Accessible Instruments in the Wild: Engaging with a Community of Learning-Disabled Musicians

Harrison, Jacob; Chamberlain, Alan; McPherson, Andrew P.

Abstract

Disabled people face many barriers to access in all areas of life, including creative expression. With music making, a lack of accessible instruments can be a major barrier, as well as environmental factors. The Strummi is an accessible instrument based on the guitar, designed as a technology probe to explore the technical and cultural role of guitar-like design and interaction modality. We have been collaborating with Heart n Soul, an arts charity that works with young people and adults with learning disabilities. In this paper, we share findings from the first year of this collaboration, and reflect on the implications for doing HCI research with learning-disabled communities. We took a longitudinal, situated approach with an intentionally simple technology inspired by in the wild and technology probe methodologies, allowing for interest in the Strummi to grow organically.

Citation

Harrison, J., Chamberlain, A., & McPherson, A. P. (2019, May). Accessible Instruments in the Wild: Engaging with a Community of Learning-Disabled Musicians. Presented at CHI '19: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Glasgow, UK

• Presentation Conference Type: Edited Proceedings
• Conference Name: CHI '19: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
• Start Date: May 4, 2019
• End Date: May 9, 2019
• Online Publication Date: May 2, 2019
• Publication Date: 2019
• Deposit Date: Nov 5, 2024
• Publisher: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Article Number: LBW0247
• Book Title: Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
• ISBN: 9781450359719
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3290607.3313037
• Keywords: learning disability; neurodiversity; music; technology probes; accessible instruments, field studies
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/23491150
• Publisher URL: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3290607.3313037
• Additional Information: Published: 2019-05-02