Improving Accessibility with Gamification Strategies: Development

of a Prototype App

Tiago André Araújo

, Joana Campos

, Marta Campos Ferreira

and

Carla Sílvia Fernandes

Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal

Nursing School of Porto, Portugal

INESC TEC, Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto, Portugal

Nursing School of Porto, CINTESIS@RISE, Portugal

Keywords: Gamification, Wheelchair Users, Accessibility Barriers, Public Spaces, Accessibility Strategies.

Abstract: Objective: The study aimed to demonstrate the development of a mobile app prototype, BarrierBeGone, a

system that identifies potential barriers for individuals with mobility disabilities and promotes accessibility

using gamification strategies. The main goal is to raise awareness about mobility and accessibility difficulties,

especially for wheelchair users, and to promote more responsible behaviours. Method: The User-Centred

Design methodology was employed, going through three phases: requirements gathering, design and

development, and evaluation. Additionally, interviews with five individuals with mobility disabilities helped

define the initial system requirements. The development of the barrier identification system was followed by

usability tests with nine representative users. Results: The results of the usability tests of the "BarrierBeGone"

barrier identification system were extremely positive. Stakeholders recognized the utility and simplicity of

the platform, considering it a motivating factor for future use. Conclusion: The results support the

effectiveness of the proposed educational tool in increasing awareness about accessibility and social inclusion

in smart cities. This study makes a significant contribution to the field of urban planning and inclusive design.

1 INTRODUCTION

Successful inclusion addresses the issue of how well

a society can prevent discrimination and ensure

access to information, products, services, and spaces

for everyone (Rebernik, Favero, & Bahillo, 2020;

Reinhardt, et al., 2020). Accessibility is a key

component of smart cities, impacting the quality of

life of its residents and should reduce the gap between

those with unrestricted movement and those who

have movement restrictions due to disabilities

(Palazzi & Bujari, 2016). The topic of accessibility

for people with motor disabilities is important and

timely (Lee, et al., 2020).

Mobility impairments can significantly affect an

individual's ability to move and participate in society,

and it is essential that our cities and communities are

https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1550-8080

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8894-3633

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9505-5730

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7251-5829

designed and built to be inclusive (European

Parliament and Council of the European Union,

2019). Disability does not necessarily lead to

exclusion unless society fails to meet the needs of

people, regardless of their disability (Rebernik,

Favero, & Bahillo, 2020). A significant number of

environmental barriers are reported, most of which

are modifiable (Reinhardt, et al., 2020).

Environmental barriers are mainly reported in

relation to insufficient resources and accessibility,

and participation restrictions occurred primarily in

the use of public transport, in caring for others, and in

traveling to places (Yang, et al., 2023).

As cities become more digitally connected and

data-driven, there is an opportunity to leverage these

advancements to promote accessibility for all

individuals, including those with disabilities. Smart

Araújo, T., Campos, J., Ferreira, M. and Fernandes, C.

Improving Accessibility with Gamiﬁcation Strategies: Development of a Prototype App.

DOI: 10.5220/0012702700003699

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health (ICT4AWE 2024), pages 237-242

ISBN: 978-989-758-700-9; ISSN: 2184-4984

237

city initiatives can integrate assistive technologies,

accessible infrastructure, and inclusive design

principles to create an environment that meets the

diverse needs of its inhabitants (Ponciano, et al.,

2021). Technological solutions are increasingly being

used to address a variety of challenges faced by

people with motor disabilities, including technologies

around navigation and transportation, often mobile

applications, including GPS or crowd-sourced

systems, which provide real-time information on

accessible routes and transportation options with tips

and ratings (Lima, et al., 2018).

There are accessibility information apps that

provide information on the accessibility of buildings

and streets more focused on the fastest way to a

specific destination, not focusing on the accessibility

of the city or on identifying barriers, and thus

negatively affects people with disabilities (Lima, et

al., 2018; Mora, et al., 2016). The lack of solutions to

identify barriers affecting people with disabilities is a

significant problem in our society (Akter et al., 2020).

