› INFORMACIJSKA DRUZBA Zbornik 26. mednarodne multikonference Zvezek H INFORMATION SOCIETY Proceedings of the 26th International Multiconference Volume H Digitalna vkljucenost v informacijski druzbi Digital Inclusion in Information Society Urednika • Editors: Matjaz Debevc, Ines Kozuh IS2023 Zbornik 26. mednarodne multikonference INFORMACIJSKA DRUŽBA – IS 2023 Zvezek H Proceedings of the 26th International Multiconference INFORMATION SOCIETY – IS 2023 Volume H Digitalna vključenost v informacijski družbi Digital Inclusion in Information Society Urednika / Editors Matjaž Debevc, Ines Kožuh http://is.ijs.si 11. oktober 2023 / 11 October 2023 Ljubljana, Slovenia Urednika: Matjaž Debevc Fakulteta za elektrotehniko, računalništvo in informatiko Univerza v Mariboru Ines Kožuh Fakulteta za elektrotehniko, računalništvo in informatiko Univerza v Mariboru Založnik: Institut »Jožef Stefan«, Ljubljana Priprava zbornika: Mitja Lasič, Vesna Lasič, Mateja Mavrič Oblikovanje naslovnice: Vesna Lasič Dostop do e-publikacije: http://library.ijs.si/Stacks/Proceedings/InformationSociety Ljubljana, oktober 2023 Informacijska družba ISSN 2630-371X Kataložni zapis o publikaciji (CIP) pripravili v Narodni in univerzitetni knjižnici v Ljubljani COBISS.SI-ID 170856707 ISBN 978-961-264-280-8 (PDF) PREDGOVOR MULTIKONFERENCI INFORMACIJSKA DRUŽBA 2023 Šestindvajseta multikonferenca Informacijska družba se odvija v obdobju izjemnega razvoja za umetno inteligenco, računalništvo in informatiko, za celotno informacijsko družbo. Generativna umetna inteligenca je s programi kot ChatGPT dosegla izjemen napredek na poti k superinteligenci, k singularnosti in razcvetu človeške civilizacije. Uresničujejo se napovedi strokovnjakov, da bodo omenjena področna ključna za obstoj in razvoj človeštva, zato moramo pozornost usmeriti na njih, jih hitro uvesti v osnovno in srednje šolstvo in vsakdan posameznika in skupnosti. Po drugi strani se poleg lažnih novic pojavljajo tudi lažne enciklopedije, lažne znanosti ter »ploščate Zemlje«, nadaljuje se zapostavljanje znanstvenih spoznanj, metod, zmanjševanje človekovih pravic in družbenih vrednot. Na vseh nas je, da izzive današnjice primerno obravnavamo, predvsem pa pomagamo pri uvajanju znanstvenih spoznanj in razčiščevanju zmot. Ena pogosto omenjanih v zadnjem letu je eksistencialna nevarnost umetne inteligence, ki naj bi ogrožala človeštvo tako kot jedrske vojne. Hkrati pa nihče ne poda vsaj za silo smiselnega scenarija, kako naj bi se to zgodilo – recimo, kako naj bi 100x pametnejši GPT ogrozil ljudi. Letošnja konferenca poleg čisto tehnoloških izpostavlja pomembne integralne teme, kot so okolje, zdravstvo, politika depopulacije, ter rešitve, ki jih za skoraj vse probleme prinaša umetna inteligenca. V takšnem okolju je ključnega pomena poglobljena analiza in diskurz, ki lahko oblikujeta najboljše pristope k upravljanju in izkoriščanju tehnologij. Imamo veliko srečo, da gostimo vrsto izjemnih mislecev, znanstvenikov in strokovnjakov, ki skupaj v delovnem in akademsko odprtem okolju prinašajo bogastvo znanja in dialoga. Verjamemo, da je njihova prisotnost in udeležba ključna za oblikovanje bolj inkluzivne, varne in trajnostne informacijske družbe. Za razcvet. Letos smo v multikonferenco povezali deset odličnih neodvisnih konferenc, med njimi »Legende računalništva«, s katero postavljamo nov mehanizem promocije informacijske družbe. IS 2023 zajema okoli 160 predstavitev, povzetkov in referatov v okviru samostojnih konferenc in delavnic, skupaj pa se je konference udeležilo okrog 500 udeležencev. Prireditev so spremljale okrogle mize in razprave ter posebni dogodki, kot je svečana podelitev nagrad. Izbrani prispevki bodo izšli tudi v posebni številki revije Informatica (http://www.informatica.si/), ki se ponaša s 46-letno tradicijo odlične znanstvene revije. Multikonferenco Informacijska družba 2023 sestavljajo naslednje samostojne konference: • Odkrivanje znanja in podatkovna središča • Demografske in družinske analize • Legende računalništva in informatike • Konferenca o zdravi dolgoživosti • Miti in resnice o varovanju okolja • Mednarodna konferenca o prenosu tehnologij • Digitalna vključenost v informacijski družbi – DIGIN 2023 • Slovenska konferenca o umetni inteligenci + DATASCIENCE • Kognitivna znanost • Vzgoja in izobraževanje v informacijski družbi • Zaključna svečana prireditev konference Soorganizatorji in podporniki konference so različne raziskovalne institucije in združenja, med njimi ACM Slovenija, SLAIS za umetno inteligenco, DKZ za kognitivno znanost in Inženirska akademija Slovenije (IAS). V imenu organizatorjev konference se zahvaljujemo združenjem in institucijam, še posebej pa udeležencem za njihove dragocene prispevke in priložnost, da z nami delijo svoje izkušnje o informacijski družbi. Zahvaljujemo se tudi recenzentom za njihovo pomoč pri recenziranju. S podelitvijo nagrad, še posebej z nagrado Michie-Turing, se avtonomna stroka s področja opredeli do najbolj izstopajočih dosežkov. Nagrado Michie-Turing za izjemen življenjski prispevek k razvoju in promociji informacijske družbe je prejel prof. dr. Andrej Brodnik. Priznanje za dosežek leta pripada Benjaminu Bajdu za zlato medaljo na računalniški olimpijadi. »Informacijsko limono« za najmanj primerno informacijsko tematiko je prejela nekompatibilnost zdravstvenih sistemov v Sloveniji, »informacijsko jagodo« kot najboljšo potezo pa dobi ekipa RTV za portal dostopno.si. Čestitke nagrajencem! Mojca Ciglarič, predsednica programskega odbora Matjaž Gams, predsednik organizacijskega odbora i FOREWORD - INFORMATION SOCIETY 2023 The twenty-sixth Information Society multi-conference is taking place during a period of exceptional development for artificial intelligence, computing, and informatics, encompassing the entire information society. Generative artificial intelligence has made significant progress towards superintelligence, towards singularity, and the flourishing of human civilization with programs like ChatGPT. Experts' predictions are coming true, asserting that the mentioned fields are crucial for humanity's existence and development. Hence, we must direct our attention to them, swiftly integrating them into primary, secondary education, and the daily lives of individuals and communities. On the other hand, alongside fake news, we witness the emergence of false encyclopaedias, pseudo-sciences, and flat Earth theories, along with the continuing neglect of scientific insights and methods, the diminishing of human rights, and societal values. It is upon all of us to appropriately address today's challenges, mainly assisting in the introduction of scientific knowledge and clearing up misconceptions. A frequently mentioned concern over the past year is the existential threat posed by artificial intelligence, supposedly endangering humanity as nuclear wars do. Yet, nobody provides a reasonably coherent scenario of how this might happen, say, how a 100x smarter GPT could endanger people. This year's conference, besides purely technological aspects, highlights important integral themes like the environment, healthcare, depopulation policies, and solutions brought by artificial intelligence to almost all problems. In such an environment, in-depth analysis and discourse are crucial, shaping the best approaches to managing and exploiting technologies. We are fortunate to host a series of exceptional thinkers, scientists, and experts who bring a wealth of knowledge and dialogue in a collaborative and academically open environment. We believe their presence and participation are key to shaping a more inclusive, safe, and sustainable information society. For flourishing. This year, we connected ten excellent independent conferences into the multi-conference, including "Legends of Computing", which introduces a new mechanism for promoting the information society. IS 2023 encompasses around 160 presentations, abstracts, and papers within standalone conferences and workshops. In total about 500 participants attended the conference. The event was accompanied by panel discussions, debates, and special events like the award ceremony. Selected contributions will also be published in a special issue of the journal Informatica (http://www.informatica.si/), boasting a 46-year tradition of being an excellent scientific journal. The Information Society 2023 multi-conference consists of the following independent conferences: • Data Mining and Data Warehouse - SIKDD • Demographic and Family Analysis • Legends of Computing and Informatics • Healthy Longevity Conference • Myths and Truths about Environmental Protection • International Conference on Technology Transfer • Digital Inclusion in the Information Society - DIGIN 2023 • Slovenian Conference on Artificial Intelligence + DATASCIENCE • Cognitive Science • Education and Training in the Information Society • Closing Conference Ceremony Co-organizers and supporters of the conference include various research institutions and associations, among them ACM Slovenia, SLAIS for Artificial Intelligence, DKZ for Cognitive Science, and the Engineering Academy of Slovenia (IAS). On behalf of the conference organizers, we thank the associations and institutions, and especially the participants for their valuable contributions and the opportunity to share their experiences about the information society with us. We also thank the reviewers for their assistance in reviewing. With the awarding of prizes, especially the Michie-Turing Award, the autonomous profession from the field identifies the most outstanding achievements. Prof. Dr. Andrej Brodnik received the Michie-Turing Award for his exceptional lifetime contribution to the development and promotion of the information society. The Achievement of the Year award goes to Benjamin Bajd, gold medal winner at the Computer Olympiad. The "Information Lemon" for the least appropriate information move was awarded to the incompatibility of information systems in the Slovenian healthcare, while the "Information Strawberry" for the best move goes to the RTV SLO team for portal dostopno.si. Congratulations to the winners! Mojca Ciglarič, Chair of the Program Committee Matjaž Gams, Chair of the Organizing Committee ii KONFERENČNI ODBORI CONFERENCE COMMITTEES International Programme Committee Organizing Committee Vladimir Bajic, South Africa Matjaž Gams, chair Heiner Benking, Germany Mitja Luštrek Se Woo Cheon, South Korea Lana Zemljak Howie Firth, UK Vesna Koricki Olga Fomichova, Russia Mitja Lasič Vladimir Fomichov, Russia Blaž Mahnič Vesna Hljuz Dobric, Croatia Mateja Mavrič Alfred Inselberg, Israel Jay Liebowitz, USA Huan Liu, Singapore Henz Martin, Germany Marcin Paprzycki, USA Claude Sammut, Australia Jiri Wiedermann, Czech Republic Xindong Wu, USA Yiming Ye, USA Ning Zhong, USA Wray Buntine, Australia Bezalel Gavish, USA Gal A. Kaminka, Israel Mike Bain, Australia Michela Milano, Italy Derong Liu, Chicago, USA Toby Walsh, Australia Sergio Campos-Cordobes, Spain Shabnam Farahmand, Finland Sergio Crovella, Italy Programme Committee Mojca Ciglarič, chair Marjan Heričko Baldomir Zajc Bojan Orel Borka Jerman Blažič Džonova Blaž Zupan Franc Solina Gorazd Kandus Boris Žemva Viljan Mahnič Urban Kordeš Leon Žlajpah Cene Bavec Marjan Krisper Niko Zimic Tomaž Kalin Andrej Kuščer Rok Piltaver Jozsef Györkös Jadran Lenarčič Toma Strle Tadej Bajd Borut Likar Tine Kolenik Jaroslav Berce Janez Malačič Franci Pivec Mojca Bernik Olga Markič Uroš Rajkovič Marko Bohanec Dunja Mladenič Borut Batagelj Ivan Bratko Franc Novak Tomaž Ogrin Andrej Brodnik Vladislav Rajkovič Aleš Ude Dušan Caf Grega Repovš Bojan Blažica Saša Divjak Ivan Rozman Matjaž Kljun Tomaž Erjavec Niko Schlamberger Robert Blatnik Bogdan Filipič Stanko Strmčnik Erik Dovgan Andrej Gams Jurij Šilc Špela Stres Matjaž Gams Jurij Tasič Anton Gradišek Mitja Luštrek Denis Trček Marko Grobelnik Andrej Ule Nikola Guid Boštjan Vilfan iii iv KAZALO / TABLE OF CONTENTS Digitalna vključenost v informacijski družbi / Digital Inclusion in Information Society ......................... 1 PREDGOVOR / FOREWORD ............................................................................................................................... 3 PROGRAMSKI ODBORI / PROGRAMME COMMITTEES ............................................................................... 5 Online Notes – A Real-Time Speech Recognition and Machine Translation System for Slovene University Lectures / Bajec Marko, Lebar Bajec Iztok, Šoltes Tjaša, Cvek Jernej, Čibej Jaka, Gantar Kaja, Sever Sara, Krek Simon ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 Digital Inclusion of Disabled Students in Higher Education / Gajšt Alenka, Mauko Zimšek Nataša ................. 11 Exploring Digital Literacy and the Use of ChatGPT among Students w ith Disabilities / Kožuh Ines, Blekač Erika, Čakš Peter, Lovrenčič Držanič Irena ..................................................................................................... 15 General Strategies for Improving Accessibility of E-commerce / Cerovac Bogdan, Škraba Tilen ..................... 19 IT solutions accessibility - the key to empowering people with disabilities / Škraba Tilen, Cerovac Bogdan .... 23 Bridging Communication Gaps through the Talking Hands Project: An In depth Analysis / Wltavsky Zdenka, Ljubišić Jelena .................................................................................................................................................. 27 The Technical Execution of Sign Language Interpretation on Television / Mord Bojan ..................................... 31 Using auto subtitle system methods in audiovisual content / Dugonik Bogdan ................................................... 37 Accessible Multimodal Journey Planner: Prioritizing Inclusive UI Design / Juvan Žana, Klavžar Simon, Pogačnik Matevž, Pečnik Klemen .................................................................................................................... 41 Towards a Self Assessment Tool for Enabling Inclusive Digital Education / Šumak Boštjan, Pušnik Maja, Kous Katja ................................................................................................................................................................. 45 Indeks avtorjev / Author index ................................................................................................................... 51 v vi Zbornik 26. mednarodne multikonference INFORMACIJSKA DRUŽBA – IS 2023 Zvezek H Proceedings of the 26th International Multiconference INFORMATION SOCIETY – IS 2023 Volume H Digitalna vključenost v informacijski družbi Digital Inclusion in Information Society Urednika / Editors Matjaž Debevc, Ines Kožuh http://is.ijs.si 11. oktober 2023 / 11 October 2023 Ljubljana, Slovenia 1 2 PREDGOVOR Danes, v dobi razmahajoče digitalizacije, postaja digitalna vključenost ključni steber naše informacijske družbe. S širjenjem dostopa do digitalnih tehnologij in spletnih storitev na vse večje število posameznikov, vključno z osebami z različnimi oblikami oviranosti, se poudarek na zagotavljanju dostopnosti, jasnosti, razumljivosti in uporabnosti tehnologij le še krepi. Vse večje število posameznikov potrebuje prilagojene rešitve, da bi lahko v celoti sodelovali v digitalni dobi in izkoristili njen polni potencial. Hkrati pa se moramo globoko zavedati potreb in zahtev tistih, ki potrebujejo podporo pri komunikaciji ter lažjem vključevanju v družbeno, socialno in delovno okolje. In prav to je osrednja tematika prve hibridne in obenem dostopne konference "Digitalna vključenost v informacijski družbi – DIGIN 2023", ki se je izvajala v sodelovanju z evropskim centrom virov o dostopnosti – AccessibleEU. Konferenca je združila priznane slovenske raziskovalce in praktike iz različnih področij, ki so delili svoje rešitve, spoznanja in metode za dosego popolne digitalne vključenosti. Cilj konference je bil raziskati in premagati ovire, s katerimi se srečujejo osebe z različnimi oblikami oviranosti ter ustvariti digitalno okolje, ki bo dostopno za vse. Vsebine, ki so v pričujočem zborniku, so neprecenljiv vir znanja in inspiracije za vse udeležence. Z njimi bomo bolje razumeli, kako lahko podporno tehnologijo izkoristimo za izboljšanje kakovosti življenja posameznikov in omogočimo, da se vsi enakopravno vključijo v digitalno dobo. Prepričani smo, da bomo skupaj ustvarili pomembno premikanje proti bolj vključujoči in dostopni digitalni prihodnosti! Uredniški odbor 3 FOREWORD Today, in the era of digitalization, digital inclusion is becoming a pivotal pillar of our information society. As access to digital technologies and online services continues to expand to an ever-growing number of individuals, including those with various forms of disabilities, the emphasis on ensuring accessibility, clarity, comprehensibility, and usability of technology only strengthens. An increasing number of individuals require tailored solutions to fully participate in the digital age and harness its full potential. At the same time, we must deeply acknowledge the needs and requirements of those who require support in communication and seamless integration into the social, societal, and work environments. And precisely this is the central theme of the first hybrid and accessible conference, "Digital Inclusion in the Information Society – DIGIN 2023," conducted in collaboration with the European Accessibility Resource Centre – AccessibleEU. The conference brought together esteemed Slovenian researchers and practitioners from various fields who shared their solutions, insights, and methods to achieve complete digital inclusion. The conference's goal was to explore and overcome the barriers faced by individuals with various forms of disabilities and to create a digital environment accessible to all. The contents within this compendium serve as an invaluable source of knowledge and inspiration for all participants. Through them, we will gain a better understanding of how assistive technology can be leveraged to improve the quality of life for individuals and enable everyone to be equally included in the digital era. We are confident that together, we will make significant strides toward a more inclusive and accessible digital future! Editorial Board 4 PROGRAMSKI ODBOR / PROGRAMME COMMITTEE Programski svet / Steering Committee Matjaž Gams ( Predsednik / Chair), Institut Jožef Stefan Matjaž Debevc, Matjaž Debevc, Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za elektrotehniko, računalništvo in informatiko Zoran Ren, Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za strojništvo Marta Licardo, Univerza v Mariboru, Pedagoška fakulteta Boštjan Šumak, Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za elektrotehniko, računalništvo in informatiko Damjana Kogovšek, Univerza v Ljubljani, Pedagoška fakulteta Matevž Pogačnik, Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za elektrotehniko Dušan Caf, Alma Mater Europaea Programski odbor / Programme Committee Ines Kožuh (Predsednik / Chair), Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za elektrotehniko, računalništvo in informatiko Andraž Petrovčič (Podpredsednik), Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za družbene vede Maja Pušnik, Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za elektrotehniko, računalništvo in informatiko Katja Kous, Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za elektrotehniko, računalništvo in informatiko Darinka Verdonik, Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za elektrotehniko, računalništvo in informatiko Mirjam Sepesy Maučec, Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za elektrotehniko, računalništvo in informatiko Dragica Haramija, Univerza v Mariboru, Pedagoška fakulteta in Filozofska fakulteta Patricija Sedminek, Univerza v Mariboru, Pedagoška fakulteta Natalija Špur, Univerza v Mariboru Narvika Bovcon, Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za računalništvo in informatiko Klemen Pečnik, Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za elektrotehniko Katja Mahnič, Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta Jelena Ficzko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Zdravstvena fakulteta Anamarija Kejžar, Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za socialno delo Jana Mali, Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za socialno delo Simona Hvalič Touzery, Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za družbene vede 5 Vesna Dolničar, Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za družbene vede Darja Grošelj, Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za družbene vede Janez Drobnič, Univerza na Primorskem, Pedagoška fakulteta Vanja Riccarda Kiswarday, Univerza na Primorskem, Pedagoška fakulteta Aksinja Kermauner, Univerza na Primorskem, Pedagoška fakulteta Janja Gabruč, Univerza na Primorskem, Fakulteta za turistične študije Mojca Debeljak, Univerzitetni rehabilitacijski inštitut Republike Slovenije – Soča Zdenka Wltavsky, Univerzitetni rehabilitacijski inštitut Republike Slovenije – Soča Alenka Gajšt, Društvo študentov invalidov Slovenije Darja Ivanuša, Kline, Inštitut za napredno upravljanje komunikacij – INUK Mateja Toman, Nacionalni svet invalidskih organizacij Slovenija – NSIOS Borut Čampelj, Ministrstvo za vzgojo in izobraževanje Saša Mlakar, Ministrstvo za delo, družino, socialne zadeve in enake možnosti, Direktorat za invalide Aida Kamišalić Latifić, Ministrstvo za digitalno preobrazbo 6 Online Notes – A Real-Time Speech Recognition and Machine Translation System for Slovene University Lectures Marko Bajec Jaka Čibej Iztok Lebar Bajec Kaja Gantar Tjaša Šoltes Sara Sever Jernej Cvek Simon Krek name.surname@fri.uni-lj.si name.surname@fri.uni-lj.si Laboratory for Data Technologies Centre for Language Resources and Technologies Faculty of Computer and Information Science Faculty of Computer and Information Science University of Ljubljana University of Ljubljana Večna pot 113 Večna pot 113 Ljubljana, Slovenia Ljubljana, Slovenia ABSTRACT are dyslexic, 2% are hearing-impaired, 4% are sight-impaired, and The paper presents Online Notes, a system involving speech 13% are cognitively impaired. recognition and machine translation that provides a real-time One of the projects financed by the University to tackle both transcription of Slovene speech during a lecture and its machine the issues of internationalization and inclusiveness is Online translation into English. It was developed by researchers at the Notes. We begin the paper by outlining the project, then con- University of Ljubljana to fulfil two principal goals: (1) to al- tinue by describing the system (with short descriptions of its low non-Slovene-speaking university students to attend lectures components and its interface), the workflow of the pilot lectures held in Slovene; and (2) to enable students with disabilities (par- used to test the system between 2021 and 2023, and the prelimi- ticularly the hard-of-hearing) to attend lectures that would be nary results of the testing phase. We conclude by describing our otherwise inaccessible to them. We present the motivation behind plans for future work. the development of the system, its functionality, some results and impressions obtained from the pilot lectures conducted in the last two years, and finally, our plans for future work. 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION The Online Notes project is a collaboration between the Labo-KEYWORDS ratory for Data Technologies at the Faculty of Computer and speech recognition, machine translation, university lectures, Slovene Information Science of the University of Ljubljana, and the Cen- tre for Language Resources and Technologies of the University 1 INTRODUCTION of Ljubljana. The project is aimed at developing a system for In accordance with the development strategy adopted by the the real-time speech recognition and automatic translation of University of Ljubljana for the periods 2012-2020 and 2022-2027, Slovene lectures, which will help non-Slovene-speaking students the University has undertaken a series of measures in order to to attend lectures held in Slovene, as well as provide transcrip- achieve its goals of fostering academic excellence, credibility and tions and recordings of lectures for students with disabilities. autonomy, with a strong focus on internationalization, equal The project encompasses the following activities: (a) the devel- opportunity, solidarity, and inclusiveness [4]. The international-opment of ASR-models for the domain of Slovene university-level ization of the University has long been a source of heated debates lectures; (b) the development of the system back-end and front- both among experts and in the public, with opponents warn- end; (c) the organization of pilot lectures at the University of ing that the introduction of more English lectures would have Ljubljana; and (d) collecting user feedback. a negative effect on the development of Slovene, and advocates proposing it as a necessary measure in order for the University to become more active in the international academic sphere, compet- 3 THE ONLINE NOTES SYSTEM itive, inclusive and accessible. The strategy of inclusiveness does The Online Notes system (or ON for short) consists of several not refer to only non-Slovene-speaking students, however, but components presented in the following subsections. students with disabilities as well: one of the strategic activities of The components of ON can be divided into three groups; (1) the University (according to its 2022-2027 development plan [5]) client-side applications, (2) back-end services and (3) speech ser- focuses on providing systematic support for the accessibility of vices. Client-side applications consist of (a) an application for studies to individuals with special needs. The results of a survey audio streaming, (b) a web application for users (students and conducted by the University of Ljubljana in February 2021 ([3] lecturers; see 3.5 and 3.4), and (c) a web application for admin-show e.g. that approximately 38% of students with disabilities istrators (see 3.6). The main back-end component connects the building blocks (i.e. speech services), stores audio, transcripts Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal and translations to a database/file system, provides real-time data or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and using a message broker and exposes functionalities to client-side the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this applications via an API, protected by an identity and access man-work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the owner/author(s). agement (IAM) service. The speech services consist of a speech Information Society 2023, 9–13 October 2023, Ljubljana, Slovenia © 2023 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). recognition service, a punctuation service and a translation ser- vice. 7 Information Society 2023, 9–13 October 2023, Ljubljana, Slovenia Bajec et al. 3.2 Machine Translation Each final hypothesis (represented as a paragraph, or a block of text with punctuation) returned by the speech recognition service is then translated and displayed parallel to the Slovene text. Each segment is translated separately to minimize the delay in the display of translations. Currently, two machine translators are supported, i.e. an external commercial neural machine trans- lator, as well as a translation service that was developed at the University of Ljubljana within the Development of Slovene in a Digital Environment (RSDO) project for the Slovene-English language pair. It is based on the AAYN model from the NVIDIA NeMo toolkit. The model was trained on a Slovene-English cor- Figure 1: High-level overview of ON system architecture. pus consisting of 40 million aligned sentences. While the system has been tested for the Slovene-English language pair, in the future, the plan is to allow students to choose their preferred target language when using an external machine translator. 