The Design for All Approach in the Ict Environment and the European Design for All E-accessibility Network

Society is undergoing an important evolution toward an information society. Access to information, interpersonal communication and control of the environment mediated by the intelligent network are considered important for inclusion of all citizens. They must be granted access to all facilities in the society (Universal Access). Universal Access must be pursued both by making everything (systems, services and applications) accessible, but also designing an environment that is supportive and facilitates all activities of the inhabitants. This in turn requires a conceptual framework and implementation approaches summarized in the “Design for All” locution, which is superseding the classical concept of adaptations of product for accessibility (Assistive Technology), even if the two approaches will have to coexist at least in the short/medium terms. Toward an information society Our society is undergoing a fundamental transition, from the present industrial society towards an information society. Almost all experts agree on the fact that the Information Society will “not be” the use of an increased number of computers and terminals, such as the ones we are accustomed to use today, or at least this will occur only in small professional activity niches or only for few general activities. Wearable computers, disappearing computers, mobile systems, ambient intelligence, and a variety of technical platforms are some of the expressions emerging from technical discussions. The emerging environment (Ambient Intelligence – AmI) is supposed to be populated by a multitude of hand-held and wearable “micro-devices” and computational power and interaction peripherals (e.g., embedded screens and speakers, ambient displays) will be distributed in the environment. The interaction with the objects and with the intelligence in the environment will allow access to information, interpersonal communication and environmental control. On the user side, it is starting to become clear that the variety of users will increase to the point of including practically all citizens, since the entire society is supposed to become an “intelligent environment”, with a variety of contexts of use, ranging from public spaces to professional environments, from entertainment activities to living environments. This new technological environment is mainly produced by the fusion of information technology, telecommunications and media industries. This fusion must not be viewed from the trivial technological perspective that telecommunications networks are now built using CIB W084 “Building Comfortable and Liveable Environments for All” International Meeting “Technological Tools Supporting The Accessible Environment” Georgia Tech University, Atlanta, USA 15-16 May 2008 135 computer technology (a telephone exchange, for example, is really a specialized computer) and that computers are normally networked. What is really interesting is that computer intelligence is progressively being transformed into a distributed function. A computer is no longer conceived of as a stand-alone system working on its own data, but as an intelligent agent able to cooperate with other remote intelligent human or artificial agents (hardware and software) on distributed data. Communications is no longer considered as an additional functionality of computers, but as an integral part of their hardware and, in particular, software systems. Moreover, interconnected computers are starting to be embedded everywhere: in cars, hi-fi systems, kitchen equipment, clocks, shavers, etc. This development is potentially very promising for users. According to European development scenarios (ISTAG – Ducatel, 2001), from a socio-economic perspective ambient intelligence is supposed: • to facilitate human contacts; • to be oriented towards community and cultural enhancement; • to help build knowledge and skills for work, better quality of work, citizenship and consumer choice; • to inspire trust and confidence; • to be consistent with long-term sustainability personal, societal and environmental and with life-long learning; • to be controllable by ordinary people. Moreover, from a human-computer interaction perspective, interaction with the intelligent environment will have to be redefined. Namely, the ambient intelligence environment is supposed to be developed in order to be unobtrusive (i.e. many distributed devices are embedded in the environment, and do not intrude into our consciousness unless we need them), personalized (i.e. it can recognize the user, and its behavior can be tailored to the user’s needs), adaptive (i.e. its behavior can change in response to a person’s actions and environment), and anticipatory (i.e. it anticipates a person’s desires and environment as much as possible without the need for mediation). Therefore, the emphasis is put on greater userfriendliness, more efficient support of services, user-empowerment, and support for human interaction. Interaction is intended as taking place through “natural” interfaces.