Conference topics
A number of different fields of knowledge are linked to ICT supporting personal autonomy of people with functional limitations. The following list is not aiming to be exhaustive, but to reflect some of the topics that will be part of DRT4ALL 2009.
User experience of ICT
Methodologies applied to ensure that electronic resources fit users’ abilities and preferences. Assessment of human factors is applied to analyze the quality of human-system relationship, and to generate recommendations to improve it. Human factors of ICT solutions include, but are not limited to, accessibility, usability, ethical and legal aspects, privacy, security of operation, reliability, etc.
Design for All and Support Products
Design for All and Support Products, also known as Assistive Technologies, constitute a complementary approach to Universal Accessibility. In words of the European Commission “Industry needs to take on board the principle of Design for All, encouraging the development of products and services which meet the requirements of the widest possible range of users and uses, as well as products which interact seamlessly with assistive devices to support independent lives for disabled people”.
Telecare
A shift of paradigm in social and health models is pushing for a gradual transfer of hospital and institution based services to the primary care, home and personal environments. From the point of view of providing support to the independent living, different types of services can be provided to end users as well as to formal and informal carers: electronic assistive technologies, personal monitoring, management of home alarms, communication services, etc. These services are in the need of realistic, comprehensive organizational and business models where different stakeholders are duly considered.
Digital Homes
Digital homes are considered as accessibility tools, contributing to improve personal autonomy and quality of life by easing the access to domestic devices and to external support resources. Furthermore, proactiveness of digital homes is being gradually enhanced through the application of artificial intelligence techniques. Different technology areas are involved, including sensors and actuators, buses and protocols, middleware and multi-agent architectures, gateways, etc. Methodological frameworks for designing and assessing human factors aspects are essential to ensure that users’ needs and preferences are met.
Applied robotics
Robotic systems may improve personal autonomy of people with functional limitations. Attention will be paid to evolution in robot based systems applied to several domains (teleoperation, prosthesis, orthesis, guiding systems), and their increasing links with Neuroscience.
Sustainability and inclusive technologies
Addressing sustainability of inclusive technologies is essential to their effective adoption in our society. In health and social care systems, older people and people with functional limitations are the main consumers. Business models describing empowering support are rather complex, as they have to consider costs derived from the supportive technologies or the necessary organisational shifts. But they also have to take into account the comparative savings relative to traditional institutionalisation and hospital based care, as well as the benefit of an increased quality of life. Sustainable schemas should be envisaged, where cost-effectiveness, feasibility, acceptability, and low cost aspects are duly addressed.
Accessible and adapted transport
Information and Communication Technologies facilitate the removal of physical, attitudinal and communication barriers around independent mobility. Stakeholders, such as telecom providers, industry, user representatives, research institutes or local authorities, are welcome to discuss how ICT may support mobility of people with disabilities.