Creating a more inclusive society

Suzette Keith and Gill Whitneys.keith@mdx.ac.uk; g.whitney@mdx.ac.uk

The Design for All Research GroupSchool of Engineering and Information

Sciences Middlesex University

EDeANEuropean

Design for All and

eAccessibilty Network

The Design for All Research Group Mission: To utilise current and new high quality research

theories and methodologies to enable all people, including older people and people with disabilities to be eIncluded and participate in the electronic knowledge revolution

Aim: to carry out Design for All Research that combines and verifies relevant theory from a range of disciplines

Impact: the results of our research is used to influence policy makers, professionals, academics and researchers EU FP6 CA: Design for All @eInclusion NDA: Sus-IT - Sustaining autonomy of older adults

MSc/PGDip Digital Inclusion

The Design for All Research Group

Creating a more inclusive society

A participant driven discussion on how we can all help to maximise accessibility in everyday products and services. How can we:

Make technology more 'people friendly' especially for older people and disadvantaged people?

‘Raise the floor’ to improve access to digital technologies? Empower older people and disabled people to define when

technology can (and can't) help?

Digital Inclusion"Many Europeans still get too little benefit from information and communication technologies, and millions are at risk of being left behind“

Viviane Reding (European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship), Riga; June 2006

Digital Inclusion – Benefits for All

What is Design for All? One of many definitions:

“Design for All aims to enable all people to have equal opportunities to participate in every aspect of society. To achieve this, the built environment, everyday objects, services, culture and information – in short, everything that is designed and made by people to be used by people – must be accessible, convenient for everyone in society to use and responsive to evolving human diversity. The practice of Design for All makes conscious use of the analysis of human needs and aspirations and requires the involvement of end users at every stage in the design process.”

From The EIDD Stockholm Declaration©, 2004http://www.designforalleurope.org/Design-for-All/

Digital exclusion Understanding Digital Exclusion - Research Report,

Conclusions and recommendations

The need to change attitudes The need to improve skills, confidence and trust The need to support those vulnerable in the use of wider

digital technologies Further work

Published in Understanding Digital Exclusion - Research Report, October 2008, Communities and neighbourhoods, Communities and Local Government, United Kingdom

Anyone- Anywhere Any Device Access

National Public Inclusive Infrastructure (NPII) (and GPII)

Gregg C Vanderheiden Ph.D.Professor of Industrial and Biomedical Engineering

Director Trace R&D Center University of Wisconsin-Madison.

ProblemAccess no longer optional

For education, employment, commerce, health or safety

Access solutions not available for all All types, degrees and combinations of disability

All too complex For users, for public access points, for governments

Access not affordable to all Not affordable to users, public access points, or gov

Awareness

Raising the Floor

Putting the Web within reach of all those withdisability, literacy, or aging related barriers,

regardless of their economic status.

Original focus on just the “can’t afford” aspect Looking to free and open source solutions

Therefore

1st - Refocusing RtF Foster innovation in accessibility and expand the market

for innovative vendors

Maximize the portion of accessibility that can be addressed through ordinary market mechanisms -- and minimize the portion that must be served through government or philanthropic intervention.

Maximize the accessibility of mainstream products.

Foster access by those that regular market forces cannot reach, even when facilitated

• Note: Even portions of this last aspect can be, and are already being, provided by commercial vendors working alone or in concert with others.

Therefore –cont’d

2nd - Created the NPII (and GPII concept)

Building a disability, technology and platform independent ‘inclusive infrastructure’

To grow all types of access

To spur innovation

To increase markets and lower costs

To address the problems of complexity

To create an internationally scalable base that facilitates the creation of affordable solutions for all

Imagine….

A person who is blind – able to use any computer

An elder who is confused by technology – where every computer looks like theirs – and it is simple with just a few controls and features they need:

(e.g. very simple mail, chat with grandkids including text, voice and video, picture sharing and ebooks)

Someone who is afraid of the Internet – who can use any computer and it only presents a safe, simple environment until they are ready

A person who is deaf, and whenever they click on show captions, and their aren’t any – the player finds them if they exist anywhere – or requests them if not.

Imagine….

A college student who must use different computers (different makes) in different labs for different courses – and their access follows them to all. And to any computer that is open in the labs.

A person who cannot afford either a computer or a connection – but who can use any public computer – or even a friends – and have basic access without costs just like their peers.

A person who must work in a cloud environment at work – no personal workstations – and who can show up for work on the first day and use it without modifications because their access is in the cloud and can even be behind the companies firewall.

How do we create a more inclusive society

How can we:

Make technology more 'people friendly' especially for older people and disadvantaged people?

‘Raise the floor’ to improve access to digital technologies? Empower older people and disabled people to define when

technology can (and can't) help?

The Requirements for Digital Inclusion

Knowledge of user requirements

Knowledge of digital inclusion solutions

Commitment to the use of these solutions

Discussion

What level of Digital Inclusion do we require?Where are we now?Where do we want to be?How do we achieve our aims?

Thank-you

For further information please contact:Gill Whitney and Suzette Keith

Email G.Whitney@mdx.ac.uk S.Keith@mdx.ac.ukBlog http://ksuzette.wordpress.com/Web Pages http://www.mdx.ac.uk/digitalinclusion

http://www.mdx.ac.uk/d4a