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Subject: E-Access Bulletin, October 2001

E-ACCESS BULLETIN.

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[Issue starts.]

ISSUE 22, OCTOBER 2001.

CONTENTS:

Section one: News.

- EU steps up drive for accessibility: commission champions
international guidelines.

- Banks attempt to address poor access record: new guide to improve
online financial services.

- First young people's chat room aimed at visually impaired children:
Scottish initiative unveiled.

- International teenagers camp comes to UK: ninth International
Computer Camp hosted by the RNIB.

- Dance group seeks technology advice: community project produce CD-
ROM.

- Text messages translated to speech: Telecom Italia Mobile innovates.

News in brief: W3C guidelines on use of patented technologies; Digital
discrimination warning; Bookshare seeks volunteers; 'JawBone'
software supplier.

Section two: Focus
- European Commission: Millions of euros invested in wave of
accessibility research.

Section three: Interview
- Beta testing: AOL director of accessibility takes the chair.

Section four: Reader response
- Glucometers: technology advice from blind people who are diabetic.

[Contents ends.]


SECTION ONE - NEWS.


EU STEPS UP DRIVE FOR ACCESSIBILITY.

The European Commission is urging other European institutions and
member states to abide by the World Wide Web Consortium's Web
Accessibility Initiative guidelines, on the back of a major new research
funding drive (see section two, this issue).

The commission said last month that the EU's office of publications has
launched a pilot project to make European treaties accessible to people
with visual impairment. Europa, the main EU site
(http://www.europa.eu.int), will "adopt the guidelines" from the end of
this year, the commission said.

Adoption of the guidelines, however, does not mean the site itself will
be
good enough to be awarded a World Wide Web Consortium 'web
accessibility initiative' kite mark (http://www.w3.org/wai). "It is one
thing to adopt the guidelines and another thing to apply them," a
spokesperson said. One difficulty posed by the overhauling of Europa is
that it is designed and maintained by a large number of independent
groups.

An EU inter-services group on disabilities plans to build a web site
giving all European agencies useful information about accessible design
to a large number of independent designers responsible for the Europa
web site. If opened up to developers beyond the European institutions as
planned, the site could help further the commission's mission to
encourage member states to take accessibility seriously.

The European Commission has already invested 2.5 million euros in
research into Internet access for the visually impaired (see section
two).


BANKS ATTEMPT TO ADDRESS POOR ACCESS RECORD.

A new guide to help banks improve online services for the blind and
visually impaired is to be launched next week by the British Bankers
Association in association with the RNIB.

An earlier report published by the RNIB last year, 'Get the message
online', had found that all banks surveyed failed to reach the most
basic
standards of accessibility in their web services. The BBA subsequently
requested a meeting to ask how they could get it right, and the new
report
is the result of that process.

RNIB researchers examined how easy it would be for a blind user to set
up a current account online. Six banks, which have requested to remain
anonymous, offered privileged access to accounts and worked with
visually impaired people to carry out user testing over a six-month
period.

"The number one type of site we receive complaints about are banking
ones," says RNIB Internet campaigns manager Julie Howell. "Blind
people always have to queue inside the bank as the machines are
impossible to use. If you are not confident about using the technology
in
the first place the last thing you would want to do is conduct financial
transactions."

'Accessible e-banking' will be available in print, Braille, tape and
electronic formats from the RNIB (http://www.rnib.org.uk/technology)
and the BBA (http://www.bba.org.uk ).


FIRST YOUNG PEOPLE'S CHAT ROOM OPENS IN SCOTLAND.

The first Internet chat room service aimed at visually impaired and
blind
children has been launched by Visual Impairment Scotland
(http://www.viscotland.org.uk), a new body of experts based at
Edinburgh University's Scottish Sensory Centre.

"We wanted to bring together kids from all over Scotland - many go to
mainstream schools and don't know other children with a visual
impairment," says VIS research and service manager John Ravenscroft.
"We wanted to develop a sense of community from the Borders to
Aberdeen so it doesn't matter if you're the only kid in school with
sight
difficulties, you are not isolated - you can come here and talk about
football, movies and kids' stuff."

The initiative, funded by the Scottish Executive, started a month ago
and
has about 30 children registered. There are two chat room areas: one for
younger children around eight and another for those aged up to sixteen.
Participants have to join the 'Viskids Club', open to young people in
Scotland with a visual impairment
(http://www.viscotland.org.uk/textimages/VISKIDS/front.htm).

