None of us are getting any younger

Which means that us younger ones have a duty to create the digital future we want for ourselves. As we get older, our faculties inevitably decline. I have already noticed my hearing and my eyesight isn’t as good as it was and I still consider myself young. It’s just a fact of life. No-one else is going to create this future for us, or if they do, we may not like it, so we have to get on with it ourselves. And there hasn’t been a better time to do this. The barriers to entry haven’t been lower, access to technology is easier, we all have smartphones or tablets or both and they’re getting cheaper, and now, organisations like IC Tomorrow is helping fund the prototyping of some new ideas too.

They recently held a call for entries for their Digital Inclusion Innovation Contest in three specific areas – Sensory Assistance, inclusive media and accessible internet of things. The finalists have been chosen and they’ll be presenting at the final to be held on Thursday 7th February in London. Tickets are free and can be booked here. The contest is in collaboration with the Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB) and the National Licensing Agency (NLA), University of York and Scope

The following companies will be presenting at the event:

Sensory Assistance – using smart phones to assist older people and people with sensory disabilities. Partner: University of York

· Georgie Last 10 Yards by Screenreader.net CIC

· Mobile-phone assisted navigation for visually impaired people by Spiral Scratch

· Tribble Doorbell Alerts by Novoda (video entry below)

Inclusive Media – creating a new digital reader and search tool for newspapers and magazines. Partners: RNIB & NLA

· Matopy, the app that makes newspapers and magazines truly interactive by Matopy

· Georgie Bookreader by Screenreader.net CIC

· NewsReader by Assistive Solutions

Accessible Internet of Things – enhancing physical home functions for disabled people. Partner: Scope

· The Smart Hub by Therapy Box

· StarInterface by National Star Foundation and College

· Assisted Independent Daily Able Platform (AIDAapps) by BioDigital Health

In addition to the £48,000 of funding the winner in each category receives, each successful participant will also retain their intellectual property and receive:

· Further exposure to a range of leading sector partners

· The opportunity to test their proposed application with leading sector partners

· The opportunity to promote their prototype solution via the IC tomorrow programme

I know I’m a bit biased here as I know some of the companies presenting. I do have my fingers crossed for Georgie and Tribble.

I’m planning to go to the event. It’s free to attend but there will be limited places so if you want to come, you’d better get your ticket booked.

Oh, and if you can find the video entries from any of the companies listed above, please add it in the comments. Thanks!

Is wearable tech the new black?

If you’re at all into technology and have been following CES at all, it won’t have escaped you that wearable tech is hot news. Tim Green has written a hilarious post about it and why wearable tech has no future. It’s well worth a read.
I think what we’re seeing right now in terms of wearable tech is pretty crude. The AR glasses, the wristbands and watches and whatever else is being touted is only in an early iteration. In 10 year’s time, these things will look very different and I suspect, that by then, things will be very different in terms of what’s acceptable or not.
Having done some work in accessibility, I’ve seen some great uses of wearable tech to help people with disabilities. Make them ubiquitous enough, like the cordless kettle, and they’ll cross over to the mainstream. I think that’s the way round it is likely to work as there are very tangible benefits to a fully blind person being able to ‘see’ with AR glasses such as the one’s described in this news video.
As for being the new black for Spring 2013, I’m guessing no. And I think it will be some time before Anna Wintour decides to include this stuff in Vogue.

Accessibility doesn’t have to be boring

Back in 2011 when I was working on the Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility Awards, I didn’t have a clue about the world of accessible mobile applications. And I’m not sure that many other people had a clue either beyond a small group of enthusiasts. Much of the services I came across were ugly and institutionalised. The devices looked medical and screamed out ‘I’m disabled and helpless’. And I haven’t met anyone yet who wanted to be labelled in such a way. Not only that, but I discovered that some of our favourite household appliances, such as the cordless kettle, were first designed with disabled access in mind. That means that accessible design can appeal to and be useful to everyone.

I’m pleased to see that, a year or so on, things have improved somewhat from my first foray into the sector. Today, I stumbled across a couple of entries to this year’s Innovate UK’s digital inclusion contest and I really liked both of them so I’m sharing them with you.

First up is Novoda’s Tribble. It’s a prototype for a doorbell connected to your smartphone. Initially aimed at people with hearing impairments, but it’s clear from the concept that it’s useful for anyone and in other situations. Have a watch of the video (with subtitles).