People with disabilities face numerous challenges in

their daily lives that can limit their ability to access

their destinations (Ponciano, et al., 2021). Despite

some efforts to address these issues, there is still a

significant gap in identifying and resolving the

barriers that affect people with disabilities (Yang et

al, 2023). This means that many people with

disabilities face barriers that prevent them from fully

participating in society and achieving their full

potential (Lee, Kim & Hwan Yun, 2023). It is crucial

to raise awareness about the barriers in the population

that affect people with disabilities and create and

practice effective ways to remove them to help cities

become more socially inclusive and accessible

(Santoso, 2023). The problem at hand is the lack of

effective solutions to identify and address the barriers

that prevent the full participation and inclusion of

people with motor disabilities in society, especially

within cities. Solutions must go beyond simple

navigation and provide real-time accessibility

information, route planning, and collaborative data to

create more socially inclusive and accessible urban

environments. Another important aspect is the

possibility of including gamification strategies in

these resources, such as the case of serious games.

Serious games are games specifically designed for

education or training, rather than just for

entertainment (Toukiloglou & Xinogalos, 2023).

They can be video games, board games, virtual reality

experiences, among others, and played on various

platforms. A key advantage is that they provide an

immersive and interactive learning experience, more

engaging and effective (Van Zyl-Cillié, 2023).

To address the defined problem in this article, the

development of a mobile app prototype,

BarrierBeGone, is presented. This system not only

identifies potential barriers for people with mobility

disabilities using gamification tools but also actively

promotes accessibility improvements by engaging

users in the process.

2 METHOD

To address the problem outlined in this topic, a

mobile application named BarrierBeGone is

introduced, a system that identifies potential barriers

for people with mobility disabilities. Using a User

Centred Design, it is an iterative design process that

characterized by establishing the needs, objectives,

and general satisfaction of the users as the driving

force behind product design and development. The

steps include, based on existing research on the

relevant topics, first understanding the specific

challenges faced by people with limited mobility,

then creating and developing a barrier identifier

focused on improving accessibility and social

inclusion, and finally evaluating the developed

prototype by involving its potential users. (figure 1).

Figure 1: Methodology Diagram.

2.1 Understand the Needs

A crucial component of the design of this project is

the identification and comprehension of parameters

that affect mobility experiences when users are doing

their routes. So, we conducted a set of Interviews

sessions with people with limited mobility to

supplement all the information gathered. Each

interview was expected to have a duration of fifteen

to twenty minutes. In total, five participants were

interviewed.

A semi-structured interview was conducted,

addressing the following topics: perceptions of the

citizen's role in identifying accessibility and social

inclusion, opinions on the use of apps to identify

barriers for people with reduced mobility, availability

of these tools for such identification, the relevance of

ICT4AWE 2024 - 10th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health

238

developing such apps, identifying actions to take in

case barriers are detected, the utility of gamification

in these resources, and suggestions for improving

accessibility and social inclusion in cities.

For the purposes of this project, the selection of

participants as a research method was based on the

convenience of collecting data in the field of study

within a broad social context and within a short period

of time temporal.

After the recruitment stage, all participants were

informed about the study’s objectives, the rules and

guidelines for participation, and the limits of

confidentiality regarding their involvement. They

were required to verbally consent, indicating their

understanding and agreement to participate in the

study.

In addition to the empirical data gathered from the

sessions, a preliminary questionnaire was also

administered to gather sociodemographic information

about the study sample. This questionnaire served as

a complementary tool to further characterize the

participants.

The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and

subsequently subjected to content analysis.

Quantitative data were analyzed using statistical

methods.

2.2 Design and Development

In this phase its was developed a high-fidelity

prototype that is completely functional and inter-

active and closely resembles the actual expected

accurate depiction of the mobile application’s user

interface was created during this prototyping stage.

Following a usability assessment, the prototype was

improved based on user input, and for the application

development, it used Android Studio using Kotlin as

the programming language.

