E-ACCESS BULLETIN
ISSUE 4, APRIL 2000
IN THIS ISSUE:
Section One:
News: Confusion mars introduction of TV licence fee discount; Qualified
welcome for education access rights; People with disabilities less likely
to have internet access; Virtual think-tank debates technology design;
Play time.
Section Two: RNIB Information Society Advisory Group
- Special extended report
Section Three:
The web - speech-enabled portals
SECTION ONE: NEWS
CONFUSION MARS INTRODUCTION OF TV LICENCE FEE DISCOUNT
Widespread confusion about how to claim the new 50% television licence
fee discount for blind people, and about who is eligible, has been reported
following the government's announcement of the discount in February.
The discount - to run from 1 April 2000 - was widely welcomed as a huge
improvement on the previous discount for the blind of a mere £1.25. However,
confusion has focused on whether the discount applies only to licence holders;
how people can apply for the new concession; and whether those receiving
the old discount qualify automatically for the 50% reduction.
Diane Evans, Information Officer at the Ty Clyd Independent Living Centre
for disabled people in South Wales and herself registered as blind, told
E-Access Bulletin that her own enquiries to the responsible government
agency, TV Licensing, on behalf of the people at her centre, had not received
a satisfactory response.
"When I telephoned the TV licence people I was told that there was no set
procedure for someone to claim the 50% reduction. After several hasty conversations
I was told that people who were already claiming would receive a form through
the post and they would have to take this with a copy of their registration
certificate to the post office or send it to them. I did point out that
they were sending forms to registered blind people and some of them would
not always have someone on hand to fill in the form. They then said that
the post office could fill in the form.
"The next problem is that a large proportion of the registered blind with
us have not claimed before because it was not worth all the hassle for
the small sum of money they offered - myself included. This seemed to throw
them into a panic and they asked if I would send in a letter to customer
services. Which I have done and as yet, still await a reply."
The RNIB, which also sought clarification from TV Licensing on behalf of
its members after receiving a large number of enquiries, said the fact
that some Post Offices had not been briefed about the new discount prior
to the announcement had compounded uncertainty for some people.
TV Licensing has now offered clarification on some of the outstanding points.
It says that all applicants must be registered blind to qualify for the
new discount, and that proof of registration therefore must be shown at
the Post Office where most people buy the licence. If applicants currently
pay for their licence by Direct Debit they should telephone TV Licensing
on 0845 602 3334, who will advise them how to send in their blindness certificate
to obtain the discount. People who received the £1.25 concession prior
to the introduction of the new discount do need to re-apply.
The discount applies to all households where there is at least one person
who is registered as blind. Refunds will be available for people who have
purchased new licences prior to the announcement.
The government also announced in February that all people over the age
of 75 are eligible for a free licence from November 1. People who are registered
blind and who also are or will be over-75 at that time are able to purchase
a part-licence with the 50% discount to run up to November.
However, Ms Evans says she is still waiting for a proper response to her
queries. "I have yet to hear back on whether there is any information on
the scheme that I can obtain in a medium that our clients can use, such
as large print. And I still have concerns about people who pay by Direct
Debit having to send their certificates in by post - what happens if they
go missing?"
QUALIFIED WELCOME FOR EDUCATION ACCESS RIGHTS
Disabled students have given a qualified welcome to UK government plans
to guarantee disabled people new rights to technology and tackle discrimination
in the education system.
The draft Special Educational Needs and Disability Rights in Education
Bill, published last month, is designed to plug the hole left by the Disability
Discrimination Act (1995), which excluded education. It aims to introduce
enforceable civil rights for disabled people in education, including improved
access to technology.
The National Bureau for Students with Disabilities, Skill, predicts that
institutions will need to examine technology provision in a number of areas
including all electronic curriculum materials; all learning and teaching
tools provided electronically; computing and intranet provision for students;
the library; information technology support services; and institutions'
web sites.
Under the new regime institutions will be forced to make reasonable adjustments
where 'any arrangements, including physical features of premises, for services
place a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage.' Unjustified less
favourable treatment will also be unlawful.
Examples cited include special training in new technologies and extra provision
such as voice recognition software for those who cannot use standard hardware
and applications; and a suggestion that blind students should be given
a list of all written articles that are required reading at the beginning
of each year so that libraries can arrange for these to be put on audio
tape.
