Research

Researchers listed alphabetically by surname

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E

Prof. Randolph D. Easton
Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467-3807, United States of America.
Tel: +1 (617) 552-4101
Fax: +1 (617) 552-0523
Email: easton@bc.edu
Web: www.bc.edu/
Publications

Current & recent projects

Blind pedestrian’s access to complex intersections.
Co-worker(s): Billie Betzen
Continuation of previous project funded under the same research action. Aim is to develop previous work, which included:

Determining the optimal characteristics of push-button locator and WALK signal tones, and comparing different accessible pedestrian signals (APS) technologies.
Carrying out a demonstration project using optimal APS technology.
Determining optimal characteristics for the visually impaired traveler with respect to optimal characteristics of tone signals for detection and beaconing in the presence of vehicular noise.
Identifying signal strategies to enable correct determination of which crosswalk has the WALK signal and the most positive impact on alignment and veering.
Height of the audible signal.
Effect of locator tone on crossing accuracy.

Project start date: 2007
Project end date: 2012

Last updated: 09/01/2008

Dr. Alistair Edwards
Department of Computer Science, University of York, Heslington, York, YO1 5DD, United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0) 1904 43 27 75
Fax: +44 (0) 1904 43 27 67
Email: alistair.edwards@cs.york.ac.uk
Web: www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/
Publications

Current & recent projects

Producing tactile diagrams for commercial use
Co-worker(s): Helen Petrie, Dawn Cliff
Ongoing project producing high quality and innovative tactile drawings, maps and guides for blind and visually impaired people. Images, pictures, objects, buildings or open spaces are 'visually translated' into a 2-dimensional raised-line picture. This image can be read by the fingertips as well as being viewed by the eyes.
Ongoing

Last updated: 31/10/2007

Dr. Tony Elliman
Brunel University, School of Information Systems, Computing and Mathematics, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, UB8 3PH, UK.
Tel: +44 1895 266022
Web: www.project-diadem.eu/

Current & recent projects

DIADEM - Delivering Inclusive Access for Disabled and Elderly Members of the community
Participant organisations: Norwegian National Computer Centre; Bluegarden (Norwegian IT supplier); MORE (Norwegian IT supplier); CSI-Piemonte (Italy); Sheffield City Council; Citta Di Torino (Italy)

The goal of DIADEM is to provide an adaptable web browser interface that monitors the ability of the user to interact with the system and dynamically offers personalisation of the interface to optimise assistance to that specific user. This will be achieved by developing an expert system which will be located on the users PC and will ensure that the many services available over the internet are open and accessible to as many people as possible, whilst providing privacy and security. The technology will also be extended into the workplace, enabling people to be more in control of their working environment.
Project start date: 01/09/2006
Project end date: 31/08/2009

Last updated: 19/03/2008

Prof. Jan Engelen
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Departement Elektrotechniek-ESAT, SCD - Onderzoeksgroep Document, Architecturen, Kasteelpark Arenberg 10, 3001 Leuven-Heverlee, Belgium.
Tel: +32 16 32 11 23
Fax +32 16 32 85 39
Email: jan.engelen@esat.kuleuven.be
Web: www.docarch.be
Publications

Current & recent projects

USer EMpowerment in Standardisation (USEM)
The USEM project aims to facilitate, enhance and increase qualification and participation of disabled or elderly users and their respective organisations in the European standardisation process of ICT, by using the Fortune concept. User information networking will improve European exchange of experiences, thus disseminating information and encouraging the uptake of new ICT standardisation. USEM will support a number of important objectives:

to design a core curriculum for the training of end-users;
to qualify more users with disabilities and elderly, which can represent formal and established user organisations, for the participation in European standardisation;
to qualify more users with disabilities for the participation in the design and assessment of European standardisation;
to improve the exchange of experiences by user information networking between different user groups on a European level;
to increase the level of interaction with user societies between the EU countries and the European Disability Forum;
to disseminate information and encourage the uptake of new standards;
to actively involve disabled and elderly people in the whole process of standardisation in IST.

