• Help Talk (Wellbeing category): Help Talk is designed for people who are unable to communicate by speech, whether permanently or temporarily, such as those recovering from strokes. The application presents a set of commands represented by icons which when tapped ‘speak’ the basic need or desire – such as ‘I’m thirsty’ or ‘I feel pain’ – and goes on to allow the user to provide further detail in the same way.
• Wheelmap (Mobility category): Wheelmap helps people with impaired mobility who may literally face obstacles as they go about their everyday life. Crowdsourcing lets users of the application rate and review the accessibility for wheelchair users of public places including cafes, museums, hotels and shops. In one month 1200 users registered for the app, and 180,000 places were reviewed.
• Zoom Plus Magnifier (Independent living category): Zoom Plus Magnifier app allows people with visual disabilities including colour blindness and long or short-sightedness, as well as some forms of dyslexia, to easily read text by applying a magnifier, sharpening the focus, or adjusting font and background colours.
• BIG Launcher (Social participation category): BIG Launcher is an alternative customisable Android homescreen, for elderly or visually impaired users who often struggle to use the small keyboards on most devices. It uses big buttons and large fonts to represent all the basic functions of the phone – telephone, SMS messages, camera, gallery, SOS button and installed apps.

Vittorio Colao, Vodafone Group CEO said, “Vodafone is committed to doing all we can to empower consumers of all ages and abilities: we want to extend the smartphone revolution to as many communities as possible.”
Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Digital Agenda said, “We need relevant smartphone apps for all our communities. I congratulate the winners of the Smart Accessibility Awards and the Vodafone Foundation for helping bring the benefits of smartphones to all Europeans. Everyone can gain from the digital revolution. ”
Rodolfo Cattani, EDF Executive Secretary said, “Accessibility and interoperability of communications devices are vital to making possible the professional and cultural inclusion of people with disabilities. At the same time, when not accessible, the technology can create new obstacles and can lead to new forms of discrimination.”
“Mobile technology has an important role to play in the context of the European Year 2012 for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations which aims at supporting older people to be active in all areas of their lives and live independently for longer”, observed Anne-Sophie Parent, AGE Secretary-General. “In a society driven by new technologies, it is essential to make sure new applications are accessible to all, in order to avoid increasing the digital divide and the social exclusion of the most vulnerable groups of the population.”
Winning applications will be available to Vodafone customers using Android smartphones.
For more information about the awards or mobile accessibility, visit http://developer.vodafone.com/smartaccess2011 or http://www.guardian.co.uk/smart-accessibility.

We received a call for participation for the workshop theme: “Designing Inclusion for real-world applications”, which refers to the emerging potential and relevance of the latest generations of inclusive design data, tools, techniques and thinking, to mainstream project applications such as healthcare and the design of working environments. Previous research developments have addressed these issues in the context of simple daily living activities based on single tasks. New developments are now extending the scope of the approach into real-world applications.
Inclusive Design Research involves developing tools and guidance for supporting product designers to design for the widest possible population for a given range of capabilities. In the context of demographic changes leading to a greater number of older people, the general field of inclusive design research strives to relate the capabilities of the population to the design of products by better characterising the user. Inclusive populations of older people contain a greater variation in sensory, cognitive and physical user capabilities. These variations may be co-occurring and rapidly changing leading to a demanding design environment.

Important Dates

• Deadline for submission of long and short papers: 15 August, 2011
• Notification of paper acceptance: 19 September, 2011
• Deadline for camera-ready version of submitted papers: 24 October, 2011
• Advance registration (ends): 16 January, 2012
• Late registration (ends): 20 February, 2012
• CWUAAT Workshop: 26 – 29 March, 2012

Electronic submission of papers is now available via the conference website.

They seek original research papers describing investigations within the following broad categories:

• Designing For Real-World Applications: Work And Healthcare
• Designing Inclusive Assistive And Rehabilitation Systems
• Measuring Product Demand And Peoples’ Capabilities
• Mainstreaming And Scaling Technology For Healthcare
• Designing Cognitive Interaction With Emerging Technologies
• Effective Engagement With Industry
• Designing Inclusive Spaces: Architecture And Buildings
• Collaborative And Participatory Design For Inclusion
• Data Issues: Visualizing Inclusion: Mining Of Profile Data
• Legislation, Standards And Policy In Inclusive Design

User Forum

CWUAAT 2012 will contain a single paper session allocated as a user forum. This is intended to give users of assistive technology and beneficiaries of improved accessibility an opportunity for an oral presentation of 25 minutes. Both short and long papers will be accepted in this category and topics and themes are not restricted. We welcome academic position papers, social and research agendas, critiques of provision of technology or poor accessibility, engineering or technical papers regarding product design and usage in work and daily living.

