Constantine Stephanidis#
Short laudatio by Hermann Maurer#
The research work of the candidate has focused on the development of new methodologies and tools for the design, development and evaluation of user interfaces, with particular emphasis on Universal Access and Design for All in the Information Society.
In this context, Constantine Stephanidis introduced the new paradigm of “User Interfaces for All” in the international literature in 1995, as a new highly multidisciplinary perspective in HCI, rooted in the principles of Design for All, fostering systematic and proactive approaches to the development of accessible and usable user interfaces. This involves ensuring accessibility at design time, rather than after development. This perspective emerges from the multidisciplinary fusion of concepts from the domains of HCI (e.g., user-centered interface development) and Assistive Technologies (e.g., specific interaction techniques and devices for disabled user groups), and constitutes a major breakthrough with respect to previous approaches and practices in accessibility.
Towards the realization of such a vision, the research work of the candidate, mainly conducted in a series of landmark R&D projects funded by the European Commission, has established knowledge, instruments and building blocks for Design for All in HCI, introducing profound methodological and technological innovations in all aspects of the user interface development lifecycle.
To support the development of “User Interfaces for All”, the concept of Unified User Interfaces was developed, along with the related technological solutions, including all the necessary accompanying architectural, methodological and technological frames of reference. Unified User Interfaces provide a new principled and systematic approach towards coping with diversity through automatic adaptation of user interfaces. A Unified User Interface is a single (unified) interface that realizes user- and context-adapted behaviour, i.e., is capable of automatically selecting interaction patterns appropriate to an individual user in a specific physical and technological environment.
Innovative interaction technologies addressing the requirements of disabled users have also been developed, focusing on non-visual interaction for blind users and switch-based interaction for motor impaired users. The created methods and tools have been applied in practice in the development of applications and services that exhibit automatic adaptation, personalization and intelligent interface behaviour, in a variety of application domains, such as web access, word processing, audio electronic books, interpersonal communication, vocational training, games, and ubiquitous computing applications and services. These applications constitute test-beds for the demonstration and validation of the principles and methods of unified user interfaces. A worldwide known example is the AVANTI browser, which was the first, and to date the only, web browser specifically developed to support universal access. Work on access to the World Wide Web also concerns accessible web portals and on-line communities.
Design recommendations and technical guidelines have also been developed to enable developers of future interactive applications and services to take practically into account requirements of people with disabilities. Work has been conducted towards identifying examples and case studies of good practice in Universal Access, through consolidating and validating related methods and techniques in the context of particular application domains (e.g. Health Telematics), and collecting and elaborating principles and guidelines, design techniques and evaluation methods.
Constantine Stephanidis also devoted significant efforts to a range of non-technological issues pertaining to the management of technology and innovation in the fields of Human-Computer Interaction, Universal Access and Assistive Technologies. In particular, the candidate has contributed to shaping European and national policies towards eInclusion and eAccessibility to the Information Society.
Existing practices have been profoundly influenced by the outcomes of the above research achievements. The international academic and research community, the Information Technology and Telecommunications industry, non-market institutions and research policy makers expressed active interest on the results of these efforts. The candidate has also undertaken numerous initiatives to actively pursue the proposed concepts and systematically promote the wider diffusion and adoption of the methods and practices of Design for All in the Information Society.
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