Spring 2008
Your source for current news and announcements about the Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access (I.D.E.A) in Buffalo, NY.
Jordana Maisel : Editor
Heamchand Subryan : Technical Assistant
MS Word Format |
Adobe PDF Format
The RERC-UD Holds State of the Science Conference
On February 20, 2008, the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Universal Design and the Built Environment (RERC-UD) kicked off their series of State of the Science (SOS) Conferences at the 2008 International Conference on Aging, Disability and Independence (ICADI) in St. Petersburg, FL. Edward Steinfeld, RERC-UD Co-Director, Jon Sanford, Co-Director of the RERC on Workplace Accommodations, Center for AT and Environmental Access (CATEA), and Jordana Maisel, Research Associate at the RERC-UD, organized the full-day pre-conference workshop that focused on Evidence Based Practice and the 21st Century Community. This was the first in a series of conference events that will take place throughout the third year of the five-year RERC grant.
The pre-conference workshop reviewed current research and practice of universal design in housing, work environments, and community spaces. The first part of the workshop included presentations by Edward Steinfeld and Margaret Wylde, President/CEO of ProMatura Group, LLC, which explored new ways of conceptualizing universal design, how universal design can become part of the mainstream in designing and engineering practice, and the emerging market. The second part of the workshop explored how principles of Evidence Based Practice can be applied to this field. To begin, Roger O. Smith, Director of the R2D2 Center at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, presented an overview of Evidence Based Practice (EBP). Gary Scott Danford, Professor and Project Director at the RERC-UD, Edward Steinfeld, Jon Sanford and Catherine Bridge, Director of the Home Modification Information Clearinghouse and Professor at the University of Sydney, gave presentations on the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for EBP in current universal design research (i.e. case studies, human factors research, randomized controlled trials, and systematic reviews). The third part of the day took a more in-depth look at the components of the 21st Century Community. Jordana Maisel and Danise Levine, Assistant Director of the IDEA Center, described the latest research, policies, and practices in UD housing; Karen Milchus, Research Engineer at CATEA, reviewed the latest in work environments and accommodations; and Jon Sanford presented on UD and community spaces.
After these presentations, everyone participated in a World Café, which provided an innovative yet simple structure for stimulating conversations about relevant topics. These conversations linked and built on each other as people moved between groups, cross-pollinated ideas, and discovered new insights into the questions or issues. Utilizing prepared questions, discussions identified and prioritized strategies, resources, and opportunities for applying Evidence Based Practice within and across three domains of the built environment (i.e. residential, work/public buildings, and community spaces) in order to advance the field. The day concluded with participants enthusiastically identifying future directions for research and practice using the Evidence Based Practice paradigm.
The second SOS conference event was recently approved as a workshop
session on June 29, 2008 at this year's RESNA Conference in Washington,
DC.
RESNA has a history of attracting occupational therapists, engineers and manufacturers.
A summary of the first SOS event will be followed by a facilitated discussion to engage participants in identifying knowledge from the fields of rehabilitation science that could address universal design issues and the needs for training and dissemination activities. The third SOS event will be held in early fall 2008 at the IDEA Center in Buffalo, NY.
The results from all of these events will be collected, organized, and analyzed in order to plan future activities and make recommendations to the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) for RERC priorities. The RERC will also produce a publication developed from the State of the Science (SOS) events
in the fourth year of the grant. The third SOS event will focus on UD Education and will be held in early fall 2008 at the IDEA Center in Buffalo, NY.
In addition to the ICADI pre-conference workshop, Edward Steinfeld and Jordana Maisel also organized the ICADI conference track on Livable Housing and Communities. This track was very well attended and had numerous presentations that reported on recent research and projects related to housing and neighborhoods. The track had a very diverse and international list of presenters and participants, with researchers, academics, policy makers, advocates, occupational therapists, builders and consumers from Australia, Japan, Ireland, Germany, England, Sweden, Canada and the U.S.
Dr. Edward Steinfeld and Dr. Geoff Fernie, RERC-UD Co-Directors, both presented keynote presentations during ICADI.
Plans for a Universal Design (UD) Council Underway
With the support of Josh Heintz and the law firm of Gilberti Stinziano Heintz & Smith in Syracuse, NY, plans are underway to establish a
Universal Design (UD) Council.