Doctoral Consortium

As one of the most successful aspects of CWUAAT ‘10, the event will again include a Doctoral Consortium. Candidates who submit to the doctoral consortium will be able to attend the workshop at a greatly reduced registration and 10 places have been allocated for this purpose. The two presentations judged to be the best by the consortium panel will win a podium presentation in the main workshop.
Demonstrations. It is hoped that participants will be able to gain hands-on experience with working systems. Space and time will be available for demonstrations of software and hardware.

Organising Committee

Dr Patrick Langdon, Engineering Design Centre, University of Cambridge
Prof John Clarkson, Engineering Design Centre, University of Cambridge
Prof Peter Robinson, Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge

Guest Editors

Dr Jonathan Lazar, Towson University, USA
Prof Ann Heylighen, K.U.Leuven, Belgium

BRUSSELS, 16 February 2011 – AEGIS project organises its final Workshop and 2nd International Conference entitled “Accessibility Reaching Everywhere” on 28-30 November 2011 in Brussels, bringing together both end-users (people with disabilities) as well as platform and application accessibility developers, representative organisations, the Assistive Technology industry, and policy makers. Since 2008, the AEGIS consortium (comprising companies such as Vodafone Foundation, Research in Motion, Oracle, and research groups from Cambridge University and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, etc.) has been developing an Open Accessibility Framework – comprising open accessibility interfaces, user interface components, developer tools, end-user applications and prototype accessibility solutions for desktops, rich Internet applications and mobile devices.

The workshop on 28 November will focus on the realisations of the AEGIS (Open Accessibility Everywhere: Groundwork, Infrastructure, Standards) project and provide attendees the opportunity to try out all outcomes of the project. The demonstrated products offer barrier-free access to desktop, mobile and web applications, are open source based and will be freely available.

The conference on 29-30 November will gather a wide array of experts and users in the area of Assistive Technology to discuss scientific and policy developments in accessible technology; showcase relevant projects and initiatives in the area of assistive technology.

Access to both events will be free, but places will be limited.

This event comes ahead of the European Day of People with Disabilities that is marked by the European Commission via a policy conference in the first week of December each year, in close cooperation with the European Disability Forum (EDF).

Invitations for registration, scientific papers and exhibitors will be issued soon.

Both events take place at the Diamant Conference and Business Centre, Boulevard A. Reyerslaan 80, 1030 Brussels. More information is available under www.aegis-project.eu, or contact Ms. Julie Buttier at julie.buttier@epr.eu.

Mission Statement
AEGIS is an Integrated Project (IP) within the ICT programme of FP7 and aims, through user research and prototype development with current and next-generation ICT, to develop and validate the necessary infrastructure and accessibility frameworks needed for deeply embedding accessibility into the desktop, smart phones and rich Internet applications; with a focus on the needs of users with mild, severe or complex disabilities served via assistive technologies; and to propose these results to the appropriate standards organisations for adoption, as well as to make them available through open source as much as possible.

European Organizational Meetings
The meetings at the end of this month are intended to bring together people who are interested in the concept — and in developing it within Europe. If you are interested in participating in this effort, we hope you will be able to join one of the meetings listed below.
If you are unable to attend any of the meetings but are still interested – let us know by sending an email to join@NPII.org. We will be holding a teleconference call/meeting in late Oct/November for those who cannot make any of these meetings. Also feel free to pass this invitation on to others who may be interested.

