Latest News

NEWS ARTICLE

Workshop on Self-service terminals and Assistive technologies, Brussels, 7 December 2009

(27 October 2009)Self-service terminals can be difficult to access and use for many people, e.g. users with disabilities, those with low ICT competence, elderly users, or simply those not used to this medium. This can be improved by adapting the terminals as to their physical design, software and interfaces. Possible solutions encompass among other use of mobile devices or assistive technologies for man-machine interaction, vocal input / output, software adaptation etc. The workshop, organised by the ICT for Inclusion unit of the European Commission, will also address the issue of information about and deployment of ICT-related assistive technology in general. The purpose is to identify grounds for possible further action at European level, including funding from EC programs.

Contact: Registration is compulsory

NEWS ARTICLE

FP7 consultation meeting on Service and Social Robotics for the Ageing Population,Brussels, 2nd December 2009

(11 November 2009)This FP7 Consultation meeting organised by the European Commission will bring together experts from all over Europe. The objective of the workshop is to review current trends in research and applications and provide strategic guidance for drafting the ICT Work Programme 2011/2012. The workshop is focused on the topic of service and social robotics for Ageing Well and should result in possible future orientations for application driven research in this field, in particular with a view to practical deployment in real-life situations and industrial exploitation.

Contact: eInclusion@...

NEWS ARTICLE

Public consultation on the new EU Disability Strategy is now open

(11 November 2009)The European Commission is preparing a new EU Disability Strategy for 2010 to 2020. In this context, the Commission is seeking the opinion of the public on problems of people with disabilities and on ways of solving them. The questionnaire can be completed in about 20 minutes. The results will be used in the preparation of the new Disability Strategy. The questionnaire will remain active until 4 January 2010 and is accessible by clicking on the headline of this news item.

Contact: If you have difficulty in accessing the online consultation, you may request an accessible document from EMPL-G3-UNITE@....

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

Hear me out - Innovation in communication technology for the hearing impaired

19 November 2009 Brussels, Belgium

According to Professor Adrian Davies of the MRC Institute of Hearing research in the UK, there are 70 million hearing impaired men, women and children in Europe today. That number will rise to 90 million in Europe by 2015 and soar to 700 million people world-wide. Since there is no international sign-language and not two countries have identical sign-languages, how do these people connect and communicate? This global problem now has a solution - communication technology through Spread the Sign.Spread the sign is an international Leonardo da Vinci project within Transfer of innovation, supported by the European Commission. They are working with spreading sign language from different countries by using the Internet. This pedagogical self-learning tool is free to use for everyone in the world. The imagination only sets the limits of the use of this dictionary... The conference will showcase the project and the website of the project as well as provide a forum for discussion on how to prevent social exclusion of deaf people. The seminar will be interactive and we hope you will participate with your ideas, experiences and opinions.

Contact: Please register no later than November 16th

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

Final conference of the Senior project - ICT for an ageing society, an ethical approach

27 November 2009 Brussels, Belgium

The project consortium will present its key results to a wider audience of stakeholders: a comprehensive collection of good ethical practices; a comprehensive collection of industrial ethical codes; a set of recommendations towards an operational roadmap. Two sessions of lectures will address the state of the art about: promoting an all inclusive digital society and monitoring privacy and ethical values. A concluding session will explore the priorities for future action.

Contact: guido.vansteendam@...
See also: agenda

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

eHealth 2010 Barcelona

15 March 2010 - 18 March 2010 Barcelona, Spain

Co-organised by the forthcoming Spanish Presidency of the European Union and by the European Commission, with the cooperation of the Government of Catalonia and the Foundation TicSalut, the High Level eHealth Conference 2010, the 8th edition in the series of ministerial events representing an important annual milestone in the field of ICT for healthcare, aims to support dissemination of eHealth best practices.

Contact: ehealthweek2010@...
See also: WoHIT 2010

New in the Library

SPEECH

Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media, Bringing down walls and barriers in the digital world - priorities for the European Digital Agenda

'Visby Agenda: Creating impact for an eUnion 2015, Visby/Gotland, Sweden, 9 November 2009

Subscription Information

This is the newsletter of the e-Inclusion web site on Europa . It is hosted by the Information Society Newsroom - a 'one stop shop' on European Information Society news spanning all Directorates-General of the European Commission.

You may unsubscribe or broaden your subscription from this newsletter by going to Your Profile.