STSs intend to give a comprehensive overview to a very specific topic. Conferences and especially proceedings of conferences often lack such harmonized articles helping the reader to get information at one stop. STS therefore will enhance the quality of presentations for those who are not specialists in the field themselves. The STS chapters in the proceedings are intended to be very well suitable as introductions and summaries for teaching purposes. The collection of STS in the long run should provide a valuable, balanced and harmonised discussion of ICT for people with disabilities and might be the starting point for wirting a book, doing a project ... .
STS chairs and authors are also invited to consider new forms of presenting their papers and how to entertain their audience: panel presentations, moderated paper discussions, ...
Chair/Contact:Ben Challis |
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... Although there has been a great increase in the use of computers for making music in the professional and domestic market, nowhere near as much interest has been shown in how similar technology can be used to provide opportunities for those who have physical or mental difficulty with creating music in perhaps even the simplest of ways. Access Music will provide a platform whereby researchers and educators working in this field will be able to share and discuss their current projects, future perspectives and personal experiences. ...
Chair/Contact:Joachim Klaus |
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Globalisation and internationality, competition and knowledge - these are some of the keywords dominating our new millenium. Human ressources, personal qualification and life long learning are some of the answers to this worldwide challenge. Our society pretends to be open, social and democratic enabling personal and intellectual development to every human being.
Reality is far away: not only the difference between north and south, east and west but as well the exclusion of special groups like elder persons, un- and semi-skilled youg people, women and handicapped caracterise our actual situation.
IT - is a new instrument and medium to open new possibilities - in these areas, too. The Special Thematic Session will focus on the special field of studying and mobility of students with disabilities. It will offer special programmes, projects and ideas supporting their mobility and international experience and - in this way - to promote exchange, transfer and broadening.
Chair/Contact:Dominique Burger CV: http://www.snv.jussieu.fr/inova/equipe/dburger_english.htm Jan Engelen |
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This thematic session will focus on the potential of on-line digital publishing services for providing equal access to books and printed information for visually impaired people.
Suggested Topics :
Chair/Contact:Dominique Archambault |
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The use of specific user devices, and specific software, may allow disabled children to play independently. For some of then, it will be the first time in their life. Then attractive interfaces stimulate the child's cognitive work (ability to use the material and software, capacity of reasoning accumulate intuitive experiments). Moreover, it can help the affective development of children (for instance: reduce the frustration when failing, improve their own self-image, regain trust in their capacity to learn, to think, to communicate). Another point is the feeling of appurtenance to the same world: adults and other children use computers.
This session will focus on software tools used for helping the development of handicapped children.
Chair/Contact:Arthur I. Karshmer |
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Access to and doing mathematics still is one of the biggest obstacles for blind students in school and at university. This STS will present new apporaches to offer blind students a better access to math, to provide tools for doing math as well as to support teachers in teaching math.
Chair/Contact:Prof. Dr. Ewald Feyerer |
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Inclusive Teachers should be able to reach the special educational needs of all pupils. Computers and Information Technologies can facilitate this challenging task. That is why assistive technologies should be part of inclusive teacher training in any case. This thematic session will show and discuss how computers and information technologies can support and improve inclusive education. Concrete examples of inclusive classes should be presented. Furthermore the consequences for the teacher training will be in the centre of the session. The SOKRATES projects INTEGER, EUMIE and ODL:Inclusive developed curricula and learning materials for inclusive education at the initial and advanced level. The contribution of computers and information technologies to a modern and flexible study should also be discussed as the indispensable skills teacher trainees will need in order to use computeres and new information technologies for an effective inclusive education.
Chair/Contact:Christian Bühler |
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This session will focus on eEurope and the ongoing efforts conncerning eAccessibility including Web Accessibility (WAI), Design for All, standardisation and legislation. Contributions will also concentrate on how to put user participation in all these fields into practice. Speakers:
· Henry Haglund (CEU DG INFSO): (asked) The eEurope –eAccessibility Action Plan
· Rudolfo Cattani (EDF, I): Implementation of user participation
· Erkki Kempainen (Stakes, Fi): Legislation in relation to an integrative Information Society
· Jan Engelen ( KUL, Be): Standardisation activities in DfA and AT
· Judy Brewer(W3C, USA): (asked) Adoption of WAI guidelines
· Christian Bühler (FTB, De): Centres of Excellence in DfA
Chair/Contact:Dr. David J. Brown |
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This session will examine the work of special interest groups at the Nottingham Trent University, Interact21 and Nottingham University to develop applications of VR and MM in the training and education of disaffected people, including people with a learning disability and people with low literacy and numercay skills. The projects covered in this talk include The Knowledge Cafe in which people with low literacy and numeracy skills can develop their skills using edutainment based multimedia packages to motivate their learning. These learning packages are based on popular game formats, and adapted to be appropriate to the skills of this target group. Other projects include VR travel training packages to teach people with learning disabilities independent travel training skills to support employment.
These presentations on software are accompanied by work in the development of appropriate interfaces and input devices for people with physical as well as learning disabilities using such training packages. Finally, design guidelines drawn from the experience of each of these projects which will be presented to guide future developments in this area.