The following four meetings have been scheduled:

• In Brussels at ICT 2010, 28 Sept. (Tuesday), 12:30 – 2:00 PM – An ad hoc networking meeting on NPII/GPII, to be held between the two networking sessions on Aging and Built-In Accessibility. Because space is limited to 25 persons, this meeting must be by invitation only, with first priority to related EC projects in the field. To indicate your interest in being part of this meeting, send an email to join@NPII.org.
• In Beaulieu (EC Offices), 29-30 Sept. (Wed. – Thursday) – An extended meeting titled “A Networking, Exploration, and Planning Session On Development of a European and Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure” will provide a longer working period to explore a collaborative European effort in this area.
  This meeting will begin on 29 Sept. at 2:00 PM, ending at 7:00 PM. It will continue on 30 Sept. at 9:00 AM, ending at 6:00 PM.
  The European Commission has provided a venue for the meeting at their Beaulieu offices in Brussels.
  This will be an open meeting. Anyone who is interested in working toward a European and or Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure is invited.
  For security reasons, registration is required. The deadline to sign up is 21 Sept.
  To register, send an email to join@NPII.org with: (1) your name, (2) company or organizational affiliation, and (3) email address. Indicate your desire to attend the 29-30 Sept. meeting. [Note: we understand that due to travel arrangements - not everyone will be able to attend both days.]
  We are exploring the possibility of participation in the meeting by phone. If you cannot attend in person, but wish to participate by phone, please send an email to join@NPII.org with your request to be included by phone, if it becomes available.
• In Madrid at Technosite, 5 Oct. (Tues.) – A workshop at Technosite will consist of a presentation followed by discussion.
• In Seville at AEGIS Conference, 7-8 Oct. (Thurs.-Friday) – The AEGIS Conference will feature a keynote presentation of the NPII concept and roadmap. There will be opportunities for informal networking, with the possibility of a “birds of the feather” meeting sometime during the conference.

There will also be a teleconference late in October or November for those who are interested in working toward an NPII or the GPII, in Europe – (or elsewhere in the world) – but are unable to participate in one of the meetings listed above. Please indicate your interest in participating in such a teleconference by sending an email to join@NPII.org.

• accessibility in the field of everyday products
• accessibility and buildings
• eAccessibility and eInclusion (in Information and Communication Technologies)

In a combination of plenary and break-out group meetings these three subject areas will be discussed and the potential of standardization – and in particular international standardization – to contribute to strengthening accessibility aspects in the design of products, services, environments and facilities will be addressed.
Key stakeholder groups participating in the workshop will include disability organizations, governments and regulators, product designers and manufacturers faced with accessibility requirements, consumers and standards developers from around the world. Under discussion will be the current and future needs in the field of accessibility as well as the possible contributions international standardization can make in facilitating the development of accessible solutions around the world.
The expected outcome of the workshop is a better understanding of both the work on accessibility issues in standardization in the various areas and the needs of those most concerned. It is hoped that the groundwork will be laid and a road map drawn up for future standardization initiatives with the involvement of the key stakeholders.

More information at the event website.

The development of accessible software applications requires a strong effort from developers and software designers. With the additional encumbrance of taking into account different kinds of accessibility requirements, guidelines and best practices, and different user interface implementation technologies, developers are faced with a daunting task. Therefore, the highly specialised skills required for developing accessible software sets aside most of them.

Starting from this lack of accessibility, the ACCESSIBLE EU FP7 project was established to contribute to better accessibility for all citizens, to increase the use of accessibility standards, and to develop an assessment simulation environment (including a suite of accessibility analysing tools as well as developer-aid tools) to assess efficiently, easily and rapidly the accessibility and viability of software applications for all user groups.

Actually the main goal of ACCESSIBLE is to develop appropriate open source assessment and simulation tools in order to fully support and incorporate accessibility constraints for the design and development of accessible new applications.

The ACCESSIBLE Consortium kindly invites you to participate in its first international Workshop that will take place on 13 July 2010 in the context of the 12th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs (ICCHP), in Vienna University of Technology, Austria.

The main objective of this workshop is to promote the innovative results of the ACCESSIBLE project related to the accessibility assessment and simulation technologies, to a wider community of potential users and to offer significant support to interested parties (ICT developers, designers, etc.) in order to encourage and empower them to contribute towards the inclusive ICT vision.
At the end of the Workshop, an award ceremony will be given to the organisation or to the developer of the most accessible software application (Web, mobile), according to the accessibility tests (WCAG 2.0, mobileOK) that are going to take place with ACCESSIBLE assessment tools. The ACCESSIBLE Award evaluation expert committee will be composed of well-known scientists and experts in the accessibility domain.

For more information about the ICCHP conference and the ACCESSIBLE Workshop, please visit the web page of ICCHP or the projects web page.

