Rekha Morbia

Gaming for everyone: U of T’s Faculty of Information makes video games more accessible

geoff.vendeville — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 16:20:35 +0000

Gaming for everyone: U of T’s Faculty of Information makes video games more accessible

geoff.vendeville Fri, 12/11/2020 - 11:20

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Adrian Petterson, a Master of Information student, helped create the Accessibility Arcade, where designers, developers and researchers can create video games that take into account players' accessibility needs (photo courtesy of Adrian Petterson)

Rekha Morbia

Topic

City & Culture

Accessibility

Faculty of Information

Graduate Students

iSchool

Video Games

To create more accessible video games, researchers at the ��Ƶ are partnering with major studios, non-profit organizations and influential gamers with disabilities through U of T’s new Accessibility Arcade – as well as an inclusive online gaming hub.

The Accessibility Arcade, part of the Knowledge Media and Design Institute (KMDI) in the U of T’s Faculty of Information, provides a space for designers, developers, researchers and gamers to put their heads together to design more inclusive games. It’s based in the KMDI Makerspace, an area in the Bissell Building off Robarts Library where students are encouraged to get creative with technology like 3D printers, Arduinos and Raspberry Pis – open source prototyping platforms and simple computers, respectively.

“The Makerspace is much more than a room with fancy new technology,” said Adrian Petterson, a research assistant at KMDI and the project lead on the accessibility arcade. “This space builds a community of support and innovation where gamers and industry members can connect and learn from each other.”

Petterson is also the chair of the faculty’s accessibility interest working group and a Master of Information student who specializes in design ethics and video game accessibility under the academic supervision of Associate Professor Sara Grimes, director of KMDI and an expert in critical theories of technology.

There has been a recent push in the rapidly expanding video game industry – from large studios and indie developers alike – to design games that are accessible to players with disabilities.
While game designers are used to taking on complex challenges, it is by no means simple to design games that take into account the vast diversity of accessibility needs.

The Accessibility Arcade provides a space for designers and developers to imagine new game possibilities by allowing them to take their software on a test run before launch.

They can also create games or game features that appeal to a wider, mainstream audience. Copilot mode on Xbox One, for example, allows two players to manipulate a single character using two controllers. It was originally intended for players who couldn’t use their whole controller and needed the support of another player. But Copilot has since become a function that players use to create unique shared gaming experiences.

“Gamers with disabilities have been modifying games to suit their needs for decades and connecting industry members to see potential new forms of games which can appeal to new, wider audiences,” Petterson said.

The Accessibility Arcade is equipped with adaptive gaming equipment, such as a one-handed keyboard, adaptive Xbox controller and a Logitech Adaptive Gaming Kit (photo courtesy of Adrian Petterson)

The Accessibility Arcade features the most up-to-date hardware in inclusive gaming and accessible titles. Gamers with disabilities can try out equipment and explore what options might be right for them. Game designers can learn about accessible gaming and try out equipment to ensure their games are compatible with the latest technology.

The Makerspace inventory includes a one-handed keyboard, an Xbox adaptive controller for individuals who are unable to use their hands and a Logitech Adaptive Gaming Kit with buttons and switches.

Adaptive gaming equipment is often extremely expensive and difficult to acquire. At the arcade, gamers with disabilities and designers can use adaptive equipment without having to buy it. Petterson is compiling a list of video games that have features for a variety of disabilities.

“Twenty per cent of gamers have disabilities,” Petterson said, adding that game designers can tap into new markets by adapting their products. “Also, it helps designers and developers think about new ways of creating, which is a boon for any industry.”

Adaptive gaming equipment is often expensive and difficult to acquire, but visitors can try out these tools at no cost at the Accessibility Arcade (photo courtesy of Adrian Petterson)

As a part of the Accessibility Arcade, Petterson has been building an inclusive gaming hub to create game innovation on an online platform. Digital platforms make it easier for individuals in different parts of the world or people with mobility challenges to join. Community members, industry leaders and gamers can gain access to this collaborative network and apply what they learn to their own projects and communities. The inclusive gaming hub will be among the first digital space dedicated entirely to project sharing and collaboration in inclusive gaming.

“Our society is so focused on digital platforms that it is vital digital spaces are created to foster innovation in general and be accessible to everyone,” Petterson said. “Some of the most powerful innovators are individuals with disabilities.”

To help the Accessibility Arcade become a vibrant community space, Petterson has partnered with major studios, non-profit organizations and influential gamers with disabilities.

