TokenAccess: Improving Accessibility of Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) by Transferring the Interface and Interaction to Personal Accessible Devices

ATM interaction tends to be restrictive and prescriptive in the way one can interact with. The hardware (screen, keyboard, slot) and most often also the software interfaces are fixed and miss many layers of adaptability for diverse groups of users including those with disabilities. All studies on accessibility and usability underline the difficulty due to often contradictory requirements (what helps one user makes it more complex for another user) making it very hard, cost intensive and almost impossible to reach a satisfactory user experience. Therefore, considerations are vital to investigate the feasibility of transferring the interaction with ATMs as much as possible to a standard HCI and web based system and to runs as much as possible of the interaction on a personal device, which might connect ATs in a well-controlled and accessible environment. The TokenAccess approach is a feasibility study of these considerations. It provides a prototype of a technical infrastructure demonstrating the feasibility of such approach by integrating steps of interaction into already existing services such as e-banking, online check-in or eTicketing. The development of the prototype was done using a user centered design approach involving disabled colleagues and students at the Institute Integriert Studieren at the University of Linz as coresearchers and evaluators. Heuristic Evaluation, Cognitive Walkthrough and observation have been used in each step from requirements engineering towards evaluation.