The AEGIS project would like to kindly invite you to the 2nd Pan-European Workshop/User Forum and the 1st International AEGIS Conference entitled “Access for All in the desktop, web and mobile field: an end-user and developer perspective” which will take place in Seville, Spain on 6 and 7-8 October 2010 respectively. For the dedicated developers, a free developer camp (clinic) will take place on the 9th of October 2010. All events are organised by the AEGIS IP initiative (Open Accessibility Everywhere: Groundwork, Infrastructure, Standards – www.aegis-project.eu), partially funded under FP7 (Theme: ICT‐2007.7.1; ICT & Ageing).

With an estimated total population of 501 million (http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu, 1 January 2010), an estimated 45 million people in Europe have a LSHPD (long-standing health problem or disability). A mere 20-30% are believed to use Assistive Technology (AT), but concrete figures do not exist. In fact, most people with disabilities are not even aware of what AT exists. This workshop and conference aims to help spread the word on the existence of AT, and especially on technology that is freely available.

The Workshop/User Forum aims to bring together end-users and experts in the field of assistive technologies, from both the OSS community as well as the proprietary one, that focus on the accessibility of desktop, web and mobile applications. During the workshop the project will present the tools developed so far, and will stimulate discussions between both end-users and application developers vis-à-vis the project’s outcomes so far. The outcomes will be taken into account by the Consortium during the further course of the project. Participation to the workshop will be free of charge.

The conference aims to gather presenters that address both the end-users as well as the developers’ perspective in a number of areas (see topics below). Interactive demos of Assistive Technology ICT, in the Rich Internet Applications, Desktop Applications and Mobile Applications areas as well as developers’ tools that embed accessibility plug-ins will also be demonstrated in a separate exhibition area.

The participation fee will be €150 for researchers, €50 for students and people with disabilities and free for personal assistants.

In addition, an exhibition space will be provided as well which will be open throughout the conference duration. The fee for exhibitors will be € 300.

The registration form for each of the aforementioned events will be available shortly via the project’s website (www.aegis-project.eu).

We kindly invite you and your colleagues to submit papers in the following categories:
- Scientific papers
- Technical papers

Conference topics (non-exhaustive list):
- Accessible desktop applications (AT, developer tools and accessible applications)
- Accessible mobile applications (AT, developer tools and accessible applications)
- Accessible Rich Internet Applications (AT, developer tools and accessible applications)
- Accessibility and Standardisation (e.g. ISO, eInclusion, Policies, Legislation)
- Accessibility and Usability (e.g. Design for All)
- Accessibility research (e.g. Assistive technology usage by end-users and their satisfaction, innovative AT training via accessible e-learning)

Important dates:
- Call for papers: 31st March 2010 (to be published on-line at www.aegis-project.eu)
- Abstracts submission deadline: 30th April 2010
- Notification of abstracts acceptance: 15th May 2010
- Paper submission deadline: 15th June 2010
- Notification of acceptance and outcome of review process: 30th June 2010
- Final camera ready papers: 15th August 2010
- Submission of external exhibitions by 31st August 2010
- Registration by 30th September 2010

Abstracts submission:
Abstracts submitted in the context of one of the above topics should not exceed 500 words. The title, authors and their contact and affiliation details (authors’ email address, telephone and fax number and affiliation name and address) as well as keywords (up to five) should be included.

Under the title of your abstract, please quote the relevant conference topic. We would strongly recommend you to propose more than one conference topics, if applicable, quoting them in priority order.

Abstracts should be submitted to info@aegis-project.eu by 30th April 2010.

Download the complete AEGIS 1st International Conference and 2nd User forum and Workshop Invitation (PDF).

Call for papers

The aim of the conference is to bring together academics and practitioners working with interactive technologies to explore and innovate within the areas of Education, Health and Disability. We have a particular focus on the use of gaming hardware and software to implement accessible solutions, interaction design using new input/output devices and the increasing impact of ubiquitous computing on our everyday well being.

The conference provides an excellent opportunity to showcase practice and to mainstream research ideas and outcomes. It will introduce a wider audience to key findings and products from research and will illustrate how practice feeds back into and informs research. The conference will create a forum for two-way communication between the academic and practitioner communities and particularly welcomes user led presentations and work shops.

The programme will include presentations of papers, workshops, and an exhibition space for demonstrations and posters. This event is held in partnership with GameCity and delegates are welcome to GameCity events including the opening drinks reception.

