1. Adaptable User Interfaces It’s so easy with SNAPI!
Special Needs Application Program Interface
Imagine a card that could carry all your preferences when dealing with the technical equipment that plays such a growing part in all our lives. Whether trying to get cash from a bank machine, to buy a ticket from the railway station, to get information from a personal computer in a public library, or even to choose the TV channel and text services from a new digital television, many disabled and elderly users find problems because the instructions and the user interface (the on-screen displays and the keyboard buttons) just don’t meet their individual needs.
If we could provide the means for users to easily configure the interface to suit their own personal requirements - and with much equipment using personal computer based technology this is now possible - the equipment would be become much easier to use and there would be much less user resistance to the adoption of these new technological solutions, benefiting both the users and the industries whose future depends upon the adoption of these technologies.
Data encoded on a smart card could provide the basis for configuring a range of systems to meet users’ specific needs. A European standard already exists for coding user requirements onto a card - EN , which resulted from the successful EU SATURN project, some ten years ago, has been well received but not yet widely adopted, and smartcards are now used by various organisations for many purposes, including various forms of public transport ticketing, cash machines, and digital TV receivers.
The SNAPI project aims to bring the EN standard into practical daily use by developing a simple, standardised method of encoding a smart card with user preferences, enabling a user to simply personalise the interface, so making equipment more usable and more accessible to users, including those with special needs, and elderly people. In essence, presenting a smart card to the equipment would automatically configure it to the user’s needs.

2. It’s so easy with SNAPI At the cash machine….
At the ticket vending machine….
On your digital TV receiver….
On your computer…. Inserting a SNAPI card alters the display and the interface to suit your own personal preferences
There are three elements to the solution, which we have termed Special Needs Application Program Interface - SNAPI:
SNAPI will provide a system for enabling smart cards, either dedicated preference cards or existing smart cards from service providers, to be simply programmed with user requirements, often by users themselves, and using the EN standard.
A public service that enables any customer to choose and store their interface preferences. This could be a web-based service for general accessibility, but users without access to the web would be able to express their preferences using forms or verbally, and have these coded onto their card by carers.
The card operated equipment, whether cash machine, ticket vending machine, or digital TV receiver, will need to be able to react to the interface preferences detailed on the card. It may also be useful if such ‘terminals’ can be used to load updates of the user’s preferences onto the card. Equipment must revert to a chosen default condition when the card is removed.

3. It’s so easy with SNAPI Inserting a SNAPI card might give….
Larger characters on the screen
Changes to foreground/background colours
Larger areas for touch screen input
Variable time-outs
Preferred language
Choice of biometrics
With the card removed, the machine’s interface returns to original state.
Standardisation is the key – EN
The changes likely to be required to the equipment interface include:
Larger characters on the screen
Changes to foreground/background colours
Larger icons
Larger areas for touch screen input
Variable Time-outs
Preferred language
Equally importantly, when using machines in a public space, removing the card would automatically return the machine’s interface to its original state. Standardisation is the key if this is to work satisfactorily.
There are three elements to the solution, which we have termed Special Needs Application Program Interface - SNAPI:
SNAPI will provide a system for enabling smart cards, either dedicated preference cards or existing smart cards from service providers, to be simply programmed with user requirements, often by users themselves, and using the EN standard.
A public service that enables any customer to choose and store their interface preferences. This could be a web-based service for general accessibility, but users without access to the web would be able to express their preferences using forms or verbally, and have these coded onto their card by carers.
The card operated equipment, whether cash machine, ticket vending machine, or digital TV receiver, will need to be able to react to the interface preferences detailed on the card. It may also be useful if such ‘terminals’ can be used to load updates of the user’s preferences onto the card. Equipment must revert to a chosen default condition when the card is removed.
Proposed Project
The SNAPI project would:
Develop software to add coding according to the EN specification to a card, with default values for the coding of user requirements.
Develop web-based software to permit users to change their preferred interface.
Develop software to distribute changes to an individual’s preferences to their card using equipment such as cash machines and vending machines already deployed in the field.
Develop software to read the coding of user requirements and modify the user interface for a range of applications, including cash machines, ticket machines and digital TV receivers.
Systematically evaluate the system with a cross-section of potential users.
Disseminate information about the results of the project.