Users with Visual and Motor Impairments Needed for Study

I am conducting a research study on the usability of websites for users with
disabilities. If you know Internet users with a visual or motor impairment,
then please ask them to volunteer for the study if they are located in one of
the following cities: 

  * New York City
  * Boston
  * Silicon Valley / San Francisco Bay Area
  * Los Angeles
  * San Diego
  * Portland, OR

Users will be paid an incentive for participating in the study. We will come
to the user's location to allow use of their usual assertive technology. 

Potential test users please contact Susan Farrell, farrell@nngroup.com

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Nielsen Norman Group is a usability and user experience company that
specializes in making things simple for people to use. Our principals have
written some great books, among them "The Design of Everyday Things" and
"Designing Web Usability- the Practice of Simplicity."  

We are in the process of conducting a study to determine the usability of the
Web for people who use assistive technology, either 1) a screen reader, or 2)
screen magnifiers. Braille devices seem to be a lot less common in the US,
but we would also be interested in these devices.  

While there are general guidelines about designing for the Web, we have not
seen much research where people actually ran usability studies with real
people. We would like to do this to learn the extent of the kinds of issues
people face, and recommend ways Web developers can fix these problems or
avoid them in the future. 

We need people to participate in our study. If you would be willing to
forward the following information to any adults who use assistive technology
and the Web, we would appreciate it. We would be willing to make a donation
or pay an honorarium to any people who choose to participate in the study.
Thank you very much. 

Study Purpose:
Learn about usability and the Web for people who either use a screen reader
or screen magnifier. Based on findings, we will recommend guidelines for
developers to design websites that are easy-to user for everyone. Although we
will publish the results of our research, no personal information about the
participants will be released. 

Note that the users are not being tested or evaluated in any way. Instead, it
is the websites we will be evaluating. 

Timing:
June, 2001 through August or early September.
Each individual study will last between one and two hours.
Studies are conducted with one user at a time, not a focus group.

Participants:
We need many. These are the three groups of people: 

1) People that need to use (and do use) a screen reader (or Braille device
   for the Web) 

    They must be in the job market.

    They must be between the age of 20 and 55, as evenly distributed as
    possible, and no more than one student. 

    They should have been using the Internet for at least three months. 

2) People who are not totally visually impaired. They do not use or need to
   use a screen reader. They do use a screen magnifier (blow up the screen in
   some way.)  

    They must be in the job market. 

    They must be between the ages of 20 and 55, as evenly distributed as
    possible, and no more than one student. 

    They should have been using the Internet for at least three months. 

3) People with motor impairments; defined as people who cannot use a mouse.

    They must be in the job market.

    They must be between the ages of 20 and 55, as evenly distributed as
    possible, and no more than one students. 

    They should have been using the Internet for at least three months. 

We're especially interested in finding users who live in/near NYC and
California Bay Area (but please also respond if you are in a major New
England or West Coast metro area). Those on the East Coast should contact
Kara Coyne. West Coast volunteers should respond to Susan Farrell.  

Again, thanks for your interest!  

Susan Farrell

http://www.nngroup.com (about our firm)
http://www.useit.com (about usable web design)
http://www.useit.com/alertbox (Jakob's usability newsletter and archive)

West Coast
Susan Farrell
farrell@nngroup.com
User Experience Specialist
Nielsen Norman Group 
208/955-2531 fax

East Coast
Kara Pernice Coyne
Senior User Experience Specialist
Nielsen Norman Group
kara@nngroup.com
http://www.nngroup.com
New York, NY
646/613-1122