"The bill will have a big impact on technology provision," said Skill Policy
Director Sophie Corlett. "Increasingly we are aware that scant attention
is being paid to accessibility." However, the body is seeking a number
of changes, including extension of the new rules to funding councils, inspection
agencies, professional bodies and work placement providers, all of which
it argues have a crucial role in influencing student education.
Skill also says the bill does not offer students on work placements enough
protection. "We are coming across more and more students who are being
refused work placements or refused entry to a course which has work placements
because they are disabled," said Corlett.
The Bill can be seen at:
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES LESS LIKELY TO HAVE INTERNET ACCESS
People with disabilities are far less likely than others to have access
to the internet or own a computer according to research published in the
US last month.
While more than 50% of people who have no disability have a computer in
their household, the equivalent figure for those who are disabled is just
24%. The gap in internet access is even more pronounced. Almost three times
as many people without disability have access to the net at home compared
to those who are disabled - 31% versus 11%. Only 4% of disabled people
have access to the internet outside the home compared to more than a fifth
of those who are not disabled.
"People with disabilities are perhaps the single segment of society with
the most to gain from the new technologies of the electronic age," says
report author Stephen Kaye from the Disability Statistics Center, University
of California San Francisco. "Yet they have among the lowest rates of use
of these technologies."
The researchers argue that the huge difference cannot be explained by the
fact that the disabled are more likely to be elderly and therefore less
likely to use new technology. Significant differences in computer ownership
and internet access were also found for the age group 15 to 64.
Kaye said the differences in income can explain much of the difference
in access rates, as those who are disabled may need specialised software.
However, he does predict higher access rates among the disabled in the
future. "The advent of lower-cost computing - including the free computers
that come with extended subscription to an internet service provider -
may help to make this technology more available," he says.
Computer and Internet Use Among People with Disabilities can be found at:
VIRTUAL THINK-TANK DEBATES TECHNOLOGY DESIGN
The role of governments worldwide in encouraging accessible technology
design was a key topic of debate at Boosting the Net Economy 2000, a global
'virtual think-tank' hosted on the web last month by the publishers of
E-Access Bulletin, Headstar, with sponsorship from Bull.
Think-tank member Professor Elsa Rosenblad of the Chalmers University of
Technology, Sweden, said that governments and intergovernmental bodies
had an important role to play in ensuring that the design of technology
products was accessible to all parts of society, including older people
and disabled people, although a direct legislative approach was not desirable.
"I don't think it is successful to force any kind of technical development.
But I can see two ways of reaching the same goal. One is enforcement using
ISO-standards, the other is research to create new knowledge of the user's
situation.
"ISO-standards, especially ISO 9241 and ISO 9355 regarding ergonomic requirements,
could be used for control, criteria and evaluation of products at governmental
and other greater purchases. But probably a more successful way of achieving
products that are accessible to all would be governmental investment in
research of new knowledge of the user's situation. The severe problem of
accessibility is the lack of knowledge on the part of the designer of the
cognitive and physical abilities of the individual user. If this knowledge
was available, much better products would reach the market, as customer
orientation is an aim today."
A full report of the online debate is due to be posted onto its web site
on 10 May. See:
PLAY TIME
It's not only dull work-related software that can be made accessible: 'Accessible
Games' is a library of simple computer games designed for blind and visually
impaired computer users. Games on offer include WordPlay, Battleships,
BlackJack and Yahtzee, and they interface directly with speech synthesis
software.
The games require you to download the Visual Basic 6.0 run time library
first, a 1 Megabyte download. After that trial versions of the games can
be downloaded for free, and after evaluation the registered versions are
pretty cheap (around 10 US Dollars each). See:
www.gamesfortheblind.com/
SECTION TWO:
RNIB INFORMATION SOCIETY ADVISORY GROUP
- SPECIAL EXTENDED REPORT
The need to base technology initiatives around individuals' social needs,
rather than the technologies themselves, was stressed at a special meeting
of the RNIB's Information Society Advisory Group on 5 April.
The meeting was designed to take stock of the institute's work promoting
access to information and communications technologies and help set future
priorities. Ian Bruce, RNIB Director General, said: "For blind people to
take charge of their lives they need the same information as everyone else,
and additional specific information. This is particularly important nowadays
- information is power."