Ravenscroft says: "In future we would like to set up a voice activated
site
but the available software is too expensive and requires too much
downloading time for the kids. At the moment the system we have gives
fast access for everyone, but if we change it the service will start to
become discriminatory as those with broadband get faster access. If
anyone has a solution, I'd be pleased to hear from them."


INTERNATIONAL TEENAGERS CAMP COMES TO UK.

The ninth International Computer Camp for blind and visually impaired
teenagers is to be held in the UK next year, hosted by the RNIB.

Around 120 students aged 17-20 from 10 countries will come to
Loughborough Vocational College to take part in workshops on
everything from simple skills like adjusting a computer screen to making
music using computers.

The ICC project is led by the Computer Science for the Blind team at the
Johannes Kepler University Linz in Austria (http://www.mvblind.uni-
linz.ac.at) and has expanded to include some 21 partner countries. The
first three camps were held in Austria, followed by the Netherlands,
France, Sweden, Germany and this year in Slovenia.

Any student can apply to attend the camp, although only 12 will be
selected from each country next year. Applicants should already have
basic keyboard skills and an interest in technology, and should speak
English.

A web site on next year's event will go live at the end of October [note
at
the time of writing this site is not yet live] at:
http://www.rnib.org.uk/technology/icc
and potential UK applicants, who should not have attended a previous
RNIB summer camp, should email Angela Dinning on
[log in to unmask]

For more information on the ICC project see:
http://www.mvblind.uni-linz.ac.at/mvb/events/icc/


DANCE GROUP SEEKS TECHNOLOGY ADVICE.

The Manchester-based arts group Touchdown Dance, which runs
community dance workshops and projects for visually impaired and
blind people of all ages, is set to release a CD-ROM on its work.

The disk will include information on dance workshops and the group's
working methods; a performance section with video clips, and a section
on touch-based work. It will also carry links to other relevant and
partner
organisations.

"We hope to provide a full picture of the potential of touch as a
language; this hits back at the hysteria around touch in educational
settings," says the group's director Katy Dymoke.

However she says there have been some technical problems with making
the CD accessible, and would appreciate advice from E-Access Bulletin
readers in a number of areas. "I am struggling to get good information
about the compatibility of software such as voice translation software
and enlargement software.

"The CD-ROM carries mostly text and images with some video clips and
sound. What seems to happen is that [the screen-reader] JAWS doesn't
recognise the text. It has been suggested that the music file on the CD
may compete with JAWS for the sound card, so I need to find out about
compatible software.

"For navigation we are using the arrow keys to move to the home page,
back, next, and exit. We have soft pastel colours behind the text, and
would also like to know if there is any preference for suitable colours.
I
imagine it is hard to have a general view on this but any suggestions
are
welcome."

Anyone with any advice should email E-Access Bulletin editor Dan
Jellinek on [log in to unmask] and he will forward it to Katy Dymoke.
Touchdown's fledgling website is at:
http://www.touchdowndance.co.uk

* The Grange Museum of Community History, run by Brent council in
London, has recently opened a two-month 'Makonde' exhibition of East
African Sculpture aimed partially at people with visual impairments.
Visitors are able to touch the sculptures and Braille labels and large
print
information are available. See:
http://www.brent.gov.uk/grangemuseum


TALKING TEXT MESSAGES LAUNCHED IN ITALY.

Blind people in Italy will soon be able to send and receive text
messages
thanks to a new service launched by Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) in
association with the Italian Union of the Blind (http://www.uiciechi.it)

TIM (http://www.tim.it) will produce GSM cards that are able to
translate and send vocal format messages. A sound signal will indicate
an
incoming message and the recipient will dial 49600 to access it. To send
a message the user will key the same number. The service will be
provided at no extra cost.


NEWS IN BRIEF:

PATENTLY UNFAIR? - W3C, the Internet standards body, is seeking
the opinions of access developers on its controversial new draft policy
on
the potential formation of guidelines in the future that imply the use
of
patented technologies. The deadline for feedback has been extended until
tomorrow (11 October) following protests from the open source lobby:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/WD-patent-policy-20010816

DIGITAL DISCRIMINATION: If large companies are found in future to
have discriminated against disabled people by producing inaccessible
web sites, the consequential media coverage could have a substantially
detrimental effect on their image, according to a new report by Martin
Sloan, associate at digital charity HumanITy:
http://www.humanity.org.uk/research/martin_sloan_article.html

BOOK APPEAL: Bookshare.org, a web site which plans to allow US
citizens who are registered blind to share digital books, is inviting
people
to volunteer to scan and prepare books.
http://www.bookshare.org/next/volunteer

JAWBONE SUPPLIER: Our September article on voice recognition
technologies suggested there are a number of UK companies that could
supply 'JawBone' software
(http://www.ngtvoice.com/software/jawbone), which links together the
JAWS for Windows screen reader and the Dragon NaturallySpeaking
voice recognition solution. In fact, T&T Consultancy is the sole
authorised UK distributor of JawBone:
http://www.tandt-consultancy.co.uk

[Section One ends.]


