CWST


Conferences – Workshops – Seminars – Tutorials

Project no.: 004111

Project acronym: CWST

Project title: Conferences – Workshops – Seminars – Tutorials

Instrument: Specific Support Action

Thematic Priority: CWST organises a series of high quality scientific conferences, workshops, seminars, tutorials and meetings to support eInclusion in relation to eAccessibility and Design for All in FP6.

Publishable Results of the Plans for Using and Disseminating the Knowledge

Add On to the 2ndPeriodic Activity Report

Period covered:from 01/07/05 to 01/07/06

Date of finalisation:07/02/07

Start date of project:01/07/04

Duration:5 years

Project coordinator name: a. Univ. Prof. Dr. Klaus Miesenberger

Project coordinator organisation name: University of Linz, Institute Integriert Studieren

TABLE OF CONTENT

1Background

2AAATE conference, Lille

2.1Background

2.2Host

2.3Themes

2.3.1New Technologies

2.3.2Technology Transfer

2.3.3Socio-Economic Aspects

2.3.4Human-Centred Considerations

2.4Areas

2.5Proceedings

2.6Conclusions

3ICM and Workshop Lille

4CVHI Kufstein (report to be delivered for the next reporting period):

5ICCHP Linz (report to be delivered for the next reporting period):

6Co-ordinator and partners

7Dissemination activities

8Annex – Plan for forthcoming events

1Background

CWST organises a series of high quality scientific conferences, workshops, seminars, tutorials and meetings to support eInclusion in relation to eAccessibility and Design for All in FP6.

Equal access for all, universal usability of mainstream technologies and the development and improvement of assistive devices have become key issues for the information society. This field has had a lack of high quality scientific eventsdue to being set up recently and the social, political and economic circumstances of the research institutes working in the area. CWST aims to fill this gap and assist the establishment of eInclusion as a dedicated research field by supporting conferences, workshops, seminars and tutorials working on the eInclusion objectives.

FP6 and eInclusion highlight the importance of research and development in the area ofAssistive Technology (AT) for disabled people. In particular, they stress the importance of cross-sector activities to develop AT to make the emerging information society accessible to disabled people, which is essential for the inclusion and participation of disabled people in all areas of society. eAccessibility, Design for All and eInclusion are the expressions used to describe this strategic goal of the IST programme and the information society as a whole.

CWST supports eInclusion projects and activities and encourages them to be successful by providing opportunities for publication and dissemination. CWST events should provide a platform to facilitate development of the field. In particular, CWST will present the topic of eInclusion at mainstream events in engineering and information and communications technology (ICT), as the success of eInclusion depends onit becoming part of standard design practice in mainstream ICT applications, as well as public awareness and understanding.

The consortium includes experienced organisations responsible for well established eventsICCHP, AAATE, CVHI), journals and other publications which have contributed to the development the field over the past few years. It aims support FP6 and eInclusion by the further development of these activities. CWSTsupports strategic planning in the area of eInclusion by providing information on the state of the art and plans for future developments. It also aims to influence events in the field to focus on strategic FP6 eInclusion objectives.

CWSTaims to organise and supportevents of the highest quality at an affordable cost to participantsin order to support the further development of eInclusion and strengthen its impact at the political, technical and social levels both across Europe and worldwide.

This document summarizes the results of events in the second period. More information can be found at:

cwst.icchp.org

2AAATE conference, Lille

2.1Background

The Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe (AAATE) is organising its 8th every 2 years a conference. This biannual conference is an opportunity for people to discuss and exchange new developments, trends and research in the field of assistive technology. Following successful conferences held in Ireland, Slovenia, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Sweden and Netherlands, over 200 papers were selected and published at the last AAATE conference in 2003. This opportunity to exchange expertise are essential for those working in the AT field.
AAATE's membership has grown significantly since its formation. At the moment AAATE has about 250 members from almost all European countries and countries throughout the world.

Its sister organisations are RESNA (North America), ARATA (Australia) and RESJA (Japan). With these sister organisations an agreement is signed to co-operate and stimulate international activities in the field of AT. This agreement known as the Tokoshima agreement is the basis for future international co-operation in this fields.

For many years an important stimulating role is operated by the European commission. Special the e-inclusion unit is the major point of action. This stimulation of R&D and developments of the sector is an important issue to discuss and present within the AAATE community. Therefore the tradition of organising a special session for presenting EU developments relevant for the sector is an important activity of the CVWST project within the AAATE conference.

2.2Host

The AAATE conference 2005 was organized by IFRATH, a group of academic laboratories, user associations and companies which have decided to pool their expertise and create synergy for promoting technological and methodological research related to various disabilities.

The variety of assistive technology implies a multi-disciplinary approach which requires dialogue with other research domains: medicine, psychology, ergonomics, sociology, economics, etc. IFRATH is a network which enables its members to be in touch as many people as possible in all the relevant fields. There are strong links between research and industrial players so that technologies can be matched to users with special needs.

2.3Themes

The subtitle of the conference is "from Virtuality to Reality". It focuses on the bridge which leads from the perceived user need to the actual end use of the assistive device.