Chair/Contact:Prof. Constantine Stephanidis Pier Luigi Emiliani |
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Computing technology evolves rapidly, and each new generation of technology offers new opportunities to improve the quality of human life. The target user population addressed is broadening, the availability, type, functionality and content of new products and services is expanding, and access technologies are being diversified. At the same time, however, each new generation of technology has the potential of introducing new difficulties and barriers in the use of products and services - and eventually in everyday life, new risks for the health and safety of people, and new forms of social exclusion and discrimination.
The Information Society is bringing about radical changes in the way people work and interact with each other and with information. In this context, the "typical" computer user, often considered in the past as a "knowledgeable" worker, capable and willing to use technology in the work environment, and to experience productivity gains and performance improvements, can no longer be identified. Interactive artefacts are being used by diverse user groups, including people with different cultural, educational, training and employment background, novice and experienced computer users, the very young and the elderly, and people with different types of disabilities. The latter have been traditionally underserved by technological evolution. Disabled and elderly people currently make up about the 20% of the market in the European Union, and this proportion will grow with the ageing of the population to an estimated 25% by the year 2030. Not only there is a moral and legal obligation to include this part of the population in the emerging Information Society, but there is also a growing awareness in the industry that disabled and elderly people can no longer be considered as insignificant in market terms. Instead, they represent a growing market to which new services can be provided. In this context, the notion of Universal Access is critically important. Universal access implies the accessibility and usability of Information Society Technologies by anyone, anywhere, anytime. Its aim is to enable equitable access and active participation of potentially all citizens in existing and emerging computer-mediated human activities, by developing universally accessible and usable products and services, which are capable of accommodating individual user requirements in different contexts of use.
Chair/Contact:Helen Petrie |
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Haptic and 3D audio information has considerable potential to improve access to computer and virtual reality systems for blind and partially sighted people. Although systems providing both types of information are becoming commercially available and inexpensive, they have yet to be exploited for this user group. This STS will bring together papers of theoretical interest, empirical work, design principles and guidelines, and case studies, to present the state of the art on this topic.
Chair/Contact:Deborah Fels, PhD, P.Eng. Jutta Treviranus Charles Silverman |
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The convergence of traditional media such as audio, video, and television with computing is becoming a reality. Access to traditional media has often been limited and gains in regulatory standards have taken along time. With the introduction of new digital distribution and production technologies and processes, such as interactive television and broadband Internet technologies, existing standards are becoming obsolete. Industry is reluctant to embrace new techniques and standards for accessibility because of the fast pace of change, and market and technological uncertainty. However, there is unprecedented opportunity for inclusive technology research and development to influence the progress and shape of converging technology (instead of retrofitting to existing systems). Technology standards that mandate the interoperability and transformability required for barrier-free access must be developed before less optimal conventions become well-established.
The goals of this session are to provide a sketch of the research and development landscape in accessible media, and to outline the state of standards development and technology deployment for accessible digital media. Submissions to this session should highlight new developments within the context of accessible digital media and include an analysis of the relevance of these developments to the international community and/or international standards (or lack of).
Chair/Contact:Marcia J. Scherer, Ph.D., MPH E-mail: IMPT97@aol.com Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation |
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The exact nature of significant barriers to the use of assistive technology outcomes measures, and their potential uniqueness to the field of AT, has been the subject of considerable speculation, but has not been well researched. This includes the reliability and validity of measures, their adequacy for AT outcomes measurement, their clinically economy and usability, and practical utility for funders and other stakeholders. Additionally, suitable AT outcome measures are not available to some populations for whom measurement has been traditionally problematic (e.g., young children, those with cognitive disabilities and multiple disabilities).
Researchers in the U.S., Canada, and throughout Europe will collaborate to close the measurement gap and to target research efforts in the three key areas: (1) improving measurement science in AT, (2) identifying and eliminating barriers to outcomes measurement, and (3) understanding the uniqueness and complexities of the relationships between AT and its users. Efforts in these areas will be discussed by each of the presenters in this symposium.:
Presenters (till now):
Dr. Marcia J. Scherer, Symposium Organizer, Institute for Matching Person & Technology, Webster, New York, USA
Mr. Gerald Craddock, Central Remedial Clinic, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Dr. Luc de Witte, iRv, Institute for Rehabilitation Research, Hoensbroek, Netherlands
Dr. Gert Jan Gelderblom, iRv, Institute for Rehabilitation Research, Hoensbroek, Netherlands
Chair/Contact:Andrea Petz |
In September 2001, the European Commission decided to fund a pilot project called ECDL® -PD which aims at adapting the widespread and well known ECDL® - certificate to the needs of people with disabilities. The ECDL should not only become a tool for people with disabilities, but also for the ascending number of other underprivileged people on the labour market (e.g. older people, people with poor education, immigrants…).
In this Special Thematic Session, we want to discuss the possibilities of using standard or special certificates for IT-skills to foster the vocational integration of people with disabilities. One part of the STS will present first results of the above mentioned project. The STS should discuss how and why access to such certificates can become a toll for supporting the integration of people of all social orders and what difficulties may occur.
Researchers, teachers and experts in the field of IT training and certificates are invited to contribute to this STS.
Chair/Contact:Wolfgang L. Zagler |
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The session will highlight the importance of text production in daily life situations of disabled persons and explain proven and future user interfaces. One of the main goals in present research is the development of highly efficient and effective user interfaces which are perfectly matched to the user needs and abilities. By incorporating intelligent features and know-how from Natural Language Processing a high percentage of redundancy immanent in conventional typing can be avoided thus increasing the speed of text generation.
