An expert reviewer complains that both designs may work with young users who are familiar and expert in using a mouse, but that there will be problems for elderly and motor-impaired users who have difficulty controlling a mouse. The reviewer recommends a new design that includes a larger font (20-point size) and a numbered list to allow selection by keyboard easily. Describe a Participatory Design or Social Impact Statement process that might clarify this issue with elderly users.

The State of Maryland is developing a web-voting interface. For selecting the candidates, one design (RB) is a set of radio buttons and another is (CB) a combo-box (drops down when selecting the scroll arrow icon), both using standard fonts at 10-point size.

Summarize why this is important. For example, with medical breakthroughs, there is an aging population who may have physical limitations but still desire to vote. These voting systems need to achieve universal usability, otherwise you risk disempowering the voter and biasing the result to only those who are familiar with the technology. These socio-technical systems are important challenges for today’s user interface designer.