51 etna

AEGIS Workshop and International Conference, Brussels

ETNA – European Thematic Network on Assistive Information and Communication Technologies Lindsay Evett, David Brown, David Colven, Andrew Lysley, Renzo Andrich ISRG NTU, ACE centre, Polo Tecnologico Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi Onlus


Introduction

The overall goal of the ETNA thematic network is to establish a European Web Portal able to provide information on assistive products based on ICT (information and communication technologies) and e-

accessibility solutions which are available in Europe, and on related organizations and services

To give access to repositories of freeware, open source software products, tools for developers of assistive

solutions, and for mainstream developers to make their products accessible

Platform to share expertise, ideas, views, resources and experience


Introduction (contd.)

European Assistive Technology Information

Network (EASTIN) portal is the start

Will take advantage of existing repositories such as SpeechBubble, OATSoft, OAEG

Will be maintained through a collaborative effort of the partners

Full multilingualism for all EU languages; integrate range of various different Info Systems resources


Six main stages

1. Identify information needs of all stakeholders, to specify requirements of the portal

2. Inventory of existing EU resources, deciding what to

include

3. Classify the key features of ICT AT products through appropriate ontologies

4. Classify authoring systems and developers tools through

appropriate ontologies

5. EASTIN portal upgraded to ensure unified and efficient access to all resources

6. Field-test the portal, to evaluate effectiveness in meeting the identified needs, fine-tune the portal


Consortium

Partners chosen to represent the range of commitment and expertise, at national and international level, across the AT domain – academic/research, industrial/development, service delivery, health/social services, AT usage/user

organisations across Europe:

Organisations committed to public information provision in AT and educational technology, many part of EASTIN

Organisations specialised in research, development and

application of ICT accessibility and assistive solutions

Organisations of people with disabilities with significant experience of research and promotion of social inclusion through ICT

Professional networks supporting the advancement of AT


Impact

Make information on available AT and accessibility products and services across Europe more transparent and easily available to users

Connect developers, providers and suppliers of ICT AT solutions across Europe, to advance solutions

Connect researchers, developers, professionals with end-

users

Enable mainstream developers to create more accessible products

Overcome fragmentation in ICT AT and accessibility

markets, to improve and support performance in the market


Challenges

Pace of development – ICT AT fastest developing

in AT world, adaptive, can be mainstream, don’t fit easily in to existing classifications

Specialised knowledge of needs can be isolated –

needs connecting

Knowledge of ICT assistive products can also be fragmented

Wide range of stakeholders have different information needs – unified access to all resources for all stakeholders


Progress so far

WP2: Map of information needs – identify ICT AT domains, stakeholders profiles and their search needs, types of information to be covered to meet those needs, challenges (dynamic, mainstream, pervasive,

accessibility, inclusion, social participation, digital natives)

WP3: focused on exploring and classifying useful, varied, internet resources concerned with various aspects of ICT

AT; inventory; analysing criteria for inclusion/exclusion and strategies for linking to the ETNA portal search

engine; possible quality indicators; review of newly reengineered EASTIN portal; ISO 9999:2011

WP4: to consider creation of an ontology of ICT-based assistive products (January 2012)


Examples of Resources from Initial List

Name of the provider (in English)

TOPIC

Pro

duct

record

s

Soft

ware

applications

Soft

ware

sourc

e o

odes

Art

icle

s

Case S

tudie

s

Ideas

FAQ

s

Pro

jects

Foru

ms

Regula

tions

New

s

Brief description of the resources provided

Language

SIVA Portal on assistive technologies

AT general X X X X X X X Public searchable databases of products, companies, centres, ideas, case studies, fact sheets; online advice; forum

IT EN

SpeechBubble AAC products X X Public searchable databases of AAC products EN

Open Source Assistive Technology Software (OATS)

AT software repository; resources for development

X X X X online repository of open source AT software; platform for open source AT developers

EN

AEGIS Open Accessibility Everywhere Group (OAEG)

AT software repository; resources for development

X X X X X Repository of open source AT and resources for development; information on accessibility standards; blog aggregator

EN

Online-database accessible

communication

ICT AT and related

equipment

X X Product and supplier database DE

EN

AppsForAAC AAC applications X A listing of iOS apps in the area of AAC – with short descriptions, and links to more

detailed information, reviews and ratings. Supports comments from site visitors etc.

EN

iPhone/iPad Apps for AAC

AAC applications X Comprehensive list of apps with concise information and links to further information,

maintained in three categories: Apps with Symbols/Pictures only, Apps with Symbols

and Text-to-Speech, Text based apps only. Comments and ratings based on a defined

list of criteria.

EN



Selection by Characteristics Quick Search


Search results - comparisons


OATS – www.oatsoft.org

OATSoft is dedicated to improving Assistive Technology and computer accessibility through the power of Open Source development techniques. OATSoft makes the best Open Source Assistive Technology Software (OATS) easy to find. Users and developers meet at OATSoft to create better software.

Users, find useful free software and discuss and work with developers to get the features that you want.

Developers, work with users and other projects to develop new features and shared re-usable components.

Open Source Software is free and the 'source code' that makes the software is freely available. It is developed by international communities operating on-line.

Assistive Technology Software allows people with disabilities to overcome some of the disabling effects of society and technology, including computer and web accessibility.


Open Accessibility Everywhere Group

OAEG Mission Statement:

The Open Accessibility Everywhere Group (OAEG) is a co-ordinated effort of the AEGIS consortium, which brings together all open source accessibility communities, as well as the techniques and approaches they use

Thus, the OAEG anticipates to be “the community of the communities” in the open accessibility world


Summary

Aim to establish European Web Portal to provide

information on ICT-based assistive products, e-accessibility solutions, related organisations and services. So far, the project has considered:

• the information needs of all the stakeholders;

• a classification of resources;

• the definition of a linking strategy;

• the definition of inclusion and exclusion criteria of providers and resources;

• the identification of elements that may contribute to the definition of quality indicators for the resources;

• an initial list of providers containing resources that are considered relevant for the Thematic Network portal.