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ANEC's generic consumer requirements in ICT standardization - 2003

Disclaimer: The "interim ICTSB response" is a collection of opinions which does not necessarily represent a consensus view of the ICTSB

Generic Consumer Requirements in ICT standardization extracted from the ANEC report	Interim ICTSB response
1. Accessibility/Design for All It is a basic consumer right to have access to products and services. Discrimination exists if elderly people and people with disabilities cannot use many of today's mainstream consumer products and services. CEN/CENELEC Guide 6 providing guidelines for standard-makers on how to address the needs of elderly and disabled people is a tool to assist standard-makers to rectify this discrimination. Standards, in particular in relation to ICT and the Information Society, should build upon the concept of 'Design for all'. Design for All does not mean designing for everyone, but designing for as many people as possible while acknowledging that there is a minority of disabled people with severe impairments who need adaptations or specialist products. Hence, ANEC calls upon the European standards bodies to implement CEN/CENELEC Guide 6 in a systematic manner.	Standardization responded positively to the "Design for All" concept. CEN/CENELEC Guide 6 addresses standard makers and improves the awareness concerning older or disabled persons. CEN/ISSS WS/DFA has produced ICT sector-specific guidelines for standardizers (publication pending as a CWA). A number of more specific deliverables concerning guidelines for the user interface for specific features have also been produced by ETSI/HF (Technical Committee Human Factors) to encourage the implementation of design for all recommendations.
2. Adaptability The system should be adaptable to meet a user's specific requirements and abilities. For example, it should be able to provide output in a format and at a pace that meets the individual's needs. This is a way of achieving consistency for the user. This principle could also be applied to prevent unintended users gaining access to a system and in the case of custom upgrading of systems	The large number of facilities and feature of ICT end-user equipment enforces by itself a need for user configuration including alternatives to keyboards with voice control. This does usually not result in an uniform man-machine interface but offers a user choice. In this field standardization is not dominant and restricts itself to an absolute minimum of specifications with respect to interoperability.
3. Child safety issues Children (12 years and younger) are becoming an increasingly significant consumer group for advanced computing and communications services. In some cases children as young as two or three years old are using ICT equipment. Therefore there is a need to monitor ICT products and issues, which do not primarily fall within the area of child safety, but which do pose a threat to child safety.	Children are not excluded from the Information Society and therefore should use ICT services. ETSI TR 102 133 "Access to ICT by young people" produced by ETSI/HF raises the issues according to physical growth; cognitive maturation; and social development. It also addresses the content-related concerns with aspects of comprehension, legal and ethical questions, marketing and privacy, approaches to controlling content. It should be noted that standardization cannot solve legal and ethical problems. Standardization can only complement these aspects by technical solutions but not enforce their application.
4. Comprehensible standards Standards must be unambiguous and easy to understand, i.e. written in plain language so that non-technical people can comprehend them and contribute to the standardisation process.	Standards are written in a way that they are fit for their purpose. Most standards are intended to enable implementers to develop products. They do not address consumers and do not follow that recommendation. They are more and more using formal description techniques which are not plain natural languages.
5. Consistent user interface The systems must have a consistent user interface. It is especially important that the method of processing, storing and accessing the systems is consistent for the user. A consistent user interface can be achieved by different means e.g. all components of the user interface are uniform, or the user interface adapts to the user so that the user always meets a personalized uniform interface. This principle was the subject of a European research project, in which the feasibility of using a smart card to trigger a personalised user interface was evaluated and promoted for standardisation.	It is not the purpose of standardization to specify uniform man-machine interfaces. It will be the end-users configuration which allows him/her to optimize the man-machine interface for the personal use. On the other hand, ease of use of the Man-Machine interface and related guidelines is a relevant issue on which ETSI/HF is contributing significantly. Under the term "Home Environment", UMTS will enable a user to obtain UMTS services in a consistent manner regardless of the user's location or terminal used. The SATURN project under TIDE (Telematics applications for the integration of disabled and elderly people) works on Smart Cards and Terminal Usability.
