Book Reviews: Human Factors, Accessibility, & Usability

Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming

Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2024. 240 pages, including index.

Index Terms—alternative realities, biotechnology, design fiction, imaginary scenarios, speculative design

Reviewed by Josh Anderson, Information Architect, Paligo.

Although much has changed technologically since the original 2013 release of Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming, the material holds up well over a decade later in its first paperback edition. The book explores a type of design that concerns itself with representations of alternative realities. It’s less about predicting the future and more about asking “what-if”—for example, how would humans behave differently if we lived 150 years, if we could seed clouds that produce flavored snow, or if we redrew national boundaries around energy sources. The speculative designer draws their audience into these hypothetical scenarios by illustrating glimpses of life in these unreal worlds: an image of an old man atop a toy rocking horse, a drivable ice cream van affixed with (non-working) cloud-seeding canons, or a map of “Eneropa,” a theoretical version of Europe where the continent shares a renewable energy grid. Ultimately, these are designs of ideas; the props or graphics used in their representations are secondary, intended only to be the starting point for the audience’s imagination about what life would be like in a world that produced these artifacts.

            Speculative Everything hits its stride in the fourth chapter that focuses on biotechnology. Here, Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby highlight several speculative design projects that move beyond the entirely theoretical and instead ground themselves in the real-world; my favorite is Common Flowers/Blue Rose, in which the artists reverse-engineered the first commercially available genetically modified flower and disseminated instructions for others to do the same. The point is to unsettle the idea of copyrighting nature. It is at this intersection of art, science, and activism that speculative design is at its most fascinating.

            Nearly every page contains a striking photograph, illustration, or model; the result is a book that’s pleasant to flip through. However, it’s when I turned my attention to the text between each image that I realized that most of the speculative design projects are more head-scratching than they are thought-provoking. Many of the images are simply not self-explanatory enough, and even reading what little textual explication the authors might provide, I was often left speculating not about some theoretical alternative existence but about what in the world I was looking at. Without the authors’ long description, there was certainly no way, for example, that I would have guessed a photograph of a person foraging with a comically gargantuan green plastic straw strapped to their back was meant to evoke “overpopulation.”

            While Speculative Everything is mostly written for designers and artists, writers will probably resonate with Dunne and Raby’s advice on writing effective fiction: “You can ask an audience to believe the impossible, but not the improbable” (p. 95). The book does a thorough job exploring how and why to create works that transport audiences to another reality, even if some of its examples are more surreal than they are stimulating.

How to Design, Implement, and Analyse a Survey

Anthony Arundel. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. 2023. 162 pages, including index.

Index Terms—data analysis, questionnaire creation, survey design, survey methods

Reviewed by Charlotte Weddington, Technical Writer, Hunter Douglas.

How to Design, Implement, and Analyse a Survey by Anthony Arundel is a practical guide for those new to survey design, including students, academics, and business managers. The book begins by questioning the necessity of a survey, emphasizing the importance of funding and time constraints. The main advantage of a survey is that it creates new data that is not available from other sources. When creating a new survey, consider asking yourself these two questions: First, do you have sufficient funding? Second, can you work within the time constraints?

Arundel covers survey fundamentals, including types, steps, and budgeting, with a detailed cost example. He then delves into questionnaire design, advising on creating engaging, concise, and jargon-free questions, and compares printed and online questionnaires. Testing questionnaires on colleagues and a sample population is recommended to refine questions and avoid issues.

The book discusses four survey methods: telephone, face-to-face, postal, and online, comparing their tasks and costs. Data processing activities such as collection, coding, entry, and cleaning are explained, including calculating response and non-respondent rates.

For data analysis and reporting, Arundel touches on sample weighting, common method bias, and non-random samples, referring readers to econometric textbooks for statistical methods. He concludes with advice on adopting new survey methods cautiously, ensuring they are backed by sufficient research. Arundel includes a table on page 80 that compares the tasks and costs between the four methods.

In the final chapter, the author summarizes the book by topic and concludes by offering advice on adopting new survey methods carefully. Arundel says, “Make sure that there is sufficient research to establish that the method is effective for the types of individuals that you want to survey” (p. 133).

Overall, How to Design, Implement, and Analyse a Survey is a thorough and practical resource, offering valuable tips and best practices for conducting surveys, making it highly recommended for those interested in survey methodology.

Web Accessibility Cookbook: Creating Inclusive Experiences

Manuel Matuzović. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media. 2024. 382 pages, including index.

Index Terms—accessibility tools, questionnaire creation, survey design, Web accessibility

Reviewed by— Danang Handoko Belut Saputro, Student, Universitas Gadjah Mada, supported by Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP), Indonesia.

Web Accessibility Cookbook: Creating Inclusive Experiences provides developers with practical “recipes” for creating accessible web components such as navigation, tables, and dialogs while explaining the rationale behind these methods. By emphasizing a clear, logical document structure and the use of hidden headings to enhance screen reader navigation, the guide ensures that both visual and assistive technology users can effectively interact with digital content. The book underscores the critical importance of accessibility in web development, offering solutions that address diverse user needs and preferences to facilitate seamless interaction with websites, including accessing information, registering for services, and making purchases.

Manuel Matuzović outlines methods for improving web accessibility, though specific details are not fully provided. He highlights accessibility as a fundamental aspect of web development, suggesting its integration throughout all stages, from design to implementation. One approach is to use ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes and semantic HTML to improve accessibility while cautioning against misuse, which can have a negative impact on screen readers. Matuzović also offers practical “recipes” for developers, likely as step-by-step guides or best practices for creating accessible components like navigation, tables, and dialogs. Testing and validation, through automated or manual methods, are essential to ensure compliance with accessibility standards. These methods represent a comprehensive approach, focusing on the technical and practical application of accessibility principles to create inclusive web experiences.

Best practices include using ARIA attributes and semantic HTML, like ARIA roles and labels, to improve screen reader comprehension and enhance accessibility for users with disabilities. Tools like Axe DevTools, Google Lighthouse, WAVE, ARC Toolkit, and IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker help developers identify and fix accessibility issues, ensuring compliance with standards. Avoiding empty elements is key, as they can confuse screen readers and disrupt navigation. Providing descriptive rather than generic link text helps users understand the purpose of links. Lastly, maintaining accessibility in customizable components and educating developers on these practices are essential.

This book’s strength lies in its comprehensive coverage of web accessibility, which includes strategies such as document structuring, HTML, and JavaScript implementation for essential components like toggles and modals. Its practical guidance explains not only how to implement accessibility features, but also the reasons behind them, with a focus on HTML and JavaScript. The book also highlights voice accessibility for users relying on voice commands. However, its weaknesses include redundant links that may confuse screen readers and an excessive focus on HTML, which may be insufficient for developers seeking modern technologies.

Web Accessibility Cookbook highlights the crucial role of accessibility in web development, offering practical guidance and strategies for creating inclusive web components that ensure usability for everyone. Aimed primarily at front-end developers, it also serves web designers and accessibility advocates by providing best practices for building accessible digital experiences. Both beginners and seasoned professionals can easily navigate its recipe-based format, which provides them with the necessary knowledge to improve accessibility in their projects.