The Council is being incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation to lead a voluntary consensus standards development process. The Council will consist of designers, advocates, developers and other professionals interested in increasing the adoption of UD. The goal is to develop, with broad stakeholder input, a system to measure the application of UD standards in the built environment. The first area of focus will be commercial development.
Peter Blanck will be chairman of the Board of Directors for the new UD Council. Invited to join the inaugural Board of UD Council Directors are John Lancaster, Andrew Houghton, Ed Steinfeld, Carmen Jones, Berthy Aponte, Josh Heintz, and Graham Hill. Graham Hill will chair the Committee to develop the voluntary consensus standards.
Ed Steinfeld has received approval from NIDRR to use RERC resources to help develop the UD standards.
The first organizational meeting of the Council is planned for May 30, 2008, in Syracuse, NY.
Please stay tuned for updates on the Council’s progress.
Quick and Easy Opportunity to Participate in Cold Weather Research – Without Getting Cold!
We have all experienced some of the dangerous conditions brought on by winter weather. Even simple activities such as crossing an intersection or climbing a few steps outside a building can be difficult when the streets, sidewalks, and paths are covered in snow or slush. Employing universal design principles that consider the effects of winter would make these everyday activities easier and safer for us all.
Researchers at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute are currently conducting a study analyzing how winter influences outdoor activity in various public settings, such as on sidewalk, curb ramps, and crosswalks. This study is part of the winter climate project of the RERC on Universal Design and the Built Environment.
Participants can provide valuable insight simply by filling out a short survey on how the winter weather has affected their routine activities in public environments. The goal of the survey is to identify activities that pose specific problems for people in these outdoor settings in the wintertime.
The survey takes approximately 10 to 20 minutes to complete and participants will be eligible to win one of three $100 prizes to be awarded upon completion of the study.
Please visit Cold Weather Research to take part in this survey or contact Ms. Yue Li, PhD, at idapt@torontorehab.on.ca or (416) 849-4340 ext. 214 for more information.
IDEA Center to Launch New Continuing Education Program
The IDEA Center is finally ready to announce a start date for its new continuing education program that will launch this summer. The first four week online course will begin July 7, 2008. The topic will be The Nature of Barriers and the New Demographics. Registration will soon be available at Continuing Education Registration. Please note that registration will be limited to the first 25 people.
The continuing education program is designed for anyone (e.g., advocates, builders/contractors, planners, architects, occupational and physical therapists, and policymakers) interested in learning about the universal design of places, products, and systems with a particular focus on the implications of a life span perspective.
For more information about the curriculum and registration deadlines, please visit the Continuing Education on UD E-World.
IDEA/RERC-UD's Winter and Spring Conference Presentations
On November 20, Beth Tauke, , Associate Professor of Architecture at the University at Buffalo, was a featured speaker at the Universell Utforming Over Alt (Universal Design for All) Norwegian Conference held at Oslo University College, Oslo, Norway. The conference goal was to establish a strategy for new research in universal design in Norway. Universal design is increasingly being used both in legislation and planning at all levels of Norwegian society. The Nordic Council for Ministers, which is currently under the presidency of Norway, has established a Nordic Action Plan for Design for All. The government’s action plan forms the foundation for ever more intensified efforts, particularly in new legislation regarding discrimination, building and planning.
Tauke’s lecture focused on innovative research practices and highlighted the recent work of The Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access, which is considered to be “the premier research center on Universal Design in the built environment in the U.S.” In addition, Tauke gave two other presentations and lead a panel discussion on the challenges of research, development, and practice in inclusive outdoor and urban environments.
Professors Tauke and La Marche Conduct Workshop in Antwerp
During the week of March 3 through 7, Beth Tauke and Jean La Marche, Associate Professor of Architecture at the University at Buffalo, conducted a workshop on inclusive design as part of ADSL Week (Antwerp Design Seminars & Lectures) at the Henry van de Velde Higher Institute of Architectural Sciences – University College Antwerp, Belgium.
The Antwerp Design Seminar & Lecture Week is an international event that is held each year at the College of Design Sciences in Antwerp. ADSL Week is a forum for faculty and student exchange on an international level, and provides a platform to discuss issues related to design education. Its aim is to stimulate cross boundary thinking in design, and to familiarize students with interdisciplinary approaches to architecture and design.