3.1 Speech Recognition The speech recognition model that has been developed within the project is based on the Kaldi toolkit [6] and uses Weighted Finite-3.3 Interface State Transducers (WFST) for training and decoding. All steps The ON front-end is designed as a web portal with a single entry (including data preprocessing and training) follow the recipe site where users can log in with their digital identities provided by provided by Kaldi. Speech recognition starts with waveform- the University of Ljubljana. Based on their account type (student reading and feature extraction from the audio, which is then or lecturer), the log-in redirects them to one of the two different presented with a Mel spectrogram. The data is processed by sites with differing functions. In addition, a separate administra- the acoustic model (based on librispeech chain recipes), which tor site is also available, along with a streaming site (where live returns a probability matrix of subword units (phonemes) over lectures are recorded). We briefly present all components in the time. The probability matrix is decoded with a language model subsections below. (a statistical n-gram model in ARPA format, created using the The general workflow of the system is designed in the fol- kenlm toolkit), which results in the recognized text. Because lowing manner: (1) lectures are scheduled in the ON system by this text lacks punctuation, it is sent to the punctuator, which is an administrator, (2) a lecturer runs the ON speech-recognition implemented as a separate service that inserts punctuation into and machine-translation system during their scheduled lecture the text. through the streaming site; students can access the real-time Currently, two distinct speech recognition models are used transcriptions and translations during the lecture through the within the ON system: one that is tailored to social science lec- student site; (3) once the lecture is complete, the lecturer can tures (ON-DR) and one for technical science lectures (ON-NT). In edit the transcription and translation (if necessary) through the the Kaldi framework, the acoustic model and the language model lecturer site; (4) the recording, (edited) transcription and (edited) can be built independently, therefore the two speech recognition translation are archived in the system and can be accessed again models share a common acoustic model, but have domain-tuned at a later date through the student or lecturer site; the lecturer language models. The acoustic model was trained on approxi- also has an option to hide the lecture from further view. mately 200 hours of orthographically transcribed speech. The language model is being continuously updated and the current 3.4 Lecturer Site training dataset consists of approximately 2M sentences and a The lecturer site consists of an overview page (Figure 2) with a lexicon of 1.3M words. list of all lectures archived in the ON system by the lecturer so The base for the language model is a corpus of texts pertaining far; and an editing page (Figure 3), where the lecturer can edit to the field(s) of university lectures. The content of university-the ASR-output (left column) and its machine translation (right level lectures is highly specialized, so it was important to adjust column) for a specific lecture. The lecturer can move through the language model accordingly. the transcription by clicking on the audio progress bar at the To do so, we contacted all lecturers at the University of Ljubl- bottom of the page. The audio is synchronized with the Slovene jana through a common mailing list and collected a number of transcription and the text is color-highlighted when listening to audio- or video-recordings of lectures from previous years (when the audio to facilitate the editing process. The lecturer can also recordings were more frequent because of the COVID-19 pan- add attachments to the lecture (presentation slides, notes, figures, demic). The recordings were first automatically converted to text, etc.), then manually corrected to get the correct transcriptions. In case no recording material for a specific field was available, we used other materials for the subcorpus, such as theses, journals, and 3.5 Student Site research papers. The process was repeated multiple times during The student site is similar to the lecturer site. The homepage the course of the project for each pilot lecture (more on this in consists of an overview of courses and lectures that the student is section 4.1): each time the obtained transcriptions were added to subscribed to (Figure 4), while the lecture page (which is accessed either the ON-NT or ON-DR corpus, gradually expanding both by selecting one of the lectures from the list) shows the Slovene language models. Once the text corpus is compiled, a lexicon of transcription and its machine translation in the same way they tokens and their corresponding pronunciations that match the are displayed to the lecturer (see Figure 3). However, students chosen subword unit while training is prepared. cannot edit the text. During live lectures, the transcription and 8 Online Notes Information Society 2023, 9–13 October 2023, Ljubljana, Slovenia for different lecturers, while lecturers simply run the ON system from the streaming site at the start of their lecture. Figure 2: ON lecturer site with an overview of available lectures. Figure 5: The ON administrator site. 4 PILOT LECTURES 4.1 Workflow To test the Online Notes system in real-life situations, a number of pilot lectures were organized through multiple calls for inter- ested lecturers at the University of Ljubljana. In collaboration with the IT-staff of individual faculties, we first tested the sound equipment available in the relevant lecture room. If the equip- ment was inadequate, we used our own setup (a laptop and a pin microphone). Before the lecture, the recordings of previous lectures with the same or similar content that were provided by the lecturers were transcribed and processed (in order to improve the ASR-models, as described in section 3.1). During the lecture(s), the students were given access to the Figure 3: Editing page of the ON lecturer site. live transcriptions and translations; in some lectures, the ON output was also projected to the screen. In two cases, the ON system was used for every lecture held in that course in that translation are shown in successive blocks of text appearing at semester. the bottom of the page. 4.2 First Impressions and Further Feedback Since 2021, a total of 29 pilot lectures (with two consisting of multiple lectures) have been held at 8 different faculties of the University of Ljubljana so far, with several more planned for the 2023-2024 scholastic year. The lectures included both the fields of humanities and social sciences (e.g. the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Social Sciences) as well as STEM subjects (e.g. the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, the Faculty of Computer and Information Science). While the feedback has been predominantly positive, the use of the system has shown several potential problems that need to be addressed before a more widespread implementation. These range from minor bugs and features to be implemented (e.g. the implementation of a sensible profanity filter for machine Figure 4: Overview page of the ON student site. translations, as these are often unpredictable and sometimes result in unwarranted obscenities in the translated text) to purely technical issues that require action on the part of the faculties 3.6 Administrator Site themselves, such as outdated operating systems on lecture room The administrator site (Figure 5) is separate from the lecturer computers or insufficient hardware. and student sites and allows for lectures to be scheduled in the Currently, we are working on surveys and interviews to ob- Online Notes system. The administrator can manage the pass- tain more feedback from lecturers (not just on the live version words for lecturer accounts, add new courses to their accounts, of Online Notes, but the post-lecture editing phase as well) and assign individual lectures to different classrooms, etc. students, particularly Erasmus students and students with disabil- The administrator site is designed for a designated administra- ities. When it comes to students with disabilities, We have already tor at the faculty level that is responsible for scheduling lectures received general feedback on the use of WCAG Guidelines in 9 Information Society 2023, 9–13 October 2023, Ljubljana, Slovenia Bajec et al. terms of the overall interface design, e.g. the use of appropriate (which also causes problems with translation delay; in some cases, contrast ratio for the sight-impaired and the accessibility of dif- it took more than 30 seconds for a very long segment to be dis- ferent interface elements by keyboard. However, this feedback played and translated, which made it more difficult to follow the was not specific to the Online Notes system, but in general. For lecture). Uneven and delayed segmentation causes problems for a more focused test of the user-experience for students with dis- students with disabilities as well and needs to be addressed to abilities, we intend to perform a pilot lecture to receive feedback increase user-friendliness. on the actual use of the platform. Unfortunately, setting up such However, several other, non-technical aspects need to be taken a pilot lecture has not yet been successful because of difficulties into account as well. To a certain extent, the successful use of ON finding willing candidates who at the same time attend lectures depends on the degree to which the speaker adapts their speech that are more suitable for the use of the ON system. to the limitations of the tool; for instance, by consciously avoiding The latest evaluations of the ASR-models done on a sample of segmented speech with numerous false starts, filler words and so the transcriptions of pilot lectures at the end of 2022 show that the on. These become particularly evident in the translation, where speech recognition features word-error rates (WER) between ap- the frequent Slovene filler word ne (which is homonymous with proximately 12.6% and 32%, depending on multiple factors, such ne meaning ’no’ or ’not’) sometimes causes the translation to be as the complexity of the topic (e.g. successful ASR is more difficult diametrically opposed to what the speaker actually said. with non-linguistic elements such as formulae in mathematics By the end of the project, we intend to develop the Online and physics) and the lecturer’s speech rate, clarity, and degree Notes system so that it can be successfully implemented at the of standardness (e.g. non-standard and dialectal speech is still University in order to (1) help increase the accessibility of lectures insufficiently supported by our current ASR-models). Successful for people with disabilities; (2) contribute to the international- speech segmentation is also a problem, as speech segments do ization of the University of Ljubljana by allowing non-Slovene- not necessarily coincide with semantically coherent units, which speaking students to attend Slovene lectures; (3) allow teachers causes additional problems downstream with machine transla- to archive their lectures and edit their transcriptions/translations; tions. No systematic machine translation evaluation has been and (4) contribute to the wider language infrastructure for Slovene. conducted yet since our priority is to resolve as many ASR-issues as possible and then tackle machine translation. However, one 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS of the teachers who used the Online Notes system for an entire The Online Notes project was financed by the University of Ljubl- semester deemed the translations suitable enough to be published jana as part of its RSF-funding scheme through the measure ti- as subtitles on their videos (with some corrections), which indi- tled Nadgradnja sistema strojnega prevajanja za potrebe delovanja cates that automatic translations are reasonably useful; however, učnih skupnosti (tudi za študente s posebnimi potrebami) (Upgrad- this also varies from subject to subject. ing a Machine Translation System for Learning Communities (and Special Needs Students)). The research presented in this paper was conducted within the research project titled Basic Research for 5 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK the Development of Spoken Language Resources and Speech Tech- While the pilot version of Online Notes has been received posi- nologies for the Slovenian Language (J7-4642) and the research tively by the lecturer community at the University of Ljubljana programme Language Resources and Technologies for Slovene (P6- (with some lecturers even integrating the use of the system in 0411) funded by the Slovenian Research Agency, as well as the their own workflows, e.g. using transcriptions for the prepara- research project Development of Slovene in a Digital Environment tion of subtitles for video-recordings of their lecture on public funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia. video platforms) and the students (for instance, two Erasmus The authors would like to thank all the lecturers who held students successfully passed an exam in a course held in Slovene pilot lectures within the project and provided valuable feedback by using the ON translations as study aids), the evaluations have on the Online Notes system, as well as the students who took shown that there is still room for improvement. Translating tran- part in the project and the anonymous reviewers who provided scriptions of spontaneous spoken speech is a difficult task, par- valuable feedback on the paper. ticularly in Slovene, where spoken language frequently differs significantly from written standard language both in terms of REFERENCES vocabulary and pronunciation. In the future, we intend to adapt [1] Jaka Čibej et al. 2022. Morphological lexicon sloleks 3.0. Slovenian language our ASR-models to non-standard pronunciations and expanding resource repository CLARIN.SI. (2022). http://hdl.handle.net/11356/1745. the pronunciation dictionaries in order to increase ASR-accuracy. [2] Iztok Kosem, Simon Krek, and Polona Gantar. 2021. Semantic data should no longer exist in isolation: the digital dictionary database of slovenian. In We also intend to expand our pronunciation dictionaries by inte-EURALEX XIX, Lexicography for inclusion. EURALEX. grating the ON system with other language resources developed [3] University of Ljubljana. 2021. Rezultati ankete za študente s posebnimi potre- at the University of Ljubljana, such as the Sloleks Morpholog- bami. (Feb. 2021). Retrieved July 28, 2023 from https://www.uni-lj.si/studij/st udenti-s-posebnim-statusom/porocila-in-analize/. ical Lexicon of Slovene [1], the Digital Dictionary Database of [4] University of Ljubljana. 2012. Strategija univerze v ljubljani 2012–2020. (May Slovene [2], and the Slovenian Terminology Portal [7]. This will 2012). Retrieved July 28, 2023 from https://www.uni-lj.si/o_univerzi_v_ljublj ani/strategija_ul/. reduce the need for processing transcriptions in order to cover [5] University of Ljubljana. 2022. Strategija univerze v ljubljani 2022–2027. (May the vocabulary required for good ASR-results. Depending on how 2022). Retrieved July 28, 2023 from https://www.uni-lj.si/o_univerzi_v_ljublj willing the participating lecturers are to correct the automatic ani/strategija_ul/. [6] Daniel Povey et al. 2011. The kaldi speech recognition toolkit. In IEEE 2011 transcriptions, we may implement an incremental training work- Workshop on Automatic Speech Recognition and Understanding. IEEE Cata- flow using corrected outputs to provide more improvements to log No.: CFP11SRW-USB. IEEE Signal Processing Society, Hilton Waikoloa the system. Village, Big Island, Hawaii, US, (Dec. 2011). [7] 2022. Slovenian terminology portal. (Dec. 2022). Retrieved July 28, 2023 from Additionally, different segmentation methods must be tested in https://terminoloski.slovenscina.eu/. order to avoid segmentation-related problems in machine trans- lation, e.g. speech segments that are either too short or too long 10 Digitalna vključenost študentov s posebnimi potrebami v visokošolskem izobraževanju Digital Inclusion of Disabled Students in Higher Education Alenka Gajšt Nataša Mauko Zimšek Društvo študentov invalidov Slovenije Društvo študentov invalidov Slovenije Ljubljana, Slovenija Ljubljana, Slovenija alenka@dsis-drustvo.si natasa@dsis-drustvo.si POVZETEK področij, razmisliti pa je treba tudi o dostopnosti informacijske tehnologije, ki se uporablja na visokošolskih institucijah in med Vse več študijskih aktivnosti poteka v digitalnem okolju ali pa so študenti. Predpisi na področju visokega šolstva [6], invalidskega tradicionalne oblike študijskega procesa podprte tudi z varstva [7] in digitalne dostopnosti [8] nam nalagajo, da se tudi digitalnimi orodji. V nekaterih primerih digitalno okolje v digitalnem okolju prilagodimo raznolikosti študentske študentom s posebnimi potrebami omogoča dostopnejši in populacije, prav tako pa moramo upoštevati raznolikost enakovrednejši študij, a ostajajo področja, na katerih se določene zaposlenih. Digitalna dostopnost visokošolskega prostora je skupine še vedno srečujejo z nepremostljivimi ovirami. večplastna in zahteva načrtno ter usklajeno delovanje različnih Določene ovire izhajajo iz digitalnih orodij; določene obstajajo deležnikov. na sistemski ravni in na ravni izvajalcev; določene izhajajo tudi iz študentov samih. Opisali bomo nekatere najizrazitejše ovire in V prvi vrsti gre za poznavanje dostopnosti razvijalcev njihov vpliv na uspešnost opravljanja študijskih obveznosti digitalnih izdelkov in storitev, da so ti zasnovani po kriterijih študentov s posebnimi potrebami. digitalne dostopnosti. V času pandemije covda-19, ko se je celoten izobraževalni proces preselil na splet in je bilo treba za KLJUČNE BESEDE nadomeščanje nekaterih aktivnosti, ki bi se sicer odvijale v digitalna dostopnost, IKT, podporna tehnologija, študenti s predavalnici, hitro najti digitalna orodja, je imelo veliko posebnimi potrebami, visokošolsko izobraževanje študentov težave z nedostopnostjo teh programov oz. aplikacij. Tudi skrbniki IKT-področja na visokošolskih institucijah morajo ABSTRACT poznati minimalne standarde dostopnosti, da zakupijo licence In higher education, more and more courses are held online or programov, ki jih lahko uporabljajo tudi uporabniki s posebnimi traditional campus courses involve digital tools to enhance potrebami. Ker veliko invalidov za dostop do informacij in teaching and learning. In some cases, digital environments storitev v digitalnem okolju uporablja podporno tehnologijo, enable disabled students to access and participate on more equal lahko tudi tukaj prihaja do težav, saj včasih nadgradnja teh terms, yet specific groups of disabled people stil face barriers in pripomočkov ne dohaja hitrosti nadgradnje orodij v splošni accessing digital learning environments and resources. Barriers uporabi. Naslednji člen v verigi so oblikovalci vsebin in gradiv v are present on different levels, ranging from accessibility of the spletnih učilnicah: profesorji, asistenti in drugo visokošolsko digital tools themselves, having clear policies and procedures on osebje. Če ne poznajo osnovnih načel oblikovanja dostopnih the level of institutions or academic staff awareness about digital informacij, tudi dostopni programi niso koristni. Zadnji v tej accessibility to the knowledge and skills of disabled students. We verigi so študenti s posebnimi potrebami. Njihovo znanje in will discuss some most common barriers and the way they spretnost pri uporabi IKT-tehnologije ter prilagojenih influence students' academic performance. pripomočkov prav tako vplivata na možnost dostopa do določenih vsebin ter aplikacij. Njihovo znanje je odvisno od več KEYWORDS dejavnikov: časa in intenzitete nastale invalidnosti ali bolezni, rehabilitacije, ustreznega usposabljanja za delo s temi digital accessibility, ICT, assistive technology, disabled students, pripomočki in pogostosti njihove uporabe. higher education Tako lahko vidimo, da so na vseh ravneh potrebni ozaveščanje in usposabljanje, povezovanje in sodelovanje vseh 1 UVOD deležnikov ter upoštevanje uporabniških izkušenj. Raziskava EVROŠTUDENT [1] je pokazala, da je v Sloveniji 21 % študentov poročalo o zdravstvenih težavah ali invalidnosti. 2 DOSTOPNOST ŠTUDIJSKEGA GRADIVA 56 % sodelujočih v raziskavi meni, da je institucionalna podpora nezadostna ali le delno zadovoljiva. Zagotavljanje digitalne Za uspešen študij morajo vsi študenti imeti zagotovljene enake dostopnosti je pomemben del institucionalne podpore študentom. možnosti dostopa do študijskega gradiva. Z uporabo digitalnih Zaradi vse večje digitalizacije visokega šolstva je treba razmisliti, gradiv in spletnih učilnic so se te možnosti precej izboljšale. kako lahko različni ljudje dostopajo do digitalnih informacij, Študijski programi uporabljajo raznoliko študijsko gradivo: od spletnih učnih okolij in študijskega gradiva izbranih študijskih spletnih strani, videoposnetkov, besedilnih datotek, predstavitev 11 in podobno. Za dostopnost študijskih gradiv naj bi bili odgovorni prilagajanje v dostopne oblike pri študijskem delu zaostajati za pedagoški delavci, ki nimajo niti vseh potrebnih tehničnih drugimi študenti. sredstev niti zadostnega znanja o oblikovanju dostopnih gradiv. Velikokrat si študenti sami prilagajajo nedostopno gradivo v Najpogostejša oblika elektronskega študijskega gradiva, ki se dostopne oblike. Nekaterim slepim študentom zdaj pomagajo pojavlja v spletnih učilnicah, so pdf-datoteke. Če so ti dokumenti tudi osebni asistenti, nekaterim priskočimo na pomoč na Društvu ustrezno oblikovani in shranjeni kot besedilo, za večino študentov invalidov Slovenije, vendar so naše kapacitete zaradi študentov niso težavni. Velikokrat se zgodi, da so dokumenti pomanjkanja osebja zelo omejene. Z enakimi težavami se shranjeni kot slike – še posebej, kadar gre za skenirane strani brez srečujejo tudi visokošolske institucije. OCR-ja, ali pa niso ustrezno oblikovani in označeni. V tem primeru jih slepi in slabovidni študenti, ki uporabljajo bralnike Naslednji primer je primer močno slabovidne študentke, ki je zaslona, ne morejo prebrati. Težave predstavljajo tudi študentom prejela gradivo za delo na vajah v pdf-obliki, čeprav je imela v s specifičnimi učnimi težavami, ki si za lažje branje, obdelavo in odločbi zapisano, da naj bi študijsko gradivo prejela v njej pomnjenje gradivo dodatno prilagajajo svojim potrebam, tako da dostopni obliki, torej v Word-formatu. Gradivo ni bilo avtorsko spremenijo obliko pisave, razmik med vrsticami, barvo ozadja delo nosilca predmeta, temveč eksterno skenirano gradivo, ki so ter besedila in podobno. Ti sicer gradivo lahko preberejo, a jim ga uporabljali kot dodatno gradivo za podporo študijskemu to vzame precej več časa in napora. procesu. Po pogovoru z nosilcem predmeta ji je bilo svetovano, naj vse pdf-dokumente odpira v Wordu, kar pa zanjo še vedno ni Prav zato na Društvu študentov invalidov Slovenije svetujemo, rešilo težav z dostopnostjo dokumenta. Pri pretvorbi je namreč da je gradivo študentom s posebnimi potrebami na voljo v prišlo do večjih popačenj strukture dokumenta, ki so vplivala izvornih oblikah, kot so MS Word, PowerPoint ali Excel, vendar tako na preglednost in logičnost gradiva kot na razumevanje je tudi pri uporabi teh programov treba poznati in paziti na vsebine. dostopno oblikovanje dokumentov. V sklopu projekta PRAVA SMER, ki smo ga na Društvu študentov invalidov Slovenije Določene visokošolske institucije v tujini imajo posebne izvajali med pandemijo covida-19, smo objavili priporočila za oddelke, zadolžene za področje digitalne dostopnosti; tako pripravo dostopnih študijskih gradiv; do njih lahko prosto sodelujejo s službami za podporo študentov invalidov in z dostopamo na naši spletni strani pod zavihkom Visokošolsko akademskim osebjem. Prav tako imajo interne ali eksterne službe, osebje. ki preverjajo dostopnost digitalnih informacij in jo popravljajo oz. izboljšujejo. Od akademskega osebja se pričakuje, da bo V nadaljevanju podajamo nekaj konkretnih primerov, ki so gradivo, ki ga pripravljajo sami, na voljo v dostopni obliki, za bili zbrani na skupinskih spletnih posvetih s študenti in v okviru drugo gradivo pa je odgovornost deljena. Tako na primer učitelj individualnih svetovanj študentom med študijem na daljavo. ne povsem dostopen desetstranski članek v pdf-obliki prilagodi Začnimo s primerom slepe študentke, ki pri delu z računalnikom sam, medtem ko 100 strani dolgo publikacijo prilagaja posebna in branju gradiv uporablja bralnik zaslona JAWS. Pri služba. predelovanju gradiv, ki jih je prejela v obliki PowerPoint- dokumentov, in pri reševanju nalog, ki jih je dobila v Wordovem dokumentu, nikakor ni mogla rešiti dela nalog, saj snovi, ki bi 3 DOSTOPNOST SPLETNIH UČILNIC obravnavale dotične naloge, ni našla. Drugi študenti s tem niso Tudi spletna učna okolja so lahko le delno dostopna. Težave imeli težav in so povedali, da je na drsnicah vsa snov. Izkazalo pri branju lahko povzroča nepravilna struktura strani, ki ne se je, da je bila težava v tem, da nosilec predmeta, ki je pripravil uporablja naslovov ali podnaslovov oz. so ti napačno uporabljeni. PowerPoint predstavitev, ni uporabil zgolj prednastavljenih Težavni so lahko nezadosten kontrast, uporaba slik v ozadju, postavitev drsnic, temveč je namesto oblikovanja novih uporaba nepravilno strukturiranih tabel, grafični elementi brez postavitev v obstoječo drsnico vstavil okvirčke z besedilom. dodanih alternativnih opisov ipd. Za vse, ki uporabljajo bralnike Slednji so bralnikom zaslona nedostopni, saj jih zaznavajo kot zaslona, je pomembno, da vedo, ali je besedilo, ki ga slišijo, sliko, ki ji je treba dodati nadomestno besedilo. Tako so bile naslov, podnaslov, odstavek, seznam, tabela in podobno. Brez informacije na drsnici za videče študente vidne, slepa študentka ustreznih označb bralnik zaslona celotno besedilo na strani pa jih s pomočjo podporne tehnologije ni mogla prebrati. prebere kot enoten odstavek, ki je pomensko težje razumljiv. Profesor je tako, čeprav povsem nenamerno in nezavedno, postavil slepo študentko v neenakovreden položaj. Poleg podajanja osnovnih informacij o predmetu, gradiv in navedenih obveznosti lahko v Moodlu potekata tudi preverjanje Študenti velikokrat prejmejo gradivo v obliki pdf- in ocenjevanje znanja. Po eni strani je treba razmisliti o vrsti dokumentov. V nekaterih primerih so to delovni listi, ki jih videči nalog in o njihovi dostopnosti vsem študentom; morda nekaterim študenti natisnejo in izpolnjujejo v papirnati obliki, medtem ko skupinam študentov povzročajo težave. Naloge, ki jih je treba slepi in slabovidni delovne liste raje izpolnjujejo digitalno. Ko rešiti v omejenem času, ali naloge, ki ne omogočajo vračanja na takšen dokument ni ustrezno oblikovan in označen z različnimi prejšnji odgovor, lahko določenim študentom povzročajo veliko vrstami zaznamkov (z naslovi, odstavki, s povezavami, tabelami, težav. V tem primeru so to študenti s specifičnimi učnimi slikami, polji obrazca, z vrstnim redom branja ipd.) ter ne vsebuje težavami, študenti s težavami ohranjanja pozornosti ali z polj za vnos besedila, slep ali slaboviden z njim ne more delati. anksioznostjo. Tem časovni pritisk in brezpogojni vrstni red Enako velja za skenirane knjige, članke, skripte in ostalo izpolnjevanja vprašanj povzročata nepotreben dodaten stres, kar obsežnejše študijsko gradivo. Študenti s posebnimi potrebami lahko močno zmanjšuje njihovo učinkovitost. Zanje je začnejo zaradi nedostopnosti gradiv in potrebnega časa za priporočljivo, da čas odgovarjanja na posamezno vprašanje ni 12 omejen in da lahko najprej rešijo vprašanja, ki jih znajo, ter se o posebnih potrebah in prilagoditvah med visokošolskim nato vrnejo na tista, ki jim povzročajo težave. osebjem, medtem ko jih kar 66,4 % poroča, da so zaposleni Pomembno je poznavanje dodatnih orodij, s pomočjo katerih nadvse pripravljeni pomagati in prilagoditi študij njihovim lahko učitelji posameznim študentom s posebnimi potrebami potrebam. Študije, ki jih navajajta Langørgen in Magnus [3], znatno olajšajo delo in jim pri študiju zagotovijo po odločbi kažejo, da je študijska uspešnost študentov s posebnimi dodeljene prilagoditve. Z individualnimi nastavitvami lahko potrebami trenutno bolj odvisna od pripravljenosti posameznim študentom dodelijo daljši čas oddaje naloge ali jim posameznikov v visokošolskem okolju, da pomagajo tem dovolijo več poskusov reševanja naloge. Nekaj napotkov v zvezi študentom, kot pa od proaktivnega pristopa visokošolskih z dostopnim preverjanjem znanja v spletni učilnici institucij, da zagotavljajo vključujoče študijsko okolje za Moodle je zbranih v priporočilih za dostopno preverjanje znanja v raznolike skupine študentov na sistemski ravni. Moodlu, objavljenih na spletni strani Društva študentov invalidov Študije iz tujine kažejo [4], da obstaja precejšen razkorak med Slovenije pod zavihkom Visokošolsko osebje. predpisi in dejansko implementacijo digitalne dostopnosti v visokošolskih institucijah. Ovire dostopanja do učnih okolij in študijskih gradiv študentom s posebnimi potrebami preprečujejo 4 DOSTOPNOST DIGITALNIH ORODIJ IN ali močno ovirajo sodelovanje ter vključevanje v vse vidike KOMPATIBILNOST S PODPORNO študijskega procesa, kar vpliva tudi na njihovo (manjšo) TEHNOLOGIJO študijsko uspešnost [5]. Tehnologija zadnja leta zelo hitro napreduje. To mnogokrat Ukrepi, s katerimi lahko visokošolske institucije izboljšajo pomeni, da dizajn in razvoj podporne tehnologije zaostajata za digitalno dostopnost [4], so: razvojem tehnologije v splošni rabi. Situacija se zadnje čase sicer izboljšuje, a razvoj dostopne tehnologije v splošni rabi in razvoj – preverjanje obstoječega stanja glede digitalne dostopnosti podporne tehnologije ne potekata vedno usklajeno. Prav tako so spletnih strani; sistema za upravljanje učenja (LMS); v fazi zasnove digitalnih orodij pogosto premalo poudarjeni vsi digitalnih vsebin in gradiv, kamor se vključi tudi študente in potrebni vidiki dostopnosti. Oviro pa predstavlja tudi cena; ne le zaposlene s posebnimi potrebami. z vidika finančne dosegljivosti licenčne opreme v splošni rabi, – Priprava akcijskega načrta izboljšav, ki temelji na temveč tudi oz. predvsem zaradi visokih stroškov podporne predhodnih ugotovitvah obstoječega stanja. tehnologije, ki je ne krije zdravstvena zavarovalnica in si jo morajo študenti s posebnimi potrebami priskrbeti sami. – Upoštevanje standardov dostopnosti že v fazah naročanja in nakupa digitalne opreme, da se že pri naročilu določi, naj Študenti so imeli največ težav z dostopnostjo in rabo ponudniki zagotovijo skladnost orodja s standardom EN 301 podporne tehnologije med študijem na daljavo zaradi covida-19, 549 V3.2.1 oz. s smernicami WCAG 2.1 do nivoja AA, kot saj sta hiter prehod na različne platforme videopredavanj in narekuje zakonodaja. uporaba drugih digitalnih orodij za sodelovanje povzročila, da so bili študenti s posebnimi potrebami preobremenjeni z iskanjem – Imenovanje osebja, ki bo na ravneh institucije ali oddelkov informacij, kako uporabljati ta orodja. Slepi so na primer morali odgovorno za digitalno dostopnost. poiskati informacije, kako jih upravljati s pomočjo tipkovnice. – Izobraževanje osebja in študentov o standardih digitalne Imeli so tudi težave z dostopanjem do deljenega zaslona in s dostopnosti in o težavah z digitalno nedostopnostjo. preklapljanjem med orodji znotraj programa, kot so klepet, postavljanje vprašanj ali reševanje anket. Študenti s težavami z Mehanizmi zagotavljanja digitalne dostopnosti na večjih osredotočanjem in ohranjanjem pozornosti so iskali rešitve, kako visokošolskih institucijah v tujini vključujejo delovno mesto zmanjšati moteče elemente, kot je pojavljanje sporočil, medtem koordinatorja digitalne dostopnosti, ki povezuje ostale deležnike ko so imeli gluhi in naglušni študenti težave s spremljanjem znotraj institucije; utečen sistem naročanja, ki upošteva vidike predavanj, saj ta niso bila podnaslovljena ali tolmačena v dostopnosti; akcijski načrt izboljšanja digitalne dostopnosti in slovenski znakovni jezik – sledenje predavateljevi sliki in branje sistem nadzora ter evalvacije napredka. z ustnic sta bila pogosto otežena. Zagotavljanje dostopnosti je torej dolgoročna zaveza. Prav tako je predstavljala težavo poplava različnih aplikacij Potrebna sta povezovanje in sodelovanje večine služb institucije, in učnih orodji: od Kahoota, H5P, Mentimetra do različnih orodij da dostopnost postane del vseh vidikov visokošolskega okolja – v Moodlu, saj so študenti, ki uporabljajo podporno tehnologijo, tako grajenega, informacijskega, pedagoškega in družbenega. le s težavo dohajali druge študente. Posledično so doživljali dodaten stres in breme pri iskanju rešitev, kako jih uporabljati. VIRI IN LITERATURA [1] Grill, A., Bijuklič, I. & Autor, S. (2018) E EVROŠTUDENT VI 2016–2018 Socialni in ekonomski pogoji življenja študentov v 5 ZAKLJUČEK Evropi Pregled glavnih ugotovitev raziskave v Sloveniji, Pedagoški inštitut, Ljubljana. Študenti na splošno poročajo, da so jim zaposleni v [2] Jeannis, H., Goldberg, M., Seelman, K., Schmeler M. & visokošolskih institucijah pripravljeni prisluhniti in pomagati, Cooper R. A. (2020) Barriers and facilitators to students with physical disabilities’ participation in academic laboratory vendar pogosto nimajo dovolj znanja o tem, kako izvesti te spaces, Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive prilagoditve. O podobnih ugotovitvah na osnovi nacionalne Technology, 15:2, 225- raziskave v ZDA poročajo tudi Jeannis idr. [2], v kateri 30,8 % 237, DOI: 10.1080/17483107.2018.1559889. študentov meni, da je ena od ovir pri študiju pomanjkanje znanja 13 [3] Langørgen, E. & Magnus, E. (2018) We are just ordinary people working hard to reach our goals! Disabled students’ participation in Norwegian higher education, Disability & Society, 33:4, 598-617, DOI: 10.1080/09687599.2018.1436041. [4] Lazar, J. Managing digital accessibility at universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Univ Access Inf Soc 21, 749–765 (2022). ht ps:/ doi.org/10.1007/s10209-021-00792-5. [5] Sanderson, N.C., Kessel, S. & Chen, W. What do faculty members know about universal design and digital accessibility? A qualitative study in computer science and engineering disciplines. Univ Access Inf Soc 21, 351–365 (2022). ht ps:/ doi.org/10.1007/s10209-022-00875-x. [6] Zakon o visokem šolstvu. [7] Konvencija Združenih narodov o pravicah invalidov. [8] Zakon o dostopnosti spletišč in mobilnih aplikacij. 