Fazilet Hadi, RNIB Director of Policy, said it was important to anchor
new technology projects in widely-used current technology systems, like
Braille.
It was also important to understand the differences between the needs of
various types of blind and visually impaired technology users, Ms Hadi
said. "Have they been visually impaired all their lives, or have they had
to find new ways of working in the forties, or new techniques in their
seventies?"
Keith Gladstone, RNIB Head of Information Systems, said everyone was now
surrounded by far more information than they can cope with, so the ability
to scan and filter information was vital. For blind and visually impaired
people, however, that ability is vastly reduced, making it much harder
for them to deal with 'information overload'.
An increased number of information channels, for example with digital television,
the increasing specialisation of each channel and the growth of unmediated
or unmoderated streams of information via the internet are all adding to
the burden of choice, he said. It was important to understand the real
impact all these changes are having on peoples' lives and address the
issues arising, which may or may not involve technology directly.
John Gill, Chief Scientist in the institute's Scientific Research Unit,
and Steve Tyler, Digital (ICT) Access Manager, listed some of the key technological
developments likely to have a major influence on the lives of blind and
visually impaired people in the next decade. They included:
* the convergence of mobile communications, digital television and web
services so that it becomes increasingly difficult to tell one technological
device from another;
* the development of interactive public services via digital television,
such as health services;
* the development of digital radio (Digital Audio Broadcasting), with on-screen
displays, and its convergence with the Internet and Internet-based radio
stations;
* the use of mobile telephony as a location system, with accuracy likely
to be refined to a few metres in the near future;
* the growth in a 5-10 year timescale of visual substitution systems, which
capture information using cameras, process them rapidly using special algorithms
to extract key features and then present them to users in a multi-modal
display; and
* in the longer term, the development of direct cortical stimulation to
mimic sight should advance, although this field currently seems stalled
because of an imperfect understanding of how the brain works.
There were also important social background trends to bear in mind in the
medium term, Gill said. These included demographic changes which would
see more older people, with multiple sight problems such as poor contrast
sensitivity and poor accommodation. Inclusive design of systems like digital
television sets would therefore become even more important: if people had
to press buttons on a control and read a screen at the same time, for example,
such multiple sight problems would become a severe handicap.
Unfortunately, competitive pressure on manufacturers is so high that they
have little time or resources to make their technologies accessible, he
said. This meant legislation to enforce accessibility would be needed,
but before that could be put in place further work was needed to establish
scientific standards on which to base such legislation.
Tyler said that although the high-tech business arena is extremely complex
and fast-moving, the RNIB must make it a priority to deal with manufacturers
directly at the same time as pressing the government for legislative changes.
"We must sell mainstream access into business. Also mainstream development
is vital, because visually impaired people mainly access information through
ordinary, not specialist devices."
But as well as presenting access challenges, the web and other technologies
offered enormous possibilities for the RNIB in providing its own information
services, he said.
Stephen King, Director of the RNIB's Technical and Consumer Services, said
that in tackling access issues it was vital to take an integrated approach
which simultaneously combines researching user needs; finding technical
solutions; working on industry standards; and pushing for legislation.
"A technical solution on its own doesn't work, it's just a pilot. A standard
on its own doesn't work: it needs legislation. And a regulatory framework
on its own doesn't work, there needs to be a technical solution. So we
need to take an integrated approach."
It was also vital to spot and influence access issues very early on in
the development of a technology, he said, because technologies are designed
very early on. There was therefore a corresponding need to understand what
the requirements are from the blind and visually impaired community at
an early stage, based on solid research of how blind people use technology.
Without this, lobbyists could find themselves in the embarrassing position
of influencing a design only to find it did not actually meet a real need
after all.
There was also a need to influence the hearts and minds not only of politicians
but of the designers of new technology - many of them young people - to
make them want to participate. "If the 25-year-old who is designing an
interface for everybody to use does not understand what we need and want
to do it, it will not get designed in. So we need to work with industry,
work out how they are going to develop standards and influence them with
sound ergonomic research".
