Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have the potential of facilitating the lives of most users, including elderly and disabled people. There is, however, a number of frequently-observed obstacles to the accessibility of ICT devices and services. Experience consistently shows that user-interface innovations for consumer products are being researched and developed without taking into account the needs of people with mild or severe impairments such as elderly people. Many companies do not see a business case in offering barrier-free products. This situation is not helped by the fact that product and service developers can be unaware of the requirements of customers with impairments and therefore lack the insight into appropriate design solutions that may not be very demanding in terms of R&D and production costs. For most user-interface design challenges a number of different solutions exist today that are particularly suitable for different user groups. Successful user-interface design encompasses the selection and combination of those user-interface modalities with the goal of supporting the most diverse user community possible. One obvious solution has traditionally been to offer personalisation features to be employed by the users to adapt the user interface to their specific requirements. For example, most mobile phones allow the selection of individual ringer tones and display backgrounds to adapt frequency range and visual contrast to the user’s needs. Some manufacturers offer user profiles for specific user groups such as senior citizens that affect a number of device settings. There are, however, limits to the extent to which personalisation of this type increases accessibility. ETSI, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, has established a Specialist Task Force (STF) 377 on “Inclusive eServices for all: Optimizing the accessibility and use of upcoming user interaction technology”1 . The aim of this working group is to systematically evaluate ongoing and forthcoming interaction technologies to sketch a 10-year roadmap of foreseen technological enablers. Without such early involvement into the research and development, there is a risk that large groups in quickly aging societies will be left behind, not participating from the anticipated technology progress. This paper presents the STF’s motivation and approach on forecasting, analysing and structuring future interaction-technology developments as well as first results of the expected access techniques foreseen for these novel systems.
11. Established/Emerging eServices (I) eService Definition eGovernment eGovernment services include authentication services, electronic application for id-cards, passports, driver’s licenses etc., remote payment of supplies like energy and water, as well as eTax services that include the electronic filing of tax forms, electronic payment of taxes, and communication with tax offices. eHealth eHealth services are, among others telecare services, remote health monitoring, access to patient data, remote diagnosis and electronic prescription services. Social services delivered through electronic means Social services delivered through electronic means comprise remote supervision of people in need, ICT-supported caretaking (incl. robotics applications), social communities, electronic support for old people in need, messaging services, sharing services for pictures, video and music, ICT supported access to personalized human assistance.
12. Established/Emerging eServices (II) Home automation services supply services, energy management, light and entertainment management in the house, remote building control. Home automation services eBanking requires secure transmission and transaction services, remote authentication services as well as data- and secure information delivery to customers (e.g. for bank statements). eBanking eService Definition Electronic Purchasing Electronic Purchasing services include and require electronic payment, authentication services, information and database search, and secure transactional communication, electronic travel booking and management, download of electronic content (music, video) and applications (APP stores). Information services Incl news, sports results, information retrieval
13. Established/Emerging eServices (III) eLearning services comprise, among others, remote access to school and university databases, virtual classrooms and remote teaching, remote access to museums. eLearning Mobile office applications include remote access to office data, CSCW environments, electronic publishing services, remote translation services, messaging services, remote conference services, mobile email access, remote storage of personal data, etc. Mobile office applications eGames and Entertainment comprise all sorts of interactive games played with remote partners of communication networks, delivery of information and entertainment content to customers, electronic pets, eSex services, and remote support and monitoring of activities like exercising. eGames and Entertainment eService Definition
16. Work stage 2: service interaction profiles (I) X X X X X X X E-mail exchange X X Collaborative editing X X X X Video conferencing X X X X X Voice conferencing X X X X Telepresence X X Push to talk X X X X X X Text telephony X X X X Instant messaging / chat X X X X X X X X Total conversation X X X X X X X X X Video conversation X X X X X X X X X Voice conversation eGames Mobile Office eLearning Infomration Services Electronic Purchasing eBanking Home Automation Social Service EHealth eGovern
17. Work stage 2: service interaction profiles (II) X X X X X X X Location-related X X X X X X X Presence/context X X X X X X X X Identification-related X X X X Interactive digital broadcast X X X X X X Application/data upload/download X X X X X File sharing X X X X X X X X Form filling X X X X X X X Information browsing X X X X X X Multimedia messaging X X X X X X X X X X Text messaging eGames Mobile Office eLearning Infomration Electronic Purchasing eBanking Home Automation Social Service EHealth eGovern
18. Work stage 2: service interaction profiles Interaction Modality Definition Input Haptic / tactile /kinesthetic Acutation / sensation of touch and/or movement Audio Sounds generation and utterances Visual Visual presence / optical signal generation Place / location Interaction based on place / location Biometric signals Generation and use of biometric signals Smell Ability to produce smell Mediated Everything a human can use as input modalities with the help of different systems Output Touch / movement Sensation of touch and/or movement Audio Perceptions of sound and utterances Visual Visual presence / optical signal perception Biometric Perception and use of biometric signals Smell Ability to smell Taste Ability to taste Mediated Everything a human can perceive based on other (technical) systems
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32. Virtual augmented reality Furmanski C, Azuma R, Daily M Augmented-reality visualizations guided by cognition: Perceptual heuristics for combining visible and obscured information Proceedings of the International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR’02)