Professors Tauke and La Marche’s course entitled “Public Privacy: Inclusive Design in Urban Space” was one of thirteen invited workshops offered as part of ADSL Week. The workshop used inclusive approaches to explore private spaces within public spaces, with a specific focus on the public toilet. Although public toilets are critical components of urban environments, more often than not, they are marginal places used only as a last resort. Public lavatories, which juxtapose private bodily functions with streetscapes, challenge architects to consider criteria that are often overlooked in the design process: sensory experience, equity, identity, socio/cultural appropriateness, psychological/behavioral issues, gender and age issues, timing, flexibility, safety, security, cleanliness, convenience, and comfort. Students in the workshop experimented with new notions about this typeform, and, in so doing, attempted to change attitudes about public facilities that resonate with the broader population.
As part of the workshop, Beth Tauke presented a lecture entitled “Comprising ‘The Other’ – Inclusive Approaches to Design” and Jean La Marche presented a lecture entitled “The Dematerialization of Architecture.” In addition, both professors gave a public presentation entitled “Public Privacy” that summarized the investigations and results of the students’ work. An exhibition of all thirteen workshops was held at the Wintertuin (Wintergarden) in Antwerp from March 7 through 14, and a catalog on the work will be published in summer 2008.
The Assistive Technology Industries Association Conference
Edward Steinfeld, Professor of Architecture and Director of the IDEA Center, joined James Leahy and Steven Bauer of the Rehabilitation Engineering Center on Technology Transfer, also based at UB, to give a presentation at the annual meeting of the Assistive Technology Industries Association (ATIA). The 9th Annual ATIA Conference was held January 30 – February 2, 2008 in Orlando, Florida. During their presentation, Steinfeld, Leahy, and Bauer explored how assistive technology can be transformed into mass marketed products, using inventions like the telephone, email, optical character recognition and voice recognition, all of which were first applied to address needs of people with disabilities.
Aging at Home Summit
Dr. Alex Mihailidis, Director of the RERC-UD R2.3 Project and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, participated as a speaker in the Aging at Home Summit. The Summit took place on March 6, 2008 at the Paramount Conference and Event Centre in Woodbridge, Ontario. For more information about the Summit, visit the Aging at Home Summit.
Conference of the National Council on Aging and the American Society on Aging
 Dr. Edward Steinfeld recently participated in the 2008 Conference of the National Council on Aging and the American Society on Aging (NCOA-ASA), which was held in Washington, DC on March 26-30, 2008. His session on “Emerging Housing Choices for an Aging Society” discussed new trends in design of independent housing and community planning for seniors. The focus was on how universal design can support aging in place in housing and neighborhoods. A case-study method was used to describe and evaluate leading examples from the U.S. and abroad from the perspective of universal design. For more information about the NCOA-ASA Conference, go visit the National Council on Aging and the American Society on Aging.
Congress for the New Urbanism
Edward Steinfeld recently participated in a panel discussion on visitable housing at "CNU XVI: New Urbanism and the Booming Metropolis," the annual meeting of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU). The conference was held in Austin, TX on April 3-6, 2008. The panel provided an overview of progress in the adoption of visitability in the New Urbanist movement. He presented the IDEA Center’s work on developing a Pattern Book on Inclusive Housing Design. This project is an activity of the RERC on Universal Design and the Built Environment. A first draft of the book is completed and is currently being reviewed by an Advisory Panel. The book has sections describing the relationship between accessibility and livability, accessibility issues in neighborhood and block design, design of lots for accessible housing in different contexts and design of accessible housing components. It covers both visitability and more extensive universal design features for "lifespan design." The book is extensively illustrated and focuses on how universal design of housing can be achieved without sacrificing high standards of livability. The book is extensively illustrated with photographs of constructed visitable homes, diagrams and three dimensional computer images of houses and components. One section of the book will include 20-30 examples of home designs in a variety of different styles and sizes. Designs for single family, townhouses, semi-detached and small apartment buildings will be included. Detailed "anatomies" will be provided for key examples.
Other panel presenters included Shannon Chance, Associate Professor of Architecture, Hampton University and a member of the Universal Design Education Consortium formed by the RERC, who presented the basics of visitability, Ray Gindroz, a Board member of the CNU and Co-founder and Principal, Urban Design Associates, who described the progress made within the New Urbanist movement in adopting visitability and Steven Mouzon, AIA LEED, Principal, The New Urban Guild, an architect who recently designed an accessible Katrina Cottage that was sponsored by AARP as a demonstration project.
For more information about the conference, please visit the Congress for the New Urbanism
Upcoming Conferences
APA's 2008 National Planning Conference. April 27 – May 1, 2008. Las Vegas, NV.
