3rd Generation accessibility: information and communication technologies towards universal access

Maria Fernanda Cabrera-Umpiérrez
2014 Universal Access in the Information Society  
New technologies offer several opportunities for people with disabilities, such as the acquisition of new skills in using innovative assistive technologies, the raise of their employability and the increase in their levels of social integration. The impact that accessible information and communication technologies (ICT) could have on the lives of people with disabilities is mainly centred on facilitating their everyday activities and job opportunities (in the mainstream labour market) and
more » ... ing support on a daily basis, whether it is to access their phone, mobile or computer or even the TV. However, while for most of the existing devices an accessible choice is available, accessibility was never the main focus during the development phase of those products. Their accessibility features are more an add-on than a really embedded feature. Clearly, there is a need to make assistive technologies widely available to a large group of citizens, but the fact is that there is no significant generalised accessibility support. The 3rd generation of accessible ICT applications, tools and systems constitutes a main bridge for facilitating universal access to ICT through embedding accessibility support in the core of web, desktop and mobile environments. The exploitation of these technologies, behind the recent expansion of accessibility tools and standardisation methodologies, provides a new approach for generalised access to mainstream ICT and contributes towards better accessibility for all citizens in all context of use, empowering individuals to fully participate in the knowledge society. This special issue comes after the successful finalisation of two European research projects: AEGIS (Open Accessibility Everywhere: Groundwork, Infrastructure, Standards; http://www.aegis-project.eu), and ACCESSI-BLE (Accessibility Assessment Simulation Environment for New Applications Design and Development; http:// www.accessible-eu.org/), both partially funded under the EU 7th Framework Programme. This UAIS special issue is focused on research work related to the design, development, evaluation and use of new ICT applications, tools and systems that integrate support for accessibility into every aspect of ICT in order to enhance the quality of life and personal autonomy of all citizens. As a result, seven (7) papers describing methodologies, systems, case studies and evaluations from the universal access area comprise this special issue. Heiko Desruelle, Simon Isenberg, Andreas Botsikas, Paolo Vergori and Frank Gielen's "Accessible user interface support for multi-device ubiquitous applications. Architectural modifiability considerations" presents the core architectural modifiability considerations for designing a multidevice ubiquitous platform for accessible web-based applications using the Webinos platform. Five proof-of-concept application scenarios were selected to demonstrate the potential impact. The five applications were evaluated in different focus groups using Likert questions. The input of 41 participants from across Europe was collected, confirming people's need for accessible human computer interaction within the ubiquitous computing domain. In their paper, "Towards Standardization of User Models for Simulation and Adaptation Purposes", Kaklanis N. et al., present the efforts of the VUMS cluster of projects towards the development of an interoperable user model, able to describe both able-bodied and people with various kinds of disabilities. The results show the definition of VUMS Exchange Format, a common format for the definition of user models.
doi:10.1007/s10209-014-0374-z fatcat:zfcreuustjgilohd7czc6dflxa