 

Next up is Acuity Design’s concept for PaperRound. This is a news navigation system for those with visual impairments. Again, it’s a neat idea and one that isn’t restricted to those with visual impairments. Other people would find it useful too. The concept and design is explained in some detail in this blog post. If you’ve ever tried to use the internet the way a blind person has to, you’d find it pretty demoralising. PaperRound is one way to make the experience much more enjoyable.

Both these examples show that accessibility doesn’t have to be boring and it doesn’t have to scream out at you ‘I’m disabled and needy’. Best of luck to both companies in the contest. I’ll be keeping an eye out for other entries and to see who wins funding.

Digital Inclusion Innovation Funding

There’s a new ‘contest’ for some funding to create some commercial prototypes in key areas of digital inclusion. Don’t be put off by the ‘contest’ label. That’s just public sector speak. They have to call it a contest. But it’s really a call to hear from people interested in this area who can create relevant prototypes and to allocate funding to the ones that most closely fit the brief. There is a briefing event in London this Thursday, 29th November. So if you’re half-interested, it’ll be worth popping along to to find out more.

Some more details for you:

Contest Overview

Digital Inclusion Innovation Contest - briefing event on Thursday 29th November, in London

Summary

The Digital Inclusion Innovation Contest is being run in conjunction with Scope, RNIB and the University of York and is offering businesses up to £48,000 each in funding for the development of innovative commercial prototypes. We are looking for applications under three challenges focusing on different areas of the digital inclusion theme

The challenges

• one award of up to £48,000* for the development of a prototype service or application in the ‘sensory assistance’ challenge area supported by the University of York. For more information please click here.
• one award of up to £48,000* for the development of a prototype service or application in the ‘inclusive media’ challenge area supported by RNIB. For more information please click here.
• one award of up to £48,000* for the development of a prototype service or application in the ‘accessible Internet of Things’ challenge area supported by Scope. For more information please click here.

Benefits

The successful applicants will benefit from:

• funding of £48,000 to produce their commercial prototype
• gain from exposure to a range of leading sector partners
• test their proposed application or service with leading sector partners
• promote their prototype solution via the IC tomorrow programme
• retain their intellectual property
• register a trial on the IC tomorrow digital test bed.

For more details on how to apply and what’s involved, please go to their website at https://connect.innovateuk.org/web/digital-inclusion-innovation-contest. There’s a two-stage process – a form to fill in online and then you have to submit a two minute video about your proposal by 8 January. Why not give it a go? The longer I’m in the mobile sector, the more I see the area of digital inclusion and accessibility growing. Why not be part of that growth story?

Official RNIB Accessibility Hackathon– London 11 Feb 2012

Some of my friends and regular readers will know that I was on a bit of a mobile accessibility drive last year. It was a topic completely new to me but now I’m a total convert to the cause. 10% of the population in both the UK and the US has some kind of ‘official’ disability or impairment and goodness only knows the numbers of people with temporary impairments or milder impairments that still impact their lives but could be made easier with a little thought and a little technology. My personal bugbear is that I can’t increase font sizes in mobile apps but have to reach for my reading glasses instead to see the screen on my phone. So tedious. I dread to think what it’s like for those with much more serious sight impediments. I wrote up the results of the Edinburgh workshop here and I did a podcast about it here.

Anyway, I’m very pleased to see that the RNIB are also thinking along similar lines and are running a hackathon in a few weeks time at Skillsmatter. So if you’re a developer who wants to know more about how to deal with some of these sight accessibility issues, or you’re a developer with an idea for an app or service for people with visual impairments, then get yourself along to the hackathon. Free to attend. Open to all mobile technologies especially iOS, Android and HTML5. And there will be visually impaired people there for you to meet with to discuss their needs and wants in more depth.

The agenda is still taking shape, so the early bird registrants can help shape that agenda further. And if you’re feeling generous, they could do with some help around sponsorship too. More details here http://www.meetup.com/android/events/44307862/

And for those who can’t wait that long, then why not head over to one of the RNIB’s monthly Phone Watch events? I’ve heard they’re really useful for both visually impaired consumers and also the developers who are making apps for them. The next one is on 24th January – details below. Further RNIB supported tech events can be found here.

Date: 24th January 2012 (5.15 pm to 7.15 pm)
Event: Phone Watch - mainstream smartphone accessibility event with short talks, handset demos and hands-on time.
Location: RNIB Judd Street, London
Contact: Andrew Ronksley, 020 7391 2191

Upcoming accessibility workshops: London, Belfast and Manchester

At the risk of boring some of you who have already heard about this, this is the *final* reminder about the workshops I’ve been organising and the awards I’ve been helping to promote. As you may already be aware the Vodafone Foundation has set up the Smart Accessibility Awards which Mobile Monday London is actively supporting. These awards are to celebrate apps that help people in four key areas: Social participation, independent living, mobility and well-being. They are free to enter and there is a prize fund of  Euro 200,000. The awards are now open for entries until 15 October 2011 so you have a month to go.

