Universal Design Friendly to Humans and the Earth

Main Activities and Results (Fiscal 2013)

Universal Design Products

Developing a User-Friendly Projector (ViewLight Series)

NEC Display Solutions, Ltd. develops projectors within the NEC Group. The company develops products that meet a wide array of needs, ranging from small, portable projectors to large projectors for professional use at cinemas and other locations.
With small projectors used in conferences and classroom instruction at schools, NEC Display Solutions goes beyond pursuing high performance to develop projectors with creative touches that make them easier to use and markings easier to read.
For example, when developing projectors used in elementary schools, NEC Display Solutions listens to feedback from the teachers who operate projectors, the students they teach, and school IT personnel who select IT equipment, among others. The company also observes how projectors are actually used in the classroom.
Through these activities, NEC Display Solutions learned that the projectors were being used in an unsafe manner. When not projecting any images, the projectors were being covered by thick paper or draped with cloth to block the projector’s bright light. In response, the company changed the lens cap to a slide-door mechanism. This allowed the projector’s light to be easily blocked while also upgrading the product by better ensuring safety. The company was told that projectors had too many buttons to operate and seemed difficult to operate, and that it was hard to tell whether units were on or off. Accordingly, the company organized the buttons into groups and made the power switch larger, making it easier to see whether the switch is turned on or off.
In addition, some elementary schools had put stickers with illustrations on corresponding connection ports and cables so that the schoolchildren could find the right connection ports. Therefore, the company modified the projectors by, for example, adding connection port markings to the top panel of the devices.

In these ways, the company conducted development based on the concept of creating user-friendly projectors that would reduce users’ workload and any concerns about using projectors. As a result, the projectors received high marks from users, and were presented with a Gold Award by Hardware Magazine, a popular trade magazine on IT equipment in Singapore.

Remote Captioning Support System for Students Hard of Hearing

In Japan, there are about 340,000 people who are hard of hearing, around 17,000 of whom are children of senior high school age or younger.
Based on an idea formulated by an employee of NEC System Technologies, Ltd. this support system enables captioning to be provided for people hard of hearing from remote locations. It was developed by researchers specializing in accessibility.
Captioning refers to the process of listening on behalf of people hard of hearing and conveying the content of the communication as text information in a notebook or on a PC screen. In Japan, there are almost 10,000 people who provide captioning. These support activities are basically carried out in pairs of two people, and require specialized expertise in stenography and data entry through typing. However, there is a dearth of such supporters since almost all of them are volunteers. And the captioning writers may be far away from classrooms, or may be unable to come to a classroom during class hours. These conditions created the need to develop a system that would allow remote captioning to be provided.
In response, NEC System Technologies developed a system that links classrooms and captioning writers at a distance over the Internet, allowing captioning writers to provide captioning by listening to the teacher’s voice over the Internet and sending the captioning to the classroom, where it is displayed on the PCs of students in the classroom.
The company repeatedly modified the system based on interviews with hard-of-hearing students and captioning writers. Particular emphasis was put on ensuring the system could function in real time and stand up to the rigors of practical use, given that this was captioning for classroom instruction. For example, when a captioning writer misses something that a teacher says, a function called “Refrain” allows captioning writers to return to the preceding “paragraph break” by pressing a certain key. Another function allows captioning writers to ask the teacher a question using their headsets. A function that matches requests for support from schools and guardians with the registration of participating supporters is also available.
The system was put through its paces in trials in actual university classes, along with a service evaluation. Looking ahead, NEC System Technologies aims to put this technology into practical use and expand its application to other fields.
This system is being developed with assistance from the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Examples of Other Initiatives

“User-centered design” certification system

To promote UD within the NEC Group, NEC has an internal system in place to enable staff to obtain certification in user-centered design development methods. A special test assesses related practical knowledge gained over a period of about one year. An evaluation panel of internal and external experts is overseeing the testing and certification process. As of March 2013, a total of　646 staff had obtained this qualification since the system began in November 2011.
Furthermore, the Japanese NPO Human Centered Design Organization certifies a specialist external qualification in human-centered design. Utilizing this qualification system, five specialists working in the NEC Group were awarded this qualification in fiscal 20132. To date, a total of 5 specialists from the NEC Group have been awarded this qualification.

Universal design support framework

Working in close cooperation with related business divisions in the NEC Group, we have designed and developed a support framework for projects that require universal design principles and “user-centered design,” with the aim of improving the process of developing products and services that incorporate universal design principles.
The NEC Group’s software divisions conducted consultations on enhancing the usability of business systems. As a result, the software divisions obtained feedback from customers including “the system is now easier to operate because the screens change in the order of the flow of our operations,” and “the user-friendliness of our business system has improved by reconfiguring menus and setting up short-cuts.”

Employee Education and Awareness Raising

Since fiscal 2009, NEC has been conducting Web-based "Universal Design Training," a training program designed for all NEC Group employees (including temporary staffing and seconded employees) at NEC Corporation. In fiscal 2013, NEC continued to offer the Web-based “Universal Design Training,” to new graduate and mid-career recruits, as well as temporary staffing. This program was also offered as follow-up training for returning seconded employees from NEC Group companies. The total number of participants was 3,320 employees.
Furthermore, we held in-house seminars for participants to study various “user-centered design” techniques, and learn about development processes from outstanding examples within the Group. In this manner, we strove to enhance the awareness and skills of employees centered on software and hardware development personnel.

Fiscal 2013 Results

Stakeholder Communication

Presenting NEC product examples through external lectures and seminars

We present examples of the NEC Group’s universal design initiatives at external lectures and seminars in Japan, as well as international conferences, in an effort to publicize the Group’s activities in this area. In addition, we create opportunities to listen to the voice of event participants and various other stakeholders.
Stakeholders have expressed opinions suggesting a strong need for production innovation and process innovation at the operational frontlines. For example, by enhancing the user-friendliness of systems manufactured in-house, stakeholders are seeking to improve business efficiency while reducing the time needed to learn how to operate these systems. In response, NEC fed back this information to its internal development divisions, and has put this feedback to good use in developing vertical LCD panels and proposing new screen designs.

Disseminating Information

NEC has disseminated information externally by publishing its policy and goals with respect to Web accessibility when renewing the NEC website. In addition, NEC revamped its webpage for introducing product designs. On this webpage, NEC presents universal design and “user-centered design” initiatives undertaken to date

Participation in activities of outside organizations

NEC is playing an active role as a board member of the International Association for Universal Design (IAUD). In fiscal 2013, NEC sponsored and exhibited at The 4^th International Conference for Universal Design in Fukuoka 2012, which was held in Fukuoka, Japan. Furthermore, as the chair of the IAUD Certification Committee,NEC hosted the first “UD Certification-Beginner’s Level” (Seminar & Certification Exam) in conjunction with the international conference.
Furthermore, Mr. Kazuo Okamoto, Chairman of the IAUD Certification Committee, praised NEC by noting that launching the UD Certification was a major achievement in itself, as part of IAUD’s initiatives to further popularize and realize universal design.

Policy,Framework and process

Objectives and Achievements

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