1. State the purpose and objective you are pursuing:
The overall purpose of the new website is to: Engage and support design educators, designers, and advocates in the use of universal design in the planning, design and production of built environments. The objectives are to:
A. Provide introductory materials that will engage a wide range of users
B. Highlight news and topical issues in universal design
C. Promote educational opportunities including advanced courses and workshops, on line
D. Provide online and linked resources
E. Provide interaction for the international network
2. Define your target audience:
There are 4 categories of audience that we have identified over the years as being essential in the implementation of universal design.
A. College faculty who are now teaching or are about to teach universal design:
WHY I'M INTERESTED IN THEM: We know that the current design education programs all over the world routinely assume that people with diverse needs are a small minority. The prevailing approach is to design for the athletic, male, young body. My knowledge comes from a national project, the Universal Design Education Project that we created to address the need to prepare future designers to meet the needs of a diverse and inclusive society.
WHY THEY WILL BE INTERESTED:
There is a growing number of design faculty who are very interested in the topic. They are a minority, often considered as pariahs among their peers. They want and need updated information and interaction with their colleagues.
B. Design practitioners (including students) and producers, such as architects, industrial designers, contractors:
WHY I'M INTERESTED IN THEM: These people are or will be in positions to produce universal design.
WHY THEY WILL BE INTERESTED
If they think universal design will make them more competitive - be good for business. Also, they have concerns about the ADA and other laws that have implications for their work and liability.
C. Consumers of universal design, others who have limited knowledge - these are primarily end users, family members, employers and managers:
WHY I‚M INTERESTED IN THEM: they are a portion of the market place who buy and use universal design. They create the demand for the production and availability of mainstreamed universally designed products and environments.
WHY THEY WILL BE INTERESTED:
There has been enough use of the term to raise questions as to the benefits for individuals as well as society overall. The environment effects ability and is part of the changing definition of disability.
D. Policy makers and decision makers who influence the demand: Often the policy and decision makers are not the end user; however, they are the clients who contract for services, for purchases.
WHY I'M INTERESTED IN THEM:
They are key to establishing the policies as well as making the decisions about purchases, guidelines and contracting.
WHY THEY WILL BE INTERESTED
If it is seen as good business practice, good for the "bottom line", avoid liability.
3. Define the information needs of target audience that you intend to meet:
(This information is based on past experience. I am planning a telephone and/or e-mail survey with key informants to discuss their information needs)
A. College faculty who are now teaching or are about to teach universal design
1) Current examples of universal design from range of design disciplines
2) teaching resources such as CD-ROMs, slides, videos, project assignments
3) Detailed information about diverse users, including how to find local resources
4) Network opportunities to contact colleagues
B. Design practitioners and producers, such as architects, industrial designers, contractors
1) Current examples of universal design from range of design disciplines
2) Demographic information, trends that demand universal design
3) Comparison between access codes and universal design performance standards
4) Cost information, both for new construction and for retrofit
C. Consumers of universal design - who may have limited knowledge - primarily individual end users
1) Examples of universal design, presented in context of settings, such as homes, offices
D. Policy and decision makers - who are in position to demand universal design (similar to B, but less details)
1) Current examples of universal design from range of design disciplines
2) Demographic information, trends that demand universal design
3) Comparison between access codes and universal design performance standards
4) Cost information, both for new construction and for retrofit
4. Describe the main technological and disability characteristics of the target audience:
I am assuming a low to medium level of ability and comfort with the Internet and with computers. Most people will have modest to substantial computer capacity, at both workplace and home. I also assume that a small percentage will have vision disabilities and may need text based information that can be accessed by a screen reader.
I‚ll get this information regarding technology in my interviews. My design approach to a highly visual topic will incorporate descriptive text of the visual information.
5. Describe your main area of expertise in comparative advantage terms:
I am known as one of the leading providers in universal design education, especially in the built environment. My advantage is that I work closely with most of the major providers of information in the topic and have a respected reputation as a team player. I don‚t know of anyone else who has access to as wide a range of experts. I have a unique ability to make the links, and to create a comprehensive, international, learning resource. I work with these providers and most recently have initiated international conferences with a website that links to them.
6. Describe in general terms the data sets you intend to provide:
The main data sets include:
A. Graphic examples of universal design in the built environment, from a range of design disciplines
B. Resource materials, in the form of annotated bibliographies of available media
C. Online readings
D. Links to the international resources
E. Links to courses leading to certificates and degrees.
7. Describe the main intended results of the data sets:
This is incremental.
For each target audience there are different expectations.
A. College faculty who are now teaching or are about to teach universal design-
1) They will either begin, or continue or increase their teaching of universal design.
2) They will begin to communicate with other faculty around the world, to address issues in their teaching.
3) They will use Œuser experts‚ in their teaching from the local community.
4) They will expand their ability to evaluate the impact of their teaching.
5) They will build stronger alliances with other faculty.
B. Design practitioners and producers, such as architects, industrial designers, contractors -
1) They‚ll be able to distinguish between compliance with access regulations and universal design.
2) They will include universal design features in their work
3) They will develop ways to bring users into the design process
4) They will Œsell‚ the ideas to their clients.
C. Consumers of universal design - who may have limited knowledge - primarily individual end users -
1) They will demand more universal design of the contractors or designers with whom they work./
2) They will advocate for more universal design in their local communities
3) They will participate as resource people in educational and professional situations.
D. Policy and decision makers - who are in position to demand universal design (similar to B, but less details)
1) They will specify this in the proposal bid packages
2) They will demand that their architects/relevant providers demonstrate knowledge in the topic
8. Describe how you plan to schedule updates of the information:
On a weekly basis, add something new to one of the areas - can be modest. This would be highlighted in the Œwhat‚s new‚ and linked to the section. This would come from the international network, growing from my current monthly online news.
Monthly, add a significant piece, probably a design example or a news item.
The biggest effort will be to establish some growing body of courses-this is an longer term objective.
9. Describe the type of site you think would be most appropriate, given the kinds of information you want to present, the target audience and your resources (financial and technical):
This needs to be a complex and sophisticated site with multiple pages. This will need more funding and staff resources than are available at this time. I will be developing proposals with other colleagues to create both the team and the funding for this site. I can‚t fully estimate the costs at this time. The budget must cover additional staff, including about 25 percent FTE of a mid level person, in the 35 to 40 thousand annual salary, back-up technical support and probably a new server.
10. Describe your strategy for publicizing the site:
I would like to launch this in June 2000 at Designing for the 21st century II conference. In addition to the session describing this, and materials and online demonstrations, there would be simultaneous announcements through related lists, association and commercial periodicals, and notices/links on related websites. Also, there is a process by which one develops keywords and announcements that assure fast pick up by the search engines.
11. Describe briefly how you think you will monitor and evaluate your site:
I have only used "WebTrends" to monitor usage. This has given page by page use data, geographical sources, types of browsers, time of contacts, etc. I believe that these tools can be programmed to provide the specific gross usage data we need. In addition, the frequency of use of the interactive elements will be important indicators.
The longer term outcomes are noted under Question 7. This requires more thinking and discussion. This is probably not information that is primarily obtained through the site itself.