On using conversational interfaces to improve the accessibility of a university campus

Moving around a university campus may seem an activity of little importance: students are young, they walk and run without problems, with a simple glance they know where they are and where to go, they understand where a lesson is held, when a teacher is available or where to go when they are hungry. Activities that millions of students do every day. But what about students with some form of physical impairments? For them, moving around a university campus is a daily challenge. Can conversational interfaces improve the accessibility of a University campus? is the research question we address in this study. We involved students (with and without disabilities) in the development and evaluation of a skill for the Amazon Alexa platform. Results show that conversational interfaces are highly appreciated by most of the participants and confirm that such interfaces might improve the daily experience of users within a university campus.