Accessible Personalised Services in PDTs for All
European Commission, CIP-ICT PSP-2010-4 Project 270977
http://www.apsis4all.eu
APSIS4all Publishable Summary
What is APSIS4all?
“Accessible Personalised Services In Public Digital Terminals (PDTs) for all”
(APSIS4all) is a project aimed at overcoming accessibility barriers through
personalisation. These barriers are faced by many users when interacting with
PDTs like ATMs and Ticket Vending Machines (TVMs). Moreover, APSIS4all
aims to improve the buying experience for all customers by enabling PDTs to
adapt their interfaces automatically according to their needs and preferences,
and by opening up a new variety of interaction modes through the use of
contactless cards or mobile devices.
European partnership of stakeholders in the accessibility
value-chain
Personalisation and accessibility are driving the delivery of services to citizens
in many areas, in line with the Digital Agenda for Europe (one of the seven
flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 Strategy), aiming to help digital
technologies to deliver sustainable economic growth. APSIS4all, partially
funded by the European Commission through the Information Communication
Technologies Policy Support Programme (ICT-PSP), is a Pilot (Type B)
intended to stimulate the uptake of innovative ICT-based services and products
in Europe. The project has successfully implemented both personalisation and
accessibility from its two pilots, currently available for the public in Spain
(banking) and Germany (transport), presenting new market opportunites.
Led by Technosite, the APSIS4all consortium has been selected on the basis of
excellence criteria. It brings together 12 partners from seven Member States,
including service providers, PDT developers, R&D organisations, accessibility
consultants and user organisations. Consortium members are: Technosite, “la
Caixa”, Hoeft & Wessel, Barcelona Digital, AbilityNet, SOVD, Fondazione Ugo
Bordoni, CERTH, John Gill Techonology, Egal Plus, PaderSprinter and CURE.
Who are APSIS4all target users?
Personalisation features are available for all customers, who can choose the
type and format of the information they wish to be displayed in the PDT.
However, APSIS4all will certainly make a big difference for people with
disabilities, older people, those not familiar with ICT, recovering from an
accident with temporary mobility restrictions (eg. broken arm), or foreigners with
major cultural differences, among other beneficiaries.
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Accessible Personalised Services in PDTs for All
European Commission, CIP-ICT PSP-2010-4 Project 270977
http://www.apsis4all.eu
APSIS4all innovative value proposition
The unique and added value of APSIS4all is the combination of multimodal
interfaces, which are adapted to what the user wants, and multichannel
systems. APSIS4all developed two different approaches:
Direct interaction: It is aimed to provide users with a contactless card that
stores their needs and preferences. Users specify them by using a web
application. They are able to change the text size, background colours,
include voice output options, add help content or simplify the interaction,
among other features. This information is coded (according to specification
EN 1332-4) and stored in a user device such as a contactless smartcard.
Because it is based on standards, the PDT will retrieve the user’s needs
and preferences, regardless of the service provider, and provide the most
suitable interface available.
Figure 1. Diagram representing the direct interaction.
Source: APSIS4all consortium
Indirect interaction: This second approach shifts the public terminal
operation to the Internet, so users can purchase travel tickets on their
laptop or smartphone. The user requests the desired service and the
system generates an identification item, such as a 2D-barcode, which is
transmitted to the customer’s mobile phone. Finally, the user presents the
2D-barcode in the TVM and finish the payment process to obtain the
service.
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Accessible Personalised Services in PDTs for All
European Commission, CIP-ICT PSP-2010-4 Project 270977
http://www.apsis4all.eu
Figure 2. Diagram representing the indirect interaction.
Source: APSIS4all consortium
The Spanish pilot implements the direct interaction, whereas the German pilot
tests both the direct and the indirect interactions.
Work performed since the beginning of the project
Many tasks were undertaken since April 2011. The involvement of users in all
pilot phases and the collection of user and legal requirements regarding public
digital terminals have been crucial to successfully deploy the pilots, along with
the assessment of the current state of machines to carry out any necessary
modifications. In order to gather the user requirements, the partners developed
an online tool (“Collecting Tool of Needs and Preferences” or CTNP) which
connects with the systems in which data is coded and stored (preserving
privacy, security and usefulness). The matching between user profiles and
interfaces in PDTs was made through a “Multimodal Interface Manager” (MIM),
leading to the development of the final PDT interfaces.