Scope:

Compulsory and post-compulsory education is included within ‘education’. Disability includes physical, sensory and cognitive impairment. The impact of interactive technologies and games on Health and well-being is also a focus of this conference. An emphasis will be placed on practical applications and guides to where currently available training resources and tools can be found and used. A selection of papers will be published electronically in full, so presentations will be limited to 20 minutes for the key findings, including time for questions from the floor. It is hoped (as in previous years) that the best papers will be published in a special issue of a relevant academic journal.

Topics that will be covered by the conference (but not limited to) include:

Education

• Social and collaborative aspects of interactive technology (e.g., Massively Multiplayer Online Games and Virtual worlds)
• Raising aspirations and achievement through interactive technologies and games-based learning
• Interactive learning tools and environments resources, e.g. Flash, podcasts, simulations, mobile games, Web 2.0 tool etc.
• Implementation and ethical issues associated with games-based learning
• Learning theory, universal design and assessment in interactive technology-based learning
• Best Practices in the use of Interactive and Innovative Technologies for learning
• Collaboration between Science and Art for more effective learning
• Issues related to vulnerable groups
• The engagement potential of serious games for people at risk of social exclusion

Health

• Games based learning approaches to patient education
• Using contemporary games controllers to create new opportunities in health and rehabilitation applications (e.g., applications for Wii Fit, Wii Mote)
• Games based learning and virtual and enhanced environments for clinical assessment (e.g. after stroke)
• Games based learning and virtual environments for treatment (e.g. of phobias, ADHA, post-traumatic stress disorders, Amblyopia, etc.)
• ‘Modding’ for health
• Patient created content in serious games
• Psychological impact of game playing
• Interaction and well-being

Disability

• Approaches to making virtual environments, computer and video games accessible by all
• Assistive technologies for people with disabilities and elderly people
• Practical applications of virtual environments and serious games for the education of people with disabilities and elderly people (in e.g. work preparation, travel training)
• Including people with disabilities in the design of serious games, assistive technologies and virtual environments.
• Location based services for navigation and reconnection of people with disabilities
• Art and music rehabilitation in 3D multisensory environments
• Design for All

Submissions

Those wishing to present papers or hold a work shop should send abstracts, to a maximum of 500 words. For those hoping to exhibit or produce a poster, a 300-word abstract is required. The deadline for submissions is Friday 14th May, 2010 to be sent to: karen.krelle@ntu.ac.uk

Final copies of accepted papers are required by Wednesday 17th September 2010.

There is a conference fee of £75/day, £125 for full two day registration (concessions £35/day, £70 total).

Conference website http://www.ntu.ac.uk/cels/outreach/events/61435.html.

Important dates

Draft submission: 14th May 2010

Notice of paper acceptance: 16th July 2010

Final paper submission: 17th September 2010

Final Conference registration: 1st October 2010

Conference: 26th/27th October 2010

Important dates:
- Paper deadline: January 15
- Author notification: February 15
- Camera ready paper: April 1

More information on the event website.

• building/construction standards & accessibility
• consumer standards and accessibility
• ICT standards and accessibility

The latter also comprises eInclusion, eAccessibility, AAI, AAC etc.
Within the framework of ICCHP 2010 “12th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs”, July 14-16, 2010, Vienna University of Technology, Austria, there will be a STS (Special Thematic Session) devoted to standardization: “Users need standards need users”. It is planned to organize a special meeting in preparation of the ISO Workshop mentioned above.
More information about ICCHP 2010.

FOSS-AMA is organised by the ÆGIS IP initiative and will aim to bring together the most recent achievements and renowned experts in Open Source Community and Accessibility. 3rd generation access techniques and their potential for more accessible mainstream ICT for end‐users and relevant toolkits for developers will be explored. Interactive demos (including free assessment and simulation tools) will embellish the presentations sessions.

The event is spread over 2 days, will be chaired by Karel Van Isacker (Marie Curie Association) and will have the outline as presented in this pdf.
Registration details will be available from 25 January 2010 on via http://www.etaps10.cs.ucy.ac.cy/.

To mark the European Day of People with Disabilities, the European Commission organises a policy conference in the first week of December each year, in close cooperation with the European Disability Forum (EDF).
This year’s Conference will take place in Brussels on 3 and 4 December and it will deal with “Creating conditions for independent living”. The Conference will contribute to a better understanding of issues related to independent living, in particular economic autonomy, community services and assistive technologies.
For further information you may contact Ms Annelisa Cotone at:
The European Commission
Tel: 00.32.2.298 62 61
email: annelisa.cotone@ec.europa.eu