ENABLED

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The target of ENABLED is the development of applications and technologies that avoid or delete barriers on the internet and thus to facilitate the internet access for blind or visually impaired persons.

The internet has a wide influence on our life. Information can be exchanged through the internet, persons communicate with each other, and services like online shopping simplify our life.

Although disabled persons could benefit from the internet to a high degree, they are often not able to use it because of a lack of accessibility. Disabled persons are often excluded and cannot benefit from the advantages of the internet.

In the ENABLED project applications and technologies shall be developed that make different information at different places in different formats available in mobile form for blind or visually impaired persons. This includes for example information about the present environment (location based services).

It is necessary to overcome existing barriers on the one hand and on the other hand to provide suitable tools for the engineer to avoid barriers in future. To achieve these aims research and development will focus on the following topics:

  • accessible web contents
  • adaptable user interfaces
  • mobile computing
  • wireless networking

ENABLED has carried out an extensive survey with blind users and experts and from the results of this survey requirement profiles have been worked out. During the whole project the development is supported by persons with different kinds of visual impairment to ensure successful development. This evaluation by visually impaired persons from different countries ensures the optimal usability for the target group and provides useful feedback for the optimization of prototypes.

This project and its results are part of the "Accessibility" activities at C-LAB.

Project funded by: EU, IP
Project duration: 07/2004 - 08/2007
Project partners: Queen's University of Belfast (GB), Fundación LABEIN (E), Lunds Universitet (S), VirTouch Ltd (IL), Commissariat à I'Energie Atomique (F), Omicron Technology Ltd (GB), Tekever, LDA (PT), Kuratorium OFFIS e. V. (D), NetUnion (CH), British Telecommunications Plc (GB), SOLUZIONA TELECOMUNICACIONES, S.A. (E), ALVA B. V. (NL), CAS Software AG (D), Siemens AG (D)
Contact: Markus Dubielzig, C-LAB
Dr. Way Yu, Queens University of Belfast (Coordinator)