etna – european thematic network on assistive information and communication technologies
DESCRIPTION
Project number: 224348Project acronym: AEGISProject title: Open Accessibility Everywhere: Groundwork, Infrastructure, StandardsStarting date: 1 September 2008Duration: 48 MonthsAEGIS is an Integrated Project (IP) within the ICT programme of FP7TRANSCRIPT
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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
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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
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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 (EASTIN features)
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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
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Consortium
Partners (23) 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
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ETNA collaborates with ATIS4All
ATIS4All: European Thematic Network to facilitate
access to the most suitable AT or accessibility device and service according to needs, preferences and contextual characteristics (lead: Technosite)
Open, collaborative portal offering reliable information on AT and inclusive products and services, and cutting-edge technological
Together involve 42 leading institutions in 16 European countries
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ETNA, ATIS4All, complementary focus
ETNA: focus on search engine application, enabling all the stakeholders to access the data and resources available
through a multilingual interface.
ATIS4All: focus on building Web 2.0 applications to create an active online
community, enhancing dialogue, sharing and participation among users,
researchers and developers.
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Aspirations
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
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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
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Progress so far
WP2: Map of information needs – identify ICT AT domains, stakeholders and their search needs (search profiles), types of information to be covered to meet those needs, challenges (dynamic, mainstream, pervasive,
accessibility, inclusion, social participation, digital natives)
WP3: Map of resources – 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: Ontology of ICT-based assistive products (Jan 2012)
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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
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Selection by Characteristics Quick Search
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Search results - comparisons
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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.
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Open Accessibility Everywhere Group
OAEG Mission Statement:
The Open Accessibility Everywhere Group (OAEG), co-ordinated effort of the AEGIS consortium, to bring together all open source accessibility
communities, the techniques and approaches they use; exchange and share; open source s/w, learning objects, knowledge base of them
Thus, the OAEG aspires to be “the community of the communities” in the open accessibility world
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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:
information needs of all the stakeholders;
classification of resources;
definition of a linking strategy;
definition of inclusion and exclusion criteria of providers and resources;
identification of relevant quality indicators for the resources;
initial detailed list of resources and providers.
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Sources
ACE centres (2011). ACE Centre Advisory Trust, http://www.ace-centre.org.uk/, accessed 22/8/11
AEGIS (2008). AEGIS: Open Accessibility Everywhere:
Groundwork, Infrastructure, Standards, http://www.aegis-project.eu/, accessed 22/8/11
ATIS4All (2011). European Thematic Network on Assistive Technologies and Inclusive Solutions for All, http://www.atis4all.eu/, accessed 22/8/11
EASTIN (2005). European Assistive Technology Information Network, http://www.eastin.eu/en-GB/whatIsEastin/index accessed 21/11/11
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Sources (contd.)
ETNA (2011). European Thematic Network on Assistive Information Technologies, http://www.etna-project.eu/,
accessed 22/8/11
International Organisation for Standardisation (2011). ISO 9999:2011 Assistive products for persons with disability - Classification and terminology, http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=50982 accessed 20/11/11
OAEG (2008). Open Accessibility Everywhere Group. http://www.oaeg.eu/ accessed 31/8/11
OATSoft (2009). OATS – Open Source Assistive Technology
Software. http://www.oatsoft.org/ accessed 30/8/11
SpeechBubble (2010). SpeechBubble: technology that gives you a voice, http://www.speechbubble.org.uk/ accessed 22/8/11