technology (2004). [12] M. Shirali-Shahreza, Login to Internet Websites by Next Generation Game Console, in Proc. of IEEE/IFIP International Conference in Central Asia on Internet (2006). [13]