SECTION TWO: FOCUS
- EUROPEAN COMMISSION.

MILLIONS OF EUROS INVESTED IN WAVE OF ACCESSIBILITY
RESEARCH.
By Phil Cain  [log in to unmask]

The European Commission's adoption of W3C accessibility guidelines
(see news, this issue) follows a significant new cash injection by the
organisation in this field. In the past nine months alone it has
invested
3.7 million euros, or 2.5 million UK pounds, in technology accessibility
research projects.

The first access project to gain commission backing was 'IRIS', an
initiative that upholds the commission's proud tradition of acronymic
creativity - it stands for 'Incorporating Requirements of People with
Special Needs or Impairments to Internet Based Systems and Services'.
The 1.8 million euro project received commission funding of 1.2 million
euros in January.

By the end of its 30-month lifespan IRIS aims to create a commercially
viable software package and user community to help designers create
accessible web sites. Project leader Nikitas Tsopelas of Greek web
consultancy European Dynamics (http://www.eurodyn.com) said
development would begin in 2002 and that news will be posted to the
project's web site: http://www.iris-design4all.org/progress.htm

According to Tsopelas the last nine months have been spent assessing
user requirements with the assistance of Belgian charity Information
Society disAbilities Challenge (ISdAC, http://www.isdac.org).
According to IsDAC chairman Tony Verelst, IRIS recently
commissioned his organisation to provide feedback on a web forum.

In August, the commission contributed a further 1.4 million euros
towards a 2.0 million euro project snappily entitled Smart Interactive
Tactile Interface Effecting Graphical Display for the Visually Impaired.
'ITACTI', as it is thankfully known for short, is a three-year project
to
use new 'smart' materials to make tactile displays and software to drive
them from a standard PC.

According to the project's funding statement, "It is expected that
electro-
rheological fluid will be chosen to facilitate the production of a
matrix of
moving dots." The technology referred to here is that of 'smart' or
'intelligent' fluids that change their viscosity massively on
application of
an electronic current, effectively temporarily solidifying.

The ITACTI project is the only one of the three commission-backed IT-
access research projects to be led by a UK-based organisation - the
Faculty of Applied Sciences at De Montfort University
(http://www.dmu.ac.uk/Faculties/AS ). The non-UK
members of the ITACTI consortium include Italy's Associazione
Nazionale Subvedenti (http://www.subvedenti.it ), a charity
for the visually impaired.

The third and most recent commission-backed accessibility project is
Voice for Information Society Universal Access Learning (VISUAL),
which in September received 1.1 million euros from the commission
towards its 1.6 million euro costs. The project will last for a year,
with
the first partners' meeting scheduled for 17 October in Madrid.

VISUAL plans to use VoiceXML technology to develop software to
enable people to design web sites which can navigated by voice. The
group aim to ensure the design software itself is accessible and
compatible with mainstream web design packages.

Among VISUAL's other aims is the creation of a multilingual, voice-
activated e-learning portal. The cosmopolitan make up of the VISUAL
team may prove useful in achieving this ambition: Keith Gladstone of the
RNIB and Helen Petrie of the University of Hertfordshire are the only
native English speakers in the team.

The initiative is being led by Spanish telecoms technology firm
Soluziona Telecomunicaciones (http://www.ipt.es), with other
participants including French charity La Fédération des Aveugles et
Handicapés Visuels de France (http://www.faf.asso.fr ) and
German and Italian charities Deutsche Blinden- und
Sehbehindertenverband (http://home.t-online.de/home/dbsv_) and
Unione Italiana dei Ciechi (http://www.uiciechi.it) and the European
Blind Union (http://www.euroblind.org).

All three of these new research projects could prove useful to the
European Commission in its attempt to kick-start the process of making
the web sites of European institutions and member states accessible.
IRIS
in particular seems like it could be particularly useful resource for EU
institutions themselves - and who knows, one day EU sites might be
voice-enabled in all official member languages using VISUAL
technology.