Finally, the RNIB should explore all possibilities to work closely with
international partners to draw in wider expertise and to help influence
an industry which is global, he said. The benchmark for future success
should be the current design of a telephone keypad, he said, which is universal
and was developed with input from the RNIB.
Colin Low, Vice Chairman of the RNIB, suggested that the RNIB should try
to influence the work of the new Disability Rights Commission, of which
he is a member. "The commission is an institution which the government
has created to move disability issues up the political agenda. We need
to take it at face value and work with it.
"Although I have to say that promoting inclusive design is not high up
on the commission's agenda, unless people like us do a bit of pushing it
might not get as high up the agenda as it should be." He said there was
a general tension within the commission over whether to put its weight
behind calls for new legislation or whether education and persuasion were
the way forward. The outcome was likely to be a combination - "advocacy
with teeth".
Initial conclusions of the ISAG meeting have been collated by Stephen King
in a discussion document to be placed before the RNIB's Policy Committee
on 10 May. After discussion this paper will lead towards a green paper
developed over the summer to feed into RNIB's strategic planning process
in the autumn.
The full text of this document is reproduced below: if you would like to
comment on it, or obtain copies of the various formal background papers
on technology and access issues which were considered by ISAG, please email
Pam Hichens on phichens@rnib.org.uk
PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS FROM ISAG STRATEGY MEETING, BY STEPHEN KING
PEOPLE FIRST
We need to be careful to start with people and their needs and wants first,
rather than the technology. An overall framework of ensuring people can
carry on doing what other people do is a helpful way of prioritising.
We developed a broad framework around ensuring access and use of financial
and payment systems; communications systems; everyday cultural media and
events; the technologies used in everyday learning and employment; health
support information and systems; everyday living (shopping, transport,
housekeeping, eating out, etc); and citizenship. In all these areas we
anticipate change in the way people interact with technology over the next
few years.
INFORMATION SOCIETY IS WIDER THAN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
The human intermediary, skilled in description, may become even more important,
and the explosion of available information may mean an information overload,
leading to the need for new strategies. There is the potential for significant
changes to the way we live, eg closing bank branches or less travel. The
concept of universal or inclusive standards of service are as important
as concepts of inclusive system and product design.
LIVING WITH NEW AND OLD TECHNOLOGIES
Because of the affordability issue and the demographics of people with
serious sight loss, many people we deal with will be using old technologies
for a long time. Particularly if the new technology proposes significant
new learning overheads. At the same time other segments are likely to be
early adopters of new technologies that bring significant advantages. The
PC is a good example of this. Digital TV is likely to be a much bigger
example. We are going to have to work with a long tail of old technologies.
WORK NEEDED IN RELATION TO EXISTING TECHNOLOGIES
Many of the existing technologies (mobile phone, PC, TV, Bank ATMs, etc)
still present major challenges but also benefits. And they will be with
us for many years. The barrier is training, enabling people to (continue
to) use. This is a huge resource issue still, enabling people to take advantage
of what is already there.
DEVELOPING OUR KNOWLEDGE OF NEW TECHNOLOGY AND USER NEEDS
We need to understand technologies and their likely impacts early enough
in the development cycle to influence them. And develop user needs, perhaps
when few users know what the benefits may be. The key issue however is
to ensure we develop user needs from good research.
INTEGRATED STRATEGIES FOR INFLUENCING NEW TECHNOLOGY
We concluded that no one approach is enough on its own. We need well developed
campaigns: for regulation, for hearts and minds, and for funding. We need
good human factors research. We need to have persuasive and expert consultants
there at the right time to give advice, we need technical solutions, and
as important, demand from consumers. We need to develop long term sophisticated
strategies and stick with them.
EMERGING PRIORITY AREAS EG BROADCASTING
There was a general consensus that the changing face of broadcasting and
its new interactive dimensions was a priority area for us to increase our
efforts. This is likely to feed strongly into cultural, daily living and
financial inclusion. To do this we need to build on our industry contacts.
STRATEGIES FOR SKILLING AND REACHING PEOPLE
The other huge challenge is to develop new strategies for skilling people
to (re)learn how to use everyday technology, or adaptions that can help.
Though inclusive design may make things easier, the generality of training
and instructions assume visual feedback. Perhaps this is the major area
for us to develop our volunteer activity at the field level. This connected
to trained describers.
