E-Inclusion: From Assistive Technology to Smart Environments

With main reference to research activities carried out in Europe, the paper describes the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in supporting the integration of people in the society. It starts from its immediate use in assistive technology for granting communication and access to information to people with limitations of activities (e.g., blind, and deaf people). Then it describes the change of attitudes due to the technical developments in the field and the approach of international organizations (UN and WHO), leading to the proposal of Design for All (DfA) and to the concept that technology must be used to guarantee the well-being of all people. This is made possible by the developments of technology leading to the emergence of intelligent environments, where technology can be interconnected to support all people in any activity. Some prototypes developed to show the present feasibility of interesting support applications are shortly described, pointing out the possibility of improvement due to Artificial Intelligence.Mit Hauptbezug auf die in Europa durchgeführten Forschungsaktivitäten beschreibt dieses Kapitel die Auswirkungen der Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie (IKT) bei der Unterstützung der Integration von Menschen in die Gesellschaft. Er beginnt mit dem unmittelbaren Einsatz der IKT als Hilfsmittel, um Menschen mit eingeschränkten Aktivitäten (z. B. Blinde und Gehörlose) Kommunikation und Zugang zu Informationen zu ermöglichen. Anschließend wird der Wandel der Einstellungen beschrieben, der durch die technischen Entwicklungen in diesem Bereich und den Ansatz internationaler Organisationen (UN und WHO) ausgelöst wurde und zum Vorschlag des Design for All (DfA) und zum Konzept führte, dass die Technologie genutzt werden muss, um das Wohlbefinden aller Menschen zu gewährleisten. Ermöglicht wird dies durch die technologischen Entwicklungen, die zur Entstehung intelligenter Umgebungen führen, in denen Technologien miteinander verbunden werden können, um alle Menschen bei jeder Tätigkeit zu unterstützen. Einige Prototypen, die entwickelt wurden, um die Machbarkeit interessanter Unterstützungsanwendungen zu demonstrieren, werden kurz beschrieben, wobei auf die Möglichkeit von Verbesserungen durch künstliche Intelligenz hingewiesen wird

Include 2011 : The role of inclusive design in making social innovation happen.

Include is the biennial conference held at the RCA and hosted by the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design. The event is directed by Jo-Anne Bichard and attracts an international delegation

User-centered requirement engineering for accessible chats in m-learning

Chat applications are useful synchronous tools in mobile learning (m-learning) environments. However, these tools have accessibility problems which cannot be avoided by students and teachers with disabilities. This paper focuses on detecting these accessibility problems. Specifically, this paper presents the Requirement Engineering (RE) process carried out to obtain the requirements needed to improve the interaction for people who experience problems with the Flow and Rhythm of the conversation in chats. A methodological approach has been followed and Software Engineering (SE) and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) disciplines were combined in order to improve the interaction during the chat.This research was partially supported by the MA2VICMR (S2009/TIC-1542) project. Also, our thanks to all users who took part in the studyPublicad

Digital inclusion in cooperation with its users for web strategies: students welcome platform