14 Exploring Digital Literacy and the Use of ChatGPT among Students with Disabilities Ines Kožuh† Erika Blekač Peter Čakš Irena Lovrenčič Faculty of Electrical Faculty of Electrical Faculty of Electrical Držanič Engineering and Engineering and Engineering and Faculty of Electrical Computer Science Computer Science Computer Science Engineering and University of Maribor University of Maribor University of Maribor Computer Science Slovenia Slovenia Slovenia University of Maribor ines.kozuh@um.si erika.blekac@student.u peter.caks@um.si Slovenia m.si irena.lovrencic@um.si ABSTRACT In the usage of all assistive technologies the role of digital and algorithmic literacy should not be overlooked, particularly in the This paper examines the level of digital and algorithm literacy, context of special requirements of PwD [7]. Prior research has and the use of ChatGPT as a study aid among students with also found that some challenges faced by SwD, such as disabilities. Twenty-seven respondents filled out an online inadequate social skills, can be solved with AI tools, e.g. social survey questionnaire. The results revealed a high proficiency in robots [8]. digital and sufficient level in algorithm literacy, with participants Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to examine what is valuing ChatGPT for studying and problem-solving. While the level of digital and algorithm literacy among students with perceived as accessible, participants suggested additional disabilities (SwD), as a part of PwD, and, further, how they use features to enhance their user experience – subtitles, text-to- CAs, and to what extent they perceive them as useful and speech conversion and content summaries, and the integration of accessible study aids. The study focused primarily on ChatGPT, voice assistants. The study highlights the potential of chatbots to due to its exponentially increasing user base and previously support students with disabilities in the education process. identified features with high potential for educational use [9]. KEYWORDS 2 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE People with disabilities, chatbots, conversational agents, digital literacy, education, usability CONVERSATIONAL AGENTS 2.1 Definition of AI Conversational Agents 1 INTRODUCTION Chatbots are Artificial Intelligence systems for Human- Accessibility and usability are, in tight interplay, crucial for Computer Interaction [10]. The computer software uses Natural people with disabilities (PwD) to participate actively in society Language Processing, and converses through text or voice in one and have equal access to educational opportunities. Lower levels or more languages [11]. While numerous chatbots are currently of education, followed by lower employment rates, have been available, ChatGPT soon became the fastest growing consumer recorded consistently among PwD in comparison to people application with over a million active monthly users [12]. without disabilities [1]. Currently, the free version of ChatGPT provides many Although Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) functionalities [9] that could be used for educational purposes can contribute to accessibility improvement, PwD, on the and SwD. Users can request information via written contrary, often face digital divide and digital exclusion [2, 3]. conversation, which is saved, and can later be recalled for ICT thus works as an additional barrier, instead of being a specific topic-related information. The input can be in numerous facilitator of participation [3]. Recently, Artificial Intelligence languages and text complexities (e.g. simple, academic). The chatbots, or conversational agents (CAs), have been found to same applies to the text generated by the chatbot, along with solve some accessibility issues, mostly by providing a various speaking styles, such as professional and engaging. As personalised experience or enhancing the learning process [4-7]. ChatGPT is based on Natural Language Processing, the ∗Article Title Footnote needs to be captured as Title Note conversations are highly similar to human communication. The †Author Footnote to be captured as Author Note bot can elaborate ideas, recall prior statements, apologise for mistakes, which was not previously possible. Furthermore, user Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed interaction supplies the bot with additional information, which for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full also improves the communication with users by recognising citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must communication patterns. Students could also benefit from be honored. For all other uses, contact the owner/author(s). receiving prompts and directions for writing assignments, or Information Society 2022, 10–14 October 2022, Ljubljana, Slovenia © 2022 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). 15 detailed feedback on assignments. Another benefit of ChatGPT and evaluate information in real-time [20, 22]. Similarly, is its ability to research a wide range of topics, and organise Cortina-Pérez et al. [23] defined digital literacy with three unstructured data into structured information. dimensions; (a) Information skills (information management and interpretation), (b) Use of digital tools (the skills and 2.2 Contextual Use of Conversational Agents competencies to operate digital devices), and (c) Digital Chatbots have been examined increasingly in the context of transformation (evaluation and production of information, education, travel, research, journalism and other uses [7, 9, 13- understanding of copyright law). 18]. In recent years, large parts of education have been conducted On one hand, digital illiteracy can be present in educators, via digital tools, e.g. homework assignments, class attendance who are trained insufficiently in new technologies [23]. On the reports, etc. [7, 14], which could be expanded further. other, digitally illiterate students are at risk of understanding and In the travel context, chatbots were found to provide user- creating materials incorrectly, unable to navigate nonlinear centric or personalised recommendations [13] as opposed to information sources, or evaluate the validity of information [24]. general information found through search engines, which could The importance of digital literacy has been expanded further with also apply to education. As chatbots emulate human interaction the increasing role of algorithms on the Internet. Algorithm and hold conversations similar to humans, they could suit literacy should be perceived as a part of digital literacy, and can students who prefer to obtain information through conversation be defined as “awareness of the use of algorithms in online instead of researching various sources independently. Students applications, platforms, and services, knowing how algorithms are able to ask general or specific questions and receive elaborate work, being able to evaluate algorithm decision-making feedback [9]. critically, as well as having the skills to cope with, or even Winkler and Söllner [18] recognised chatbots as beneficial for influence, algorithm operations” [25]. Due to its importance, individual student support, such as when the lecturer is unable to algorithm literacy should be taught as part of digital literacy for respond adequately to large groups of students. These tools also SwD [26]. encourage students to be more proactive and seek information on their own, improving their academic performance further. 4 METHODS Although chatbots have been present in general use for several years, their use in education has been expanding in the 4.1 Procedure past five years, ranging from a very limited tool [18, 19] to becoming a valuable study aid both for students and teachers [7]. Data were obtained with an online questionnaire in July 2023. The participants were invited through Slovene local and national 2.3 Limitations of Artificial Intelligence associations for PwD, either visual, auditory, mobility or Conversational Agents cognitive impairments. The study was conducted with the approval of the IRB at the University of Maribor (038-13- The main challenges of chatbots are related to the limited 148/2023/5 FFUM), due to collecting health information. training data and use of raw text without hyperlinks and citations, Participation was voluntary and anonymous. which can lead to incorrect responses. They are also unable to comprehend human emotions fully, due to their training for 4.2 Measuring Instrument specific tasks. Selection of training data can also contribute to the model’s biased output. Lastly, AI tools pose a danger of The questionnaire obtained the socio-demographic plagiarism on assignments among students [9] and make characteristics of participants (gender, age and current level of identification of human and AI authorship difficult [21]. schooling). Participants who were currently not students were Haleem et al. [9] proposed development of niche instead of excluded from the study. Participants were also asked about the generic models for a more limited set of information. CAs should field of study they are currently undertaking [27]. Participation also be avoided for tasks requiring significant users’ input. was limited to SwD. Among ethical concerns remain the users’ difficulty to identify The second part of the questionnaire obtained data on true and false information due to human-like conversations. participants’ purposes and frequency of Internet use [28]. The Some also rely on the CAs’ output without proper validation and next part examined participants’ digital literacy with questions verification, while the output is often generated randomly adapted from Kaeophanuek et al. [29]. Participants were asked statistically [21]. about their information abilities, use of digital tools and digital transformation. The fourth part examined algorithm literacy, adapted from [25] with a series of true/false statements. 3 DIGITAL AND ALGORITHM LITERACY The fifth part was aimed at ChatGPT use for general and education purposes. Some questions were adapted from [30] and Apart from digital accessibility, digital illiteracy is also a major [31]. Lastly, perceived ChatGPT usability was examined with an problem of technology implementation [7]. Digital literacy can adapted chatbot usability scale [32]. Participants could also be defined with six components; (a) Understanding of graphical suggest other features they would benefit from. interfaces in digital devices, (b) Creating new media, (c) Navigation in digital media, (d) Critical thinking, (e) Communication and collaboration, and (f) The ability to process 4.3 Research Questions 16 Based on the presented theoretical frame, the following research Furthermore, participants exhibited considerable proficiency questions were defined: in information skills (M=3,82, SD=0,77), with notable strengths RQ1: What is the level of digital literacy among SwD? in their ability to verify the information`s accuracy (M=4,11, RQ2: What is the algorithm literacy among SwD? SD=1,12). They also reported a high capacity to share data files RQ3: How do SwD use ChatGPT? online (M=4,0, SD=1,33), assess reliable information sources RQ4: How SwD perceive the usability of ChatGPT? (M=4,0, SD= 0,83), and distinguish between facts and opinions (M=4,0, SD=0,96). Lastly, participants also demonstrated an 4.4 Participants above average level of proficiency in the domain of Digital The questionnaire was completed by a total of 27 participants, of Transformation (M=3,5, SD=0,83), particularly with regard to whom 67% were men (n=18) and 33% were women (n=9). Most awareness on copyrighted videos (M=4,22, SD=1,08) and their participants were younger than 18 (26%, n=7) or older than 26 ability to create content while avoiding plagiarism (M=3,59, years (37%, n=10). Others were aged 18-20 (15%, n=4), 21-23 SD=1,18). (18%, n=5) or 24-26 (4%, n=1). The majority of participants Algorithm literacy was assessed with 11 true/false statements. were currently in a 3-year vocational secondary school (44%, On average, participants recognised 6,52 statements correctly. n=12), followed by a gymnasium or other 4-year secondary Most participants were able to discern accurately that algorithms school (15%, n=4), students in Bachelor’s (15%, n=4) or offer both opportunities and risks (89%, n=24). Furthermore, Master’s programmes (15%, n=4), 2-year lower vocational they concurred that user behaviour on the Internet can impact the school (7%, n=2), or a PhD programme (4%, n=1). functioning of algorithms (63%, n=17), and that personalised Most participants were enrolled in ICT programmes (37%, content aligns with users’ pre-existing opinions (63%, n=17). n=10), engineering programmes (19%, n=5), followed by Conversely, it was acknowledged that algorithms are unable to business and administration (11%, n=3), social sciences, recognise incomplete search results and correct them agriculture, tourism, arts and humanities (7%, n=2) or law (4%, automatically (59%, n=16). Among the incorrect responses, a n=1). Participants reported visual (35%, n=12), hearing (17%, considerable number of participants assumed erroneously that n=6), movement (20%, n=7), cognitive (20%, n=7) or other algorithms operate independently of human involvement (52%, disabilities (6%, n=2). Six participants reported having multiple n=14). No participant identified all statements correctly, two disabilities. identified 10 statements, three identified 9 statements and four Among the participants with hearing impairments, most participants identified either 8 or 7 statements. 14 participants reported profound hearing loss (over 90dB) (n=3), and one identified below the average number of statements. participant reported severe hearing loss (71-90 dB). Two The results also show a significant difference in recorded participants were unsure of the degree of their hearing loss. digital and algorithm literacy (p=.001), with significantly higher values for digital (M=3,8, SD=0,66) than algorithm literacy (M=1,4, SD=0,18). There was no significant correlation between 5 RESULTS ChatGPT use and perceived usability. 5.1 Internet use 5.3 ChatGPT use and perceived usability Participants were asked to assess their Internet use for various In response to RQ3, ChatGPT was previously used by most activities. Most often (three or more times per day) they used it participants (59%, n=16). Most have used it previously for for studying (37%), browsing social media (33%), listening to studying or other assignments (85%) and a third uses it often or music or podcasts (30%) and communication (19%). Other very often (at least in ¾ of cases). The next common use is thr common activities included independent learning (e.g. developing of creative ideas or problem-solving, used by 74%. programming, Photoshop), which was done once per day or less Many use it on every occasion necessary (22%). Two thirds of often (37%), the same as searching for information and problem- participants use ChatGPT for chatting, many of them very often solving (33%). Most estimated to use between one and three (19%). hours per day studying or learning (n=9), or less than an hour When asked to assess the usefulness of ChatGPT for (n=7). studying, most participants found it very useful (33%, n=9), useful (29%, n=8), or neither useful nor useless (26%, n=7). 5.2 Digital and Algorithm Literacy Participants also evaluated the capabilities and constraints of ChatGPT. The predominant consensus was that the tool produces Digital literacy was examined with three indicators (information correct responses consistently (M=3,44, SD=1,18), followed by competencies, use of digital tools and digital transformation) to the ability to produce contextually relevant responses (M=3,41, address RQ1 and RQ2. Participants exhibited the highest SD=1,3). ChatGPT also generates meaningful responses (3,11, proficiency in the use of digital tools (M=4,08, SD=0,58), SD=1,42) and credible and correct information (M=2,96, particularly in awareness about the advantages, disadvantages SD=1,48). The features that were least often recognised were to and impact of Internet use (M=4,59, SD=0,63). They also provide relevant sources (M=2,74, SD=1,34) and genuine exhibited high willingness to learn and adapt to new technologies sources (M=2,78, SD=1,25). Participants also assessed the (M=4,44, SD=0,64), and awareness on the importance of ethical usability of ChatGPT (RQ4). Most praised its usability, as they Internet use and prevention of cyber harassment (M=4,41, found the way to talking to the tool easily (M=3,56, SD=0,84). 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[30] Atlas, S., ChatGPT for higher education and professional development: A We extend our sincere gratitude to all participants and the guide to conversational AI. 2023. [31] Halaweh, M., ChatGPT in education: Strategies for responsible Slovene Associations supporting people with disabilities for their implementation. 2023. [32] Borsci, S., A. Malizia, M. Schmettow, F. Van Der Velde, G. Tariverdiyeva, valuable contribution to the study. The research was funded by D. Balaji, and A. Chamberlain, The Chatbot Usability Scale: the design and pilot of the research project, grant number Ref. 2020-1-LV01-KA203-a usability scale for interaction with AI-based conversational agents. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 2022. 26: p. 95-119. 077455—P3. 18 General Strategies for Improving Accessibility of E-commerce Bogdan Cerovac* Tilen Škraba† Institute for Digital Accessibility Institute for Digital Accessibility A11Y.si A11Y.si Bogdan.Cerovac@gmail.com Tilen@a11y.si ABSTRACT The scope of the EAA includes consumer banking services and e-commerce services that will need to be accessible no later This paper focuses on the accessibility challenges in e-commerce than after the transitional period ending on 28 June 2030 [2]. and strategies for their remediation on a high level with the main With the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) [3] e- purpose of promoting further in-depth research. It also offers commerce and digital banking became even more interconnected some general applicable guidelines for e-commerce to start [4], therefore they should be analyzed together. improving their accessibility. It highlights the significance of This paper aims to examine common accessibility challenges organizational culture, commitment, awareness, training, and in e-commerce. We will categorize and analyze them based on collaboration with accessibility specialists and individuals with typical user journeys that often pose obstacles for people with disabilities. The paper categorizes the challenges based on the disabilities. main user journeys that are essential for e-commerce, explores Furthermore, we will discuss their probable causes. Finally, potential causes, and provides generalized best practices for we will examine possible practical measures on an organizational implementing accessibility on a strategic level. Solutions include level that can either avert these challenges from arising in the prioritizing accessibility within company culture, allocating first place or remediate the existing ones. resources, implementing change management strategies, raising awareness, defining roles and responsibilities, offering role- based accessibility training, integrating accessibility into project 2 METHODS management and reporting, collaborating with external specialists, and actively involving people with disabilities. Firstly, we conducted a review of existing articles and research KEYWORDS papers on accessibility to gather insights and perspectives. Additionally, we examined publicly available accessibility audits Accessibility, E-commerce, European Accessibility to gain a broader understanding of common accessibility issues Act, WCAG, Accessibility culture and challenges. Furthermore, we leveraged our own extensive experience in 1 INTRODUCTION conducting accessibility audits and counselling for different E-commerce and financial independence are crucial for organizations and platforms, allowing us to provide firsthand everyone, but they can have a particularly life-changing impact insights and recommendations. To ensure a user-centric on individuals with disabilities who have historically faced approach, we actively sought direct feedback from individuals with disabilities [5], who shared their experiences and difficulties in navigating the physical world. Around 87 million highlighted areas for improvement. people in the EU have some form of disability and around 45 million of them feel discriminated against [1]. This indicates that inaccessible online services discriminate against individuals who Moreover, we relied on statistical data obtained from both typically derive the greatest advantages from them. automated and manual accessibility testing studies. This Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of quantitative information enabled us to identify trends and the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements patterns in accessibility issues, as well as providing a more data- driven analysis. for products and services (The European Accessibility Act, EAA) [2] covers products and services that have been identified By combining these various sources and methods, this paper as being the most important for people with disabilities while should provide a robust and generalized foundation for the being the most likely to have diverging accessibility requirements across EU countries. observations and recommendations presented in this article and encourage further, more detailed, research and discussions. * ORCID: 0009-0007-2254-2459 3 PARTS OF THE USER JOURNEY WITH † ORCID: 0009-0002-9576-577X ACCESSIBILITY CHALLENGES AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or 3.1 Presales and advertising distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the owner/author(s). DIGIN 2023 - Digital inclusion in the information society, 11 October 2023, Ljubljana, Slovenia © 2022 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). 