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Tom Nabarro BEng ( hons ) MIET 16 th October 2014. the promise of Assistive Information Technology. INTRODUCTION. Assistive technology (AT) refers to any device that enables us to interact with our environment The technologies I have tried How I have made my choices My experiences
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Tom Nabarro BEng (hons) MIET 16th October 2014 the promise of Assistive Information Technology
INTRODUCTION Assistive technology (AT) refers to any device that enables us to interact with our environment • The technologies I have tried • How I have made my choices • My experiences • What technologies might shape the future?
The technologies I have tried • Voice recognition • Dragon Naturally Speaking • Windows Speech Recognition • Touchscreen devices (pointing aids) • Smart phones and tablets • Pointing devices • Gaze – tobii, “the eye tribe” • Head - smartnav, kinect • Mouth – integramouse For more information contact Andrew @ Aspire
How I have made my choices • I recommend selecting and tailoring the technologies to suit the environment and lifestyle when addressing the user’s needs: "Successful technology arrangements were often characterised by bricolage - pragmatic customisation in which new devices or components were adapted and/or combined with legacy ones ... to ‘fiddle’ with other technologies ... to adapt the home environment to their (often changing) needs“ ‘What matters to older people with assisted living needs? A phenomenological analysis of the use and non-use of telehealthand telecare’ - Trisha Greenhalgh et al. -http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/56407/
Choice: Generic or specific? Assistive technology (AT) can help us interact with our environment through many kinds of electronic device AT doesn’t have to be designed specifically for people with disabilities Examples include voice recognition and home automation technology Benefits of using generic technology?
My experiences • Different interfaces for specific function and/or environment • Focus on reliability and portability • Fit technology to lifestyle not the other way around
Voice recognition @ work My main computer input device at work is “Dragon” • As standard enables browsing and Microsoft applications • enhance functionality can add features using scripting languages • VR toolchain can create library of simple and complex commands for our specific needs • Simple commands trigger keyboard sequences – complex commands trigger other software I benefit enormously from software created by “VoiceCoders” iPhone control demo (quick and dirty)
Assistive Information Technology Innovations that have helped me • Improvement in voice recognition accuracy and support for control • Eye-gaze technologies, integrated into mobile devices, are on the way • Head pointer and sip-puff technologies can be used for fine cursor control • Voice recognition found to be the most portable and flexible solution • Accuracy of eye-gaze improved: now a functional part of workflow • Voice and gaze control to become widespread and lower cost • Interesting developments in human computer interfaces My Experience My Predictions
What Technologies might shape the future Biological sensors Brain computer interfaces Wearable computing Gesture driven control Internet of everything
Thank you • SIA for inviting me to talk • You all for listening • Open-source software enthusiasts for creating free tools • Blog: www.TomNabarro.com • Twitter: @tomnabarro • E-mail: whizz2000@hotmail.com THIS PRESENTATION WAS WRITTEN WITH VOICE RECOGNITION SOFTWARE THANK YOU ALL
resources 1 www.aspire.org.uk/product-information.aspx The aspire charity has lots of useful information regarding accessible technology including reviews and recommendations as well as extensive product lists. Charities Regain sports charity and aspire can give grants for assistance technology products. www.eastin.eu European Assistive Technology Information Network- case studies, papers etc. (some papers may need translating) www.spinal.co.uk/page/tom-nabarro Summary of becoming employed after injury www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/with-wearable-technology-a-new-measure-of-independence-for-some-with-disabilities/2013/08/06/e258757e-fde4-11e2-96a8-d3b921c0924a_story.html www.tomnabarro.com/?p=266 Article on my use of assistive technology http://www.onelist.com/community/VoiceCoder Mailing list dedicated to the subject of programming using voice recognition software. 2 3 4 5 6