Access To/Through Telecommunications Technologies

• Reading material: Chapter 17 (Vanderheiden et al), pp. 185-190, 207-209
• Legal Definition (Telecom Act of 1996): "the transmission, between or amoung points specified by the user, of information of the user's choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received."
• Section 255: ... a manufacturer of telecommunications or customer premises equipment, and providers of telemunications services, shall ensure that the equipment is designed, developed, and fabricated to be accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, if readily achievable. And if not readily achievable, the equipment or service should be compatible with existing peripheral devices or special customer premises equipment commonly used by individuals with disabilities to achieve access.
• "E&IT" = Electronic and Information Technologies
• RERC Telecom Access Distinctions: Time-sensitive (near-real-time, minimal delay) tele-conversation, tele-messaging, and emergency alerting/communication
  • Tele-conversation: two-way language-based conversation ("talking" and "listening")
  • Tele-messaging: back-and-forth message blocks
  • Emergency alerting (urgent notification) and communication (interactive)

E&IT Overview: New Interface Technologies, Trends

• Reading material: Chapter 16 (Vanderheiden & Zimmermann), pp. 159-164
• Display/Output Technologies
• Monitor displays: flat panel more common, dropping cost of large displays
• LCD touchscreen/paintable panels (low-cost, flexible, appearing everywhere)
• Heads-Up/Eyeglass displays (worn by user, projected virtual display)
• 3-D displays
• Virtual Reality technologies
  • immersive worlds and avatars (user can move in virtual world)
  • Virtual altered reality (move in unrealisitic environment)
  • Augmented reality (projection mapping to augment information or objects)
• Kinesthetic feedback devices (force feedback joysticks, mice)
• Speech output improvements:
  • quality of synthesized speech
  • automatic prononciation
  • low-cost chips (e.g., $10 text-to-speech)
  • incorporation of speech-capabile products into standard products
• Audio displays: added audio cues to info on screens
• Tactile displays (of lower resolution)
  • dynamic: vibrotactile, electro-tactile stimulation
  • Permanent physical: variable-height pinds, ferro-electric fluids, wax.
• Olfactory displays
• Novel Input (and Modality Translation) Technologies
  • Speech recognition
  • Lip reading
  • Gesture recognition
  • Pen-based: handwriting recognition & digital pens/ink
  • Special keyboards (one hand, small keyboards, glove which senses, etc.)
  • Direct brain control (e.g., for simple switches)
  • Biometrics (bio-identification)
• Changing Form of "Documents"
  • E-documents, e-books
  • World Wide Web
  • Style sheets - visual and aural
  • Visual to audio technologes
  • Scalable vector graphics
  • Interactive documents
  • Live documents
• Key Trends in IT
  • Computing Power
  • Semantic Web (structured for automated interpretation, enabling smarter web-based user agents)
  • Web and Network Services (may include new translation/assistance services)
  • Distributed Interfaces (e.g., distributed content)
  • Wirelessness/interconnectivity/interoperability
  • GPS (Global Positioning)
  • Ubiquitous/Pervasive Computing (access points everywhere)
  • Smart Spaces (context-aware environment)
  • Artificial Intelligent Agents
  • Visualization in Education (visual simulation/motivating technologies)

Components of Augmentative & Alternative Communication Technologies

• Reading material: Chapter 9 (Williams, Romich and Salomaa), pp. 76-81
• Method of representing language (pictures, alphalet, semantic icons)
• Method for making choices (pointing device)
• Output of AAC system (e.g., speech)

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