19 Digital advertisements are frequently displayed through various situation. They also propose conducting accessibility audits to platforms such as search engine result pages, social media, inside determine the state of accessibility. These audits also serve to mobile applications, and anywhere on the internet. track progress during improvement cycles and provide content Unfortunately, accessibility is often overlooked during the for accessibility statements, which also need to be created and creation and serving of these ads [6]. maintained. Home pages that utilize the common Google AdSense system Additionally, it is important to clearly define roles and had 17.7 more errors on average [7], as a relevant example. responsibilities related to accessibility within the organization Typical issues include low text contrasts, blinking animations, [12]. The individuals in these roles should receive appropriate videos missing captions, missing keyboard support, total role-based training on accessibility to effectively address issues invisibility to screen readers, and so on. they are (co)responsible for. To ensure accessibility of presales and advertising, it is Project management should provide the necessary support to important to select creative agencies and advertising platforms ensure that proper processes are in place and respected. This that adhere to accessibility standards. Verification of their includes prioritizing accessibility alongside other planned compliance should be a part of systematic responsible activities, monitoring and reporting progress and allocating procurement processes. resources accordingly. This will allow for both the development of new functionalities with integrated accessibility from the start For in-house advertisements, creators should ensure and the fixing of existing inaccessible functionalities. compliance with accessibility standards before publishing them Organizational policy on accessibility is strongly suggested [13]. on advertising platforms. It is also important to recognize the varying accessibility support capabilities of different social 3.3 Customer onboarding media platforms and provide necessary workarounds when Customer onboarding typically involves multi-step online forms required [8]. that may require users to provide additional documentation manually or through digital authorization and signing. More than 45% of webpages tested in WebAIM Million still have basic 3.2 Public-facing websites or native mobile form accessibility issues, for example missing form input labels applications [7]. The 2023 report on the accessibility of the top 1,000,000 home Complex forms and components tend to come with more pages, WebAIM's Million project [7] reports that 96.3% of home accessibility challenges. While reusable web components and pages had detected WCAG 2 failures, discovered with automatic design systems are the recommended best practice when they accessibility testing. Automatic accessibility testing can only integrate accessibility [14], it is important to exercise caution and discover up to 30% of all WCAG failures (16 out of the 50 not solely rely on self-declared statements in their documentation Success Criteria under WCAG 2.1 Level AA [9]), so these [15], as they can be incorrectly reporting conformance. numbers are often even higher. Advanced custom-made components that can compromise accessibility require input from accessibility specialists and users Evaluating accessibility of native mobile applications is with disabilities before they can be used [16]. Neglecting this due usually a manual approach, which is difficult to scale and to lack of awareness or prioritization leaving accessibility to the therefore mass evaluation studies comparable to website studies end is a common cause of accessibility challenges and barriers. do not yet exist. In a study of 479 Android apps in 23 business Using native components and simplifying where possible is categories, 94.8% of them had automatically detectable advised instead of re-creating custom components [17]. accessibility issues [10]. Based also on our experience and Automatically generated documents such as contracts and available reports from the public sector applications [11], the invoices, usually made as Portable Document Format (PDF) accessibility of native mobile applications seems to be similar to documents [18], are another potential accessibility challenge the web with most of them being inaccessible. when not tested for accessibility. Communication channels such as email also need attention or In the past four years, the number of webpages with quickly become potential sources of accessibility challenges as detectable WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) well [19]. failures has decreased by only 1.5%, from 97.8% [7]. It also Once again, a systematic approach works best. All roles appears that some e-commerce platforms have more accessibility involved need to be properly trained, aware of their issues compared to the previous year [7]. This could suggest a responsibilities, and continuously cooperate to reach sustainable worsening of awareness and concern for accessibility. accessibility. Experts recommend that the management of organizations 3.4 Customer Self-Service take the necessary steps to assess of the current accessibility 20 Self-Service refers to a protected part of an online portal or a Providing possibilities of user-generated content is another mobile application where customers authenticate so that they can potential source of accessibility challenges [27] and needs to be manage their accounts, such as tracking deliveries, handling planned for as well. banking transactions, exporting transactional data, managing Again, all involved roles need to be aware of their credit cards, and similar. Most customers (73%) want to be able responsibilities and follow procurement and integration to solve issues on their own [20] before contacting support. processes that consider accessibility beside other priorities. Forty-five per cent of people with disabilities in a Deloitte survey [21] believe that banks can elevate their experience by making digital banking channels more accessible. DISCUSSION Sixty-seven per cent of accessibility issues originate before Sustainable accessibility efforts require more than mere technical coding, in wireframes and design specifications [22], so it is vital conformance. It is essential for companies to cultivate a culture to implement accessibility earliest. As product details solidify, that comprehends, supports, and integrates accessibility [28]. fixing problems becomes harder and more expensive [23]. This practice not only aligns with moral obligations but also With authentication and authorization services, complex offers various benefits to businesses, such as enhanced branding, dynamic components, rich visualizations, report generation, data increased customer retention, and broader market reach. exports, third-party components, and all other parts that are Accessibility expands market reach by attracting and retaining needed for efficient customer self-service products and services customers with disabilities, but calculating the economical return need proper and early planning, implementation, and maximum on investment is challenging [29]. Accessibility not only coverage of automatic and manual testing to be able to satisfy enhances the online experience for all users but also improves accessibility requirements, acceptance criteria, and conformance brand reputation and reduces legal liabilities [30]. to standards. To ensure accessibility is prioritized, it must be integrated Different roles with support from accessibility specialists and into the executive strategy. In large organizations, the people with disabilities need to plan, cooperate, and test, appointment of a Chief Accessibility Officer can be particularly during the early stages, so that efforts yield the best advantageous, overseeing the accessibility programme [31]. results with accessibility implementation. Nonetheless, executives themselves need to demonstrate effective change management and allocate adequate resources to 3.5 Customer support constantly enhance processes and integrate accessibility within Customer support in e-commerce involves assisting customers company roles and responsibilities. Evaluating products and with their online purchases, financial transactions, and resolving services for accessibility is crucial, and the Web Content a variety of other queries. Accessibility Guidelines [32], along with their Evaluation Accessibility is crucial for customer satisfaction and retention Methodology [33], serve as a solid foundation for establishing [24]. It involves providing an inclusive experience through key performance indicators, useful for continuous monitoring diverse contact options and staff need to have training and and managing progress. solutions to offer alternatives when requested. Customers may Furthermore, it is imperative for all employees to receive prefer utilizing customer support through various channels such awareness and role-based training to effectively improve and as phone calls, SMS, email, ticketing systems, video calls, and maintain accessibility. Collaboration with experienced external chat, so best practice is to offer them multiple channels and accessibility specialists and early involvement of individuals especially respect their preferences for communication. with disabilities are vital components, especially when internal Awareness and training of support staff around accessibility resources are still building competence [34]. is decisive in customer satisfaction and in preventing legal In the light of the upcoming European Accessibility Act, consequences when dealing with accessibility complaints. organizations without an existing executive strategy for accessibility are strongly advised to begin implementing the 3.6 Third parties suggested activities promptly or risk falling behind. Complex Third-party solutions are pre-built tools provided by external systems often result in technical and procedural debt, companies for web and mobile platforms. They offer necessitating even more required resources. These complexities components or even full features such as authentication, can also impact the integration of third-party solutions, thereby authorization, chats, polls, forms, and so on. Overall, these prolonging accessibility efforts. solutions save time and resources and outsource parts of products The paper provides a concise overview of complex subjects, or services. encouraging further research and hopefully inspiring others in Such solutions are also often a source of accessibility this important area. challenges [25]. Therefore, it is vital to ensure their accessibility before integration, otherwise the product or service risks CONCLUSION inheritance of accessibility challenges. It is also recommended to create a vendor accessibility policy [26] that requires In conclusion, sustainable accessibility efforts require cultivating conformance of all third-party solutions before they can even be a culture of accessibility, beyond technical compliance. considered. 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Omogoča medsebojno article we have focused on vision, blindness, and visual komunikacijo, izboljša priložnosti za izobraževanje in zaposlitev impairment - face many barriers and limitations in using ter ponuja različne možnosti sprostitve. solutions, which puts them in an unequal position. Digitalizacija je pripeljala do velikih sprememb tudi v KEYWORDS poslovnem svetu. Hiter in enostaven dostop do podatkov ter možnost oddaje digitalnih podatkov, za katere je skladno s IT solutions, accessibility, empowerment, discrimination. pooblastili odgovoren vsak pooblaščeni posameznik, omogočata samostojno opravljanje del. 1 Pomen dostopnosti produktov in storitev IKT Vendar to žal ne velja za vse. Programske rešitve v veliki večini Produkte in storitve IKT uporabljamo na vseh področjih namreč niso narejene z mislijo na to, da morajo omogočati enako življenja. Na delovnem mestu uporabljamo raznovrstno uporabnost za vse uporabnike, ne glede na njihove morebitne programsko opremo, ki nam omogoča komunikacijo, vpogled v oviranosti. evidence in dokumente, načrtovanje ter izvedbo delovnih nalog. Zato se v realnem svetu osebe z invalidnostmi, v članku smo se Z iskanjem informacij na spletu in uporabo sistemov načrtujemo osredotočili na področje vida, slepoto in slabovidnost, srečujejo izrabo prostega časa, obenem tudi rezerviramo in plačujemo s številnimi ovirami ter omejitvami pri uporabi rešitev, kar jih nastanitvene zmogljivosti. Za vsakodnevno življenje opravljamo postavlja v neenakovreden položaj. nakupe prek spleta, spremljamo procese dostave, uporabljamo elektronsko bančništvo, oddajamo elektronske vloge in KLJUČNE BESEDE prejemamo elektronske odločbe. Lahko rečemo, da je v zadnjih letih IKT za veliko večino oseb Programske rešitve, dostopnost, opolnomočenje, diskriminacija. postal ključni element vsakodnevnega življenja – tako v OPTIONAL: ABSTRACT zasebnem in poslovnem življenju kot tudi za opravljanje večine vsakodnevnih opravil. Nedostopni produkti in storitve pa Over the last decades, the development of technology has določenemu delu oseb vendarle preprečujejo enakovredno completely transformed our lives. The digital world has become uporabo ter s tem enake možnosti, kot jih imajo drugi. an essential part of people's lives. It enables us to communicate Ko gledamo službeni del časa, nedostopnost IKT produktov with each other, improves education and employment zmanjšuje ali celo onemogoča njihove zmožnosti, ne pa opportunities and offers a variety of ways to relax. sposobnosti, samostojnega opravljanja nalog, kar smatramo kot neposredno diskriminacijo [1]. To je v neskladju tako z Digitalization has also led to major changes in the business world. Fast and easy access to data, the possibility of submitting digital nacionalno kot tudi evropsko ustavo in zakonodajo. Enako velja, data for which each authorized individual is responsible in ko gre za naša opravila, ki jih imamo z javno upravo in širše accordance with the mandate, allows independent work to be javnim sektorjem. carried out. Pri preživljanju prostega časa so tovrstne omejitve enako problematične, osebam z invalidnostmi in oviranostmi However, this is unfortunately not the case for all. Most software povzročajo težave ter ovirajo njihovo samostojnost. Žal se v EU solutions are not designed with the idea that they should be zakonodaja tega področja še ne dotika, zaradi česar je zelo malo rešitev sploh dostopnih. Odločitve so prepuščene etičnim in † Tilen Živan Škraba ORCID: 0009-0002-9576-577X ekonomskim interesom ponudnikov. ∗ Bogdan Cerovac ORCID: 0009-0007-2254-2459 Evropska komisija je vse prej omenjeno že prepoznala in tako Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or ob zaključku tisočletja začela pripravljati ukrepe. Tako je od leta classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed 1999 na tem področju sprejela kar nekaj direktiv in standardov, for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full katerih namen je predvsem preprečevanje diskriminacije pri citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the owner/author(s). uporabi produktov in storitev IKT. Information Society 2022, 10–14 October 2022, Ljubljana, Slovenia © 2022 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). 23 Osnova za to je 19. člen Pogodbe o delovanju Evropske unije področju spletnih strani organizacij javnega sektorja, ki so [2], pozneje prenesen v Ustavo EU, ki določa ukrepe proti zavezanci po Zakonu o dostopnosti spletišč in mobilnih diskriminaciji, med drugim na podlagi invalidnosti. Prav na aplikacij (ZDSMA). podlagi tega člena je Evropska komisija novembra 1999 sprejela Več kot dve leti pred ZDSMA je začel veljati Zakon o javnem protidiskriminacijski sveženj [3], ki je privedel do direktive na naročanju (ZJN-3), ki je v 3. točki 68. člena, kjer so podane področju zaposlovanja in poklica, ki prepoveduje diskriminacijo tehnične specifikacije, natančno opredelil naslednje: iz vseh razlogov iz 13. člena prej omenjene pogodbe. »(3) Pri vseh predmetih naročanja, ki jih bodo uporabljale Leta 2005 je Evropska komisija Evropskemu inštitutu za fizične osebe, bodisi splošna javnost bodisi uslužbenci naročnika, telekomunikacijske standarde (European Telecommunications naročnik pri pripravi tehničnih specifikacij upošteva merila Standards Institute – ETSI) in Evropskemu odboru za dostopnosti za invalide ali zahteve za oblikovanje, prilagojeno elektrotehnično standardizacijo (European Committee for vsem uporabnikom, razen v ustrezno utemeljenih izjemnih Standardization – CEN-CENELEC) podala mandat, imenovan primerih. Kadar zahteve v zvezi z obvezno dostopnostjo določa M 376 [4], s katerim je organizacijam naložila pripravo standarda neposredno veljaven pravni akt Evropske unije, naročnik za dostopnost produktov in storitev IKT. tehnične specifikacije glede kriterijev dostopnosti za invalide ali Med cilji uvedbe standarda je bilo navedeno: »Izdelki IKT zahtev za oblikovanje, prilagojeno vsem uporabnikom, določi s morajo biti zasnovani na dostopen način, da jih lahko invalidi in sklicevanjem na ta akt.«[7] starejše osebe uporabljajo ter imajo od njih enake koristi kot vsi Vendar se po naših izkušnjah prav to ključno določilo v drugi. S tem se ne bo le olajšalo dela industrije, temveč bo tudi Sloveniji ni nikoli uveljavljalo, če gledamo z vidika omogočanja povečalo trge ter potencialnim kupcem zagotovilo boljše izdelke enakosti pri uporabi IKT storitev in rešitev. Morda obstajajo in storitve. Vključitev zahtev glede dostopnosti v javna naročila izjeme, a stanje dostopnosti rešitev, spletnih strani in slabo stanje bo predstavljala spodbudo za proizvajalce, da razvijajo in poznavanja tega področja kot tudi primanjkljaj strokovnosti ponujajo dostopne naprave, aplikacije in storitve, kar bo koristilo razvijalcev na tem področju potrjujejo naše prepričanje. invalidom in starejšim, hkrati pa tudi drugim uporabnikom.«[4] Navsezadnje pa imajo posledice nespoštovanja in Na tej osnovi je bil, sicer z zamudo, leta 2014 objavljen neizpolnjevanja zahtev glede dostopnosti v okviru javnega standard EN 301 549 [5], ki opredeljuje zahteve za dostopnost in naročanja daljnosežne posledice, torej takšne, ki podaljšujejo in storitev IKT. Standard, ki se redno dopolnjuje in sledi trendom razširjajo diskriminacijo oseb z invalidnostmi na več področjih – na področju digitalne dostopnosti, je dosegljiv tudi v slovenskem od zaposlovanja, samostojnosti, urejanja upravnih zadev do prevodu SIST EN 301 549. marsičesa drugega. Eno od pričakovanj predlagateljev je bilo, da bo uvedba zahtev po dostopnih IKT rešitvah v procesih javnih naročil spodbudila razvoj dostopnih rešitev, ki bodo dostopne tudi 3 Posledice dosedanjega neizpolnjevanja zahtev zasebnemu sektorju; prav takšne izkušnje so imeli v ZDA ob glede dostopnosti uvedbi zahtev glede dostopnosti v okviru »Section 508« [6]. Še leta 2023 se soočamo z dejstvom, da IT podjetja nimajo Evropska komisija je torej že več kot pred dvajsetimi leti niti ustreznega zavedanja o pomenu digitalne dostopnosti niti prepoznala pomen dostopnosti produktov in storitev IKT za ustreznih strokovnih znanj s področja digitalne dostopnosti. preprečevanje diskriminacije v vsakdanjem življenju ter pri Posledično tudi njihove rešitve niso ustrezno dostopne – žal niti zaposlovanju. tiste, ki jih prodajo ali oddajo organizacijam javnega sektorja, V ta namen je sprejela vse potrebne standarde in direktive, ki čeprav bi, glede na zakonske zahteve, brez dvoma, morale biti. organizacijam javnega sektorja zapovedujejo uporabo teh Tako imajo tudi vsi zavezanci po ZDSMA velike težave z standardov tako v procesih javnega naročanja (Zakon o javnem izpolnjevanjem zahtev zakona. naročanju – ZJN-3, ki velja od leta 2016) kot tudi pri razvoju in Z zelo veliko stopnjo verjetnosti lahko trdimo, da bi bila raven vzdrževanju spletišč ter mobilnih aplikacij (Zakon o dostopnosti zavedanja in strokovnih znanj s področja digitalne dostopnosti, v spletišč in mobilnih aplikacij – ZDSMA, ki velja od leta 2018). primeru doslednega upoštevanja zahtev ZJN-3 od 1. 4. 2016, Podjetja s področja IKT v Evropi in Sloveniji bi morala torej torej več, kot sedem let, v tem trenutku na ustrezni ravni ali vsaj vse od leta 2016 poznati področje digitalne dostopnosti, pri tem občutno višji, kot je zdaj. To je dobesedno sedem nepovratno pa imeti osnovno zavedanje in strokovno znanje za razvoj kot izgubljenih let razvoja. Táko poimenovanje lahko tudi tudi implementacijo dostopnih rešitev. ustrezno argumentiramo. Toda kakšno je trenutno stanje? Digitalizacija javnega in zasebnega sektorja je bila v zadnjih sedmih letih zelo aktivna. Aktivnosti se nadaljujejo in celo 2 Stanje dostopnosti v Sloveniji intenzivirajo. Ob tem se tudi leta 2023 rešitve razvijajo na enako nedostopen ali celo bolj nedostopen način, kot so se vse Petnajst let izkušenj na področju digitalne dostopnosti, predhodne. sodelovanje z invalidskimi organizacijami in končnimi Namesto da bi po sedmih letih razvoja imeli v Sloveniji na uporabniki z oviranostmi ter vsakodnevno delo na tem področju voljo skupek rešitev, ki bi bile enako dostopne vsem, se je razširil nam omogočajo vpogled v stanje dostopnosti informacijskih in se razširja skupek nedostopnih rešitev. Enako velja za rešitev v Sloveniji. naslednje – namesto da bi v Sloveniji imeli širok krog Šele zadnja leta se o dostopnosti vedno več govori in piše. strokovnjakov na vseh področjih razvoja, ki standarde digitalne Lahko rečemo, da je tudi vedno več zavedanja in naporov, dostopnosti obvladajo, obstaja le peščica strokovnjakov s tega usmerjenih v zagotavljanje dostopnih spletnih strani. Pomembna področja. Teh sedem let je izgubljenih tako z vidika razvoja novost je, da se zaznavajo pozitivne spremembe le na dostopnih rešitev, razvoja kompetenc kot tudi najosnovnejšega 24 razširjanja zavedanja o pomenu digitalne dostopnosti za ciljne obliki povečanega teksta v ustreznih kontrastih, kognitivno skupine in družbo kot celoto. oviranim v obliki predstavitve ključnih poenostavljenih Upoštevajoč dejstvo, da se še dandanes skoraj nihče ne drži podatkov. zahtev ZJN-3, raven zavedanja in strokovnih znanj s področja A tudi tu je bila Zveza v neenakem položaju. Digitalizirali so digitalne dostopnosti še vedno ne raste dovolj hitro. Prepričani lahko le del postopkov, tudi te ne nujno optimalno oziroma v smo, da se bo brez hitrega ukrepanja vseh deležnikov razvoj podrobnosti, sam proces je bil kompleksnejši, čaka jih še veliko nedostopnih rešitev nadaljeval vsaj še nekaj let. S tem se bo razvoja, da bodo lahko v enakem položaju kot neka organizacija, nadaljevala in poglabljala tudi diskriminacija, saj se vse ki (nedostopno) rešitev kupi ali najame na trgu. Tudi strošek vzdrževanja in nadaljnjega razvoja aplikacije na ključ je v digitalizira. vsakem primeru višji od stroška vzdrževanja in nadgradenj Dejstvo je, da bi se diskriminacija nadaljevala tudi, če bi se programskega paketa. jutri začel razvoj nove generacije informacijskih rešitev. Tak Hkrati pa mora Zveza za poročanje po programih uporabljati razvoj traja dolgo, upoštevajoč primanjkljaj strokovnosti na tem tudi rešitve, ki so bile v preteklih letih razvite s strani ministrstev področju, pa odpira vprašanje, koliko bi bile razvite rešitve v in niso popolnoma dostopne. Te rešitve uporabljajo tudi resnici dostopne. uporabniki z invalidnostmi, kar jih postavlja v neenak položaj z ostalimi zaposlenimi. Namesto da bi se organizacija lahko ukvarjala s svojo 4 Težave oseb z invalidnostmi in organizacij, ki osnovno dejavnostjo in poslanstvom, se mora ukvarjati tudi z jih zaposlujejo iskanjem in razvojem rešitev, ki jih bodo lahko uporabljali njihovi zaposleni. Težave in diskriminacija, ki jo omenjamo, seveda ne izvirajo iz hipotetičnih situacij, temveč iz izkušenj in rednega sodelovanja z osebami z invalidnostmi ter invalidskimi 5 Kako izboljšati stanje organizacijami. Poglejmo primer ene take organizacije in težave, Da bi čim prej izšli iz tega, za mnoge nevzdržnega, stanja, je s katerimi se soočajo. potreben precejšen in usklajen napor različnih deležnikov. Pred leti smo imeli na projektu Zveze društev slepih in slabovidnih Slovenije (v nadaljevanju Zveza), ki je reprezentativna invalidska organizacija in tudi delodajalec • Spremljati in preverjati je treba 68. člen Zakona o javnem osebam z invalidnostmi, precejšnje težave z iskanjem naročanju (ZJN-3), opozarjati organizacije na neskladnosti dostopnega sistema za evidenco delovnega časa, saj smo imeli ter doseči, da se začnejo določbe dosledno upoštevati. zaposlene tako slabovidne kot tudi slepe. Izziv je bil že najti • Spremljati in preverjati je treba primopredaje rešitev, registrator na fizične tipke, saj so bile rešitve z zasloni na dotik razvitih na podlagi javnih naročil. So te rešitve res ustrezno namreč vse po vrsti popolnoma nedostopne. dostopne? Primopredaja nedostopnih rešitev ne sme biti Ob iskanju nove rešitve nekaj let pozneje stanje ni bilo veliko opravljena oziroma se morajo podati in po potrebi boljše. Registratorjev s tipkami ni več, rešitve na mobilnih uveljavljati ustrezne garancije glede dobre izvedbe posla telefonih in osebnih računalnikih niso ustrezno oziroma tudi na tem področju. popolnoma dostopne. Še manj so dostopne rešitve za urejanje in administracijo evidenc. • Za izvedljivost predhodnih točk je treba začeti z aktivnim Leta 2022 je Zveza začela izvajati projekt Informatizacija informiranjem vseh deležnikov, naročnikov v okviru Zveze. Za izvedbo projekta je od Ministrstva za javno upravo, javnega sektorja ter njihovih dobaviteljev storitev in tako kot mnoge druge nevladne organizacije, prejela tudi opreme glede področja digitalne dostopnosti, zakonskih ter sredstva. Poglavitna razlika med Zvezo in večino ostalih tehničnih zahtev in standardov s tega področja. organizacij je, da so ostali lahko kupili in po potrebi delno • Organizacije je treba spodbuditi, da začnejo z razvojem prilagodili rešitve, ki so že na voljo na trgu. Zveza je zaradi dostopnih rešitev. V okviru rešitev, financiranih iz nedostopnosti rešitev morala v razvoj lastne rešitve, saj so le tako nacionalnega ali evropskega proračuna, bi moral biti lahko zagotovili, da so njihovi zaposleni na delovnem mestu omogočen le razvoj rešitev, dostopnih vsem, brez izjem. ustrezno opolnomočeni. Ob upoštevanju načel univerzalnega oblikovanja in ustreznih Nedostopne rešitve ne bi smele biti upravičen strošek. tehnoloških rešitev je v današnjem času mogoče zagotoviti • Invalidskim organizacijam in organizacijam, ki informacijske rešitve, ki zagotavljajo skoraj popolno zaposlujejo osebe z invalidnostmi, bi morali s finančnimi samostojnost pri delu oseb z različnimi vrstami invalidnostmi in spodbudami in strokovnimi pomočmi omogočati oviranostmi. vzpostavitev primerov dobrih praks – tako na primerih Samostojen vpogled v podatke, samostojna oddaja in spletišč organizacij kot tudi razvoja ali prilagoditev podpisovanje vlog, samostojno potrjevanje vlog ter samostojen informacijskih rešitev. pregled skoraj vseh vrst dokumentov je v primerjavi s časi • Omogočiti in spodbujati je treba usposabljanje vseh papirnatega poslovanja še pred desetletjem nepredstavljiv korak deležnikov, vpletenih v produkcijo storitev ali produktov, naprej. ter s tem zagotoviti celostno izvajanje dostopnosti, kjer Prek sodobnih rešitev lahko zaposleni dandanes dostopajo do vsak deležnik dobro pozna svoje odgovornosti ter kako se digitalnih evidenc organizacije, na primer: do potnih nalogov, te medsebojno prepletajo z odgovornostmi ostalih naročilnic, raznih poročil in obračunov. Vsi podatki so shranjeni deležnikov. v besedilni obliki, kar pomeni, da je njihova predstavitev lahko pripravljena na vsem dostopen način. Slepim prek bralnikov Seveda bi bilo za vse do zdaj naštete točke potrebno zaslona in govorne sinteze ali brajeve vrstice, slabovidnim v sodelovanje vseh deležnikov s tega področja. Naj omenimo le 25 delodajalce, ponudnike rešitev, ministrstva, reprezentativne 6 Dolgoročno zagotavljanje kakovosti in invalidske organizacije, strokovne organizacije, višje šole in kontinuiran razvoj univerze, ponudnike certificiranj in druge. Za doseg celostne dostopnosti in upoštevanje dobrih praks je Povsem na mestu je vprašanje, ali obstajata ustrezno zavedanje in politična volja za usklajen pristop ter financiranje spodbude tako nujno treba spodbuditi dvig kompetenc s področja digitalne dostopnosti pri vseh deležnikih in na vseh ravneh. Zahteve preskoka v srednjeročnem obdobju. Brez tega se bo namreč uvajanje digitalne dostopnosti občutno zavleklo. dostopnosti je treba upoštevati že v prvih korakih snovanja Dolgoročno bodo morale vse organizacije najti ustrezne razvoja ali prenove informacijskega sistema (premik na levo), ne pa šele na koncu, ko je produkt končan, kakršna je dandanašnja interne rešitve. V tujini se to rešuje predvsem s specializiranimi delovnimi mesti, kot so direktor dostopnosti oziroma koordinator praksa. Dokler izvajalci, prav tako pa tudi naročniki, nimajo dovolj internih kompetenc, da lahko presodijo dostopnost, je dostopnosti ali skrbnik dostopnosti, ki imajo širšo odgovornost nujno vključevanje zunanjih specialistov dostopnosti ter glede dostopnosti, kot so aplikacije in/ali spletne strani, ter omogočajo dostopnost celotne organizacije. Na univerzah na reprezentativnih invalidskih organizacij. Trajnostna dostopnost, ki se mora prilagajati novim tehnologijam in standardom, pa primer skrbijo tudi za dostopnost učnih gradiv in učnega procesa za vse študente. priporoča, da se sodelovanje ohranja tudi takrat, ko so interne Za zagotavljanje ustreznih internih rešitev bo potrebno kompetence že precej samostojne. Podjetja, ki se ukvarjajo z načrtovanjem in razvojem zavedanje glede dostopnosti na vseh ravneh, ki se dolgoročno najlažje in najceneje doseže z uvedbo ustreznih predmetov v informacijskih rešitev ter načrtovanjem in razvojem spletnih strani, bodo morala ustrezno usposobiti: programe srednješolskega in visokošolskega izobraževanja. Podobni ukrepi bodo zaradi Zakona o dostopnosti produktov in storitev za invalide (ZDPSI) potrebni tudi na strani zasebnih • projektne vodje, ki bodo morali skrbeti za skladnost skozi delodajalcev, kot so banke, spletne trgovine, prevozniki in drugi, celoten proces razvoja in ustrezno usklajevati deležnike, ki jih bodo zaobjele zahteve zakona. vključene v proces, ter po potrebi vključevati tako Prvi korak na tem področju se sicer že izvaja. Center za strokovnjake s področja digitalne dostopnosti kot tudi poklicno izobraževanje (CPI) pripravlja NPK »Menedžer uporabnike z invalidnostmi; digitalne dostopnosti«, ki v dobri meri pokriva kompetence in • sistemske analitike, ki morajo v svoje zahteve vključiti tudi delovne obveze profilov, ki jih omenjamo v tem poglavju. zahteve s področja digitalne dostopnosti, in morajo to Kako hitro bodo organizacije prepoznale potrebe po tovrstnih ustrezno tudi upoštevati; kadrih oziroma tovrstnem pristopu k celovitemu reševanju • raziskovalce in oblikovalce uporabniške izkušnje (UX), ki digitalne dostopnosti ali dostopnosti na splošno, je odvisno od je ključna komponenta univerzalnega oblikovanja in uspešnosti širitve zavedanja in ponotranjenja realnih potreb v zagotavljanja enako dostopnih rešitev za vse; širšem krogu javnih in zasebnih organizacij v Sloveniji. • oblikovalce, ki morajo upoštevati načrtovano uporabniško Seveda upamo, da se bo dolgoročno zakonodaja razširila na izkušnjo in jo v fazi oblikovanja dosledno udejanjiti ter pri širši krog deležnikov, za katere pa bo samo zagotavljanje tem upoštevati vse zahteve in dobre prakse standardov dostopnosti, zlasti zaradi širšega poznavanja v družbi in stroki, dostopnosti; veliko lažje. • programerje, ki morajo zagotoviti dostopnost končnih rešitev in ob tem tudi opozoriti na morebitne nedoslednosti REFERENCES ali pomanjkljivosti opredelitev glede dostopnosti v [1] United Nations, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities predhodnih korakih; (CRPD), Article 9 – Accessibility. https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the- • testerje, ki morajo poleg funkcionalnih testiranj glede na rights-of-persons-with-disabilities/article-9-accessibility.html zahteve sistemskih analitikov upoštevati tudi zahteve glede https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2000/78/oj [2] European Commission, 2004-2016. Consolidated versions of The Treaty dostopnosti; on European Union and The Treaty on The Functioning of the European • osebe, ki skrbijo za vsebino in uredniški del strani, ker je Union. dostopnost možna le s sodelovanjem oblikovanja, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal- content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:12016ME/TXT programiranja in vsebin, ki upoštevajo standarde [3] European Commission, 2000. Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 dostopnosti. November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation. https://www.refworld.org/docid/583d783a7.html Ob hitrem ukrepanju, ustreznem financiranju in usklajenem [4] European Commission, 2005. Standardization mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI in support of European accessibility requirements delovanju vseh deležnikov je preboj mogoče doseči že v nekaj for public procurement of products and services in the ICT domain. letih. Tovrsten preboj je po našem mnenju nujen, da se začne https://www.anec.eu/images/attachments/M376.pdf [5] CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, 2014, Accessibility requirements suitable for stanje na področju dostopnosti IKT rešitev vendarle izboljševati. public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe. Hitro ukrepanje, ki je po našem mnenju nujno, je lahko le https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/301500_301599/301549/01.01.01_6 začasne narave in je morda vzdržno v nekem srednjeročnem 0/en_301549v010101p.pdf https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2000/78/oj obdobju treh do petih let. Za zagotavljanje teh srednjeročnih [6] Richard Hodgkinson, 2008. Accessible ICT Documentation for Europe, ukrepov bi se morala zagotoviti tako notranja sredstva Spring 2008 edition of Communicator. https://accessible-techcomm.org/tag/richard-hodgkinson/ organizacij kot tudi sredstva nacionalnega in evropskega [7] Državni zbor Republike Slovenije, 2018, Zakon o javnem naročanju proračuna. Za namen digitalizacije je v prihajajočem obdobju (ZJN). http://www.pisrs.si/Pis.web/pregledPredpisa?id=ZAKO7086 namenjeno precej sredstev. 26 Bridging Communication Gaps through the Talking Hands Project: An In-depth Analysis Zdenka Wltavsky, PhD Jelena Ljubišić Development Centre for Development Centre for Vocational Rehabilitation Vocational Rehabilitation University Rehabilitation University Rehabilitation Institute Republic of Slovenia Institute Republic of Slovenia Maribor, Slovenia Ljubljana, Slovenia zdenka.wltavsky@ir-rs.si jelena.ljubisic@ir-rs.si ABSTRACT engaged with 120 participants, including deaf individuals, family members, support workers, and educators. The research Talking Hands project, operating under the Erasmus+ KA220- employed a structured questionnaire to explore personal and YOU cooperation partnerships in adult education, seeks to professional data, challenges faced, educational paths, and topics change the landscape of sign language learning. This article for online sign language lessons. This research approach offered presents a comprehensive overview of the project's goals, multifaceted insights into the complexities of communication research rationale of the Inception Workshops that was made by barriers. each project partner, its findings and implications for bridging communication barriers between deaf individuals and their associates. The project's multi-faceted approach aims to enhance 1 ABOUT TALKING HANDS PROJECT inclusivity and digital transformation within European society. Talking Hands project endeavors to develop an open online Each partner conducted an Inception workshop with target platform for learning sign language. Aligned with the Erasmus+ groups, which included friends, family members, and experts KA220-YOU cooperation partnerships in adult education, the from organizations that work with deaf people, in order to project aims to offer high-quality learning opportunities to adults identify the thematic areas that interested them the most and while addressing digital transformation and inclusion priorities come to a consensus. Local particularities, patterns, and set by the European Union. There are 7 Partners organizations variations were documented. that come from 6 different countries: Slovenia, Italy, Greece, KEYWORDS Sweden, Poland and Croatia[3]. Talking Hands project, Erasmus+ KA220-YOU, Inceptions Project addresses digital transformation through the development Workshop, adult education, sign language learning, Deaf of digital readiness, resilience, and capacity, as well as inclusion Culture, Children of deaf adults, Family members, Support and diversity in all fields of education, training, youth and sport. Workers, Educational Path, multi-faceted approach, inclusivity, It focuses on improving the availability of high-quality learning digital transformation, European society, open online platform. opportunities for adults and on facilitating communication between deaf individuals, their relatives, friends, and colleagues INTRODUCTION who wish to learn the fundamentals of sign language. Sign language plays a crucial role in enabling effective communication for the deaf community. However, Project's open online platform offers a flexible and adaptable communication barriers persist due to limited sign language approach to learning, allowing learners to choose thematic topics proficiency among the hearing population. The Talking Hands non-sequentially. This approach enhances digital access and project addresses this challenge by leveraging the potential of flexibility, catering to various learning needs and mitigating digital education. physical constraints This article delves into the project's inception, research Objectives of the Talking hands project are [1]: objectives for Inception Workshop, its findings, and implications • To develop a methodology, to collect and record sign for promoting inclusivity and digital preparedness. language lessons from the languages of the participating countries, including the international sign To comprehend the challenges faced by the deaf community and language. the dynamics of interactions between deaf and hearing • To provide these lessons freely online in a non-formal individuals, the Talking Hands project initiated a comprehensive and flexible educational context, along with other research phase. This research aimed to identify communication useful learning materials related to sign language barriers and foster awareness about the challenges within the lessons and Deaf Culture. community. By conducting Inception Workshops, the project 27 Bridging Communication Gaps through the Talking Hands Project: An In-depth Analysis, Z. Wltavsky et al. 11. August 2023, Maribor, Slovenia • To offer learning opportunities to family members of the comments and recommendations gathered by the target and friends of deaf individuals who wish to groups and stakeholders who participated came next. The enhance their competences, as well as to deaf ultimate distribution of the subjects, classes, and associated individuals who wish to access supplementary educational material is set in the Methodology guide. All learning. partners engaged in internal fine-tuning to ensure the maximum Foreseen Results of the project [1]: integration of the findings from their regional reports and to • Inception workshops by each partner. create a common structure for the lessons that is generated, in • Methodology Guide: A methodology guide was order to offer a variety of learning opportunities [1]. created based on the outputs of the Inception Workshops, which were provided by each partner The participants answered a total of 8 open questions belonging in the form of reports. It included 28 lessons to one common Google Form Questionnaire, translated into the recorded in all sign languages, divided into 7 topics, 6 partnership languages (Slovenian, Italian, Greek, Swedish, matching the number of partner organizations. This Polish, Croatian). methodology guide was designed for "non-experts" and encompassed sign languages from all partner organizations. Each session required students to 3 RESEARCH RESULTS engage for approximately 60 minutes. The European analysis of expert feedback provided a nuanced • Recording of lessons: Consequently, following the understanding of the interactions between target groups and sign aforementioned methodology guide, the recording language within the Deaf Culture. The analysis revealed distinct of lessons was organized by each partner in their participant categories, each with varying levels of sign language own country's sign language, based on the proficiency. Communication barriers emerged as a central theme, collectively agreed-upon structure. impacting essential areas such as medical contexts, public • Creating a web platform. services, and education. This analysis underscored the urgency • Dissemination. of addressing communication challenges to foster inclusivity. The European analysis acquired 120 expert answers in all, 2 INITIAL RESEARCH PURPOSE ranging in age from 20 to 60+, with the following Deaf Culture Based on initial research, the Talking Hands project intends to identifications and interactions [1]: assess the existing status of both hearing and deaf individuals in -Deaf individuals, Deafblind terms of their approach and attitude toward this Culture. The goal -Coda (Children of Deaf Adults) and family members is to comprehend how Deaf and Hearing people currently interact -Support personnel, teachers, and sign language interpreters in daily life, emphasizing the difficulties they encounter and the -Hearing people (friends or coworkers) to deaf or hard of hearing support they eventually receive. people. Thanks to the Inceptions Workshops created by the 7 Partner The EU analysis reveals one characteristic of the target group: all Organizations, 120 answers from participants were collected participants have interacted with deaf culture for a long time— through questionnaires. All the Partners agreed that there is a some from birth, others for more than 30 years—and all have need to spread awareness of the present problems facing Europe. some level of sign language proficiency. The questionnaire was designed to examine four key topics, Deaf individuals and deafblind persons who regularly including [1]: communicate with other deaf people, signers, oralists, and - Personal and Professional data (age, country, profession, hearing people are all active members of the deaf community and interaction description with the Deaf Culture) engage in familial and friendly exchanges. While some of them - Identification of Problems & Support received (encountered learned sign language later in life because they were born into issues in any circumstances of social life and eventually support hearing households without sign language knowledge, others received were born into deaf homes and are fluent sign language - Education Path (This section investigates the educational path communicators. of the TG) - Topics suggested for the online lessons (the most requested A significant difference between the analyzed countries can be thematic that experts would like to learn through online Sign seen when looking at the profile segment of family members at Language course). the European level from the perspective of sign language proficiency; in some of them, communication between the Primary data was collected through field research conducted by parties is limited and is implemented through written all partners. The research was built based on the involvement of communication. Other family members claimed that they the target group at the local/regional/national level. gradually lost a large portion of their sign language proficiency due to life events like moving, switching jobs, or changing According to the project application, the questionnaire had to be schools. However, in the long run, they were able to participate handed out to at least 20 participants in each country. Analysis in a learning platform remotely in order to practice and reinforce concepts that they had forgotten. The Children of Deaf Adults 28 Bridging Communication Gaps through the Talking Hands Project: An In-depth Analysis, Z. Wltavsky et al. 11. August 2023, Maribor, Slovenia who have emerged and are actively participating in this culture written communication were fallbacks, but their limitations on a daily basis, according to Coda profiles, all have a solid became evident, especially for congenitally deaf individuals command of Sign Language. Some of them have also gained dealing with complex vocabulary, abstract concepts, and expertise and have become interpreters in a variety of synonyms. employment settings[1]. The variable nature of sign language, influenced by local dialects, Regarding the profile category, the majority of support workers posed challenges, particularly among self-taught learners interviewed interact regularly with members of this culture compared to formal courses. through their work environments; some of them work for the National Deaf Authority as interpreters and have more than 25 In healthcare settings, including the pandemic, communication years of experience; others train school teachers in workshops on breakdowns were rampant due to a lack of knowledge about sign sensory disabilities; and still others are employed by local language among medical professionals and the barrier posed by organizations of the deafblind to create educational programs for masks. Restrictions on deaf relatives as mediators further these individuals and their families. Others have experience hindered effective communication. teaching family members who are not proficient in sign language, working with them to improve their skills. Similar issues arose in public offices, educational institutions, and areas where hearing individuals had guaranteed access to The field research also allowed for the depiction of the exchanges information. Learning sign language proved difficult, leading from the viewpoint of a friend, coworker, or a hearing person. many to prefer professional interpreters in critical scenarios. Overall, we can say that most of them have excellent relationships with persons who are hard of hearing yet struggle European hearing individuals acknowledged struggles in to communicate because of their poor sign language proficiency. communicating with deaf acquaintances, especially before They treat someone who has hearing loss the same as any other learning sign language. Making initial contact with deaf hearing person, showing that they have grown accustomed to the individuals and comprehending them posed difficulties. mode of communication. They take care to talk clearly and avoid Adjusting speaking pace for lip reading was common. covering their mouths with their hands. Access to sign language courses was inadequate, exacerbated by the shift to online learning after Covid-19. Existing resources 4 DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED mostly offered vocabulary without grammar, limiting Communication difficulties were identified as pervasive issues, independent learning opportunities. affecting both deaf and hearing individuals. The prevalence of auditory stimuli in public spaces created challenges for deaf In education, schools often lacked preparation to accommodate individuals. The lack of sign language knowledge among hearing deaf students, resulting in communication gaps and dependence individuals further exacerbated communication breakdowns. The on peers for assistance. study illuminated regional dialects within sign language, adding complexity to communication. The research emphasized the The experiences of Children of Deaf Adults (CODAs) need for institutional preparedness and robust support emphasized their pivotal role as interpreters. Some hearing mechanisms to ensure inclusivity and accessibility [1]. individuals claimed no communication issues with the deaf, possibly influenced by biases. The research phase progressed to analyzing the communication experiences of the Target Group during the communication Across EU countries, participants faced a dearth of support in phase, considering both the perspectives of deaf and hearing dismantling communication barriers. Institutional individuals. unpreparedness led to interpreter shortages in public spaces and legal contexts. Private services filled the void but at a cost. Deaf Participants universally reported past communication difficulties, individuals primarily relied on family support, despite its with common challenges arising in various aspects of life such limitations in nuanced deaf communication. as public services, hospitals, personal interactions, and professional settings. 5 EDUCATION PATH OF TARGET GROUP Deaf individuals highlighted the impact of living in The educational paths of target group members showcased predominantly hearing environments, where auditory cues diversity, with deaf individuals learning from birth or formal overshadow visual ones. This disparity, evident in places like education. Family members and friends varied in their sign stations and airports, posed obstacles due to predominantly language proficiency. Codas, as children of deaf adults, played a auditory announcements. pivotal role in bridging communication gaps. The inclusion of sign language in schools and workplaces was recommended to The inability of most hearing individuals to use sign language enhance communication and promote inclusivity. created a significant communication barrier. Deaf respondents expressed a desire for hearing people to learn basic phrases and overcome the fear of interacting with them. Lip reading and 29 Bridging Communication Gaps through the Talking Hands Project: An In-depth Analysis, Z. Wltavsky et al. 11. August 2023, Maribor, Slovenia corresponding to regions, whereas Europe typically experiences greater uniformity. 5.1. Lesson’s Topics Participants presented their ideas for content that would greatly Facial expressions play a significant role in the Mediterranean- facilitate communication with the deaf and hard of hearing, rooted Greek sign language, while the Japanese version employs described in the graphic: fewer expressions. Specific gestures exclusive to regions, further underscore the individuality of sign languages. Online platforms Table 1: Most popular topics were reviewed by a Polish participants who emphasized the Topics Percentage importance of clarity, convenience, and intuitive usability for Let's get to know each other 17,4% effective learning. (Greetings, Introduce yourself, Daily To ensure the success of SL projects, complete involvement of life, Weather, Work) the deaf community is essential. Cultural appropriation by the Leisure time (Hobbies, Sport, Culture) 15,1% hearing community must be avoided, and projects should Health care, Emotional feeling, 14% emphasize the recognition of the deaf community as a linguistic Medical Terms minority rather than mere integration. Encouraging SL courses Living at home (List of grocery, 7% in schools and workplaces was also advocated. Kitchen, Bathroom) Alphabets / Numbers 7,1% The positive aspects of a web-based SL course were highlighted, Family & Friends 5,8% enabling learning from home or work while fostering family How to approach to Deaf 5,8% involvement. A crucial recommendation pertained to Character traits 3,5% communication changes for hearing individuals: comprehending Science 2,3% that sign language is visual-spatial, with eyes and hands as the COS 2,3% primary communication channels, necessitating a shift from Children’s activities 2,3% verbal-sound communication. Source:[1] In summary, learning Sign Language involves a challenging yet The majority of those surveyed expressed a desire to improve fascinating journey comparable to acquiring spoken languages. their daily interactions with the deaf, as well as a desire to learn National Sign Languages possess unique characteristics, and sign language and communicate in it in order to participate in and online platforms must prioritize clarity and ease of use. Ensuring share the most significant aspects of their lives. Participants' the involvement of the deaf community, avoiding cultural strong interest in learning sign language highlighted the appropriation, and encouraging SL courses were emphasized. importance of meaningful communication with deaf individuals. The adoption of a web-based course was welcomed, and a crucial The most popular lesson topics included greetings, introductions, recommendation urged hearing individuals to adapt to the visual- daily life, leisure activities, medical terms, and spatial nature of sign language. alphabets/numbers. These preferences reflected a desire to address fundamental aspects of communication and foster deeper connections. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research was conducted within the activities of the projekt CONCLUSION Talking Hands, which is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. The Talking Hands project's inception workshop laid a strong foundation for addressing communication challenges faced by REFERENCES the deaf community and their associates. By offering accessible [1] and flexible sign language lessons, the project aims to empower Claudia Serra.2023. EU Inception Workshop Report Talking Hands. Caligari, Italy individuals, foster inclusivity, and embrace digital [2] Act on the Use of Slovenian Sign Language (ZUSZJ). Nr.:001-08/01-5/1. transformation. The project's multi-faceted approach holds Ljubljana, Slovenia. DOI: http://www.pisrs.si/Pis.web/pregledPredpisa?id=ZAKO1713# promise for bridging communication gaps and enhancing social [3] I.E.R.F.O.P., OECON, PRISM, DODIR, FPSL, Sensus, URI Soča. 2022. cohesion within European society. Application for the project Talking Hands KA220-ADU-C31D2083. Brussels, Belgium. [4] I.E.R.F.O.P., OECON, PRISM, DODIR, FPSL, Sensus, URI Soča. 2023. Learning Sign Language (SL) is a complex journey that mirrors Methodology Guide the Final Draft. Brussels, Belgium. acquiring any foreign spoken language. This visual language [5] Zdenka Wltavsky. 2023. Desk Research on National Deaf Culture. Ljubljana, Slovenia.Note that there is a section break at the end of presents captivating challenges, particularly when pursued references to balance the columns (and this text is a part of the new through online platforms. A fundamental approach recommends section). If you have no space left at the end of your paper, you can delete it. engaging with the deaf community and practicing daily for effective learning. Each National Sign Language exhibits unique characteristics, encompassing distinct vocabulary and grammar, setting them apart from spoken languages and even international sign language. For instance, Italy's SL displays diverse dialects 30 Tehnična izvedba tolmačenja znakovnega jezika na televiziji The Technical Execution of Sign Language Interpretation on Television Bojan Mord, gluha oseba Hiša slovenskega znakovnega jezika, Zavod sodobne dostopnosti za gluhe, naglušne, osebe s polževim vsadkom Uraničeva ulica 16 1000 Ljubljana Slovenija E: info@hisaszj.si S: http://dostopnoplus.si (Oče treh gluhih otrok, certificirani tolmač slovenskega KLJUČNE BESEDE znakovnega jezika in prvi gluhi sodni tolmač v Sloveniji, uporabnik mednarodnega znakovnega jezika. Z več kot 20 leti dostopnost, tolmači znakovnega jezika, televizija, spletna platforma, medijske vsebine. izkušenj učitelj strokovno-teoretičnih in praktičnih predmetov grafične in medijske smeri z nazivom svetnika v šolskem sistemu. Zaposlen na Zavodu za gluhe in naglušne Ljubljana. Direktor ABSTRACT neprofitnega Zavoda Hiša slovenskega znakovnega jezika, Zavoda za sodobno dostopnost za gluhe, naglušne in osebe s The Technical Execution of Sign Language Interpretation on polževim vsadkom. V svoji 25-letni karieri je deloval kot Television presojevalec in svetovalec na področju dostopnosti za televizijo The article explores the challenges and guidelines regarding the in splet. Član strokovnega sveta, kjer zastopa interese oseb za accessibility of sign language interpreters on television and gluhe in naglušne v Zavodu A11Y.si. Glavni in odgovorni online platforms. It underscores the significance of the presence urednik klasične televizije TIPK TV, specializirane za ciljno of sign language interpreters on television for deaf and hard of občinstvo za gluhe in naglušne. S svojim strokovnim znanjem hearing viewers, focusing on issues such as size, positioning, pomaga pri prilagoditvah spletnih portalov, namenjenih gluhim. background, and roles of sign language interpreters, and their Prejemnik priznanja jabolko navdiha RS v letu 2022 za impact on accessibility and comprehension of content. Sign navdihujoča dejanja za skupnost gluhih in krepitev solidarnosti language is a crucial communication tool, and effective v družbi.) interpretation requires advanced knowledge and adherence to ethical standards. POVZETEK Furthermore, the article addresses technical aspects, such as the size and positioning of the sign language interpreter on television, Članek raziskuje izzive in smernice glede dostopnosti tolmačev emphasizing the importance of uniform lighting, background, znakovnega jezika (ZJ) na televiziji in spletnih platformah. contrast, and the relationship between the interpreter's size and Poudarja pomembnost prisotnosti tolmačev ZJ na televiziji za other elements on the screen. It presents practical guidelines for gluhe in naglušne gledalce, obenem pa se osredotoča na optimal visibility of the sign language interpreter on the screen. vprašanja, kot so velikost, pozicioniranje, ozadje in naloge The conclusion of the article highlights shortcomings in current tolmačev ZJ ter njihov vpliv na dostopnost in razumevanje technical solutions for integrating sign language interpreters on vsebin. Znakovni jezik je ključno komunikacijsko orodje, za television and calls for increased attention to technical and učinkovito tolmačenje pa je potrebno izpopolnjeno znanje in content-related challenges. Additionally, the author introduces spoštovanje etičnih standardov. the mission and objectives of the Institute for Slovenian Sign Poleg tega članek obravnava tehnične vidike, kot so velikost in Language, which focuses on accessibility for the deaf and hard pozicioniranje tolmača ZJ na televiziji, poudarjajoč pomembnost of hearing and offers solutions to enhance the quality of enakomerne osvetlitve, ozadja, kontrasta ter razmerja med accessibility services for this user group. velikostjo tolmača in drugimi elementi na zaslonu. Predstavlja praktične smernice za optimalno vidnost tolmača ZJ na zaslonu. KEYWORDS Sklep članka izpostavlja pomanjkljivosti v trenutnih tehničnih rešitvah za vključevanje tolmačev ZJ na televiziji in poziva k accessibility, sign language interpreters, television, online večji pozornosti do tehničnih in vsebinskih izzivov. Poleg tega platform, media content. avtor predstavi namen in cilj Zavoda Hiša slovenskega znakovnega jezika, ki se ukvarja z dostopnostjo za gluhe in naglušne ter ponuja rešitve za izboljšanje kakovosti storitev dostopnosti za to skupino uporabnikov. 31 1 OPREDELITEV ZNAKOVNEGA JEZIKA IN Tolmač za znakovni jezik na televiziji mora zelo dobro poznati POKLICA TOLMAČ ZNAKOVNEGA JEZIKA znakovni jezik in razumeti procese načina komunikacije. Prav tako mora obvladati specifičnosti prenosa sporočil v Tolmači za znakovni jezik se vključujejo v televizijske televizijskem okolju, kjer je podajanje informacij izjemno programe. To je postalo opazneje med pandemijo covida-19, ko posebno. Zagotavlja nenehno visoko kakovost tolmačenja in je družba postala še bolj ozaveščena o prisotnosti gluhih, ohranja izjemno raven koncentracije, medtem ko posreduje naglušnih in uporabnikov znakovnega jezika v našem okolju. sporočila na razumljiv način. Izkušnje vključevanja tolmačev ZJ na televiziji segajo v osemdeseta leta 20. stoletja, čeprav se v nekaterih virih omenjajo tudi sedemdeseta in celo šestdeseta leta 20. stoletja. 