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Preferences for Global Access
The U.S. Department of Education’s National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research awarded funding to ISKME for a project dedicated to helping people with disabilities personalize a “one-size-fits-one” approach to accessibility, removing barriers to access for users with sensory or physical limitations, cognitive constraints or other unique learning affordances. The project is being conducted in partnership with the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII) team, including the Inclusive Design Research Center at OCAD, Raising the Floor International, WGBH’s National Center for Accessible Media, IBM, and Inclusive Technologies. Dubbed “Profile Creation Support for Cloud-based Accessibility,” it seeks to harness global networks and cloud services, delivering appropriate solutions to users anywhere, anytime and on any device or platform.
The first stage of the project involves a feasibility study, conduced by ISKME and its partners, that outlines methods for users to specify their needs and preferences, and to discover, create, and store user interface and digital content configurations that work best for the individual. The second stage will involve creating working prototypes, through the lens of these custom preferences – such as whether users require text-to-speech transformations, translations into different languages, or modifications such as text magnification to enhance visibility. While critical for expanding access to education, the information stored in the prototypes developed by this project will also be available to users whether they are using an ATM machine or accessing a bus schedule.
Please contact ISKME's Director of Open Knowledge Networks to learn more.
