Alessia Brischetto

The research work falls within the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for learning and aims to analyse, through contributions from the field of Ergonomics for Design, the aspects that may come into play in the development of inclusive learning platforms. Today, alongside ICT for learning, assistive technologies are usually used to enable anyone to work healthily, effectively and with equal access to technology, regardless of any impairment or disability. However, people do not always find it easy to carry out predetermined activities and tasks, as difficulties in accessing information have been encountered. To overcome this difficulty, it is necessary to create IT systems that follow universal access rules, so that all people, regardless of their physical or cognitive characteristics and the hardware and software tools they use, can access information. In other words, it is necessary to design for accessibility. In this context, the paper deals with the design and regulatory aspects that affect the Educational Technology sector, highlighting the similarities between Universal Design for Learning, collaborative learning and accessibility standards in inclusive learning.

Infrastructure and technological devices are intertwined in a relevant way in our way of living, acting and being. The home, today more than ever, is the observatory of social and cultural transformations that affect people's daily lives. The essay investigates these mutations and tries to identify new design development scenarios.

This paper introduces HighChest, an innovative smart freezer designed to promote energy efficient behavior and the responsible use of food. Introducing a novel human–machine interface (HMI) design developed through assessment phases and a user involvement stage, HighChest is state of the art, featuring smart services that exploit embedded sensors and Internet of things functionalities, which enhance the local capabilities of the appliance. The industrial design thinking approach followed for the advanced HMI is intended to maximize the social impact of the food management service, enhancing both the user experience of the product and the user’s willingness to adopt eco- and energy-friendly behaviors. The sensor equipment realizes automatic recognition of food by learning from the users, as well as automatic localization inside the deposit space. Moreover, it provides monitoring of the appliance’s usage, avoiding temperature and humidity issues related to improper use. Experimental tests were conducted to evaluate the localization system, and the results showed 100% accuracy for weights greater or equal to 0.5 kg. Drifts due to the lid opening and prolonged usage time were also measured, to implement automatic reset corrections.

Italian companies that base their value on excellence in craftsmanship and traditional skills consider human resources to be a valuable asset that must be protected. This is the case with Brunello Cucinelli, a well-known manufacturer operating in the high-end clothing sector, for which the research project described in this article was developed. The project focused on the ergonomic assessment and redesign of workstations in the prototyping department, with the aim of optimising the well-being and mental and physical health of operators by optimising workstations and preventing musculoskeletal disorders. The research was based on the scientific and methodological approach of Ergonomics for Design and its theoretical and operational tools, aimed at assessing the levels of usability and safety of the workstations, and the conditions of well-being or discomfort actually perceived by the operators, and the subsequent redesign of both the workstations and the organisation of the work activities related to their use. The results that emerged during the assessment phase highlighted critical issues relating to both the postural aspects and the usability aspects of the workstations analysed, as well as the overall quality of the interaction between the operator and the machine and between the operator and the accessories necessary to perform the task. The results of the analysis phase formed the starting point for the development of the design phase.

Ergonomics for design and sustainability play a key role in the development of innovative research strategies within the design framework. In turn, the close relation between the two research areas provides a more accurate solution with respect to the one human-centred. In the present work, with the aim of finding new pathways, either for theoretical and applied research, as well as for suggesting new training lines, the main research issues and current trends existing nowadays between Ergonomics, sustainability and design are presented.

The design for sustainability evolved over time. At the beginning we talked about how to design environmentally friendly products, nowadays it means designing products and services systems with a low impact on the environment able to promote equity and social cohesion. Contempo- rary society is therefore indubitably involved to promote initiatives for solving serious environ- mental issues. The transversal knowledge of Ergonomics for design, along with its own feature to re-design what it is known through the assessment and identification of critical issues, consti- tute a high potential for promoting the development of a sustainable society. Based on the belief that the users behaviors can strongly influence on the environmental impact of a product, this work is aimed at demonstrating how the Human Centred Design approach can play a strategic role for the definition of design solution able to motivate people to follow eco-efficient pathways.

This essay provides an overview of the procedural methodological aspects that determine the usability of a system through the adoption of human-centred design.

The work is focused on the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for learning and is aimed at analysing, thanks to the contribution coming from the sector of Ergonomics in Design, what are the main features involved for the development of inclusive learning platforms. To date, among the ICT for learning, assistive technologies are usually used to allow anyone to work in a healthy, effective and with equal access to the technology, regardless of any impairment or disability. However, people can not be able always to perform predetermined tasks and activities, as many limitation to accessibility can be encountered. To overcome such drawbacks, computer systems that follow universal access rules should be created, thus allowing to all people to access information, regardless of their physical or cognitive impairments, as well as hardware and software tools used. In other words, it is strictly necessary to design for accessibility. Whithin this frame, the present work treats design and regulatory aspects that affect the Educational Technology research area, putting in evidence the relationship between Universal Design for Learning, collaborative learning and accessibility standards in the field of inclusive learning.

The product falls within research sector of Ergonomics in Design and Inclusive Design with special reference to the Universal Design for Learning in the educational and ICT fields. In contemporary society, technology is increasingly the main tool for producing and promoting information and well-being. With special regards to the framework of ICT for learning, assistive and adaptive technologies as well as e-learning and m-learning platforms, are usually employed to provide equal access to knowledge regardless of any impairment or disabilities. However, due to several limitations of technology, people can be socially excluded. In the present work, to deeply understand such limitation, the most relevant learning theories in the creation of instructional environments were investigated. On the basis of this preliminary research, the work is aimed at analyzing the inclusive potential of current ICT and related standards of web accessibility, platforms and content format in order to assess what may be the contribution of Ergonomics for design and Universal Design for improving learning environments and social inclusion for the widest number of person.

A task, according to the definition given in the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, is any single action, understood as work, necessary to achieve a goal. Since a task, by definition, is a direct activity because it has a purpose (or goal), from a methodological point of view it is not appropriate to simply talk about activities and tasks without taking into account both their objectives and the context in which they occur. It is for these reasons that TA can be defined as the study of what people, individually and collectively, are required to do in order to achieve a specific goal or purpose. The essay illustrates the role of Task Analysis in the evaluation and design development of industrial products and user interfaces.