2.1 Ključne veščine, ki jih mora tolmač znakovnega jezika obvladati za delo na televiziji: Tolmači ZJ so najopaznejši, ko so na televiziji postavljeni v spodnji desni ali zgornji desni kot ekrana. Uporabljajo se različni • Poskrbeti mora za tekoče simultano (sinhronizirano) okviri, vključno s krogi in kvadrati, danes pa sodobna tehnologija tolmačenje, pri čemer mora hitrost tolmačenja in podajanje omogoča tudi postavitev tolmača ZJ v formatu slika v sliki (angl. izrazov (čustev) biti usklajena z izrečenimi besedami. »picture in picture«). • Izvajati mora tolmačenje s temeljitim obvladovanjem gibanja Dostopnost medijskih vsebin se razširja v spletno okolje, rok, prstov, oči, ustnic, dosledna uporaba gest, mimike in vključno s spletnimi pretočnimi predvajanji v živo, kar je telesnega gibanja mora biti skladna in jasna. izjemno pozitivno. Pomembno je, da so nacionalni mediji na televiziji vse bolj pozorni na vključevanje tolmačev ZJ. • Prenašati globoke pomene in odtenke je bistvenega pomena, Tehnologija je napredovala do te mere, da ni več tehničnih ovir prenesti morajo polni pomen besedila, vključno z za umeščanje tolmačev ZJ na televizijo. Zagotoviti je treba razumevanjem konteksta, namena govora in čustvenih nians. zadostno kadrovsko znanje in strokovnost za to posebno področje, ki ga srečujemo tako v Sloveniji kot tudi v tujini. • Prilagoditi se tako informativnim oddajam kot tudi zabavnim Predstavil bom tehnične smernice za umestitev tolmačev ZJ, in izobraževalnim vsebinam, glede na žanr in naravo pred tem pa še kriterije dela tolmačev ZJ, specifičnosti televizijske vsebine morajo prilagoditi svoj slog znakovnega jezika ter pričakovanja gledalcev za ustrezno in komunikacije. kakovostno televizijsko vsebino v znakovnem jeziku. Znakovni jezik gluhih izhaja iz uporabe rok, mimike obraza, oči, • Delovati v skladu z etičnimi standardi, spoštovati zasebnost ustnic in gibanja telesa, da se lahko izražajo ideje, čustva in gledalcev ter vzdrževati profesionalen odnos do svojega dela sporočilnost. Uporablja se tudi prstno abecedo. Je vizualni jezik in občinstva. za gluhe in njihovo ključno komunikacijsko sredstvo. Razlikuje se po izrazih, gibanju in celo strukturi stavkov. Vsak znakovni Delo tolmača je sestavljeno iz zgoraj naštetih veščin. Poudariti je jezik je dinamičen in se razvija znotraj gluhe skupnosti, nanj pa treba, da tolmač ni tehnik, zato ni njegova pristojnost, ali se ga vplivata tudi lokalna kultura in zgodovina. Nima enake slovnice dobro vidi, ali je pravilno umeščen oziroma postavljen v kader. kot govorni jezik, niti na istem geografskem, kulturnem in Njegova prvenstvena naloga je, da se pred prenosom in med njim zgodovinskem območju ne, saj je neodvisen od govorjenja in se dobro počuti, da ima stalen dovod svežega zraka in možnost, da oblikuje znotraj gluhe skupnosti. dobi predčasen vpogled v vsebino oddaje (besedila voditeljev, besedila avtorjev skladbe, kateri gost se bo predvidoma oglasil s Prejemanje informacij in znanja s pomočjo znakovnega jezika terena in podobno). *2 gluhih je omejeno, informacijska vrednost je majhna, nujno je potrebna standardizacija jezika. Pomembno je poudariti, da 2.2 Napotki za razumevanje vloge tolmačev v slovenski znakovni jezik ni enak drugim znakovnim jezikom. televizijskem okolju Vsak znakovni jezik na svetu je edinstven in razlike so že znotraj iste države. Postavitev tolmača na zaslonu mora omogočati nemoteno POMEMBNO: uporaba rok, mimike obraza, oči, ustnic ter spremljanje tako tolmača kot tudi drugih vizualnih elementov, ki gibanja telesa, da se lahko izražajo ideje, čustva in sporočila. se morajo medsebojno izključevati. Upoštevati je treba optimalno razmerje med velikostjo tolmača in preostalimi 2 ZNAČILNOSTI DELA IN VLOGA vsebinami. Zelo preudarno je treba zagotoviti sodelovanje med TOLMAČA ZNAKOVNEGA JEZIKA NA vsemi tolmači, ki sodelujejo na televiziji, tako za slišeče kot TELEVIZIJI gluhe certificirane tolmače ZJ, tudi s kamermani, svetlobnimi tehniki, tonskim tehniki, scenografom, producenti, urednikom, odgovornim za dostopnost vsebin v znakovnem jeziku, ter Tolmač ZJ v Sloveniji lahko postane vsak, ki opravi NPK- presojevalcem in svetovalcem za dostopnost uporabnikom certifikat za tolmače slovenskega ZJ. Od julija 2019 dalje so znakovnega jezika. To so ključni člani ekipe, ki omogočajo vrata odprta tudi za gluhe osebe, ki lahko tolmačijo slovenski ZJ. kakovostno medijsko posredovanje informacij. tej spremembi je pomembno prispevalo Društvo učiteljev gluhih Slovenije.*1 32 Velik poudarek je na izobraževanju in evalviranju opravljenega • Med televizijsko oddajo tolmač ne prevaja dokumentov ali dela tolmačenja na televiziji. Ohranjanje visoke ravni pisnih grafično opremljenih besedil na zaslonu. Omejen je na strokovnosti in motivacije vključuje stalno sodelovanje tako na tolmačenje govorjenega jezika in branje podnapisov v internih kot eksternih izobraževanjih. Priporoča se vzpostavitev znakovni jezik. uredništva za znakovni jezik, ki naj ga vodijo izkušeni strokovnjaki s področja znakovnega jezika in poznavalci gluhe • Ne izraža svojih mnenj, komentarjev ali sodb o vsebinah, ki skupnosti, za uvajanje znakovnega jezika za potrebe televizije. jih tolmači. Njegova naloga je objektivno prenašanje informacij. Tolmači morajo skrbeti, da na sebi nimajo nakita, ure, visečih uhanov, vidnih motečih tetovaž, bleščečih predmetov, premočno Pomembno je razumeti, da je delo tolmača na televiziji obarvanih nohtov, podaljšane trepalnice in nohti niso zaželeni. osredotočeno na prenos sporočil iz enega jezika v drugega, tako Priporočajo se speti lasje (tolmači niso fotomodeli) in da se zagotovi dostopnost in razumevanje medijskih vsebin za minimalistično ličenje. Zaželeni so tri četrt rokavi. Preživahne gluhe in naglušne gledalce. barve ali bleščice na oblačilih so prepovedane, enako velja za prekomerna vzorčasta oblačila, ki lahko motijo gledalce pri prepoznavanju znakov in gibanja tolmača. Preohlapna oblačila 3 DIMENZIONIRANJE IN POZICIONIRANJE ovirajo delo tolmača pri gibanju in gibljivost rok ter izrazov. TOLMAČA ZJ NA TELEVIZIJI Oblačila z vzorci niso priporočljiva, prav tako ne globoki V- izrezi. Podano razumevanje znakovnega jezika in njegovih značilnosti Pomembno je zagotoviti redno prisotnost tolmačev ZJ na daje vpogled, ki razkriva kompleksnost te komunikacijske televiziji, da se vzpostavi zaupanje in pričakovanje med gledalci. oblike. Ključno je razumeti, da gledalci pred televizijskimi Za oddaje v živo se običajno uporablja slišeče tolmače, so pa tudi zasloni za celovito in razumljivo informacijo spremljajo uporabo redke izjeme, kjer delajo tudi gluhi tolmači. Za oddaje, ki so rok, mimike obraza, oči, ustnic in gibanje telesa. S temi elementi vnaprej posnete, se priporoča, da vključijo gluhe tolmače. Pri se izražajo ideje, čustva in sporočilnost. Pri neposrednih novicah, dnevnoinformativnih oddajah naj se zagotovi desetminutna zlasti v informativnih oddajah, je besedna vsebina zgoščena v oddaja, prilagojena potrebam gluhih v znakovnem jeziku, za čim krajšem času. Tolmači znakovnega jezika morajo simultano katero tolmačijo gluhi tolmači. Zavedati se je treba, da so gluhi in izjemno natančno prevesti vsebino, pri čemer je pomembno, in slišeči tolmači enakovredni in so drug drugemu podpora ter da se vsi odtenki in drobne kretnje, ki prispevajo k razumevanju tim za kakovostno izvajanje storitev, še posebej na televiziji in v sporočil, jasno vidijo in razumejo. Zmanjšanje prostora za pretočnih spletnih vsebinah. tolmača na televiziji zmanjšuje prostor za prenos informacij, kar vpliva na kakovost razumevanja. Svetovna zveza gluhih (WFD) piše, da so gluhi tolmači v Pri ustrezni dimenzioniranosti tolmača znakovnega jezika je nekaterih primerih bolj zaželeni. V Evropi in po svetu zelo ključno, da je razmerje med njegovo velikostjo in velikostjo podpirajo tolmačenje gluhih tolmačev, saj so izsledki njihovih drugih prisotnih oseb na televiziji enako. Tako kot prikaz raziskav pokazali, da so gluhi tolmači boljši tolmači za gluhe kot voditelja ali izvajalca naj bo tudi velikost tolmača znakovnega slišeči tolmači.*3 jezika enako nastavljena. Pozicioniranje tolmača na levi ali desni strani je odvisno od medijske hiše, pogosto je pozicioniranje na desni strani. Prostor za tolmača naj bo ločen in neodvisen od 2.3 Omejitve in naloge, ki jih tolmač ZJ na drugih elementov na zaslonu. televiziji ne izvaja: Spodnja slika ponazarja priporočeno dimenzioniranje tolmača znakovnega jezika v modrem polju. Širino prostora za tolmača • Ne izbira vsebin, ki bodo predvajane na televiziji. Njegova se določi z razdelitvijo na tretjine, kar prispeva k optimalni naloga je tolmačenje že pripravljenih vsebin, ne pa odločanje vidnosti in razumevanju. o tem, kaj se bo predvajalo. • Ne sodeluje pri urejanju videoposnetkov ali montaži oddaj. Njegova vloga je izključno tolmačenje med predvajanjem. • Ne piše scenarijev za oddaje ali pripravlja vsebin za televizijo. Njegovo delo je tolmačenje in prenos že obstoječih vsebin. • Ne nastopa v vlogah igralcev ali voditeljev. Njegova naloga je omogočiti razumevanje govorjenega jezika za gluhe in naglušne gledalce. Slika 1: Shematski/grafični prikaz razdelitve prostora pri umeščanju velikosti prostora za tolmače znakovnega jezika. Vir: osebni arhiv avtorja 33 Določitev pozicije tolmača ‒ centrirano, pustiti ob komolcu nekaj prostora (slika spodaj). Slika 2: Pri določanju pozicije tolmača je pomembno, da ga postavimo v centriran položaj, hkrati pa zagotovimo dovolj prostora ob komolcu. Spodnji rez naj se začne nad pasom, pri tem moramo skrbno paziti, da glava ni preblizu zgornjemu robu. Obe prikazani rešitvi sta ustrezni. Vir: https://tipk.si/oddaje Slikovni prikaz pravilne umeščenosti in velikosti tolmača ZJ in njegovo pozicioniranje praktičnih primerov na klasični televiziji TIPK TV za gluhe in naglušne Vir: https://tipk.si/oddaje V nadaljevanju je prikaz nekaterih različnih praks umestitve tolmača za znakovni jezik v PRILOGI A. 4 OZADJE TOLMAČA ZJ NA TELEVIZIJI V vsaki medijski ustanovi se oblikujejo načini postavitve tolmačev ZJ pred kamero. Kljub temu se le redko pomisli, kakšno ozadje bi bilo primerno. Pomembno je, da scenografi sodelujejo s strokovnjaki za dostopnost in presojevalci, ki poznajo potrebe uporabnikov znakovnega jezika. Izbor ozadja mora biti premišljen, da bo omogočalo jasno vidnost tolmača. Ozadje naj bo preprosto, umirjeno in nevtralno. Priporočljiv je enobarvni vzorec, ki usmerja pozornost na tolmača. Kontrast ima izjemno pomembno vlogo. Skupaj s stilisti in tolmači ZJ je treba določiti barvno paleto oblačil za določeno oddajo, kar omogoča, da roke in izrazi obraza izstopajo in so jasno vidni. Barvna ozadja naj se skladajo s celostno grafično podobo oddaje, pri tem je treba paziti na pravilno kontrastno razmerje in se izogibati motečim intenzivnim barvam. Pravilna osvetlitev ima ključno vlogo, da se preprečijo sence in zamegljenost. Tudi manj opazni deli, na primer podbradki, morajo biti ustrezno osvetljeni. Jasna in enakomerna osvetlitev omogoča gledalcem boljšo vidnost tolmača ZJ. V ozadju ne smejo biti moteči elementi, kot so deli videa, grafični napisi, premikajoči se predmeti ali bleščeče površine. To je pogosto izraženo pri delu z zelenim ozadjem, kjer lahko tolmač ZJ prehaja med videom, kar ni priporočljivo. Položaj tolmača ZJ mora biti takšen, da ne prekriva pomembnih vizualnih elementov na zaslonu. 34 Velikost tolmača ZJ mora biti dovoljšna, da gledalci jasno vidijo • uvedba kategorizacije in ovrednotenje dela tolmačev ZJ, njegove izrazne geste in mimiko, kar omogoča učinkovito pobuda za nov NPK II tolmač/tolmačica slovenskega spremljanje sporočil v znakovnem jeziku. znakovnega jezika za televizijo, konference in javne nastope (delo na televiziji, spletu – pretočne vsebine, konference, javni nastopi); Zaključna beseda • permanentno izobraževanje je vseživljenjsko učenje za vse V svoji karieri, ki traja že več kot 25 let, sem se posvetil druge ZJ. zagotavljanju dostopnosti za gluhe in naglušne osebe, ki uporabljajo znakovni jezik. Kljub dolgoletnemu spremljanju tega Vse strokovno znanje in pridobljene izkušnje tako v Sloveniji kot področja tako doma kot v tujini sem razočaran nad tudi v tujini so rezultati več kot 25-letnih izkušenj. V okviru pomanjkljivostmi, ki še vedno obstajajo pri tehnični izvedbi neprofitnega Zavoda Hiša slovenskega znakovnega jezika in spremljanja tolmača ZJ na televizijskem zaslonu. Vztrajno se Zavoda za sodobno dostopnost gluhih, naglušnih in oseb s namreč soočamo s problemi, kjer vložen trud, energija, delo polževim vsadkom bomo v prihodnje z zgoraj naštetih področij tolmačev ZJ in finančna sredstva izgubijo svoj pomen zaradi ponujali tako individualne kot skupinske storitve. Naš skupni cilj pomanjkljive celostne obravnave problema. je dvigniti kakovost storitev dostopnosti za gluhe, naglušne in uporabnike znakovnega jezika tako v Sloveniji kot tudi v tujini. Prvotna uvedba tolmačev na televizijskih zaslonih je razveselila in osrečila gluhe osebe. Kljub temu ne upajo izraziti zaskrbljenosti, da je bil ves trud zaman, saj obstajajo strahovi pred morebitno ukinitvijo oddaj, opremljenih z ZJ. Ko skuša VIRI/REFERENCES skupina gluhih oseb glasno opozoriti na te težave, se pri sogovornikih pojavi »tehnični izziv«, kajti trdijo, da povečanje *1 Tolmač/ica slovenskega znakovnega jezika (0613188011): velikosti tolmača ZJ in zmanjšanje velikosti preostalega videa ni https://npk.si/katalogi/0613188/ izvedljivo. Te tehnične omejitve so pogosto povezane z *2 Konferenčno tolmačenje znakovnega jezika: https://knowledge-centre- mešalnimi mizami za video, licenciranimi matričnimi interpretation.education.ec.europa.eu/sl/node/153 postavitvami in drugimi izgovori. *3 Sign Language Interpreting and translation and technological developments Approved by WFD Board on 7 February 2019: Današnja tehnologija dokazuje, da je vse mogoče doseči in https://wfdeaf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/WFD-Postion-Paper-on- izpolniti tehnične ter vsebinske kriterije. Z nekaj truda in volje bi Accessbility-12-Feb-2019- se lahko izognili tehničnim težavam, ker jih ni, in razvijali obliko Updated.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0JYP4FsQfyhAQm9AIa3z_Yq- oa0auKOOICTOJa0Gqp60w4kyJtfQ8rSY8 v polni meri. V prispevku sem se osredotočil predvsem na velikost tolmača ZJ, ustrezno ozadje, optimalno pozicioniranje in naloge tolmača na televiziji. Spregovoriti je treba tudi o nekaterih ključnih področjih, povezanih z dostopnostjo za gluhe, naglušne in uporabnike znakovnega jezika: • tehnično urejanje podnapisov, kjer se predvajajo za televizijo, pretočne vsebine, spletne portale …; • vsebinsko delo tolmača ZJ, evalvacija, razvoj tehnike, vrsta strategije, pristopi in načini za posamezno področje; • urednikovanje in priprava vsebin ZJ za televizijo ter splet; • oddaje za gluhe in informativnih vsebin, prilagojenih za gluhe, v Sloveniji na ravni RTVSLO še nimamo; • monitoring in kontrola kakovosti dela za tolmače ZJ na vseh nivojih, še posebej na izpostavljenih mestih tolmačenja, kot so televizija, konference in javni nastopi; • šola za tolmače za obstoječe NPK-tolmače za tiste, ki delajo (delo na televiziji, spletu – pretočne vsebine, konference, javni nastopi); 35 PRILOGA A Prikaz nekaterih različnih praks umestitve tolmačev ZJ 36 Uporaba tehnik za samodejno podnaslavljanje avdiovizualnih vsebin Using auto-subtitle system methods in audiovisual content Bogdan Dugonik Inštitut za elektroniko in telekomunikacije/ Inštitut za Medijske komunikacije FERI/Univerza v Mariboru bogdan.dugonik@um.si ABSTRACT / POVZETEK Vse več je ljudi z okvaro sluha, kar otežuje tako medsebojno 1 Uvod sporazumevanje kot tudi razumevanje dialogov avdiovizualnih Delež ljudi, ki ima težavo s sluhom se nenehno povečuje. vsebin. Podnaslavljanje poveča razumljivost in zmanjša potrebni Razlogov za slabši sluh je mnogo, nekateri so prirojeni kot napor prizadetih pri spremljanju vsebin. Ker je ročno posledica obolenj, ali poškodb nastalih zaradi povečane podnaslavljanje dolgotrajni proces in drago opravilo, ga želimo dolgotrajne ali kratkotrajne izpostavljenosti hrupu. Podaljšuje se avtomatizirati s pomočjo orodij za avtomatsko razpoznavanje tudi življenjska doba, s tem pa je povezana tudi starostna izguba dialogov v zvoku in s podnaslavljanjem. Nekatera komercialna sluha (naglušnostjo). Odmiranje čutnic za zaznavanje tonov se in prostodostopna orodja so že vključena v programih za video začne že po dvajsetem letu, v starosti pa odmirajo tudi tiste za montažo. V času pandemije Covid-19 smo posneli več učnih sprejemanje nizkih frekvenc, ki so pomembne za gradiv, ki smo jih s pomočjo omenjenih orodij tudi podnaslovili. sporazumevanje [1]. Vse bolj izrazita je izguba sluha že v Na primeru izobraževalnega filma predstavimo postopke najstniških letih. Vzroki za veliko število najstnikov s težavami samodejnega podnaslavljanja video gradiv. sluha je lahko povečana izpostavljenost hrupu na zabavah, preglasnem gledanju filmov in poslušanju glasbe preko slušalk. KLJUČNE BESEDE Ko se izguba sluha enkrat pojavi, le-te ni mogoče več povrniti v Samodejno razpoznavanje govora, podnaslavljanje, video. prvotno stanje [1]. ABSTRACT Osebe s slabšim sluhom imajo pri medsebojnem sporazumevanju More and more people have hearing impairment, making it težave, kajti to od njih zahteva dodatni psihofizični napor, challenging to communicate with each other and understand posebej še v hrupnem okolju. Tudi spremljanje avdiovizualnih dialogs of audiovisual content. Subtitling increases vsebin (AV vsebin) je težavno, pogosto pa teh niti ne razumejo. comprehensibility and reduces the effort required by people with Posebej še, kadar so avdiovizualna dela slabše tonske kakovosti disabilities to follow the content. Since manual subtitling is a ali nepravilno uglašena [2]. Tudi kakovost predvajalnih naprav, time-consuming and expensive task, we want to automate it with neprimerna prostorska akustika in hrup iz okolja dodatno the help of tools for automatic speech recognition and auto- otežujejo razumevanje vsebin [2]. Avdiovizualne vsebine niso subtitling. Some commercial and open-source tools are already namenjena le za zabavo in sprostitev, temveč so pomembno available in video editing tools. During the Covid-19 pandemic, orodje za informiranje. Uporabljamo jih pri neformalnem in we recorded several educational materials and subtitled it with formalnem izobraževanju za širše interesne skupine. Kadar je the help of the mentioned tools. Using the example of an izobraževanje namenjeno osebam s slabšim sluhom, je educational film, we present the procedure for automatic pomembno, da so vsebine zaradi boljše razumljivosti tudi subtitling video materials. podnaslovljene. KEYWORDS Podnaslavljanje filmov in videa v slovenskem prostoru ni novost, Automatic speech recognition, subtitling, video. saj se tujejezična dela prevajajo s pomočjo podnaslavljanja, pri tem pa originalni ton ostane nespremenjen [3]. Podnaslavljanje Uporaba tehnik za samodejno podnaslavljanja avdiovizualnih vsebin AV vsebin je časovno zelo zamudno opravilo, če se izvaja ročno, Bogdan Dugonik vendar pa današnje tehnologije s strojnim razpoznavanjem Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or dialogov ASR (angl. Automatic Speech Recognition) že classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed omogočajo samodejno podnaslavljanje vsebin, v ta namen so na for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must voljo različna orodja in tehnike [4]. Za večino svetovnih jezikov be honored. For all other uses, contact the owner/author(s). so orodja ASR s funkcijo podnaslavljanja že dobro izpopolnjena. Information Society 2022, 10–14 October 2022, Ljubljana, Slovenia Intenzivne raziskave s področja avtomatskega razpoznavanja © 2022 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). 37 potekajo tudi za slovenski jezik. Rezultat teh raziskav so orodja, Javna radiotelevizija Slovenija zato preko svojega spletnega ki so v okrnjeni obliki tudi dostopna za uporabo širšim portala že omogoča spremljanje več od 700 oddaj s pomočjo uporabnikom [5]. Ker umetna inteligenca na področju strojnega podnaslavljanja prek tehnologije teleteksta. Trenutno so pri javni razpoznavanja govora vse bolj prispeva k razvoju teh orodij, radioteleviziji podnaslovljene le oddaje, ki so posnete vnaprej. lahko v bližnji prihodnosti pričakujemo, da bodo postopki v Razvoj orodij za podnaslavljanje živih oddaj že teče, trenutno pa prihodnje vsaj deloma avtomatizirani, omogočali pa tudi sprotno tehnologije za tekoče podnaslavljanje vsebin v živo še ne podnaslavljanje AV vsebin [6]. Trenutno še nimamo orodja, ki omogočajo. Predstavljen pilotni projekt za samodejno bi omogočalo celostno strojno samodejno in sprotno podnaslavljanje televizijskih programov za sprotno ustvarjanje razpoznavanje govora v slovenskem jeziku s tvorbo podnapisov informativnih, kulturnih, športnih in drugih samodejnega podpisovanja [5]. televizijskih oddaj z uporabo samodejne razpoznave slovenskega govora v realnem času je trenutno še v razvojni fazi. Razvoj V prispevku predstavimo orodja za avtomatsko govorno orodij za razpoznavanje govora ASR iz slovenskega jezika razpoznavanje v kombinaciji s plačljivimi in prostodostopnimi poteka na obeh večjih slovenskih univerzah. Orodja za orodji za urejanje videa ter izvedbo podnaslavljanja na primeru razpoznavo so v razvojni fazi, zato jih še ni mogoče integrirati z učnih videovsebin. Učne AV vsebine smo začeli intenzivno drugimi orodji. Zadnji rezultati kažejo na 71 % uspešnost producirati v času pandemije Covid-19, ko je bil osebni stik s razpoznavanja [11]. študenti močno okrnjen ali povsem onemogočen. Rezultati samodejnega razpoznavanja in deljenja teksta na ustrezne bralne Iz zgoraj navedenih razlogov vse več ponudnikov avdiovizualnih odseke so še nepopolni in še zahtevajo ročno popravljanje, kar vsebin omogoča samodejno razpoznavanje govora s od urednika vsebin zahteva še dodaten čas in napor. podnaslavljanjem. Načinov izvedbe podnaslavljanja in umeščanja teksta v video je bilo izvedenih več raziskav [10]. Pokazale so, da klasično nameščanje teksta v spodnji srednji del 2 Video s podnapisi kot pripomoček za učenje slike na zaslonu ni edini možni način za podnaslavljanje, ampak Video je kot pripomoček pri formalnem in neformalnem učenju da lahko namestitev teksta v okvir slike tudi dinamično pridobival veljavo vse od začetka tega stoletja, potem ko so prilagodimo glede na vsebino in želje uporabnika. Pomembnih spletne tehnologije omogočile pretočnost video vsebin preko elementov slike s tekstom nikakor ne želimo prekriti, saj v videu spleta. Prvi model izobraževalnih video vsebin namenjenim lahko vključeni tudi teksti in podnaslovi kot prevodi drugih gluhim in naglušnim osebam je bil v okviru Centra za študij na jezikov. Prekrivanje teksta s tekstom je za gledalca moteče, zato daljavo na UM Maribor predstavljen leta 2001. Raziskovali smo mesto za podnaslavljanje določimo tako, da predhodno način vključevanja tolmača znakovnega jezika s tehniko slike v vnesenega teksta ne prekrivamo. Spletne tehnologije razen sliki (angl. Picture in Picture). V okviru projekta VISOCOM je integriranega načina (angl. closed-caption) predvidevajo tudi bilo izdelano tutorsko orodje, za učenje gluhih uporabe sodobnih predvajanje teksta le v primeru, kadar je predvajanje aktivirano s tehnologij za komunikacijo na daljavo [7]. Omenjen projekt še ni strani uporabnika (angl. closed-caption). Urednik vsebin lahko predvideval podnaslavljanja tolmača znakovnega jezika, saj bi tekst izvozi v zunanjo datoteko in ga uporabi kot pripomoček bilo podnaslavljanje s takratno tehnologijo težko izvesti. Kasneje iskalniku določenega mesta v AV vsebini s pomočjo preko so avtorji s študijo ugotovili [8], da podnapisi skupaj s tolmačem ključnih besed. Pri urejanju tekstov za podnaslavljanje je treba znakovnega jezika bistveno prispevajo k boljšemu razumevanje upoštevati še vrsto smernic, kot je število znakov v vrstici in vsebine učnega gradiva gluhih in naglušnih gledalcev [8]. Tudi število vrstic podnapisa, razmerje med dolžino podnapisa v številne druge raziskave poročajo o pozitivni uporabi podnapisov znakih in njegovim trajanjem, obliko in barvo črk ter vrsto za izboljšanje besedišča in veščin razumevanja [9]. Evropska podlage. organizacija združenja gluhih in naglušnih EFHOH je z direktivo tudi zahtevala, da se vse AV vsebine v evropskem medijskem prostoru opremijo s podnapisi, da slušno prizadetim osebam 3 Podnaslavljanje AV vsebin omogočimo boljšo vključitev v medijski prostor in njihovo lažje Poznamo več tehnik za podnaslavljanje AV vsebin. Pri prvem se razumevanje [10]. v podnaslovljen tekst vključujejo izključno dialogi govorcev, lahko pa vključujejo tudi opisi spremnega zvoka, za opis vrste Čeprav primarno obravnavamo težave z razumevanjem AV glasbe, šumov in drugega spremljajočega zvoka. Podnaslavljanje vsebin slušno prizadete populacije oseb, pa so pogosto težave z je v slovenskem prostoru že dolgo prisotno, saj so vse tujejezične razumevanjem tudi za starejšo populacijo in tudi pri osebah, ki AV vsebine prevedene in podnaslovljene [3]. Ker je ročno sicer nimajo težav s sluhom [1]. Razlogi so lahko tudi povsem podnaslavljanje dolgotrajno in drago opravilo. Ker je AV vsebin tehnični: vse več, je lahko rešitev tudi uporaba orodij za samodejno prepoznavanje govora ASR. Za dober rezultat branja mora • hrupno okolje (sejmi, prireditve, muzeji), besedilo biti dopolnjeno tudi z ločili, primerno razdvojeno, in • akustično neustrezen prostor, postavljeno na ustreznih mestih [3]. Ponudniki nekaterih spletnih • nekakovostna oprema za predvajanje zvoka, portalov za pretočno predvajanje AV vsebin omogočajo • slabo uravnan in posnet zvok, kreatorjem vsebin integrirana orodja ASR za samodejno • dolg odmev zaradi lastnosti prostor. podnaslavljanje. Ta uspešno prepoznajo dialog več različnih svetovnih jezikov, hkrati pa omogočajo tudi sprotni prevod besedil. Hiter razvoj na področju umetne inteligence, botruje mu 38 predvsem tehnološki napredek na področju velikih podatkov in jezike. Na Sliki 3 je prikazan primer za podnaslavljanje s tekstom uporabe akustičnih modelov globokih nevronskih mrež ima velik v angleškem in slovenskem jeziku. Integracija podnapisov v vpliv na razvoj orodij ASR [11]. Z umetno inteligenco je video je samodejna, vendar so potrebni še ročni popravki. opremljeno orodje portala Vimeo, namenjeno uporabnikom za Največkrat gre za smiselne popravke prevodov, nastavitev snemanje preko spletne kamere in urejanje videoposnetkov. trenutka začetka in konca prikaza tekstovne vrstice v časovnici, Vgrajen ima bralnik besedil (angl. Telepromter) in funkcijo in prilagajanje trajanja posameznega podnapisa. Vgrajena je tudi pametnega odstranjevanje neželenih vsebin, na primer besednih funkcija za samodejno odpravljanje tipkarskih napak. Podnapise mašil. Orodje je namenjeno predavateljem, ki jim je neprijetno lahko v video integriramo ali izvozimo v tekstovno datoteko za ustvarjati lastne videoposnetke. Slovenski jezik zaradi predvajanje na zahtevo gledalca. specifičnosti njegove zgradbe trenutno še ni na voljo. Avtomatsko razpoznavanje slovenskega jezika za podnaslavljanje je problematično, predvsem v primeru kratkih besed, in kadar so ob govorjeni besedi prisotni tudi drugi zvoki (šum), ali kadar je v posnetek opremljeno z glasbenim ozadjem [12]. Težave z razpoznavanjem nastanejo tudi v akustično problematičnih prostorih, to so prostori z daljšim odmevnim časom RT60 (angl. Reverb Time 60) [13]. 4 Tehnike nameščanja teksta v video Montaža videa velja za kreativni in ustvarjalni proces, hkrati pa je časovno dolgotrajno in ponavljajoče se opravilo. Vse več video urejevalnikov že vključuje umetno inteligenco, ki delovni proces poenostavlja z avtomatizacijo dolgočasnih opravil. Raziskave so pokazale, katera pogosto izvajana opravila pri urejanju videa bodo z uvedbo umetne inteligence najbolj poenostavila proces montaže za ustvarjanje video vsebin [14]. Podnaslavljanje AV vsebin je zagotovo eno od opravil, ki ga želimo avtomatizirati. Je precej specifično delo, saj ga poleg Slika 2: Orodje za strojno prepoznavanje dialogov s tehničnega vidika prikazovanja podnapisov, vsebinske funkcijo samodejnega podnaslavljanja natančnosti in preverjenosti objavljenih podatkov pogosto spremljajo tudi kratki časovni roki. Strojno prepoznavanje V času pandemije Covid-19 smo zaradi okrnjenih osebnih stikov dialogov montažerjem bistveno zmanjšajo obseg dela. Na Sliki 1 predavanja in vaje snemali za namen predvajanja kot video na je prikazano okno orodja za montažo videa Adobe Premiere Pro zahtevo. Učne video vsebine so se lahko predvajale kadarkoli, v z vgrajenim modulom za strojno razpoznavanje dialogov in celoti ali po delih. Iz analize in statistike ogledov lahko možnostjo samodejnega podnaslavljanja. Čeprav z uporabo predavatelj ugotovi, kateri del snovi je za študenta še posebej omenjenih orodij prihranimo na času, pa trenutno še veliko zanimiv, kajti določeni odseki v videu se lahko predvajajo montažerjev ta postopek še zmeraj izvaja ročno [15]. pogosteje od drugih. Video vsebine so dostopne tudi po končanih omejitvah, ko se predavanja in vaje v celoti izvajajo v predavalnicah. Iz pogovora s študenti smo ugotovili, da je kombiniran način podajanja snovi dobrodošla in zaželena dopolnitev predavanjem v živo. Slika 1: Razpoznavalnik dialogov v Adobe PremirePro prepozna govor in samodejno namešča tekste po časovnici videa Na voljo so tudi prostodostopna orodja za strojno prepoznavanje dialogov in podnaslavljanje, na Sliki 2 je prikazan vmesnik orodja Subtitle Edit SE. Program tekst s pomočjo umetne Slika 2: Okno s teksti za podnaslavljanje in prevodom v inteligence za tekoče branje samodejno in smiselno razdeli na drug jezik krajše odseke. Omogoča tudi večjezično podnaslavljanje, saj se ustvarjeni podnapisi lahko samodejno prevedejo tudi v druge 39 Video posnetke predavanj smo namestili na video strežnik v strokovna dejavnost in velja za zahtevno, predvsem pa časovno okolje Moodle in na spletni portal YouTube. Tam smo uporabili dolgotrajno opravilo. Ker je omenjenih vsebin vse več, je orodje Studio, namenjeno za urejanje in samodejno pomembno, da za podnaslavljanje uporabimo orodja, ki bi podnaslavljanje videa. Ker slovenskih dialogov Studio še ne opravilo podnaslavljanje lahko kakovostno samodejno izvedla. prepozna, je tekst za podnaslavljanje treba vnesti ročno, kar je Umetna inteligenca tehnologijam ASR danes že omogoča časovno zamudno opravilo. Postopek smo pohitrili tako, da samodejno razpoznavanje dialogov in podnaslavljanje. Imamo dialog iz zvočne datoteke prepoznali z orodjem za strojno orodja za urejanje videa z vgrajeno tehnologijo ASR. Dialoge prepoznavanje jezika v spletnem portalu slovenščina.eu [5]. Ker nekaterih svetovnih jezikov orodja že razpoznajo z visoko orodje ne omogoča branja video datotek, je treba zvok pretvoriti zanesljivostjo in točnostjo. V podnapisih so lahko še prisotne v zvočno datoteko. napake, ki so posledica slabše produkcijske kakovosti posnetka ali šumov iz ozadja. V članku smo predstavili postopke in možnosti orodij na primeru produkcije videa namenjen izobraževanju. V času pandemije Covid-19 je bil stik s študenti otežen, zato smo predavanja in vaje posneli in jih opremili s slovenskimi in angleškimi podnapisi. Samodejno razpoznavanje, deljenje teksta na ustrezne bralne odseke in podnaslavljanje z razpoložljivimi orodji je za slovenski jezik zaenkrat še težje izvedljivo, kajti orodja zahtevajo še nekaj dodatnega ročnega dela. Popolna avtomatizacija postopkov za samodejno podnaslavljanje v slovenskem jeziku bo zagotovo velika pridobitev. Umetna inteligenca na področju strojnega razpoznavanja govora vse bolj prispeva k razvoju teh orodij, zato lahko v bližnji prihodnosti pričakujemo, da bodo postopki v prihodnje ne le avtomatizirani, ampak omogočali tudi sprotno podnaslavljanje AV vsebin tudi v slovenskem jeziku. Slika 3: Okno za urejanje podnapisov v programu Studio na spletnem portalu YouTube REFERENCE [1] Kladnik Stabelj, K. 2013. Vzroki gluhosti in naglušnosti. V S. Battelino. Razpoznani tekst prenesemo v okno tekstovnega urejevalnika Avdiometrija, vestibulometrija in avdiološka elektroakustika v vsakdanji programa Studio, prikazan na Sliki 3, ga razdelimo na ustrezne praksi, 39-43. [2] Vickers, E. 2010. The loudness war: Background, speculation, and krajše razdelke in uskladimo s časovnico slike. Portal YouTube recommendations. In Audio Engineering Society Convention 129. 