2.3 Validation

Another crucial component of the design of this

solution is the creation of usability tests. The

interactive user experience that comes with a user

interface, such as a website or software program, is

measured by its usability.

For an overall view of the subjective usability

evaluation of the designed technological product, the

first sub phase used a sociodemographic survey to get

information about their users, using a set of questions

including their names, literary qualification, age, if

they have any disability, and their comfort level using

mobile phones using a Likert scale.

The second sub phase involves a set of tasks that

illustrates the functionalities of the application. The

third sub phase of the system evaluation stages

utilized an adaptation of the System Usability Scale

(SUS).

To develop the described process, authorization

was requested and obtained. Regarding the

participants in the requirements assessment and the

feature testing, both groups signed informed consent

forms. Anonymity was ensured through participant

coding, where participant names were replaced with

codes.

3 RESULTS

3.1 Requirements Definition

In this stage, the interviews were realized with 5

participants. Based on findings from interviews,

individuals with limited mobility face six primary

obstacles in their daily lives: barriers, steep ramps,

large stairs, blocked access, improperly occupied

parking lots, and the absence of necessary ramps.

The most reported issue was the misuse of parking

spaces. This was followed by issues related to the lack

of ramps, blocked access, and steep ramps, while

large stairs and barriers were less frequently

mentioned. These insights are crucial for

understanding the challenges faced by this

demographic, enabling the development of targeted

interventions to enhance accessibility and inclusivity

in urban environments.

3.2 Application BarrierBeGone

The BarrierBeGone app is an accessibility-focused

innovation developed from a comprehensive

theoretical review. It leverages advanced mobile

technologies, including GPS, network triangulation,

and wireless communications like 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi,

enabling users to identify and classify barriers in real-

time. This collaborative system not only allows users

to report obstacles encountered in their daily lives but

also actively involves them as contributors and

advocates for creating a more accessible world.

Through BarrierBeGone, user-generated data forms a

comprehensive database on accessibility challenges,

providing valuable insights for individuals with

disabilities, policymakers, and businesses.

To ensure the reliability of information,

BarrierBeGone implements a voting system that

automatically qualifies information as untrustworthy

if it receives three or more negative votes, in addition

Improving Accessibility with Gamiﬁcation Strategies: Development of a Prototype App

239

to utilizing location-based services to provide

relevant data to users. The app also promotes spatial

data validation and disseminates information in real-

time, enhancing the organization and transmission of

data through user participation.

Furthermore, BarrierBeGone encourages user

participation through a scoring and rewards system,

including a leaderboard that gamifies the user

experience. This leaderboard highlights the

contributions and successes of users, fostering a spirit

of healthy competition and recognition. The app also

offers incentives, such as virtual rewards, exclusive

access to new features, or tangible benefits to

motivate users to actively contribute information

about barriers.

The app's architecture consists of a user-facing

frontend and a backend that includes a server and a

database managed by the Firebase SDK for

Figure 2: App Barrier BeGone.

Android. This database stores detailed information

about users and the locations of identified barriers,

using unique identifiers to ensure accuracy and

security of data. The barrier detection system's

interface is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly,

with an emphasis on usability and inclusion, offering

features like barrier marking and interaction with an

integrated map to facilitate navigation and barrier

identification by the user (figure 2).

3.3 Usability

The usability test session was broken up into three

sub-phases to measure the Barrier- BeGone

application’s usability and usefulness both

numerically and qualitatively:

− Pre-test survey - designed to assess participants’

levels of digital literacy, determine their

mobility limitations, and characterise the

sample’s sociodemographic features.

− Testing phase - Participants were required to

execute a predetermined set of tasks that

matched steps needed to be taken in the

application mobile prototype. The participants

were urged to explain your thinking while

carrying out the tasks during its performance.

− Post-test survey - using the System Usability

Scale (SUS).

During the testing phase, 9 participants, who had

not participated in the previous phase, were utilized.

These potential users, involved in the assessment of

the barrier identification system, ranged in age from

18 to 52, with a majority being male.