INTERNAL ORGANISATION AND COLLABORATION
To deliver the complex and multi dimensional strategies needed, we need
expertise from right across the organisation. We have to get better at
working across the organisation. We also need to be able to move and respond
very quickly. Inevitably this will mean problems and costly mistakes and
blind alleys. But we have to empower people to act at the speed industry
and commerce are working to.
BUILDING SERVICES ON WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE
We have a lot of expertise and services around information and we should
build out from these. Our strategic intent is knowledge and expertise development
and beacon of good practice so we can campaign effectively as well as provide
service. Overall, building services from where we are is lower risk than
moving into new markets and new products.
We already act as a file translation intermediary (braille/large print/audio)
and we need to adapt this to adapting/enhancing all sorts of digital media.
We have an excellent web site, where we can develop chat rooms, emotional
support services, webcasting and other audio initiatives. We have expert
information design knowledge that can be developed into consultancy skills
as well as courses for delivery by us and others.
We have expertise in organising volunteers, where we could develop new
skills, and develop courses and structures for a new generation of information
intermediaries (readers, describers, etc). We have good contacts in the
broadcast media and arts communities that we can build on.
WORK WITH INDUSTRY IN THE SAME WAY WE WORK WITH GOVERNMENT
Influencing industry is probably now equally or more important that influencing
government. We need to develop these skills and build supporter networks.
This will involve behaving in a more "businesslike" way, which will be
a cultural challenge. Ideas such as "accessibility awards" in the industry's
own awards structure rather than our own awards such as See it Right.
SECTION THREE - THE WEB:
SPEECH-ENABLED PORTALS
TALKING TO THE WEB? JUST SAY QUACK
A new breed of web portal that you can access by ordinary telephone - no
need for a 'web-enabled' mobile phone - is under development in the US
and set to cross the Atlantic, in a potentially valuable development for
blind and visually impaired web users.
Several big players have already explored the possibilities of voice access
to their e-commerce sites in the US including telecoms giant AT&T, the
online video store BigStar.com and the auction site Priceline.com. However,
it is now recognised that the potential of voice access extends beyond
e-commerce to new 'voice portals' - gateways to a whole range of information
online that can be accessed using a phone instead of a visual browser.
The services generally use an automated system that responds to a combination
of voice and key-pad commands. They can then translate the information
you give into commands to seek certain information from the internet, which
can then be relayed back to you using a computer-generated voice.
One of the first voice portals, launched this month across the US, is Quack.com,
which allows anyone to access specific information from the internet by
phone. Users dial a freephone number and speak to an automated host who
guides the caller to the information they want by asking simple questions.
Central to the service is its ability to offer 'personalised' information.
When users sign up, they key in preferences on the Quack.com web site which
then allows callers to automatically access information on specific share
prices, regional weather, specific sports teams and other topics via the
phone.
"While our service wasn't originally designed with visually impaired people
in mind, it has become apparent that it's very useful for that particular
group," Quack spokesman Alex Quilici told E-Access Bulletin. He said visually
impaired users have offered positive feedback and suggestions for additional
services.
Information (which is channelled from a variety of different web sources)
is currently limited to news and lifestyle topics including the weather,
film reviews and news, restaurants, sports, stocks and shares, travel and
traffic news. Quack intends to offer more sophisticated services in due
course, including the ability to shop online. "As a result of the technology's
flexibility, the company can quickly add new applications and features,
and a range of new consumer services is currently in development," the
company says.
Just as impressive as the technology is the fact that Quack is free to
use. Calls are made to freephone numbers and registration is free. So where's
the catch? Although the Quack web site fails to refer to it directly, the
service does carry short advertisements which are slotted in depending
on what information is being accessed by the caller. However, Quilici says
that all ads are opt-in (in other words the user has an option to request
further details) and must be informative - "For example, if someone requests
a baseball score for the Minnesota Twins, the ad might be 'would you like
to know about the Twins upcoming home games?"
So when will the UK see its first voice portal? Given the companies involved
in voice access to the internet a UK appearance appears certain in the
near future. IBM, AT&T, Amazon.com and Deloitte and Touche are all involved
in developing the technology and it is inevitable they will be looking
to markets beyond the US in the next few years.
For more on Quack see:
* * * ISSUE ENDS * * *
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