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Podnaslavljanje AV vsebin je specializirana 40 Accessible Multimodal Journey Planner: Prioritizing Inclusive UI Design Žana Juvan† Simon Klavžar Matevž Pogačnik Klemen Pečnik* Faculty of Electrical Faculty of Electrical Faculty of Electrical Faculty of Electrical Engineering Engineering Engineering Engineering University of Ljubljana University of Ljubljana University of Ljubljana University of Ljubljana Slovenia Slovenia Slovenia Slovenia zana.juvan@fe.uni-lj.si simon.klavzar@lmmfe. matevz.pogacnik@fe.u klemen.pecnik@fe.uni- org ni-lj.si lj.si ABSTRACT recognize that many of the strategies and solutions developed for accessibility directly benefit users with situational limitations, This paper presents the planned approach for the design of a such as individuals with a broken arm or lost glasses. mobile application that incorporates multimodal journey Additionally, the aging process brings changes in abilities for planning with a strong emphasis on accessibility and user older individuals, often leading to challenges like impaired interface design (UI). The app aims to seamlessly integrate hearing and weakened vision [1][2]. Furthermore, situational various modes of transport and focus on equal access for all limitations such as intense sunlight or noisy surroundings can users, regardless of their physical abilities. UI Design approach also hinder interactions [2]. Embracing comprehensive prioritises user-centred principles and provides an intuitive and accessibility measures therefore enables application designers visually appealing platform, using real-time data integration, and developers to address these various challenges and create a interactive maps and multi-modal route recommendations to digital landscape that is fully accommodating. enhance the user experience. Accessibility is taking place at the From a business perspective, the design of accessible beginning of the design planning process, ensuring that people software offers substantial benefits to organisations [3]. These with disabilities can navigate the platform effortlessly. Screen advantages encompass enhanced application usability, broader readers, voice control, colour contrast and inclusive design market research resulting from an improved user experience that practises should be integral components. As part of the iterative caters to a wider range of users, mitigation of accessibility- process of UI design, qualitative and quantitative methods are related legal actions (especially relevant for public sector used to measure user experience (UX) and accessibility, using organisations), fostering a positive brand perception and feedback, surveys, usability testing, and accessibility audits. This providing a better environment for driving innovation [2][3]. iterative approach ensures continuous improvement and a truly Therefore, developing accessible applications extends beyond inclusive transport solution. the ethical aspects. It is a strategic move for organisations to showcase digital inclusivity and tap into an overlooked market. KEYWORDS This paper discusses the initial phase of designing an accessible journey planning application, addressing relevant multi-modal route planning, accessibility, interactive map, aspects such as application requirements and the approaches to responsive design, cross-device accessibility solving various case-specific accessibility challenges. 1 INTRODUCTION 2 MULTI-MODAL ROUTE PLANNING In a time when web and mobile applications have seamlessly APPLICATION integrated into our daily lives, their importance cannot be overstated. As these technologies advance and gain wider In response to the growing need for efficient and user- adoption, it becomes imperative to embrace the principles of friendly travel solutions, multimodal journey planning universal design and digital accessibility. These principles ensure applications have proven to be valuable tools that simplify the that products can be utilized by individuals across a wide range organisation of trips using different modes of transport. These of abilities and in various operational contexts. The concept of applications, available both on the Web and on mobile platforms, digital accessibility, primarily focused on designing for provide users with a convenient and comprehensive approach to individuals with disabilities, considers a wide range of journey planning that includes public transport, walking, cycling impairments, spanning auditory, speech, visual, physical, and other modes of transport. cognitive, and neurological disabilities [1]. It is crucial to At both national and international levels, the importance of robust journey planner applications is undeniable. These † ORCID: 0000-0001-8859-180X applications serve as key tools for effective transportation ∗ ORCID: 0009-0004-1430-8054 management, fostering seamless travel experience for citizens Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or and tourists. By encouraging the use of public transport and classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed sustainable travel methods, they help optimise transport for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must networks as well as reduce environmental impact. be honored. For all other uses, contact the owner/author(s). The key objectives of the presented use case presented are to DIGIN 2023 – Digital inclusion in the information society, 11 October 2023, redesign the existing web-based multimodal journey planner Ljubljana, Slovenia © 2023 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). 41 "AtoB" and the development of a mobile version of the journey 3.1.3 Real-Time Location Tracking planner for mobile devices, also taking into account accessibility The application shall include real-time location tracking of these solutions. By integrating various diverse data sources features to enhance the user experience during route planning, provided by different governmental and other institutions, the using technologies such as GPS and network-based methods for system will effectively plan and present trips and thus positively accurate data. The collection of user location data must comply contribute to user-oriented journey planning experience. with data protection regulations, with clear information and user Despite the existence of widely used route planning solutions consent for data use. like Google Maps and Apple Maps, these applications do exhibit 3.1.4 Additional (Nice-to-Have) Requirements some accessibility shortcomings [4][5]. This includes problems In addition to the basic requirements, several desirable with focus order, keyboard navigation, colour contrast, labelling features can be provided to further enhance the user experience and other usability issues, which can pose challenges for users of the application. These features include real-time integration of with disabilities [5][6]. Moreover, global route planning public transport information, bus and train tracking for enhanced applications often lack the diverse data sources necessary for travel visibility, real-time locations of shared vehicles, fare comprehensive local route planning, presenting a notable information and ticket purchase, as well as the ability to store and disadvantage. use tickets. Together, these optional features could contribute to an enhanced, user-centered travel experience. 2.1 Functional Requirements The design of the multimodal route planning application will 2.2 Supported Platforms and Devices implement a conventional client-server architecture that enables The web application should be fully responsive and adhere efficient communication and data exchange between users’ to responsive design principles to ensure compatibility with devices and the application's backend system. The following different screen sizes. The mobile application is a crucial functional requirements, defined from a front-end and user component that should be compatible with Android, iOS and experience perspective, describe the main features of the HarmonyOS operating systems and must be accessible via application. Google Play, the Apple App Store, and the Huawei AppGallery. 3.1.1 Route Planning To meet these criteria, the Microsoft.NET Maui cross-platform The functionalities of the application extend to advanced framework will be used, ensuring efficient and consistent route planning, allowing users to define start, end and application deployment. intermediate points via an address, location, a point of interest or a direct map selection. In addition, preferred modes of transport 2.3 Variety of Content Types (walking, cycling, rental bikes, bus, train, or boat) can be The application will prominently feature textual information selected, along with route alternatives if available. Users should along with the interactive map. The map will incorporate various be able to set departure and arrival times or access the current graphic elements, including typical map elements as well as departure and arrival times for convenience, underlining the additional lines, icons, and other visual components. The use of app's commitment to comprehensive, adaptable journey icons is anticipated to be substantial, contributing to visual planning. The application must allow users to view timetables for clarity. Small animations will be used strategically to support their chosen location and time, which should be available for all user guidance and notifications and enhance the overall possible stops. Furthermore, the application must also facilitate experience. Visual content will also include images, e.g. logos of the display of rental bike stops and provide important data on the transport providers and images of places. The incorporation of number of bikes and parking spaces available. The design of the videos within the application is expected to be limited or non- application should incorporate wheelchair accessibility, allowing existent. the user to select this option when calculating the route and displaying a warning message if the route is partially or completely inaccessible. Finally, users should be able to set a 3 APPROACHES TO ENSURING MULTI maximum walking time and a slow walking pace option, which PLATFORM ACCESSIBILITY will be considered when calculating the estimated time of arrival. In the design phase, consideration of accessibility is crucial 3.1.2 Interactive map as it lays the foundation for a product that is both inclusive and The application must have an interactive map that allows the easy to use. Considering accessibility early in the design process user to effortlessly navigate, view their current location, and not only reduces costs, but also prevents the need for extensive select points of interest. The client recommends the use of retroactive work. While a significant portion of accessibility- OpenStreetMap as the underlying map data layer, chosen for its related efforts is expected to occur during the development openness, wide coverage, and customisable attributes. In phase, it's vital to thoughtfully outline necessary accessibility addition, the map should allow for the interactive display of key measures during the design phase. Therefore, while the design transport hubs, including public transport stops, bicycle, and car phase includes typical design work such as colour selection, rentals, as well as P+R (Park + Ride) parking. Users should be application layout design, icon selection, etc., adherence to provided with comprehensive information including accessibility requirements should also be considered [7]. identification, location, operating hours, rental options, booking Addressing accessibility for this specific use case combines systems, directions, accessibility features and additional services established best practises with unique considerations, mainly to ensure an informative navigation experience. related to the interactive map functionality. The design of the 42 application is based on the foundation of the WCAG guidelines small or illegible labels, prevent overlapping of different [8], ensuring the application is perceivable, operable, elements, ensure appropriate size of graphic components, and understandable, and robust. This section delves into essential provide intuitive icons [12]. accessibility implementations and challenges in designing an inclusive web and mobile application for our route planning use- 3.2 Mobile-Specific Challenges case. Solving accessibility challenges when designing for mobile devices will involve building upon earlier discussed measures, 3.1 Web-Specific Challenges while also considering specific aspects of mobile applications. In In terms of web browser accessibility features, we can expect general, mobile devices offer a broader and more uniform range certain functions to be readily available through both the browser of accessibility features for applications compared to web itself and the device's operating system. Commonly browsers. As a result, mobile applications often extensively rely encompassed within these browser features are screen readers, on operating system features to provide accessibility. While high contrast options, zoom capabilities, and the ability to these features differ slightly between operating systems, the customise font settings, including font type, size and style [9]. major platforms all include core elements such as screen readers, However, as these features are somewhat limited and vary magnification and zoom options, voice command capabilities, greatly between different browsers and devices (particularly closed captioning, contrast and colour differentiation modes, features related to visual aspects such as different contrast modes haptic feedback through vibration, simplified gesture-based and text adjustments), additional in-app measures need to be interaction, and font adjustments [13]. Thus, to make the mobile implemented to ensure proper cross-device accessibility of the application accessible, it is first necessary to enable the effective web application. utilization of the provided accessibility features. Furthermore, Therefore, an accessibility menu should be integrated into some supplementary accessibility measures need to be the web application, which will provide users with the ability to implemented to bridge the gaps left by the built-in functions of customize the application's settings according to their the operating system. preferences and needs. The accessibility menu should be readily Perhaps most importantly, the application's user interface visible, easily accessible, and offer several key options. The elements, including buttons, labels, and navigation, have to be menu should offer settings for high contrast modes and various coded with correct semantic information and labelling, while colour enhancements to accommodate people with visual also arranged in an intuitive semantic order. This enables screen impairments. In addition, users should be able to adjust text- readers to accurately convey the content to users with visual related settings, such as the font type, size, style, text spacing, impairments. Additionally, the application must fully support line height settings, and link appearances. The menu should also key accessibility options such as platform zoom, text resizing, offer the possibility to change the size of icons and other providing haptic feedback instead of audio or visual feedback, graphical elements (including elements within the interactive and high contrast modes. Although in most cases these features map interface, such as route lines). are automatically available due to the built-in support of The interactive map, one of the most important features of development frameworks, it remains imperative to test and the application, presents some unique challenges regarding validate their correct functionality. accessibility. Keyboard-only navigation and proper focus Aside from ensuring the proper functioning of assistive management are particularly important for ensuring operability technologies, additional measures should be taken to ensure of the map. The order of focus must be as consistent and accessibility. This entails adopting accessible interactive map predictable as possible. This consistency not only promotes design principles, as well as applying general design principles smooth keyboard navigation, but also ensures compatibility with for accessible mobile design. It is crucial that the touch targets screen readers, which need access to all webpage components to are sufficiently large and appropriately spaced. Since the read essential information. Crucially, screen readers should also application is expected to include various input fields, it should alert the user when important events related to the interactive offer simple data entry with various input methods such as map occur, such as the appearance of pop-ups or map movement predefined drop-down lists and autocomplete functions, while [10]. Any additional elements placed on the map should have also supporting voice input. Furthermore, the application should corresponding textual information for screen reader users. facilitate the use of key functionalities — such as navigating the Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA), alt, and title interactive map — through simplified gestures instead of attributes should be added to these elements where appropriate, complex ones [14]. and they must be short and descriptive [11]. Furthermore, the interactive map should also support keyboard-only operation for 3.3 Cross-platform Development Frameworks navigating the map – this includes zooming, panning, and The development of the mobile application will be based on rotating the map [8][11]. the cross-platform framework .NET MAUI, necessitating a In terms of the visual aspects of the interactive map, thorough assessment of the potential for creating accessible user adherence to established principles of accessible map design is interfaces within this framework. crucial. Key considerations when designing accessible maps Development framework suppliers usually provide include refraining from relying solely on colour to convey documentation detailing the accessibility features they offer, as information, but instead using text, icons, or subtle, yet is the case with Microsoft's .NET MAUI, which presents recognisable patterns to complement the colour-based accessibility documentation and offers robust accessibility tools information. Furthermore, it is essential to avoid excessively 43 [15]. Nonetheless, comprehensive testing remains imperative to particularly intuitive and not yet widespread. The focus on the ensure effective implementation of accessibility measures across interactive map and journey planning functionality revealed all platforms and devices. several potential hurdles in the design of both the mobile and web In the context of the .NET MAUI framework, the preferred application that require a thorough application of accessibility method involves utilizing "semantic properties". These guidelines. The use of cross-platform frameworks was also properties provide information about controls that need to be identified and explored as a potential challenge for ensuring made accessible and text that should be read aloud to the user. accessibility. In addition, new ideas emerged during the research Semantic properties can be added to any element, utilizing the that could help improve accessibility in the next versions of the platform's accessibility APIs. A key advantage is the ability to application. For example, one of these suggestions includes the accommodate distinct platform-specific accessibility implementation of an animated sign language interpreter to assist experiences, rather than enforcing a uniform behaviour across all deaf or hard of hearing users. platforms. UI Elements can possess properties such as The initial research is expected to be of great value in the description, hint, and heading level, tailoring platform-specific design and development phase of the application, providing a accessibility values for improved interaction with screen readers. solid set of design principles and enabling effective resolution of Furthermore, the framework provides tools to prompt the accessibility issues. Despite the additional resources dedicated to platform's screen reader to automatically articulate specific ensure accessibility, the significant business and ethical benefits elements. Additional "automation properties" can also be applied of an inclusive app are likely to outweigh the initial investment. to elements to define how they are conveyed to the platform's With this foundation, the stage is set for the efficient accessibility framework [15][16]. development of an accessible journey planning application. Nonetheless, the behaviour of these functionalities across various platforms remains somewhat uncertain. Therefore, REFERENCES performing comprehensive accessibility testing on each platform [1] S. L. Henry, S. Abou-Zahra, and J. Brewer, ‘The role of accessibility in a is a mandatory part of the development process. universal web’, in Proceedings of the 11th Web for All Conference, in W4A ’14. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, Apr. 2014, pp. 1–4. doi: 10.1145/2596695.2596719. 3.4 Accessibility testing [2] ‘What is Digital Accessibility? 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[15] David Britch, ‘Build accessible apps with semantic properties - .NET MAUI’, Apr. 03, 2023. https://learn.microsoft.com/en- 4 CONCLUSION us/dotnet/maui/fundamentals/accessibility (accessed Aug. 14, 2023). [16] Nilo Basilio, ‘How to Build Accessible Apps with .NET MAUI’, ArcTouch. Diverse applications pose distinct challenges when it comes https://arctouch.com/blog/accessible-apps-dotnet-maui (accessed Aug. 14, to ensuring accessibility. Throughout this paper preliminary 2023). research was conducted to identify these challenges and explore [17] W. W. A. Initiative (WAI), ‘Evaluating Web Accessibility Overview’, Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). https://www.w3.org/WAI/test-evaluate/ possible solutions to ensure accessibility across the entire (accessed Aug. 16, 2023). journey planning application. The focus was on exploring [18] W. W. A. Initiative (WAI), ‘Using Combined Expertise to Evaluate Web Accessibility’, Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). specific features where accessibility integration is not https://www.w3.org/WAI/test-evaluate/combined-expertise/ (accessed Aug. 16, 2023). 44 Towards a Self-Assessment Tool for Enabling Inclusive Digital Education* Boštjan Šumak† Maja Pušnik Katja Kous Faculty of Electrical Engineering Faculty of Electrical Engineering Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Computer Science and Computer Science University of Maribor University of Maribor University of Maribor Slovenia Slovenia Slovenia bostjan.sumak@um.si maja.pusnik@um.si katja.kous@um.si ABSTRACT encompasses not only access to the Internet but also the availability of hardware and software, relevant content and In the ever-changing field of education, facing various services, and training for the digital literacy skills required for challenges, developing a self-evaluation tool is crucial. Striving effective use of ICT. for excellence and inclusivity demands continuous assessment, A significant step forward in advancing DI in education was the adaptability, and the development of student-friendly settings. United Nations' adoption of the Convention on the Rights of This necessity is emphasised by tools like Self-Reflection on Persons with Disabilities [3]. This international commitment Effective Learning by Fostering Innovation through Educational underscores the importance of ensuring equal access to inclusive technology (SELFIE) and the Index for Inclusion, advocating and high-quality primary and secondary education for inclusive education practices and fostering collaboration among individuals with disabilities within their communities [4]. Today, all participants. Their goal is to boost digital learning and many countries have legislation or policies that support the professional growth, however, not all factors, important for inclusion of students with special needs [5]. inclusive digital education, are included in the existing tools. Our Self-evaluation of school leadership and teachers regarding the proposed self-evaluation tool model builds on these foundations, goals of inclusive digital teaching and learning is crucial for integrating practical insights and best practices while also improving the quality of education and ensuring that all students addressing potential obstacles and best practices connected to have equal learning opportunities. The use of self-evaluation digital education. It aims to deepen understanding of factors tools is essential for several reasons: sustaining successful inclusion and enriching the educational  Measuring progress: Self-evaluation tools allow school landscape for students, educators, and institutions. Our research leadership and teachers to assess their current position in aims to develop a tool that will have the potential to redefine terms of inclusive digital teaching and learning. This helps education's future. them determine where they are and how they have progressed in their efforts to include all students. KEYWORDS  Identifying strengths and weaknesses: Self-evaluation helps Inclusion, self-evaluation, supporting tools, digital education. identify strong points where successful practices are in place and weaknesses where improvement is needed. This enables the allocation of resources and efforts to areas where they are 1. INTRODUCTION most needed. Inclusive education has been defined by the United Nations  Guiding approach development: Based on the results of self- Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as evaluation, school leadership, and teachers can develop “a process of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs approaches and strategies to enhance inclusive digital of all learners through increasing participation in learning, teaching. This contributes to better adaptation to the diverse cultures and communities, and reducing exclusion within and needs of students. from education” [1].  Providing evidence: With the data and analyses obtained Digital inclusion (DI) „is the ability of individuals and groups to through self-evaluation, schools and teachers can justify their access information and communication technologies (ICT)” [2]. approaches and decisions, including those involving school DI in education aims to provide students with disabilities the leadership, parents, and the broader community. opportunity to learn alongside their non-disabled peers and The goal of this study is to provide a framework for developing ∗Article Title Footnote needs to be captured as Title Note a tool that will help understand the specific needs of educational †Author Footnote to be captured as Author Note environments and support schools and teachers in achieving Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or inclusive digital teaching and learning. Through the use of self-classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed evaluation tools, we aim to achieve the following objectives: (1) for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must Enhancing inclusivity: Ensure that all students, including those be honored. For all other uses, contact the owner/author(s). with special needs and different learning styles, have equal Information Society 2022, 10–14 October 2022, Ljubljana, Slovenia access to digital learning resources and tools; (2) Increasing © 2022 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). 