The AIA 2008 National Convention and Design Exposition. May 15 – 17, 2008. Boston, MA.
Edward Steinfeld and Eleanor Smith will participate on a panel
discussion entitled "History & Strategies of Lifespan Housing: How to
Incorporate Home Access in a Variety of House Types." Edward Steinfeld
will also conduct an individual presentation entitled "Field of Dreams:
Emerging Housing Choices for an Aging Society." Both of these sessions
include AIA continuing education credits for Health, Safety and Welfare.
21st World Congress Rehabilitation International August 25- 28, 2008. Quebec, Canada
Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, New York, September 22-26, 2008
Victor Paquet organized a symposium in which Edward Steinfeld, David
Feathers and Mahiyar Nasarwanji will present papers.
Levine Featured in Magazine
Danise Levine, IDEA Center Assistant Director, was featured in the March 2008 issue of Buffalo Spree Magazine’s Home and Design Issue. The article features a 3200 square foot universally designed single-family home designed by Ms. Levine for a couple with an interest in aging in place. The homeowners are 69 and 74, and do not want to face the same dilemmas their parents faced. What happens when you can no longer live in the house where you raised your family? Do you go into a nursing home? Go to live with one of your children? Since their parents all lived well into their 90’s, they decided that the 2-story colonial they had lived in for over 40 years would not be adequate as they got older. As a result, they decided to build a new house and incorporate universal design features.
 
Project Updates from the RERC-UD
Project R1: The Effectiveness of Universal Design
Gary Scott Danford, Michael Grimble, Jordana Maisel
In June 2007 the Built Environment Research Project launched a first round of online surveys that asked people to tell us about activities that were problematic for them in their everyday environments. We are happy to report that to date more than 950 people have agreed to participate in this study.
Even though we will continue collecting survey responses indefinitely through the Built Environment Research Website, we have already begun analyzing the data in hand to identify those activities that people with various abilities find most problematic in public buildings, on public streets and in residential environments. Once identified, we will develop environmental designs that remedy these problems and then present those designs for evaluation by our study’s participants in a second round of online surveys to be launched next fall.
To mark the one year anniversary of our first round of online surveys and to celebrate the project’s success to date, we will be randomly selecting participants who have completed one or more of the surveys to win cash prizes in June 2008. Each survey's participants will be eligible for a random drawing to win one of three $100 prizes. Individuals who completed all the surveys will be eligible for a random drawing to win a $500 grand prize.
To be eligible for all the random drawings, new and current participants who haven’t yet completed all the surveys must do so before June 1, 2008. Current participants who have forgotten their username and/or password must email the project coordinator, Michael Grimble, at mgrimble@buffalo.edu to obtain them.
In addition, the Built Environment Research Project is currently compiling its “problematic activities” survey data for an initial release to selected parties in summer 2008. Research and design professionals who would like access to these databases so they can perform their own analyses are invited to email the project director, Dr. Gary Scott Danford, at danford@buffalo.edu for further information.
Subproject R2.2: Attended Field of View
Graham Strong and Elizabeth Irving – University of Waterloo
Most tests of vision performance evaluate a person’s seeing abilities when their eyes and head are maintained in a fixed position. Useful field of view (UFOV) testing is used to estimate the functional visual field from which information is extracted without the use of eye movements. UFOV results are highly correlated with functional abilities such as driving (Sekuler & Ball, 1986; Sekuler, Bennett, & Mamelak, 2000). However, true-life seeing abilities are also influenced by a person’s postural bearing as well as any customary head or eye movements that occur while negotiating her or his physical environment.
To investigate postural factors, a novel protocol is being developed wherein an inclinometer and a head-mounted video camera will be used to evaluate situational head and eye positioning while participants navigate within various test environments. The attended field of view (AFOV) test was developed (Coeckelbergh, 2002) as a research tool to assess a person’s ability to visualize peripheral objects under free viewing conditions. Since this test is no longer available, our initial goal was to develop and validate a new AFOV test for future research applications. A comprehensive literature review confirmed the requisite target display and data capture characteristics for AFOV testing. In consultation with the original developers (Coeckelbergh et al., 2004), the original feature requirements were incorporated into an AFOV test prototype using contemporary software (Experiment Builder from SR Research). Participants are required to discern the location and orientation of a single broken ring within a field of whole ring distracters on an unstructured grey background. Data for five participants were collected using both 1-1 staircase and weighted staircase protocols, as descried in the original AFOV research (Coeckelberg et al., 2004).
