Statement of Interest

Gottfried Zimmermann, Gregg Vanderheiden
zimmer@trace.wisc.edu, gv@trace.wisc.edu
Trace R&D Center, UW-Madison, USA

Introduction

The Trace R&D Center is an active member of the ANSI / INCITS (InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards) Technical Committee V2. V2 is charged with developing a standard for alternative user interface access, which in particular will include a specification for a Universal Remote Console (URC). The objective of the URC specification is to let the user employ any access device to control any electronic device or service. V2 aims to define a standard that accommodates the needs of all users in a variety of delivery contexts, including people with disabilities using specialized access devices.

Staff from the Trace Center is currently leading two of the working groups within V2. In addition, Trace is hosting a V2 support project for developing prototypical implementations of the evolving standard. The prototype project helps V2 to explore possible solutions, and to vet draft specifications for feasibility and practicality.

From the perspective of user interface authoring, the problems and solution spaces seem to be congruent for both the Universal Remote Console (which would allow a variety of access devices to be used in order to control electronic devices and services), and for Web services (which are to be rendered on a variety of user agents). Obviously there is a strong interest (on both sides) to harmonize the two standardization efforts in order to have a common set of specifications that are part of both emerging standards.

Specific contributions and goals of Trace's participation in the workshop

• Contributing to the workshop by sharing the work that has been done within the V2 committee, in particular the concept of presentation independent user interfaces.
• Working towards a W3C standard for device independent authoring that accommodates the needs of people with disabilities.
• Learning from ideas and concepts of other groups working in the field of device independence, and test their applicability for V2.
• Connecting with other people and groups working in this field, in order to establish long-term relationships.

Topics Trace would like to see discussed in the workshop

(See position paper)

Abstract of Position Paper

This position paper describes technical requirements for user interface models which can be used to construct concrete user interfaces (in real time) that match the preferences and constraints of users. These constraints can be the result of the user's current environment, the device the user is currently employing, or the abilities (or disabilities) of the user. These requirements can be used to identify authoring techniques for specifying user interface models that can be rendered into a wide variety of user interfaces as appropriate for specific users, devices, and environments.

This paper focuses on requirements. On the workshop, the authors also indend to share preliminary ideas and concepts to meet these requirements, as currently being discussed within V2. V2 is a technical committee of ANSI / INCITS (InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards), and is working on an alternative interface access standard including a specification for a Universal Remote Console.