6. Cost transparency The system must be transparent regarding all costs involved. Cost information should be presented in a standardised way. This includes both the initial costs involved for the user and the secondary costs in terms of subscribing to and operating the system, especially when inter-working on networks, or when using on-line help or other fundamental services (e.g. directory enquiries or short message service on a mobile phone). Disconnecting from a service must be free of charge or the charge must be stated in a standardised way at point of purchase.	Standardization deals with Quality of Service (QoS) and related measurements. This can be used as a basis for billing, e.g. the itemized bill. Standardization cannot deal with costs or items which are not measurable.
7. Easily adaptable access and content control Parents, being responsible for their children, should have technical devices at their disposal to control access and the content of electronic media.	See #3
8. Ease of use ICT must be easy to use for all intended user groups stated in the scope of the standard.Following ergonomic software principles for user interface design should help achieve ease of use. ICT standards should address ergonomic aspects of ICT hardware, software, services and support. Existing standards should be applied.Systems should also display dialogue elements to the consumer and allow them to choose from items generated by the system or to edit them. Menus are a typical technology to achieve this goal.Ease of use can be measured in terms of performance (e.g. the time taken by users to complete a predetermined task, and/or the number of errors, and/or satisfaction with a service: see EN 29241 -11 Guidance of usability). Goals for ease of use - known as usability statements - should be developed.	Most standards do not directly address end-users. They address implementers. Nevertheless, few standards specify aspects of the man-machine interface (See #3) which are essential for a common comprehension, e.g. acoustical signals (tones & voice messages), displayed messages. Usability and ergonomics are addressed by standards and reports: ISO 9241 : Ergonomic requirements for visual display terminals (17 parts - December 2002) ETSI ETR 051 : Usability checklist for telephones: basic requirements (December 1992) ETSI ETR 166 : Evaluation of telephones for people with special needs: an evaluation method (January 1995) ETSI EG 201 472 : Usability evaluation for the design of telecommunications systems, services and terminals (February 2000) There is no intension to fully specify the dialogues for applications beyond the general guidance given.
9. Environmental issues ICT standards should indicate that environmental issues, such as power consumption, have been addressed. A clean life cycle from manufacturing to disposal should be the goal of all ICT systems/products. Possible environmental risks that may arise in the product/system life cycle should be identified and indicated to the consumer.A standardised way of assessing and indicating environmentally friendly ICT products, services and systems should be developed.	Environmental issues are part of the public policies and will result in regulation.Standardization will respond to this and include in standards the environmental aspects.Standardized definitions of e.g. power consumption and specified measurements will enable the consumers to benchmark between different products. However, the standards may not require specific modes of operation or values.
10. Error tolerance and system stability The system should anticipate errors of operation and be forgiving. Informative error messages should lead the consumer forwards. The system should be robust and should remain stable if consumers try services, which cannot be delivered or make choices that are redundant.	The error tolerance is not in the scope of standardization. Such a general requirement would even conflict with security requirements. System stability could be seen as a QoS parameter and made measurable.
11. Explorability The system should encourage the consumer to discover its functions without involving additional costs.	Costs are not in the scope of standardization.
12. Functionality of solution With regard to functionality of solution, one has to ensure that the standard addresses the problems actually faced by consumers and provides help to solve these problems. There should be advice on which user groups and tasks the system should be used for, and in which operating environments. This advice should be in the scope of the standard. The advice should be open to review.	Standards define and specify technical solutions. The scope of standards clarifies what is defined and specified and to what or whom the standard is applicable. Standards should not be seen as a user manual.
13. Health and safety issues When developing ICT standards any health and safety issues should be assessed. Existing standards should be applied.	Health and safety are regulatory requirements. Standardization complements this regulation continuously. There is no gap in standardization.
