The ePractice eInclusion factsheets aim to provide an overall picture of the situation and progress of eInclusion in 34 European countries: EU Member States, EU Candidate countries and EFTA countries. You can download individual country reports at this page.
The 4th European eAccessibility Forum “eAccessibility of Public Services in Europe” will take place in Paris (France) on 12 April 2010. It will provide a unique opportunity to discuss the complementary aspects involved in making this objective a reality in Europe. It will provide an opportunity to hear at first-hand about experiences from users with disabilities, public organisations and industry. The speakers are specialists involved in organisations representing users and consumers with disabilities, research organisations and companies operating at a European level or worldwide. The conference will also consider the harmonisation of good practices over Europe.
More information as well as registration form.
The first objective of this study report is to illustrate, thanks to the analysis of hundreds of initiatives carried out at the policy, but also at the program and project level, where and how public intervention has made a clear difference in terms of reducing digital divide in the particular context it has been initiated. The report seeks also to classify the many possible ways for a public authority to design, launch and follow up e-Inclusion policies. It does so through the combination of two main analytical approaches. First, an exhaustive desk study made of the e-Inclusion National reports published by all Member States and of hundreds of published e-Inclusion projects. Second, a thorough and systematic exchange with key stakeholders, representing all EU27 national authorities and some regional practitioners, also including a panel of officials from six General Directorates of the European Commission.
Following on this series of findings, the second part of the report endeavours to offer some observations and practical comments by exploring two important policy making tools, i.e. the role of running and monitoring projects for optimizing the pertinence of policies, and the overarching part played by the Commission for empowering cross-sectoral public intervention, both of these tools being insufficiently recognized and tapped into today.
Finally, the study report puts forward a series of concrete recommendations to the Commission for the post-i2010 European policy on the Information Society.
Source: eInclusion website
UNESCO promotes the concept of knowledge societies that are inclusive, pluralistic, equitable, open and participatory. It furthermore promotes better understanding of issues related to disability and mobilises support for the recognition of the dignity, rights and well-being of the disabled, and of the benefits of their integration in society.
This publication outlines how ICTs improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities – for example, in accessing education and healthcare – by providing access to information and knowledge, new employment and socialisation opportunities. The empowerment of those persons, particularly through the effective use of ICTs, is the fulfilment of fundamental human rights.
ICTs provide opportunities for flexible learning, for sharing information and for networking with disability advocates in other countries, for facilitating employment and self-sufficiency and, most importantly, for increasing independence. ICTs are particularly effective tools in the outreach to marginalised communities both in terms of accessing information and knowledge and of encouraging the participation in the development of ICT content and applications for the disabled. Even in the absence of a well-coordinated and well-planned infrastructure, ICTs can offer to people with disabilities new opportunities to compensate for physical and functional limitations, access to knowledge by adapting media to their impairment, and furthermore enhance their social and economic integration.
Source: ePractice
Some 30% of European citizens (some 150 million people) experience some form of social exclusion, for example relating to poor health or a disability, lack of finance, low educational attainment, poor housing, or ethnic discrimination. The demand for public services from these groups can be significant, especially in times of economic uncertainty when there is significant pressure on government financial resources.
However, these groups contain people who have been least likely to access government services online, and who tend to rely on single channels when accessing services, usually involving human agents.
Socially excluded people often have limited education, technical skills, and financial means, and they can find it difficult to articulate their complex needs to service providers, or to engage with the processes of providing evidence that they qualify to receive services. Simply
directing socially excluded people to the electronic channels of eGovernment (swapping the human channel for an electronic channel) does not in itself guarantee that they will access relevant services more effectively and efficiently.
This study, launched by the European Commission, analyses the state of the art of multichannel delivery of public services throughout Europe, and the progress made towards achieving the goal to ensure that ‘no citizen is left behind’. It provides useful recommendations and identifies further actions which will be needed over the next few years.
Having several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data is at the core of the work by Pranav Mistry, the inventor of SixthSense, a wearable device that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data. Below video includes a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper “laptop”. In the onstage Q&A, Mistry says he’ll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all.
Looking at what Pranav Mistry demoed at TEDIndia, there is serious potential for affordable advanced technology, that can potentially be very helpful for usage by both people with disabilities and older people.