[Section two ends.]


SECTION THREE: INTERVIEW.
-BETA TESTING.

AOL: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Last month we looked at the issues surrounding accessibility 'beta
testing', the practice of inviting blind and visually impaired people
and
other groups to test pre-release versions of software for ease of use
(see
E-Access Bulletin, September 2001). In particular we looked at concerns
raised by the beta testing process for AOL's new service software, AOL
version 7.0. This month, AOL's director of accessibility Debbie Fletter
offers answers some of these concerns put to her by E-Access Bulletin -
these are reproduced below in a Q and A format.

Q: Which countries are involved in the beta testing?

A: The current beta test focusing on accessibility is for people
accessing
the AOL service in the US. Although the beta testing service is also
available in the UK and some other places, each country has both a
different beta area as well as a different schedule for the release of
AOL
7.0 - the AOL software that has the majority of accessibility
improvements. Each country also has different schedules for
accessibility. We have not announced a schedule.

We plan to incorporate the improvements for increased accessibility
across our international services as we roll out future versions of AOL.

Q: Are beta-testers required to submit their credit card numbers and
personal details, and if so, why if the service is being offered to them
free?

AOL can only be accessed through our proprietary software and service,
every one of our more than 400,000 beta testers must have an AOL
account in order to participate. So taking part in this special offer
does
require a credit card, as all of our members must provide one in case
additional services are charged to their accounts, but nothing will be
charged to it unless the member adds additional services or chooses to
stay with AOL after a special free one-year period has ended.

Q: How do you qualify for the free period?

A: You need to be recommended by our Accessibility Advisory
Committee. To gain their approval, a person needs to be a Microsoft
Windows user, and a user of screen readers, screen magnifiers, text
output, voice recognition, or alternatives to keyboard and mice. Testers
must also be willing to report back to us on their AOL experiences at
least once a week for the duration of the beta test.

Q: How long will the testing period last?

A: AOL will contact testers when the beta test is complete.

Q: Is there any automatic mechanism build into the site to terminate
membership when the beta test period ends?

A: We hope that most of our beta testers enjoy our service and decide to
stay as AOL members after the one-year ends, but if a beta tester
chooses
not to do so, they can call our member services representatives at
1-888-
265-8008 or go to keyword: Cancel.

Q: Is there any documentation that testers can retain to prove they have
terminated their membership?

A: They can ask the member services representative to send a
confirmation if they choose to do so.

Q: Are personal details and credit card details verified or stored for
future use?

A: As we state in our privacy policy, AOL does store credit card
information for billing purposes, but we do not use any information
about where our members go on the Internet or the service, nor do we
share that information with any outside entities.

Q: Has the new version eliminated the ability to produce plain text
emails?

A: No, our members can produce plain text email, by following 'help'
instructions that show them how to do so.

Q: How many in-house accessibility experts does AOL employ?

A: AOL's commitment to accessibility can be seen not just in the
creation
of my own position as director of accessibility, but in the hundreds of
our
employees who have been trained on numerous aspects of accessibility
and assistive technology. We have staff who know how to build and test
for accessibility across the company including development, project
management, quality assurance, and design, to name but a few. More
importantly, every new service or product developed by AOL must now
be reviewed and approved by the the accessibility group within AOL.

Which consultancies and/or non-profit groups does AOL work with?

We convene an accessibility advisory committee in person twice a year
and communicate via email list on a regular basis. This committee
includes experts from the American Federation for the Blind; National
Federation of the Blind; National Organization on Disability; World
Institute on Disability; Visions for Independent Living; American
Association for People with Disabilities; National Centre for Accessible
Media; Alliance for Technology Access; and the National Association
for the Deaf.

We also work with disability and accessibility consultants who assist us
in areas of product development and design, assistive technology, and
consumer help as well as development and/or software licensing
agreements with screen reader vendors.

AOL strongly believes that the Internet and the AOL service should be
friendly and easy-to-use for all customers, including those with
disabilities. That's why - starting with our beta testing for AOL 6.0
last
year - we've made a focused and concerted effort to make sure that our
products are tested and enhanced for accessibility.

[Section three ends.]


SECTION FOUR: READER RESPONSE
- TALKING GLUCOMETERS.

COMPUTER CONNECTIONS AID DIABETICS.