Project start date: 01/04/2007
Project end date: 30/09/2009

@Science
Co-worker(s): Christophe Strobbe, Nadia Diraä
The @Science project aims at facilitating the access to digital scientific resources by visually impaired students and researchers. The main actors involved in this process are scientific resources providers, students, tutors, teachers, assistive technology developers and the university support services for disabled students. The access point to @Science network is the website, which provides information on forthcoming events, best practices and guidelines, success experiences and collaboration tools such as forum and mailing list.
Project start date: 01/10/2006
Project end date: 30/09/2008

Benchmarking Tools and Methods for the Web
Co-worker(s): Christophe Strobbe
BenToWeb aims to support the European public and private sector to implement the recommendations of the eEurope 2005 Action Plan by providing benchmarking tools that support the accessibility recommendations of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
Project start date: 01/09/2004
Project end date: 31/08/2007

Supporting the creation of an e-Accessibility Mark
The Support EAM project is a SPECIFIC SUPPORT ACTION conducted by 7 European organisations (including the K.U.Leuven Research Group on Document Architectures) and funded by the European Commission in the Information Society Technologies 6th Framework Programme (IST-2-004754-SSA). Support-EAM is part of a project cluster with two other IST projects, namely BentoWeb and EIAO. This cluster is known as the WAB (Web Accessibility Benchmarking) Cluster (http://www.wabcluster.org/). The objectives of support-EAM are:

To harmonise the methodologies used for evaluating Website Accessibility (single-site or large-scale) and to validate them involving input from experts from the WAB Cluster (Web Accessibility Benchmarking).
To create an e-Accessibility Quality Mark based on this evaluation methodology and to set up the mechanisms to support and maintain it, by means of a European Authority.
To disseminate this Quality Mark and to exploit it by means of accredited regional centers ("Helpdesks") in Europe

Project start date: 01/10/2004
Project end date: 30/03/2006

Last updated: 03/12/2007

Dr. D. Gareth Evans
School of Informatics, University of Manchester, PO Box 88, Manchester, M60 1QD, United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0) 161 306 3368
Fax: +44 (0) 161 306 3373
Email: David.G.Evans@manchester.ac.uk
Web: www.informatics.manchester.ac.uk/
Publications

Current & recent projects

TeDUB (Technical Drawings for blind people)
Co-worker(s): Paul Blenkhorn (PI)
The TeDUB project is about transforming visual information in technical drawings into an understandable form for blind people.
There are 4 key objectives to be achieved by this project:

To create an environment for blind computer users that is capable of handling technical drawings that were previously digitised.
To create an image processing module which will analyse arbitrary images for contents that match technical drawings.
To create appropriate interface(s) for blind computer users to handle the extracted data.
Platform independence of the proposed system.

Digitised technical drawings are available for use at work, for education, and at home. The domain of the technical drawings used in this project is of electronic, architectural or software engineering (UML) nature. They contain graphical items that follow industrial norms, like ISO or other standards.
Project start date: 01/10/2001
Project end date: 01/01/2005

Last updated: 05/12/2007

Prof. Graeme Evans
Cities Institute, London Metropolitan University, Ladbroke House, 62-66 Highbury Grove, London N5 2AD, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)207 133 5033
Email: g.evans@londonmet.ac.uk
Web: www.citiesinstitute.org/
Publications

Current & recent projects

AUNT-SUE (Accessibility & User Needs in Transport for Sustainable urban Environments)
Co-worker(s): R MacKett, JM Porter, N Tyler, SJ Shaw, H Titheridge, R Sims, J Solomon
The aim of the project is to produce rigorous methodologies for sustainable policies and practices that will deliver effective socially inclusive design and operation in transport and the public realm from macro down to micro level. Three Core Projects will develop decision-support tools that will establish benchmarks and incorporate inclusion into policies, and support the design and operation of journey environments and transport facilities. A real-world but controlled 'Testbed' facility will allow these to be piloted in the context of the policy intentions and constraints that shape implementation. Solutions will then be tested and transferred to other Case Study areas and sites. Four Plus Projects will develop tools to consult socially excluded people, capture 'emotional' data for evaluation of micro-level design, evaluate socially inclusive design initiatives, develop an integrated information system, and produce design-led solutions to barriers caused by personal security concerns.
Project start date: 21/08/2004
Project end date: 31/06/2007

Last updated: 15/11/2007