14. Information supply for first-time user set-up procedure The user set-up procedure should provide sufficient set-up instructions. Any automatic set-up system should have manual override.	Beyond general guidance, this is not in the scope of standardization.
15. Interoperability and compatibility Different services must be interoperable so that, in practice, any service can be accessed on any appropriate network on any relevant device, thus avoiding the acquisition of access to several different networks and terminals for similar services (i.e. portability is achieved). Compatibility within a system should be ensured, for example new versions of systems should be compatible with previous versions of the same system and components for systems originating from different manufacturers should also be compatible. Different systems should be compatible so as to allow their joint operation.	Interoperability and compatibility are prime goals of ICT standardization. The so-called backward compatibility finds, however, limits due to the technology development.Standards are supporting multi-vendor environments but do not directly require exchangeability on a component level. Examples: It is unlikely to swap batteries between portable PCs or between mobile phones; or even to find common battery chargers. But SIM Cards for mobile phones are standardized and exchangeable between different mobile phones even between USA and European phones.
16. Multicultural and multi-lingual aspects Multicultural and multi-lingual aspects need to be considered when developing global ICT standards.	Europe is committed to protect the multicultural environment. Hardware products for a global market are usually adaptable to cultural requirements such as languages, see also #2. Application standards for e-business and other purposes are often insufficiently adapted. CEN/ISSS recognizes this problem, and, for example, is providing translations of some key ebXML specifications, or of the IEEE Learning Object Model. More could be done with more resource. The CEN/ISSS Cultural Diversity Steering Group is seeking to define an overall European work programme in this area
17. Provision of system status information The status of the system (e.g. waiting for input, checking, fetching, etc.) should be constantly available to the consumer. Different mechanisms should be employed to give complete feedback to the consumer, e.g. audio/visual for error messages data input required. All messages should be positive and not place blame on the consumer.	This is not necessarily in the scope of standardization.
18. Privacy and security of information The system should ensure the privacy of the individual. It should not be possible for unauthorized people to follow a user's activities on an electronic network. Electronic footprints are to be avoided. Standards should help provide methods for checking this, especially in open and decentralised networks (Internet). Inevitable footprint data must be deleted after an appropriate time. The system should not allow disclosure of information about the consumer to unauthorized people and should indicate clearly to whom information is given.Security of information - sent, stored, received or deleted - must be ensured. The level of security should be clearly stated to the consumer.	This is not only a technical issue.Regulation may be complemented by standards for technical solutions, and also by consensus-based guidance material, to help business and consumers make satisfactory choices. The CEN/ETSI Network and Information Security Group is preparing an overview report on current standards requirements in that area . CEN/ISSS is proposing to launch a Workshop on Data Protection and Privacy , which will prepare good practice consensus deliverables in relation to the recommendations of the IPSE Report.
19. Quality of service, system reliability and durability There should be a standardised way to determine and present quality of service, system reliability and durability. This should include the development of standardised performance indicators. This information should be displayed at the point of sale. Batteries are an example of products in respect of which consumers need such information at point of sale (durability and reliability).	QoS standards are available or on its way. It is possible to use QoS parameters as performance indicators. However, standards will not rule the presentation of these parameters to customers.
20. Rating and grading systems ICT standards should allow the application of rating and grading systems, which would provide information on quality to assist the consumer's decision.	This is outside the scope of standards.
21. Reliability of information The system should indicate the reliability of information (possibly by quoting sources) provided on the system (e.g. in the event of system failure, a message should be given to explain, for instance, that the bank clearing system has been out of action).	This is outside the scope of standards.
22. Terminology As part of a consumer-centred design, the terminology used in user interfaces, (this includes brochures, user instructions and information presented by the system) should meet the basic generic consumer requirements or ISO Guide 37: 1995 - Instructions of use of products of consumer interest.	ISO/IEC Guide 37 " Instructions of use of products of consumer interest" is available. Standardization cannot enforce its application.