2.3.1New Technologies

New technologies emerge daily. How can they be applied in the Assistive Technology field?

2.3.2Technology Transfer

With all these technologies and developments available, why do many never reach the market?

2.3.3Socio-Economic Aspects

Within a free-trade Europe, assistive technology products experience differing degrees of success. What about policies in the different European countries? Is it convergence or divergence?

2.3.4Human-Centred Considerations

How can we consider user needs, how can we evaluate them and what is the role of the user in the development of an assistive device?

2.4Areas

  • Access to the Information Society
  • Assistive Technology for Children
  • Assistive Technology for Mobility
  • Assistive Technology for Older Adults
  • Assistive Technology for Restoration and Enhancement of Function
  • Assistive Technology for the Activity of Daily Living
  • Assistive Technology in Education & Training
  • Assistive Technology in the Work Environment
  • Assistive Technology in the Workplace
  • Augmentative and Alternative Communication
  • Changes in Social Systems and Service Delivery
  • Community Networks
  • Design for All / Universal Design
  • Development of Assistive Technology for Independent Living
  • Education and training in Assistive Technology
  • European Infrastructure in the field of Assistive Technology
  • Improving Quality of Assistive Technology
  • Industrial Competitiveness and Technology Transfer
  • Issues of Human/Machine Interaction
  • Socio-economic Evaluation
  • User Empowerment

2.5Proceedings

Pruski, A., Knops, H. (eds.): Assisitve Technology: From Virtuality to Reality, Proceedings AAATE 2005, IOS Press, Amsterdam 2005

2.6Conclusions

In the process of organising the conference 2005 in Lille some mistakes were made. These mistakes had direct influence on the number of participants (192) that participated in the conference. Also the polical situation had influence on the number of participants from the US and Canada.

For future conferences we have to pay more attention to the following aspects:

  • Split responsibilities within AAATE for the conference and the CWST project( In Lille it was in one hand)
  • Communicate more efficient about conference language
  • Organise national events in cooperation with the conference. ( to get more local people at the conference)
  • Use the exhibition more as showcase than as resource of money
  • CWST project has to make written agreements with the organiser of the conference about activities to be organised and the responsibilities for this.

3ICM and Workshop Lille

The workshop ‘Worldwide cooperation in Assistive Technology Information: a dream that’s coming true’ was organised during the AAATE conference in Lille, September 2005 (‘From Virtuality to Reality’).

This workshop had two main objectives: sharing information on the different information systems, including databases, on Assistive Technology available inside and outside Europe and supporting international collaboration to improve these information systems. Users of these information systems include health care professionals, disabled end users and their families and assistive technology manufacturers and suppliers. The availability of information systems allows them to search for solutions and products, including in other European countries. This facilitates cooperation and consequently contributes to increased accessibility and enlargement of the Assistive Technology market.

In Europe a very important information and data-collection system has resulted from the integration of the systems in Denmark ,Germany, The Netherlands, United Kingdom,Italy, Spain. This is the EASTIN (European Assistive Technology Information Network). Representatives of these six countries spoke about both their national information systems and the results of EASTIN. Information systems from the United States, France and Belgium were also presented. The similarities and differences between the national systems were discussed tofacilitate mutual learning and using other countries’experiences to improve the national and EASTIN systems.

To conclude the workshop the chair of the International Alliance of Assistive Technology Information Providers spoke about the work of the Alliance, which is an example of good practice in organising international collaboration. It was established by a Memorandum of Understanding signed by seven organisations from Europe and the United States of America. These seven founding organisations agreed to work towards a network approach in order tobenefit from each other’s experiences, harmonize methods, provide wider coverage, achieve best practice in usability and accessibility and extend the base of users’ internationally with the aim of providing the highest standard of service to system users.

The discussion concluded that ongoing international cooperation and improvement of national and international AT information systems are essential. This will require the development of international cooperation with other countries. This extended cooperation will benefit both the users and suppliers/manufacturers of information systems.

4CVHI Kufstein (report to be delivered for the next reporting period):

As always at CVHI the focus was on developing the young researchers. In addition to presenting a number of papers, they also chaired the paper sessions other than the keynotes, assisted by experienced vice chairs. Several of the session chairs were blind and used assistive technology to access the programme information. A meeting on chairing sessions and presenting papers was organised on the first evening. This involved a discussion of good chairing and presentation practices, as well as how to resolve any problems that might arise.

A first for CVHI (and possibly for technical conferences) was the keynote panel discussion in Austrian Sign Language and English with interpretation on Cochlear implants and their impacts on the deaf community. The three panellists, Reinhard Grobbauer from the Austrian Deaf Federation, Erwald Thurner from Med-El (Medical Electronics) and Wolf-Dieter Baumgartner from the University Clinic in Vienna, treated this very controversial subject with great sensitivity. The audience discussion was very lively and the full range of technical and end-user issues, including the relationship between the deaf and cochlear implant communities, were covered.

