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Access and Inclusion through Technology

Access Technology - Today and Tomorrow

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Blog posts : "General"

Time for TASBO's?

November 3rd, 2008
I do need to get out more, I know that. But I was surfing the web last night, looking for information about local fireworks and as I did so was struggling to find information on our council website - poor design, poor navigation just poor everything. That led me to th…

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Friday Night is YouTube Night

November 7th, 2008
ok actually most nights are YouTube night in our house. I mostly blame my son, he bought himself a laptop and now seamlessly multitasks between Lost (we bought the DVD’s and are now hooked midway through season 2) and YouTube. Now the problem is every 45 seconds he in…

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The power and cost of ignorance

November 11th, 2008
I spent some time looking at youtube videos tonight - nothing new there - but just for a change I decided to look at some of the comments and replies that videos generate. What is scary - is the amount of opinion that is posted as fact - and often based on little mor…

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Things to add to World Usability Day

November 13th, 2008
I hadn’t realised, it was like missing my wife’s birthday - all I can do is pop into a garage and find flowers and chocs - but today Im celebrating world usability day !!!  What a great idea, lets delve into the website and explore the burning issues of how we grappl…

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Come the revolution - the first against the wall will be .... (part 1)

November 20th, 2008
This is likely to be a running theme - depending on who has wound me up most on any particular day. In the past I’ve included people with pseudo therapies, people with good ideas who bury them in academic papers that no-one reads, marketing executives who insist that…

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Ok the whole world has finally gone mad

December 15th, 2008
Ive not been well you know, a touch of flu - the real thing - not wimpy man flu
So maybe thats why I found this news story so confusing
A US company has created a new gun designed to be used by the elderly and is claiming that it has gotten approval to market the 9mm h…

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Keeping it personal

January 5th, 2009
So there I am on Itunes - downloading podcasts - like many I spend too much time in the car and listening to something other than my favourite albums is a good way of staying awake at the wheel. There are a great range of podcasts, football phone ins, disability shows,…

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Windows 7 - A step forward to disabled users ?

January 16th, 2009
This week Microsoft released its beta of windows 7. Ive been able to take a good look at some of the new features that are available for disabled users and to share some first impressions. The version I looked at was described by one Microsoft guy as vista point 1 - a…

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Im Holding out for a hero..... (c) Tina Turner

January 26th, 2009
We live in celebrity obsessed times, reality TV, 24 hour news and gossip mags reinforce this time after time. In the UK government changes to school diets were introduced when Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver made it a cause celebre
Accessibility doesnt appear to have such …

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Powerpoint - A guide to ease of use

I spent the last two days in Brussels looking at CIP funding for ICT and inclusion - throughout the workshops there were many presentations - at one point I was struggling to read the powerpoints and take notes and listen to the speaker when it struck me that many of my problems were caused by poor …

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MP brands dyslexia a 'fiction' - AbilityNet Brands Solutions a 'fact'

Always interested when someone with an audience decides to stir the pot a little, and MP Graham Stringer seems to have decided to do just that.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7828121.stm
Without any sense of Irony Mr Stringer manages to condemn specialist teaching methods in schools, an…

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When everything is streamed online - will we all be able to use it ?

February 2nd, 2009
I read this story with some interest - in the age of digitail TV - UK broadcasters are committing to streaming all of their content online
Now this only makes my ongoing schizophrenia rear its ugly head - am I pleased / am I worried ?
(Ok maybe its only lack …

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Mobile Phone Choice - Form and Function

February 13th, 2009
I guess this blog is a work in progress as I start to gather thoughts for the 3rd european eaccessibility forum in Paris at the end of March. My talk is non provocative which is unusual for me, and draws upon research we have just completed on the factors influencing…

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Right to Read - The Amazon Kindle case

April 3rd, 2009
Sometimes even I am stunned by the actions of some parts of society. In this case, I’m still seething about the publishing industry and the Kindle case. If you don’t know the story Amazon intended to release its next version ebook reader the Kindle onto the market with b…

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Microsoft Tag - integrating the physical world with mobile technologies

April 4th, 2009
This is a way of demonstrating innovation with mobile technologies
Have a look at Microsoft tag www.microsoft.com/tag
You can download the correct software for you mobile phone (free) if you have a web enabled phone – set your mobile browser to http://gettag.mobi and downl…

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Monsters v Aliens 2D - The Kindle story

April 5th, 2009
Ive been sitting in the Monsters Vs Aliens movie this afternoon - what a great mindless way to spend an afternoon !! Sadly my brain was ticking over and I realised that we are all acting out this movie in real life. We are the good guys, clearly, perhaps considerd by som…

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Fact v Fiction - The web and truth - Wearable Robotics

April 14th, 2009
Sometimes I just dont know what to make of the web, scrolling through google news I came upon a story of wearable robotics to support disabled users. http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/robotsuithal/index.html
(I have explained before that I have no life remember)
Now the pro…

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Crab Claw syndrome - its so 2009

May 9th, 2009
So there I was on the underground in London. And I did the unthinkable, I did the one thing that creates panic in the urban community, I became an untouchable, a biological terrorist of unspeakable proportions - I coughed. The office workers around me immediately covered t…

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Apple iPhone 3G (s) and OS 3 and a coffee maker

If like me you are a member of that elite group of nerds known as the twitterati - you would have noticed an almost cataclysmic event this week - Apple gave some talks and unveiled OS3 for iPhone and the iphone 3Gs. For days no-one has twittered about much else - when they started queueing at the sh…

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Microsoft Surface - the WOW is back - for real

December 4th, 2008
I was trying to remember the last time I put my mucky fingers onto technology and went wow ! OK maybe there have been a few things that caused wow in lower case but its been a long, cynical journey since then. Friday I had my first opportunity to interact with surface …

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