As part of this initiative, I’ve been working with the ICT KTN and Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility Awards to bring you a series of half-day workshop looking specifically at this area. The goal of the workshops is to inspire and enable app developers and entrepreneurs to create useful tools for people who have visual, aural, cognitive or other impairments by helping you understand and empathize what life is like for people in this situation. This empathy and understanding is created by bringing together app developers, entrepreneurs and accessibility advocates and people with impairments to exchange information, and allowing developers to experience simulations of being impaired.

App developers who have had the opportunity to experience as directly as possible, first or second-hand, what it means to live with specific impairments, and have been put in touch with the larger community around accessibility, create more effective apps to better the quality of life for everyone. The result not only helps people with major disabilities, but also people with minor or temporary impairments, for example due to ageing or illness.

The format of the workshops will be discussion based with different speakers and contributors to reflect the local scene. Plenty of time will be allowed for discussion and networking and refreshments will be provided. These are different in style to our usual sessions and are more informal and much smaller to allow us to go more in-depth into the topic area.

We ran a successful workshop in Edinburgh last Friday and you can read about it here. There you’ll also find some useful links to the speakers and further resources.

We have two workshops happening on Monday 26 September in the afternoon in London at The IET and Belfast at The Black Box. Free to sign up and still a few places left if you’d like to attend.

We also have a workshop happening in Manchester on 5 October and registration has just opened for that.

You can also follow and track all the events on lanyrd:

Edinburgh http://lanyrd.com/2011/mobile-monday-edinburgh-accessibility-workshop/

London http://lanyrd.com/2011/mobile-monday-london-accessibility-workshop/

Belfast  http://lanyrd.com/2011/mobile-monday-belfast-accessibility-workshop/

Manchester http://lanyrd.com/2011/mobile-monday-manchester-accessibility-workshop/

A big thank you to all our speakers and fellow Mobile Monday chapter organisers for their support. And of course a big thank you to Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility Awards and ICT KTN for helping us make these workshops happen.

Notes and links from Friday's Mobile Monday Edinburgh Accessibility Workshop

I was lucky enough to go to Edinburgh on Friday to chair an accessibility workshop in association with Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility Awards, ICT KTN and Mobile Monday Edinburgh. We had a great range of speakers and demos and it certainly gave me a lot of food for thought.
Some key learnings came out of it for me:
1. It’s still an us and them situation and it shouldn’t be and it needn’t be. We’re all people. Accessibility can seem very complicated as the range of capabilities you’re dealing with are so diverse. However, if common sense tactics were applied and we thought more about people and how we really behave instead of the technology, we’d be getting somewhere.
2. Following on from the first point, there’s a lack of understanding about disabled people and their needs. Unless we have a personal friend or relative with a disability, we’re unlikely to have much contact with disabled people for any kind of focus group or user testing. This needs to change to allow for more dialogue and real life testing instead of making assumptions.
3. There were some tools that people would love access to. Dr Nava Tintarev talked about using visual icons to help children with limited abilities to communicate. It turns out that currently those icons, unless you create them yourself, are nearly impossible to licence. A few folks were wondering if it were feasible or possible to create a visual language that could be open-sourced so that more people could implement them in their apps and services – be that web or mobile. Can that happen?
4. Accessibility works both ways. Disability groups could offer more assistance and support to help the rest of us to help those who do have some kind of impairment. The trouble is, most of us just have no experience of this and need to be guided as to how best to help. We don’t know what questions to ask or things to look out for. Legislation isn’t the answer, but communication is.
5. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Scotland.

Upcoming workshops in Belfast and London on 26 September.

Have a look at the storify below and lanyrd pages for more links and notes from the day.


Thank you to Geoff Ballinger at Mobile Monday Edinburgh and Mobile Acuity, Alisdair Gunn from Interactive Scotland, Mark Daniels from Inspace, Deaf Action for finding the wonderful Rosie who BSL signed the event for us, ICT KTN and Vodafone Foundation Smart Accessibility Awards for their financial support and to all our speakers – Ian Osborne from ICT KTN, Kate Ho from Interface3, Nava Tintarev from Aberdeen University, Gary Macfarlane from Assist Mi and Access4AllApps, Alison Smith from Pesky People, Tim Willis from Flexpansion and Matthew Aylett from Cereproc.