April 2009
08/04/09 11:12
CSUN in LA - but no DTV: Sounding like a travel convention, particularly when held in Los Angeles, CSUN is actually an annual International Conference on Technology and Persons with Disabilities. I flew out last month (March) to get the latest.
It’s housed in four exhibition halls in two hotels at the airport. When they said the airport, they meant it. The runways were either side of the hotel – you couldn’t get closer if you tried.
The workshops covered a vast range of disabilities and subject matters ranging in diversity from “How to get your iPod/iTunes to talk to you” through to weightier matters such as the “UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”.
The majority of attendees had one form of disability or another, making one appreciate how much work has to be done to make Digital Technology, particularly TV, accessible to all.
Discussions with a number of user groups representing the blind and partially sighted people from America, Australia and New Zealand revealed how far ahead usability is within the UK – and how much we need to communicate to the international market.
Most people I spoke to had heard directly or indirectly of our RNIB project to deliver Text to Speech to market. They were keen to understand how this was achieved bearing in mind the plethora of parties to be dealt with in the process: component manufacturers, CE manufacturers, Broadcasters, Government, Regulators and Retailers. Then there’s the final consolidation of user group requirements, all of whom are trying to deliver solutions in an Open Standard format.
Pretty sobering to note no sign of any of the exhibitors addressing the needs of disabilities within primary digital television space.
I find this very difficult to understand. Particularly as the world, without exception, is moving into a digital only broadcast format which offers so many potential solutions to consumers with disabilities but also, dare I say it for political incorrectness, to a range of consumers with a disability not normally considered by the disability forums: and that's people who find technology itself 'disabling'.
Here in the UK, some consumers are asserting they would prefer not to watch TV rather than have to get to grips with the technology necessary to deliver it digitally.
So, ironically, if we can find practical solutions for improvement and usability in technology for people with disabilities, we could make technology accessible to all.
I hope that next year’s CSUN conference (scheduled for March 22nd – 27th in San Diego, California) will have, if nothing else, workshops addressing the subject of digital television and usability. An opportunity here for the experiences of lead countries to be shared with all.
Keynote speaker, Anthony Coelho is a former US congressman actively involved with the new American administration where he is promoting the issues to do with usability within technology for those with disabilities. It was an enlightening address, and one other governments should take inspiration from, proving that technology when properly designed and thought through can bring benefit to a considerable number of people.
I have been to a lot of conferences in recent years but this was the first specifically on disabilities and I have never heard so much light hearted cheer and banter. It was a really refreshing experience - a reminder to me to smile!
It’s housed in four exhibition halls in two hotels at the airport. When they said the airport, they meant it. The runways were either side of the hotel – you couldn’t get closer if you tried.
The workshops covered a vast range of disabilities and subject matters ranging in diversity from “How to get your iPod/iTunes to talk to you” through to weightier matters such as the “UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”.
The majority of attendees had one form of disability or another, making one appreciate how much work has to be done to make Digital Technology, particularly TV, accessible to all.
Discussions with a number of user groups representing the blind and partially sighted people from America, Australia and New Zealand revealed how far ahead usability is within the UK – and how much we need to communicate to the international market.
Most people I spoke to had heard directly or indirectly of our RNIB project to deliver Text to Speech to market. They were keen to understand how this was achieved bearing in mind the plethora of parties to be dealt with in the process: component manufacturers, CE manufacturers, Broadcasters, Government, Regulators and Retailers. Then there’s the final consolidation of user group requirements, all of whom are trying to deliver solutions in an Open Standard format.
Pretty sobering to note no sign of any of the exhibitors addressing the needs of disabilities within primary digital television space.
I find this very difficult to understand. Particularly as the world, without exception, is moving into a digital only broadcast format which offers so many potential solutions to consumers with disabilities but also, dare I say it for political incorrectness, to a range of consumers with a disability not normally considered by the disability forums: and that's people who find technology itself 'disabling'.
Here in the UK, some consumers are asserting they would prefer not to watch TV rather than have to get to grips with the technology necessary to deliver it digitally.
So, ironically, if we can find practical solutions for improvement and usability in technology for people with disabilities, we could make technology accessible to all.
I hope that next year’s CSUN conference (scheduled for March 22nd – 27th in San Diego, California) will have, if nothing else, workshops addressing the subject of digital television and usability. An opportunity here for the experiences of lead countries to be shared with all.
Keynote speaker, Anthony Coelho is a former US congressman actively involved with the new American administration where he is promoting the issues to do with usability within technology for those with disabilities. It was an enlightening address, and one other governments should take inspiration from, proving that technology when properly designed and thought through can bring benefit to a considerable number of people.
I have been to a lot of conferences in recent years but this was the first specifically on disabilities and I have never heard so much light hearted cheer and banter. It was a really refreshing experience - a reminder to me to smile!