Figure 3. APSIS4all tag cloud
Source: APSIS4all consortium
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Accessible Personalised Services in PDTs for All
European Commission, CIP-ICT PSP-2010-4 Project 270977
http://www.apsis4all.eu
APSIS4all: positive evolution in its second year
In the last period, the project overcome many challenges when deploying real
systems in the market. Most relevant achievements are:
Impact 10 times larger than expected. The German pilot site achieved the
promised impact (24 TVMs), and the Spanish pilot increased the number of
ATMs deployed with the APSIS4all solution from the 65 initial commitment
to 800, showing the trust in future benefits and customer satisfaction. The
number of ATMs deployed continues increasing.
Deployments are completed. At present, software developments are
completed and systems deployed in real environments in line with user
requirements. The CTNPs are up and running, the user interfaces for PDTs
are finished (but can be updated if the monitoring process suggests further
modifications) as well as the MIM. Hardware and software modifications
have also been carried out.
Exceeded project performance indicators. An average performance of
277% over the expectations was achieved in year 2. By April 2013, the
website had received more than 19,000 visits and has been updated with
news, events and public deliverables, which were downloaded exceeding
expectations.
Very positive feedback from IAB-UAB members. Results from a
satisfaction survey after the second IAB-UAB meeting showed that 100% of
respondents found the event helpful or very helpful, rating the project
relevance with 8/10. Moreover, 90% of them also considered that APSIS4all
will improve the autonomy of people with disabilities.
Scientific papers presented at important conferences. Although
APSIS4all is not a research project, the user involvement procedures are
state of the art and were considered of enough relevance to be shared with
the scientific community. Moreover, articles were published in specific
industry and users publications.
Standardisation activities. The Consortium
standardisation initiatives related to the project.
is
present
in
five
Voluntary ethics deliverable. Last year the Consortium evaluated the
degree of awareness regarding ethical issues both among partners and
volunteers.
Outstanding participation of users in the project, both in the evaluation
and the re-design of the solutions developed. The number of user involved
in trials overpassed all the initial expectations but was achieved thanks to
the effort of partners and the collaborative attitude of user associations.
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Accessible Personalised Services in PDTs for All
European Commission, CIP-ICT PSP-2010-4 Project 270977
http://www.apsis4all.eu
Success in trials. The evolution of designs through three iterations of user
involvement in the CTNP demonstrate not only the overall increase in user
experience but the close degrees of satisfaction among people with
disability and without disability.
Where can APSIS4all PDTs be found?
The final deployment in real-life environments is now a reality, and it is one of
the main outcomes of the project together with the CTNP. The German pilot is
implemented in 24 TVM at Paderborn train stations, northwest Germany,
whereas the Spanish pilot has been deployed in 800 “la Caixa” ATMs in two
cities: Barcelona and Madrid.
What are the impacts of APSIS4all innovations?
During the final phase of the project the socio-economic implications of the
proposed solutions will be analysed but the Consortium foresees benefits for
customers, market players and the society as a whole.
100 users from both disabled and non-disabled groups have participated in
different tests. Preliminary results reveal that over 80% of participants from both
groups described the CTNP as “excellent” (September 2012). Moreover, the
ATM interfaces developed scored over 70% with both groups on variables such
as learnability, perceived ease of use, satisfaction, fulfilment of human needs
and expectations. The highest scores for all the aforementioned variables were
given by the non-disabled users aged under 65, suggesting .that the solution
counts with the support of users from all ages and abilities (all groups were
highly satisfied with the outcomes of APSIS4all).
What is next?
APSIS4all is open to collaborate with other projects and stakeholders interested
on its solutions, in order to increase the reach of the solution throughout
Europe, across sectors and country borders. Should you wish to know more
about its solutions, please visit the APSIS4all website (http://www.apsis4all.eu/)
or send an email to [email protected].
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