LittleNavi, a popular Twitch affiliate with multiple sclerosis, said she enjoyed working with Steve Saylor, who goes by the “Blind Gamer” on his YouTube channel, on the Accessibility Arcade.
Several years ago, LittleNavi suffered a massive ischemic stroke causing paralysis in half her body. On her Twitch profile, she writes: “Over time, I re-learned how to walk, how to talk, how to read, how to write, and how to game!” The experience led her to discover her calling for making games accessible for people with disabilities, she said.

Saylor found his passion for advocating for more accessible video games through YouTube, where he shares reviews and his first reactions to games. The Toronto-based gamer was born with nystagmus, a condition that causes rapid involuntary movement of the eyes making it hard to see (in one YouTube clip, he uses Fortnite to demonstrate what he sees when he plays a game).

Saylor, LittleNavi and Petterson created a list of essential equipment for the space and collaborated on access policies. Other consultants on the project include representatives from Makers Making Change, Toronto Media Arts Centre, and AAA Games Studios.

“The KMDI Accessibility Arcade fosters industry creations, a strong diverse community working together and that an inclusive society makes us all stronger,” Petterson said.

U of T researchers explore virtual reality as a microbiology teaching aid

noreen.rasbach — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 20:17:51 +0000

U of T researchers explore virtual reality as a microbiology teaching aid

noreen.rasbach Fri, 11/15/2019 - 15:17

Cutline

There is growing interest in virtual reality among educators, but U of T's Michelle Lui says more research needs to be done on how to best incorporate the technology to benefit students (photo courtesy of Faculty of Information)

Rekha Morbia

Topic

Our Community

Faculty of Information

Research & Innovation

Teaching

U of T Mississauga

Virtual Reality

Imagine being inside an E. coli bacterium, smaller than a speck of dust and surrounded by genetic material, molecules and proteins.

This could soon be commonplace for some microbiology students thanks to work by ��Ƶ researchers who are investigating virtual reality design features that can support or impede learning.

“As a graduate of the master of science in biomedical communications program many years ago, and as a former professional medical illustrator thereafter, visualizing scientific processes and making thinking visible have been at the cornerstone of my thinking when it comes to designing technology for learning,” says Michelle Lui, a post-doctoral researcher at U of T Mississauga’s Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology who is working with Associate Professor Rhonda McEwen.

“I was drawn to immersive technologies as a medium for learning abstract scientific concepts in part because you can engage the learner on a number of different levels. Vision, touch, kinesthetics, and other aspects of our multisensory systems … We can design multiple representations as well as full-body interactions.”

As VR technology matures and becomes more widely available, interest for its use in educational settings is growing rapidly. But how to best design immersive VR applications to support conceptual understanding remains an unanswered question. One complicating factor is that the term “virtual reality” can refer to a broad range of technologies – from three-dimensional virtual worlds accessed from desktop computers to 360-degree videos viewed though a smartphone, or even a low-cost VR viewer, like Google Cardboard. At the other end of the spectrum, meanwhile, are high-end head-mounted display systems that allow users to walk around within small, trackable spaces and interact with their surrounding environment via handheld controllers.

Researchers created a simulation that allows students to observe and interact with the gene regulation process (Image courtesy of Faculty of Information)

“Our project focuses on this last category of VR,” says Lui. “We’ve partnered with a second-year microbiology course instructor at Carleton University, Martha Mullally, who noticed her students having difficulties understanding gene regulation, or how genes are turned on and off.”

Such courses, Lui says, are foundational and are key to understanding more complex cells, like animal cells, in upper-year microbiology courses. Hence, it’s critical for students to “get it right” at this level – a situation that could potentially be addressed with VR.

“[However,] what previous studies have shown is that VR can be cognitively draining,” says Lui. “So, we’re diving deeper into the experience itself to investigate this issue, and using our findings to address how to design VR experiences for learning.”

The team created a simulation that allows students to observe and interact with the gene regulation process. Some of the students taking the course last spring volunteered to participate in the study while their physiological signals like heart rate, respiration, and skin conductance were recorded.

“We can identify which aspects of the simulation are associated with indicators of cognitive overload,” Lui says, adding that the study suggested additional sesory stimulation from VR might be negatively affecting the learning experience in some students.

Factors that impacted students in the VR learning environment included gross motor changes (sitting versus standing and freely moving around), and the amount of information in the visual space.

One takeaway from the study is that educational designers should be encouraged to create adaptive experiences. For example, students with less knowledge in a subject area may need a VR learning environment that is less stimulating than students who possess more knowledge. They should also ideally be sitting down.

From the students’ perspective, most spoke positively about their VR experience.

“Afterwards, I can still see it," one student said. “Even in the assignment [on gene regulation], I could sort of see it.”