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Accessible News #29 — Winter 2007
Contents:
- Visit us at CSUN
- Canadian Intelligent Technology Network Launched to Improve Life
for Seniors and People with Disabilities
- $526 Million Announced to Combat Homelessness and Extend Funding for Renovation Programs
- A Home that Helps us "Age in Place"
- Real-time Captioning on Galbraith's Webcasts
- News Bits
- Our Web Site
- Communications From
ADIO
- Where To Find Us
Visit us at CSUN
ADIO will be back again this year at the annual Technology & Disability Conference, which is presented by California State University, Northridge, CSUN : (www.csun.edu/cod/conf/index.htm) in Los Angeles from March 19-24. If you are attending CSUN, drop by and say hello. You'll find us in Booth Number 336 in the Marriott Hotel's main exhibit hall. Just look for the booth with the big Canadian flag.
This year, our booth will again have product literature on display from various Canadian AT companies and organizations, along with a peek at some of the new and exciting changes we are making to the Accessible Procurement Toolkit.
Contents.Canadian Intelligent Technology Network Launched to Improve Life for Seniors and People with Disabilities
Canadian university researchers and private sector organizations that are developing intelligent technology to improve life for seniors and people with disabilities have formed a first-of-its-kind network to increase collaboration in research and development and improve Canada's competitiveness.
The Intelligent Computational Assistive Science and Technology (ICAST) network, launched last week at York University in Toronto, is a Canada-wide initiative sponsored by York and Ottawa-based Precarn Incorporated, a not-for-profit company that supports the development of new, commercially-viable technologies. The assistive devices R&D network brings together scientists, engineers, clinicians, industry leaders, and representatives of organizations that serve people with disabilities.
"We are putting our heads together to ensure we benefit from each other's research and focus on what is needed, whether it is mobility technology that senses surroundings and helps people with disabilities interact with their environments, or technology that can increase safety for seniors in their homes," said ICAST network chair John Tsotsos, a York computer science and engineering professor who holds the Canada Research Chair in Computational Vision.
The ICAST network concept is a unique research structure in Canada. The network will ensure better alignment of university research capacity with the needs of business and will help to develop Canada's medical devices industry. Academics, industry and others will work in four clusters within the network, focusing on mobility, communication, smart homes and issues pertaining to the elderly. They will collaborate on research, development and commercialization within their fields and will share their results with other clusters, as the issues often overlap.
Researchers are working on a variety of projects including intelligent wheelchairs that are self-guided, wearable robotics, technology that prompts a user with dementia through an everyday task, and smart homes that can anticipate occupants' needs. Commercial applications of some technologies may take some time but others may be available more quickly. For example, York's Tsotsos and Professor Alex Mihailidis, of the University of Toronto and the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, are discussing how to combine their approaches to detecting when a person has fallen; results may be available within a year that could provide an automatic fall detection system in special care homes for the elderly.
Paul Johnston, president and chief executive officer of Precarn Incorporated, said the ICAST network will foster important collaboration among the Canadian academic and private sector research and development communities.
"Technologies for assistive devices can be very complex; this collaboration will apply precious resources to solve tough problems, create unique solutions, and get them to market faster," said Johnston. "Developing solutions together through an assistive technologies R&D network will have enormous social and economic benefit."
Organizations on the steering committee for the network, in addition to York and Precarn, include: the University of British Columbia; University of Toronto; Toronto Rehabilitation Institute; Neil Squire Society; the Health Technology Exchange; LifeLink Systems of Ste-Marie-de-Beauce, Quebec; and Quanser Consulting Inc., of Markham, Ontario.
The collaboration that will be promoted through the ICAST network is essential, said Paul Gilbert, chief executive officer of Quanser Consulting, a world leader in the design and manufacture of state-of-the-art advanced control technology used in a range of applications including robotics and medical assistive devices. "Industrial partners need confidence that a real market exists for products they develop, and academic researchers in medical fields are close to the end users," said Gilbert. "They can help define the needs and size of the various markets and provide key insights into how to position products so they are accepted by end users. They also help us to understand how technology can be applied in a medical setting, which may significantly improve product design and reduce development time."
Stan Shapson, Vice-President Research & Innovation at York, said York is committed to its role as the home base for the network. "With our outstanding researchers and with more than fifty percent of Canada's medical device companies located within the region surrounding York University, this national network builds on our important regional strengths," he said. "The network will provide important support to continue our collaborations and world-class research, while ensuring the translation of research outcomes into social and economic benefits for Canadians."