René Farcy of the University of Paris South presented a keynote on Electronic travel aids and electronic orientation aids for blind people. A particularly interesting aspect of the presentation was an overview of the training in using the two mobility and one orientation devices developed by his group. Another innovative feature was the presentation of their system for evaluating successful mobility (using assistive devices). Since he had brought two of the devices, the Tom Pouce and Teletact, and another delegate, Brian Hoyle, had brought an ultracane, blind delegates in particular were able to try out three different electronic canes.

Nick Guidice and James Marston of the University of California at Santa Barbara gave a practical demonstration of the use of a GPS system in wayfinding, preceded by a paper presentation on the techniques involved. We all made it safely back to the hotel!

John Glauert of the University of East Anglia presented a tutorial on Sign Language Animation and Synthetic Signing. This covered the work of the ViSiCAST and eSIGN Projects and highlighted the complex technical issues involved, as well as the role of avatars.

James Marston’s participatory tutorial on public transportation and visually impaired people focused on the experiences of visually impaired and blind people and the barriers they still encounter, as well as potential technical solutions. It was illustrated by a number of short video clips, showing experiences of, for instance, wayfinding using talking signs.

In her tutorial Marion Hersh of the University of Glasgow, presented the Comprehensive Assistive Technology (CAT) model developed together with her colleague Mike Johnson of the University of Strathclyde. Some participants were interested in applying the model to investigate the state of assistive technology development and the different barriers experienced by disabled people across Europe.

CWST supported these contributions and enabled a number of young and disabled researchers to participate by covering travel and accommodation costs.

5ICCHP Linz (report to be delivered for the next reporting period):

The tenth ICCHP conference took place in 2006. It is a biannual conference which started in the 1980s. It was one of the earliest conferences to focus on the topic of Assistive Technologies, Accessibility, Design for All or eInclusion.

Two German speaking events (“In Zukunft barrierefrei” (a barrier free future): IKT-Forum (information, communications and technology): on the transfer of research into practice and commercialisation were heldin the pre-conference period. This ICCHP was the biggest ever with 436 participants, while 250 participants attended the two German speaking events.

CWST contributed to ICCHP in the following areas:

Pre-conference workshops: Support from CWST enabled the following workshops to take place:

  • DfA in Europe
  • Participation of People with Disabilities in R&D of ICT/AT Projects
  • Accessible e-Learning Practices: New Directions, New Possibilities

Young Researchers Consortium: This is the first time a Young Researchers Consortium has been organised at CWST. Prof. Paul Blenkhorn and Prof. Gareth Evans from the University of Manchester acted as chairs of this consortium. 24 papers were submitted to the consortium and 16 were selected for presentation by a panel of nine people. CWST covered accommodation, travel expenses and the registration fee.

Keynote on Brain Interfaces: Prof. Dr. Klaus-Robert Müller, University of Potsdam and Frauenhofer Institute, Berlin, gave a keynote on Brain Computer Interfaces as an emerging possibility for assistive technology.

Keynote Panels on Web Accessibility and Document Accessibilitywere organised. They surveyed and discussed these two important areas of practice in the FP6 programme.

A Keynote on the eInclusion activities of the European Commissionwas organised as part of the opening session of ICCHP.

Publication of the Proceedings in Springer Lecture Notes for Computer Sciencehasencouraged interest in ICCHP as a means of publishing high quality scientific papers and an important reference for this and other fields. 321 papers were submitted in response to the Call for Papers, the highest number ever. In order not to increase the number of sessions and papers presented, a selection rate of about 50% was used. This high degree of selectivity is an exception in this field and an important step towards increasing the scientific quality of the eInclusion field. The contributions are published in:

Miesenberger, K. et al. (Eds.): Computers Helping People with Special Needs, 10th International Conference, ICCHP 2006, Linz, Austria, July 2006, Proceedings

Accessible Web Streaming of Sessionswasorganised in co-operation with the Paciello Group and LetsGoExpo and is continuing to broaden the impact of ICCHP by making sessions accessible to those unable to attend the conference (

Support for disabled participants was once again a key issue for the organisation of the conference. CWST support was crucial in extending this support and thereby increasing both the numbers of disabled participants and the benefits to them. This support included sign language interpreters, the provision of materials in Braille and readers for hearing impaired, deaf and learning disabled participants.

The ICM meeting during ICCHP focused on international co-operation. A panel of 17 experts from around the world discussed issues of importance at the global level.

6Co-ordinator and partners

a. Univ. Prof. Dr. Klaus Miesenberger

University of Linz, Institute Integriert Studieren

Altenbergerstraße 69

4040 Linz

tel: +43-732-2468-9232 fax: +43-732-2468-9322

e-mail:

Partic. Role* / Partic. No. / Participant name / Partic. short n. / Country / Date enter project** / Date exit project**
CO / 1 / University of Linz, Inst. Integriert Studieren / Linz / Austria / month 1 / month 60
CR / 2 / Association of the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe / AAATE / Denmark / month 1 / month 60
CR / 3 / Austrian Computer Society / OCG / Austria / month 1 / month 60
CR / 4 / University of Glasgow / Glasgow / United
Kingdom / month 1 / month 60

*CO=Coordinator / CR=Contractor

**Project dates: starts at month 1, and at month 60