The University of Waterloo (UW) AFOV prototype demonstrates similar sensitivity with respect to age and target eccentricity. Additional functionality was planned and incorporated to support future research projects using this apparatus. The UW AFOV was designed to be used in conjunction with an eye tracker (EyeLinkII from SR Research). Eye movement data collected during AFOV testing suggests that the observed eccentricity effect may be attributable to the time required to make eye movements throughout the field. Further, since there is no control for fixation in the starting position, it is unclear whether participants always begin their visual search from a primary gaze position. To investigate this concern and to explore observers’ divided attention capabilities, an AFOV version was designed that requires subjects to make central and peripheral judgments simultaneously. The staircase for the peripheral target only progresses after the orientation of the central target is correctly identified. Additional experimentation investigated the impact of introducing a pop-out distracter (red ring amidst the other white rings) on the AFOV. Surprisingly, when a single item is used as the additional pop out distracter, there is no significant change in overall sensitivity (Figure 1). A learning effect may explain these results and this is being investigated. The effect of various pop-out distracters features (different types as opposed to a single type) is also being investigated.
References:
Coeckelbergh, T. R. (2002) Effect of compensatory viewing strategies on practical fitness to drive in subjects with visual field defects caused by ocular pathology (Dissertation) University of Groningen. Accessed 21/03/2008 at http://irs.ub.rug.nl/ppn/235146595
Coeckelbergh, T. R., Cornelissen, F. W., Brouwer, W. H., & Kooijman, A. C. (2004). Age-related changes in the functional visual field: further evidence for an inverse Age x Eccentricity effect. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci, 59(1), P11-18.
Sekuler, A. B., & Ball, K. (1986). Visual localization: age and practice. J. Opt. Soc. Am. A, 3(6), 864-867.
Sekuler, A. B., Bennett, P. J., & Mamelak, M. (2000). Effects of aging on the useful field of view. Exp Aging Res, 26(2), 103-120.
Weale RA. (1992).The Senescence of Human Vision. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Subproject R2.3 – The Impact of Familiarity on the Usability of Innovative Products Progress Report
Alex Mihailidis and Jennifer Boger
Significant progress has been made with R2.3, which examines the usability of everyday objects, specifically water faucets. Since last year, we recruited and ran clinical trials with 13 older-adult subjects to gather data about the usability of five different faucet types. Trials ran for 50 days and successfully concluded in late October of last fall. Participants were enthusiastic about the study and have given us a wealth of data, both observed and elicited. The research team has begun the analysis and one of our first observations is that we would like to see more data! A second block of clinical trials with a new set of participants is being planned and is expected to begin late this summer. Older adults with more severe dementia will be added to the study in the anticipation that identified trends will become more apparent. We have submitted preliminary results as a poster topic to the International Conference on Alzheimer’s disease (which will be held at the end of July) and intend to publish the full results from both blocks of trials in an appropriate journal.
We have also started thinking about the development side of our project (D2.3) where we will develop a computerized system that autonomously estimates usability of products. To help us reach this goal, we welcome Sonya Allin and David Giesbrecht to our team. Sonya is our postdoc and has a background in computer analysis of movement and will be responsible for much of the direction of this project. Dave is a software developer and will be using his experience with autonomous systems to build a solution.
Global Universal Design Educators Online News
 The Global
Universal Design Educators Monthly Online News (GUDEON) is being published with support from the IDEA
Center. The quarterly publication is produced and distributed for the Global Universal Design
Educator’s Network by Elaine Ostroff, Editor and Publisher, and Diane Richard, Researcher and
Editorial Assistant. The Network is a loose coalition of people committed to universal design
education. In addition to reaching the Network's 300 subscribers, a link to the most recent edition of
the GUDEON and its table of contents will now be distributed to the IDEA Center's
E-Newsletter subscribers. The GUDEON will also be translated into Japanese and reprinted in the
quarterly print Universal Design Magazine.
For links to archived issues go to Universal Design Network.
Universal Design Newsletter
 Please follow the link below to the latest version of Universal Design Newsletter, published by Universal Designers and Consultants. Visit
Universal Design Newsletter for current newsletter
Manage Your Subscription
Request
Additional Information
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader
Download IBM Screen Reader
|