45 digital literacy: Enable teachers and students to develop digital Inclusion involves more than the placement of students with skills and competencies necessary for success in the modern disabilities in mainstream classes and requires structural changes world; (3) Improving learning outcomes: Increase students' in organization, curriculum and teaching, and learning strategies success and their understanding of school subjects by promoting [9]. Improving inclusivity may require substantial change not inclusive digital teaching; and (4) Fostering Collaboration: only to the teaching practices occurring inside and outside of the Encourage collaboration among teachers, school leadership, classroom but also within staffrooms and the school's parents, and the community to achieve common goals in relationships with parents, caregivers, and the community [10]. inclusive digital education. With self-evaluation tools, we can Figure 1 shows the dimensions of the Index for Inclusion, achieve this goal and contribute to enhancing inclusivity, digital developed by Booth and Ainscow [10] that can assist schools in literacy, and the quality of teaching and learning in our schools. turning the philosophy of inclusion into inclusive educational In the existing literature, we can find tools that enable assessing actions. Inclusive school policy provides the foundation for specific aspects of inclusive digital education. Most tools have enabling schools to be accessible to all students and staff. An been developed to evaluate the readiness to use digital inclusive school culture is one in which diversity is embraced, technologies in primary schools or to evaluate inclusion in and all members are treated fairly, respectfully, and equitably. general schools. However, we have yet to find any studies Inclusive practice means that learning and teaching activities are dealing specifically with evaluating readiness to ensure effective responsive to student diversity. Learning experiences are inclusion in education based on digital technologies. There is a designed with students' individual strengths and needs in mind, lack of such tools, especially in the field of tertiary education. and consideration is given to how all students can actively and For this reason, this work is one of the first steps towards building meaningfully participate in their learning and be appropriately such a tool. challenged. This paper is structured into four sections. Following the introduction in Section 1, Section 2 investigates the background of inclusive education. This Section focuses on digital inclusion within education, followed by an examination of accessible learning content designed to facilitate inclusive digital education. In Section 3, we explore the development of self-evaluation tools, discuss existing frameworks, and introduce a novel framework concept. Finally, Section 4 offers the conclusion and outlines future prospects for our work. Figure 1. Index for Inclusion – dimensions [6] 2. BACKGROUNDS In the ever-changing landscape of education, the principles of 2. 2 Digital inclusion in education inclusivity, digitalization, and accessibility have emerged as DI should adapt to technological progress but also aim for digital critical bases of progress. As we navigate the 21st century, the equity by actively removing barriers that perpetuate concept of inclusive education has evolved from being a noble disadvantages in individuals and communities [11]. Educators aspiration to a fundamental necessity, emphasizing equitable are actively seeking innovative approaches to address the opportunities for all learners, regardless of their diverse needs complexities presented by diverse modern classrooms. Universal and backgrounds. Design for Learning (UDL) for example offers a philosophy, In this section, we embark on a comprehensive exploration of framework, and a set of principles that enable the creation and three interconnected facets: Inclusive Education, Digital implementation of adaptable teaching and learning strategies, Inclusion in Education, and Accessible Learning Content for effectively catering to the diverse needs of students within the Enabling Inclusive Digital Education. classroom environment. UDL is an educational framework based on the idea that all students can benefit from learning when they 2.1 Inclusive education are provided with choices that are suited to their individual needs. Inclusive education, as defined by UNESCO, focuses on UDL encourages educators to create flexible and adaptable addressing the diverse needs of all learners, fostering increased learning environments in which students of all abilities and participation in learning, culture, and communities while backgrounds can succeed [12][13]. reducing exclusion in education. This approach emphasizes the At the core of the European Union’s Digital Education Action inclusion of both students with and without disabilities in the Plan (2021-2027), the policy initiative offers a long-term same classroom, enabling them to learn and participate together strategic vision for high-quality, inclusive, and accessible [6]. This inclusive model not only provides significant European digital education [14]. Digital transformation goes educational benefits to students with disabilities but also beyond applying suitably designed digital technologies in contributes to greater social acceptance of differences and education and involves several education system levels [14]: impairments among all students [7]. Curriculum, pedagogy,  Technology Level - The development of inclusive assessment, student classification, and stratification are all technology should consider technology-driven approaches important in determining the quality and inclusiveness of and the primacy of pedagogy in a balanced way. Assistive educational experiences [8]. technology (AT) should be used as a compensatory means only where universally designed technology does not (yet) sufficiently satisfy all users’ needs. 46  Learners level - Inclusion in digital education is multi-There are several solutions that can be implemented to make dimensional, affected by society, technical equipment, the digital content accessible for each group of students with educational institution, the learning situation, and the disabilities. To make digital content accessible for students with individual learners. Learners’ digital competencies play an visual impairments, content creators can use alternative text (alt important role in inclusive digital education communication, text) to describe images and graphics. This alt text should be collaboration and safety, respectful and appreciative social detailed enough to convey the meaning of the image or graphic interaction, the development of a digital person, critical to students who cannot see it. Additionally, designers can use reflection on digital media and self-protection against high-contrast colors and font sizes that are easy to read for violence in digital environments, etc. individuals with visual impairments. To make digital content  Teachers level - Teachers need support in selecting inclusive accessible for students with hearing impairments, content teaching materials that present no or few barriers and are creators can include captions and transcripts for audio content suitable for all learners. Competencies like media literacy, such as videos and lectures. This will allow students who are deaf data literacy, and data-based decision-making are important or hard of hearing to access the audio content and participate in the context of inclusive digital teaching. fully in the learning experience. To make digital content  Educational institution level - Educational organizations that accessible for students with cognitive disabilities, content embrace the digitalization process in terms of content and creators can use clear and simple language and provide clear funding can help to reduce social exclusion. Teacher instructions and feedback. Additionally, designers can use layout empowerment is key and must be accompanied by and formatting techniques that make content easy to navigate and organizational support measures, further training, and understand, such as bullet points and headings. To make digital consideration of teachers’ individual needs. content accessible for students with motor impairments, content  National/regional level. creators can design content that can be accessed using a range of input methods, such as keyboard-only navigation or voice 2.3 Accessible learning content for enabling recognition software. Additionally, designers can use a clear and inclusive digital education consistent interface design that allows for easy navigation. Overall, creating accessible digital content in digital education In addition to ensuring equal access for all students, content benefits all students by improving usability, enhancing the accessibility in digital education can also improve the overall learning experience, and promoting inclusion and diversity. By quality of education. Digital content accessibility is the practice making content accessible to everyone, educators and content of designing digital materials to be inclusive to all individuals, creators can help all students reach their full potential and regardless of their abilities. In digital education, it's vital to succeed in their education. ensure that all students can access educational resources equitably, accommodating diverse needs, including visual, hearing or other impairments. Failing to prioritize accessibility 3. DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-EVALUATION can lead to unequal educational outcomes, as students with TOOL disabilities may struggle to fully engage in online learning, highlighting the importance of inclusive content design in the In the dynamic landscape of education, the pursuit of excellence digital education landscape. and inclusivity is important. To achieve these goals, educators Students with different types of disabilities can face barriers and institutions must continually assess their practices, adapt to when accessing digital content in the context of digital education. developing trends, and foster an environment where all learners Students with visual impairments can have difficulty accessing can thrive. It is within this context that the development of a self- digital content that is not designed with accessibility in mind. For evaluation tool becomes indispensable. In the following sections, example, images, videos, and other visual content may not be some existing solutions are presented as well as our proposed described in a way that is meaningful to individuals who are blind model. or have low vision. Additionally, text may be too small or too 3.1 Existing frameworks and tools for the design low contrast to be readable for individuals with certain types of visual impairments. Next, students with hearing impairments can of the self-evaluation tool face barriers when accessing digital content that includes audio To promote the integration and effective use of digital content, such as lectures or videos. Without proper captions or technologies in schools across Europe, the European transcripts, students who are deaf or hard of hearing may not be Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) developed a able to fully engage with this content. Students with cognitive conceptual framework for Digitally-Competent Educational disabilities can have difficulty navigating and understanding Organizations (DigCompOrg), which encompasses key aspects digital content that is not designed with accessibility in mind. of systematically integrating digital technology in educational This can include content that is overly complex or difficult to organisations [15]. The DigCompOrg framework consists of navigate, as well as content that does not provide clear following seven domains: (1) Leadership & Governance instructions or feedback. Students with motor impairments may Practices, (2) Teaching and Learning Practices, (3) Professional have difficulty interacting with digital content that requires Development, (4) Assessment Practices, (5) Content and precise movements, such as using a mouse or keyboard. This can Curricula, (6) Collaboration and Networking, and (7) make it difficult for these students to navigate websites or Infrastructure. complete assignments that require specific types of input. Based on the DigCompOrg framework, the Commission designed and implemented the self-reflection tool SELFIE (Self- 47 reflection on Effective Learning by Fostering Innovation through encouraging the involvement of all stakeholders and fostering a Educational Technology), which helps schools exploit the sense of ownership and commitment to inclusion. opportunities digital technologies offer [15]. SELFIE can help schools and educational institutions assess their digital readiness 3.2 Proposal for the model for self-evaluation and competence in integrating technology for effective teaching tool for assessment of inclusive digital and learning [16]. SELFIE data can be used for assessing how education the utilization of digital technologies in education influences Self-evaluation is a process for helping schools improve students' development of digital skills and teachers' engagement autonomously, a practice that should be integrated routinely into in continuous professional development. SELFIE aims to: (1) their management systems [20]. The proposed model for self- Assess digital readiness: Evaluate how well educational evaluation of inclusive digital education will incorporate existing institutions are prepared for digital integration, (2) Encourage awareness of inclusion drawn from the SELFIE tool and the self-reflection: Prompt educators, administrators, and students to Index of Inclusion. However, our primary objective is to enhance reflect on their digital practices, and (3) Enhance digital learning: this foundation with insights collected from the practical Identify areas for improvement in technology use for better experiences of researchers, pedagogical professionals, and other teaching and learning outcomes. experts in this field. We will integrate best practices as well as SELFIE tool supports schools to plan their digital strategies, by address obstacles within the existing self-evaluation tool to gain highlighting what is working well, where improvement is needed a more comprehensive understanding of their impact on and what the priorities should be [17]. Key features include user- successful inclusion. This approach allows to identify potential friendliness, as SELFIE provides an easy-to-use interface for all challenges and difficulties that may not have been encompassed stakeholders. It is customizable, and institutions can tailor the by existing frameworks, as shown in Figure 2. questionnaire to their specific needs and goals. It also has data- driven insights since it generates comprehensive reports and recommendations based on responses. SELFIE also promotes professional development and helps educators identify areas for skill improvement. SELFIE provides an extensive questionnaires that cover areas, specific to utilization of digital technologies in education, impact of the use of digital technologies in education on students’ development of digital skills, teachers’ engagement in continuous professional development, etc. [17]. The questionnaire defines indicators, that cover following key areas [18]: Teaching and Learning Practices; Assessment Practices; Content and Curricula; Networking and Collaboration; Professional Development; Leadership and Governance Practices; and Infrastructure. These seven areas are expanded into fifteen sub-elements and 74 descriptors. The tool provides questions that can be used for collecting data from school’s leaders, teachers, and students, to assess these areas from different points of view. The "Index for Inclusion" is another important concept that must be considered and included in the development of the tool for self-assessment of inclusive digital education. The index for Figure 2 Framework for integration of dimensions and inclusion was designed to support inclusive education practices factors from existing frameworks and existing research within schools and educational institutions. It provides a framework for assessing, developing, and promoting inclusive The following inclusion domains are planned to be addressed: practices to ensure that all students, regardless of their abilities, leadership, collaboration and networking, infrastructure, backgrounds, or characteristics, can access high-quality equipment and technology, continuous professional development, education [19]. It aims to: (1) Promote inclusive education: resources for pedagogical activities and assessment practices, as Encourage schools and institutions to create environments where well as student digital competence. Each domain will be every student can participate, learn, and thrive. (2) Evaluate and subdivided into factors strongly associated with the content of improve inclusion: Provide a structured approach for self- that particular domain. The resulting self-evaluation tool will be assessment and continuous improvement in inclusive practices. designed with the assistance of a questionnaire, enabling users to (3) Empower participants: Engage educators, students, families, assess statements related to factors within each domain using a and the community in collaborative efforts to enhance inclusivity. 5-point Likert scale. The self-assessment results will be Key features include the comprehensive framework for presented in the form of separate scores for each domain, evaluating and enhancing inclusive education practices. It is representing the current state of DI within each domain. Based user-friendly and designed to be accessible and usable by on the obtained assessments, recommendations will also be educators, administrators, and other stakeholders. It provides provided for improving DI in specific, critically assessed areas. practical guidance, tools, and resources for implementing Through this comprehensive approach, the self-evaluation tool inclusive practices. It also presents a collaborative approach, aims to empower educational institutions not only to measure 48 their current state but also to chart a course for continuous https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-improvement. Inclusive digital education is an ongoing journey, mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-persons- and our tool will serve as a compass, guiding institutions toward disabilities. a future where every stakeholder can thrive in a digitally [4] F. Guillemot, F. Lacroix, and I. Nocus, “Teachers’ enhanced educational environment. attitude towards inclusive education from 2000 to 2020: An extended meta-analysis,” Int. J. Educ. Res. Open, vol. 3, no. May, p. 100175, 2022. [5] C. Sahli Lozano, S. Wüthrich, J. S. Büchi, and U. 4. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK Sharma, “The concerns about inclusive education scale: In conclusion, the development of a self-evaluation tool holds Dimensionality, factor structure, and development of a significant importance in the dynamic setting of education. short-form version (CIES-SF),” Int. J. Educ. Res. , vol. Excellence and inclusivity are central goals, requiring continuous 111, p. 101913, 2022. assessment, adaptation, and the creation of environments [6] N. Zahid, A. Jamil, and I. Nawaz, “Behavioral problems encouraging to the success of all learners. This necessity is and academics of children in inclusive education – A cross-sectional survey,” Heliyon, vol. 9, no. 2, p. underlined by the existence of different frameworks and tools e13496, Feb. 2023. such as SELFIE and the Index for Inclusion. [7] N. Gulya and A. Fehérvári, “Addressing disability SELFIE, serves as a user-friendly, customizable, and data-driven representation in EFL textbooks used in Hungarian tool for assessing digital readiness and promoting self-reflection public education,” Int. J. Educ. Res. Open, vol. 4, p. among educational institutions. It aims to enhance digital 100226, 2023. learning and professional development by identifying areas for [8] R. Slee, “Volume 9: Inclusive Education and Disability improvement. The Index for Inclusion, on the other hand, is a Studies in Education,” in International Encyclopedia of comprehensive resource that advocates for inclusive education Education(Fourth Edition), Elsevier, 2023, pp. xix– practices. It offers an inclusive framework and encourages xxii. collaboration among stakeholders, ensuring that all students have [9] R. Slee, Inclusive Education isn’t Dead, it Just Smells Funny. Routledge, 2018. access to quality education. [10] T. Booth and M. Ainscow, Index for Inclusion: Our proposed model for a self-evaluation tool represents a step developing learning and participation in schools. 2011. forward in this direction. By building upon the knowledge from [11] J. A. Abah, “Theoretical and Conceptual Framework for established tools like SELFIE and the Index of Inclusion, our Digital Inclusion among Mathematics Education model strives to integrate practical insights and experiences, Students in Nigeria,” in Global Perspectives on incorporating best practices and addressing potential obstacles. Educational Issues, no. February 2018, M. J. Adejoh, This holistic approach seeks to provide a more comprehensive A. D. E. Obinne, and & A. B. Wombo, Eds. 2019, pp. understanding of the factors that influence successful inclusion, 125–143. enriching the educational landscape with a tool designed to meet [12] A. Meyer, D. H. Rose, and D. Gordon, Universal design the evolving needs of students, educators, and institutions. for learning: Theory and Practice. CAST Professional Publishing, 2014. In our upcoming research activities, we plan to conduct a [13] TEAL Center staff, “Universal Design for Learning,” in comprehensive literature review to survey the existing body of Journal of Special Education Technology, 2010. research conducted by scholars in this field. Furthermore, as we [14] European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive are interested to gather insights from individuals within the realm Education, Inclusive Digital Education. 2022. of higher education, we will also administer a survey among [15] S. Bocconi, S. Panesi, and P. Kampylis, “Fostering the them. This approach will help us gain a well-rounded perspective Digital Competence of Schools: Piloting SELFIE in the and enrich our study with valuable opinions and data from Italian Education Context,” IEEE Rev. Iberoam. Tecnol. relevant stakeholders. del Aprendiz. , vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 417–425, Nov. 2020. [16] E. C. European Union, “SELFIE A tool to support learning in the digital age.” 2023. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS [17] J. Castaño Muñoz, R. Vuorikari, P. Costa, R. Hippe, and This research was conducted within the activities of the P. Kampylis, “Teacher collaboration and students’ SET4Includion (Self-Evaluation Tools for e-Inclusion in HEI) digital competence - evidence from the SELFIE tool,” project, which is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the Eur. J. Teach. Educ. , vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 476–497, May European Union. The authors acknowledge the financial support 2023. from the Slovenian Research Agency (Research Core Funding [18] P. Kampylis and A. Sala, “Improving the digital No. P2-0057). capacity of schools by using the SELFIE tool for collective reflection,” Eur. J. Educ. , vol. 58, no. REFERENCES 2, pp. 331–346, Jun. 2023. [19] Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education, “Index for [1] A. 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Available: 49 50 Indeks avtorjev / Author index Bajec Marko ................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Blekač Erika ................................................................................................................................................................................. 15 Čakš Peter..................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Cerovac Bogdan ..................................................................................................................................................................... 19, 23 Čibej Jaka ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Cvek Jernej ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Dugonik Bogdan .......................................................................................................................................................................... 37 Gajšt Alenka ................................................................................................................................................................................. 11 Gantar Kaja .................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Juvan Žana ................................................................................................................................................................................... 41 Klavžar Simon .............................................................................................................................................................................. 41 Kous Katja .................................................................................................................................................................................... 45 Kožuh Ines ................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Krek Simon .................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Lebar Bajec Iztok ........................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Ljubišić Jelena .............................................................................................................................................................................. 27 Lovrenčič Držanič Irena ............................................................................................................................................................... 15 Mauko Zimšek Nataša .................................................................................................................................................................. 11 Mord Bojan .................................................................................................................................................................................. 31 Pečnik Klemen ............................................................................................................................................................................. 41 Pogačnik Matevž .......................................................................................................................................................................... 41 Pušnik Maja .................................................................................................................................................................................. 45 Sever Sara....................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Škraba Tilen ........................................................................................................................................................................... 19, 23 Šoltes Tjaša .................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Šumak Boštjan ............................................................................................................................................................................. 45 Wltavsky Zdenka.......................................................................................................................................................................... 27 51 52 Digitalna vkljucenost v informacijski druzbi Digital Inclusion in Information Society Urednika • Editors: Matjaz Debevc, Ines Kozuh Document Outline 02 - Naslovnica - notranja - H - TEMP 03 - Kolofon - H - TEMP 04 - IS2023 - Predgovor 05 - IS2023 - Konferencni odbori 07 - Kazalo - H 08 - Naslovnica - notranja - H - TEMP 09 - Predgovor podkonference - H 10 - Programski odbor podkonference - H 11 - Prispevki - H IS_2023_-_DIGIN_paper_01 Abstract 1 Introduction 2 Project Description 3 The Online Notes System 3.1 Speech Recognition 3.2 Machine Translation 3.3 Interface 3.4 Lecturer Site 3.5 Student Site 3.6 Administrator Site 4 Pilot Lectures 4.1 Workflow 4.2 First Impressions and Further Feedback 5 Conclusion and Future Work 6 Acknowledgments IS_2023_-_DIGIN_paper_02 IS_2023_-_DIGIN_paper_03 IS_2023_-_DIGIN_paper_04 IS_2023_-_DIGIN_paper_05 IS_2023_-_DIGIN_paper_07 IS_2023_-_DIGIN_paper_08 IS_2023_-_DIGIN_paper_09 IS_2023_-_DIGIN_paper_10 IS_2023_-_DIGIN_paper_12 12 - Index - H Blank Page Blank Page Blank Page Blank Page Blank Page