During the testing phase, participants interacted

with the BarrierBeGone prototype through seven

tasks designed to assess their understanding and

usability of the system, with the tasks being

completed with high execution efficiency, reflected in

an average score of 4.57 out of 5. However,

identifying barriers within a 50m radius was found to

be more challenging, indicating areas for

improvement in system design or user instruction.

Despite this, the authentication process was highly

rated for ease of use. Feedback from the testing phase

led to suggestions for improving the onboarding

mechanism, such as increasing text size for better

readability and allowing users to bypass or revisit

onboarding steps via their profiles. Post-test surveys

revealed positive impacts of real-time data on users'

mobility and security, emphasizing the system's

potential to enhance urban navigation and promote

inclusivity.

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In a global perspective, the usability evaluation

results of the BarrierBeGone barrier identification

system are undeniably positive, reinforcing its

simplicity, speed, and consistency in promoting

accessibility and social inclusion in smart cities, as

proposed in this dissertation. The quantitative

analysis revealed high levels of ease of execution in

most interaction tasks performed by potential users in

the mobile application prototype, with average scores

exceeding four points on a five-point Likert scale

(4.57), as shown in the usability evaluation stage of

BarrierBeGone. The average execution time for

participants who used the game was approximately

146 seconds, equating to 2 minutes and 26 seconds.

These auspicious results reaffirm the perceived

ease of interaction and validate the underlying

concept of the barrier identification system.

3.4 Limitation

To enhance the value of the barrier identification

system and provide better experiences for its users,

another future work is the creation of a route planner

that allows users to proactively identify the types of

issues they may encounter during their journeys.

Although the usability evaluation of the barrier

identification system, conducted with representative

users, yielded undeniably positive results, there were

areas for improvement identified that could enhance

the quality and subsequent value of the barrier

identification system within the community. These

improvements should be considered in a subsequent

iteration of BarrierBeGone. Additionally, it is

recommended that BarrierBeGone be evaluated in a

real mobility environment in urban areas. It is

advisable to consider larger samples in future phases.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The initial phase of this project is dedicated to

identifying and understanding the challenges faced by

individuals with limited mobility. Discussion groups

were held with people who have mobility limitations,

capturing a wide range of perspectives on the barriers

that hinder accessibility in urban environments. These

barriers include bouldering, steep ramps, large stairs,

obstructed access, improperly occupied parking

spaces, and the lack or absence of ramps.

Subsequently, the project shifted focus to the

design and development of a prototype for a barrier

identification system. This system aims to meet the

accessibility and social inclusion requirements

outlined in the dissertation's primary objectives. By

leveraging the widespread use of mobile and

ubiquitous computing in everyday life,

BarrierBeGone was conceived as a platform for

identifying obstacles. Implemented as a mobile

application, it enables users to identify and validate

potential physical barriers in real-time that might be

encountered by wheelchair users. To ensure the

information provided is relevant and delivers a user-

centric service, BarrierBeGone incorporates

information from its users through a collaborative

model, offering contextual data of interest.

The usability of the BarrierBeGone barrier

identification system was evaluated to fulfill the final

objective of this dissertation. This evaluation aimed

to measure both quantitatively and qualitatively the

usability and usefulness of the obstacle identification

platform. Usability tests were conducted with

representative users to facilitate the refinement of the

final product.

The evaluation results were overwhelmingly

positive. The system's usefulness and the users'

intention to frequently use the BarrierBeGone

application received widespread acclaim, particularly

among participants with mobility impairments,

though it was less unanimous among those without

mobility impairments. Its simplicity and user-

friendliness stood out as disruptive features of the

platform, driving the primary motivation for future

use intentions and distinguishing it from other

accessible solutions available on the market.

Given these successes, enhancing user

experiences in the face of various obstacles, and

improving accessibility and social inclusion in smart

cities are deemed entirely feasible.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work is financed by National Funds through the

Portuguese funding agency, FCT - Fundação para a

Ciência e a Tecnologia, within project

LA/P/0063/2020.

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