By Landon Johnson
My experience as a student researcher all began with a simple email to Dr. Maxim after I noticed he had a vacancy for his SURE (summer undergraduate research experience) proposal. The email led to an interview, which was successful, as I was given the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Maxim in his research. The research involved investigating how to improve the user experience while exploring accessibility in public spaces, virtually. Specifically, we wanted to find ways to make the virtual experience as accessible as possible for those who require accommodations. The end goal of the project was to produce a functioning simulation-like software that implemented the findings of our research. The research process took 4 months, during which I worked with a previous SURE student, Rehab Jadallah, on the development of a virtual environment.
The research aimed to solve two contemporary issues regarding accessibility. The first problem is related to virtual accessibility, as many virtual environments are not made accessible to those with special needs. Due to this, we investigated what the most vital accessibility features to include in an environment are as well as how to implement these using Unity Game Engine. The second problem we aimed to address was wheelchair accessibility in public spaces. Oftentimes, places such as offices are not accessible or misleadingly accessible for wheelchair users, so we sought to create something that could teach a user what a wheelchair-accessible environment looks like. While lack of education is a factor in non-accessible public spaces, a lack of resources also plays a role, so we also wanted to create a prototype of a modeling simulation, that could be used to test wheelchair accessibility in a real-world environment, virtually.
The process began with learning the basics of Unity Game Engine and C# programming. I had previously worked with Unity as a hobbyist game developer, however, I had to fully understand how many features of the game engine functioned to be a successful researcher. As I began learning more about Unity’s functionality, my team and I started meeting weekly to discuss our progress and where we were headed. This became vital throughout the process as it provided me and my partner Rehab the opportunity to discuss the progress we had already made, and what we wanted to accomplish in the next week. It also gave us a chance to consult Dr. Maxim about the project, as with his extensive work in the industry, he was able to provide very valuable feedback.
Development began with creating a prototype for the previously mentioned modeling system. The prototype utilized the basic shapes that could be manipulated around an empty space however the user was pleased. With our prototype in hand, we consulted Dr. Maxim about our concept and features and set off to continue developing. This format of producing frequent prototypes while adding features between our weekly meetings followed the classic agile software development model. Agile software development is an iterative process that, as mentioned, places emphasis on the quick delivery of software in order to get frequent customer feedback. Once we had built our initial prototype, Rehab and I decided it would be most efficient to work on different portions of the project.
Rehab continued to build upon the testing environment, while I took on the task of creating an engaging environment for users to learn what a wheelchair-accessible space looks like. I decided to create three pre-built office spaces that all had accessibility concerns which the user had to discover and correct. To move on to the next space, the user had to correct all the accessibility concerns and reach an endpoint, that is marked, within the office space. Creating a learning environment that was also engaging was a challenge. From the perspective of a developer, it’s hard to gauge whether what you’re making is truly an entertaining experience or not, which is why I had to rely on consumer testing. I had colleagues of mine test the program and asked them about their user experience after using the simulation, to which many of them enjoyed the concept, however, the functionality was lacking. With this in mind, I began working on the movement mechanics as well as the accessibility features.
With the user feedback in mind, I modified the movement controls to simplify them so inexperienced users could easily use the simulation. With movement controls being simplified, it was now time to implement the accessibility features. To begin this process, I first had to decide which features needed to be included. Of course, all accommodations are equally as important, however with the limited time and resources we had, it was necessary to decide which would be the most beneficial to the largest number of users. We decided it would be most inclusive to implement accommodations for those with orthopedic, visual, and hearing impairments. As I began implementing features, I continued to consult with the team weekly to ensure the features could be implemented in the other portion of the project Rehab had been working on. This provided a great opportunity to experience the challenges of benefits of working with a team, as learning version control and aligning project ideas was a rather new concept to me.
As the end of our four months approached, we put the two pieces of our project together and did our final tests. What resulted was an although not perfect, functioning simulation that provided the basework for the initial goals we had in mind. As a final step in the SURE program, it was required that we create a poster and present our research to faculty and students alike. Although it was my first time presenting research, the experience was amazing as I was able to showcase the hard work me and my team had put in over the summer. It was even an opportunity to network with faculty members who had similar interests in software development.
Overall, the SURE program has truly been one of the best experiences of my college career. What resulted was an although not perfect, functioning piece of software that can be used as the basis to teaching people about wheelchair accessibility. This experience not only taught me the basics of agile software development but also what virtual accessibility looks like. For those of us who are fortunate enough to not require accommodations, there are so many aspects of development we overlook and participating in a research project such as this brought light to that for me. Throughout my career in software development, accessibility will always be a priority of mine now and I look forward to educating others on it as well. I would like to thank Dr. Maxim for the incredible opportunity to work alongside him as well as my colleague Rehab Jadallah who played an equally important role in the development of our simulation software. The meaningful work that we completed throughout the program has further excited me to begin my career in software development and provide a basis to do so.