In our last issue a reader wrote in for advice from blind people who are
diabetic and use speaking blood sugar monitors, or 'glucometers', on the
effectiveness of these technologies.

In response, Anna Dresner from the US wrote in to say that she has had a
few weeks' experience using an Accu-Chek VoiceMate
(http://www.accu-
chek.com/products/products/mn_voicemate_system.cfm? ), a meter
manufactured by Roche which is fitted to a voice synthesiser that can
also read certain insulin vials.

"I'm not using the vial reader feature, so can't speak to its
effectiveness.
But the system works well, reading blood sugar results and values stored
in memory," Dresner says. "The only problem is knowing whether you
have enough blood on the strip you use to measure the blood sugar level.
The meter beeps when it thinks there is enough, but in reality the strip
can be anywhere from half full to full, and when it isn't full, you can
get
some mighty strange readings. This is a limitation of the meter itself,
not
the adaptive synthesiser."

Another limitation of this system is that if the battery in the meter
dies,
"which mine did after three weeks instead of the year it's supposed to
take," the user receives no indication ahead of time that it is low, she
says. "The meter and voice synthesiser each have their own batteries;
they're two separate units. I don't know whether it would be possible
for
the synthesiser to detect that the meter's battery is low, but it would
certainly be nice if it could.

"Still, the synthesiser does what it's supposed to do - it reads the
results
given by the meter. If you can't see to read a standard meter and want
to
be able to check your blood sugar independently, it's worth the money."

Being in the US, her health insurance paid 90% of the cost of the
system,
Dresner says. "I don't know much about the British health care system,
but I would definitely check to see whether some or all of the cost
could
be paid through that system or an organisation for the blind."

Meanwhile another reader, Martin Slack, writes in to say: "I was
diabetic
on insulin when registered blind a couple of years ago and up to that
time
had used an ordinary meter with a three-quarter inch high LCD display.
When I became unable to read this, I too began to investigate speaking
glucometers with the assistance of my local diabetes nurse at Stafford
District General Hospital.

"The hospital did in fact have a British speaking glucometer but its
technology was not very up to date as its manufacture had ceased some
years previously, and apparently the whole thing was about the size of a
shoe-box and not very user-friendly. As your correspondent says, the US
versions cost about 500 US dollars but if one already has access to a
computer with a screen reader there is a cheaper alternative."

"There are on the market a small number of meters which can transfer
their readings to a computer and screen reading software can then do the
rest. Of course if you have to start by buying the computer then it will
be
cheaper to go for the speaking meter but otherwise it is simply a case
of
sorting through the few computer aware meters available."

Diabetes UK (http://www.diabetes.org.uk) has recently reviewed
glucometers in its membership periodical 'Balance', says Slack.

The glucometer he settled for is the Bayer Glucometer Esprit
(http://www.glucometer.co.uk). As well as its computer connection, this
system features test strips which are not the usual 'open' type but are
folded in half longitudinally so that when the end of the strip touches
the
drop of blood on the finger the blood is sucked into the strip by
surface
tension. "This is somewhat easier than trying to aim the drop of blood
onto the sensitive area on a normal test strip," Slack says. The meter
can
be set to beep when sufficient blood has entered the test strip, as well
as
when the reading is ready about 30 seconds later.

"Using this approach means that it takes about five minutes to take one
reading, but on the other hand the software provides a ready-made record
of the readings with convenient graphical displays and printouts
available."

The software required, called WinGlucofacts, can be downloaded from
the Glucometer Esprit web site at:
http://www.glucometer.co.uk/esprit/glucofacts.html
WinGlucofacts is free but about 5 MB in size. There is also a form to
email an order for the interconnecting cable which links the meter to a
serial port on the computer.

* For a comparative list of glucometers from Diabetes UK including
details on computer compatibility, see:
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/manage/products/meters.htm)

[Section four ends.]


HOW TO RECEIVE THIS BULLETIN.

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Copyright 2001 Headstar Ltd. http://www.headstar.com The Bulletin
may be reproduced in full as long as all parts including this copyright
notice are included. Sections of the report may be quoted as long as
they
are clearly sourced as 'taken from e-access bulletin, a free monthly
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newsletter', and our web site address http://www.e-accessibility.com is
also cited.

PERSONNEL:
Editor - Dan Jellinek  [log in to unmask]
Deputy Editor - Phil Cain  [log in to unmask]
Reporter - Tamara Fletcher  [log in to unmask]
Editorial Advisor - Kevin Carey  [log in to unmask]

[Issue ends.]


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