A informação tem um grande impacto na vida dos cidadãos, como tal a qualidade, disponibilidade e forma de acesso condicionam o conhecimento e as oportunidades no futuro de cada indivíduo. Qualquer contribuição para minimizar as barreiras no acesso à informação promove a equidade. Nos dias que correm, o conteúdo da Internet ainda não está adaptado às pessoas com deficiências auditivas e visuais. O mesmo aplica-se à maioria dos websites das instituições de ensino superior, como é o caso do website do Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP). Os websites institucionais têm a obrigação de disponibilizar a informação equitativamente entre os estudantes. Mesmo tendo em conta que as instituições de ensino superior dispõem de um espaço físico dedicado ao apoio e integração dos estudantes, a ajuda ou informação requerida não é normalmente disponibilizada atempadamente. O objetivo desta dissertação é apresentar uma proposta para a melhoria da integração dos estudantes do ensino superior através do desenvolvimento de uma plataforma web que promove a equidade. A plataforma web irá contribuir para a resolução de problemas relacionados com a integração e a ansiedade dos estudantes, ao fornecer meios que facilitam a comunicação entre os estudantes, de forma a que possam encontrar colegas predispostos a ajudar. Em alguns casos, estes estudantes terão exatamente as características que correspondem às necessidades de quem procura auxílio, como por exemplo, falar língua gestual ou outra língua verbal. Desta forma, os estudantes não precisarão de esperar pela orientação institucional no início do ano letivo. O conteúdo da plataforma web tem em conta a acessibilidade para estudantes com deficiência auditiva ou visual. O desenvolvimento desta proposta teve em consideração os resultados do inquérito realizado de modo a entender a perceção dos estudantes no que diz respeito à sua integração nas instituições de ensino superior que frequentam.Information greatly impacts citizens’ life, therefore the quality and timely access to it directly interferes in knowledge, and future opportunities. Any proposal aiming to contribute to minimize those barriers promotes equity. Nowadays, web content is still not prepared for users with hearing and visual disabilities. This occurs in most Higher Education Institutions’ websites, such as the website of Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP). The institutional websites should provide the information in such a way that it could be accessed equally by every student. Even though, the higher education institutions have at least a physical office dedicated to support students’ integration, the help or information required is often not delivered in due time. The focus of this dissertation is to introduce a proposal to improve students’ integration in higher education institutions through a web platform that promotes equity. The web platform will contribute to solve integration and anxiety issues most students face, by providing them with means to easily communicate with other students already predisposed to help, and, in some cases, with a set of characteristics matching their needs. This will allow students to get the help they need in time, without having to wait for formal institutional guidance in the beginning of the school year. The proposed web platform content was developed considering accessibility friendly issues for hearing and visual impaired students. Additionally, a survey was conducted to gather the students’ insights about their integration in the higher education institution they are attending

Wayfinding and Navigation for People with Disabilities Using Social Navigation Networks

To achieve safe and independent mobility, people usually depend on published information, prior experience, the knowledge of others, and/or technology to navigate unfamiliar outdoor and indoor environments. Today, due to advances in various technologies, wayfinding and navigation systems and services are commonplace and are accessible on desktop, laptop, and mobile devices. However, despite their popularity and widespread use, current wayfinding and navigation solutions often fail to address the needs of people with disabilities (PWDs). We argue that these shortcomings are primarily due to the ubiquity of the compute-centric approach adopted in these systems and services, where they do not benefit from the experience-centric approach. We propose that following a hybrid approach of combining experience-centric and compute-centric methods will overcome the shortcomings of current wayfinding and navigation solutions for PWDs

Good Practice Guide for Disability Management Services in HEIs:MUSE Project Report

The overall objective of the MUSE project is to improve access, ensure learning conditions and develop employment opportunities for HEIs’ disabled students in Latin American countries via modern inclusion practices and networking. The three Latin American countries involved are Chile, Mexico and Argentina, with the support of institutions in the EU (UK, Spain, Italy and Greece).The aim of this guide is to present examples and case studies across all the Higher Education Institutions in the project so that the team may learn from each other and implement the good practices in their own institutions where a need has been identified.This guide will be used throughout the project to inform strategy, training and implementation, to improve access and learning conditions, and to develop employment opportunities for HEIs’ disabled students and graduates

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

Instructional eLearning technologies for the vision impaired

The principal sensory modality employed in learning is vision, and that not only increases the difficulty for vision impaired students from accessing existing educational media but also the new and mostly visiocentric learning materials being offered through on-line delivery mechanisms. Using as a reference Certified Cisco Network Associate (CCNA) and IT Essentials courses, a study has been made of tools that can access such on-line systems and transcribe the materials into a form suitable for vision impaired learning. Modalities employed included haptic, tactile, audio and descriptive text. How such a multi-modal approach can achieve equivalent success for the vision impaired is demonstrated. However, the study also shows the limits of the current understanding of human perception, especially with respect to comprehending two and three dimensional objects and spaces when there is no recourse to vision