Miro Board

A Miro board containing my research for this project can be found below:

https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVJDqSM08=/?share_link_id=80120816243

Introduction

A key aspect of my dissertation will be conducting in-depth research into my chosen topic. I will utilise different research methods and follow research paths that are not included in my completed dissertation. This blog is designed as a record of my process to achieve a final piece of work.

Initial Research

Returning to university for my final year, I knew that I wanted to focus my studies on accessible and inclusive design. During my placement year, I had witnessed how often accessibility was overlooked in favour of quicker delivery of projects or forgotten about during the design process.

Therefore, when it came to considering a topic for my dissertation, accessible design was my overarching topic. However, accessible design is a huge area of study, too big for me to tackle within a single 4800-word essay, so I needed to narrow my focus area.

I started with three main ideas:

• WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and EAA (European Accessibility Act) - Researching the impact and success of these major accessibility guidelines and legislation.
• Digital Exclusion - In particular, what is known as the “second-level divide,” Assisted Digital services or Digital Verification issues (Captcha).
• Designing for people with cognitive disabilities - In particular, Authentication and Security hurdles, Inaccessible multimedia and the lack of personalisation support.

As you can see, I also needed to narrow my focus within these areas to leave me with a topic I could tackle within the parameters of my dissertation.

MuDG

As part of our first week of class, we had a demonstration of a new AI tool being developed, designed to help with conducting initial-stage research and uncovering related areas for further investigation.

After the demonstration, we were given access to the tool to use and provide feedback on its usability in practice.

I decided to use my initial ideas as prompts for MuDG, investigate the results provided, and discover a direction for my final topic.

Initially, I examined the history of accessible design, drawing on the WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) and WCAG, as well as the European Accessibility Act. As I read through the information provided, I realised that while this was an interesting topic, it was not what I wanted to focus my dissertation on. While WCAG and the EAA will be key points of any discussion on accessible design, they will provide context and guidelines for my main topic.