York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York's 11 faculties and 23 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. Precarn is an independent not-for-profit company that supports the pre-commercial development of leading-edge technologies. Precarn works with Canadian companies who are seeking to commercialize their new ideas to get an edge in global markets. Unlike other research funding programs, Precarn uses a collaborative model that includes a developer, a customer and an academic research partner in every project. This collaboration accelerates development, reduces risk and shares the cost of the R&D. Precarn provides access to an extensive national network of world-class researchers, innovative companies and sources of funding.
For more information, contact Professor John Tsotsos, chair ICAST network, York University, 416-736-2100, ext. 70135, email Professor Tsotsos: tsotsos@cse.yorku.ca or Graham Taylor, VP, External Relations, Precarn, 613-727-9507 ext. 230, email Graham Taylor: gtaylor@precarn.ca .
Contents.$526 Million Announced to Combat Homelessness and Extend Funding for Renovation Programs
On December 19, the Honourable Diane Finley, former Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, announced $526 million for the new Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS), a strategy aimed at combatting homelessness in communities across Canada and extending Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) renovation programs.
As a part of this $526 million investment, Minister Finley announced $256 million for the two-year extension of CMHC's renovation programs for low-income households. These home modifications help seniors and persons with disabilities remain independent in their homes, and preserve the housing for people who are at risk of homelessness. These programs will help improve the living conditions for some 38,000 low-income people including seniors, persons with disabilities, victims of family violence and Aboriginal peoples.
CMHC renovation programs are delivered in partnership with provincial and territorial governments and are available in all regions of Canada, including First Nations communities. Since 1973, more than 750,000 households have benefited from the Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program (RRAP).
Visit the CMHC website, www.cmhc.ca or call 1 800 668-2642 for contact information in your area.
Contents.A Home that Helps us "Age in Place"
Most people want a home that's beautiful, but Dr. Alex Mihailidis dreams of one that's "intelligent" too — and he's working to make it a reality. Alex Mihailidis is a researcher at Toronto Rehab, part of the University of Toronto. He is developing intelligent assistive technologies and environments to enhance and enable function in older adults, including those with cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer's and related dementias.
Imagine a home where a voice politely reminds you to turn off the stove or tells you where you've put your keys. Dr. Mihailidis envisions a future where homes actually learn and adapt to the habits of their occupants. "Our goal is to create an intelligent home that allows people to age in place, giving them independence and reducing the burden on caregivers and the health care system", he says.
Right now, Dr. Mihailidis and his colleagues are working on a "prompting system" that uses artificial intelligence to monitor older adults with dementia as they wash their hands. Ultimately, it will also be used for other daily activities, such as dressing and cooking. "The system uses computer vision to track their movements and provides them with verbal prompts, when necessary, to ensure that they don't miss any steps along the way, such as using soap or turning off the taps", he explains.
During testing, the device proved remarkably effective. Older adults were able to complete about 25 % more of the steps involved in hand washing on their own, without a caregiver. In one case, the caregiver actually spent less than 30 seconds with the person — instead of the usual seven or eight minutes. The researchers are now refining and enhancing the system with visual prompts. They think some users will benefit from seeing video reminders on a screen.
In his busy office, Dr. Mihailidis and his colleagues are also developing a separate system to detect when someone falls at home. Using a ceiling-mounted camera, the computer vision system tracks a person's movements in their home. "If they do fall, the system automatically detects this and calls for help", says Dr. Mihailidis. "This means that even if they are unconscious or severely injured, they can still get help."
Working with Lifeline Systems Canada, a provider of personal response and support services, the researchers are now adding a feedback feature. "When a fall is detected, the system would ask the person: "Are you okay?" Based on their response or lack thereof, the system makes an intelligent decision as to what level of help is required."
Down the road, the device could also be used to monitor the amount of time a person spends sleeping, or the number of visits to the bathroom. It would alert a caregiver if the behaviour did not fit with typical patterns.
Dr. Mihailidis stresses that the cameras do not actually record anything. Hooked up to a computer, all they "see" is moving blobs or silhouettes.
Only a decade ago when Dr. Mihailidis started his Master's degree, many people thought artificial intelligence was too complicated to be applied to such real-world problems. "The computer power didn't really exist back then. Now, we can write stuff on a standard PC without any problems", observes Dr. Mihailidis. Something else has changed too, he says. There are now strong, collaborative connections between theoretical computer scientists, biomedical engineers and clinicians, he says
Dr. Mihailidis believes his research can eventually help us all in our daily lives. "Right now, we're developing systems for people with moderate-to-severe dementia and for older adults, but in the future this type of technology will likely serve many people. It would be great if your house could say: "Your wallet's over there!" I often forget things and a reminder like that would be really, really helpful."
To find out more about the work being done at Toronto Rehab, visit their Web site at www.torontorehab.com .
Contents.Real-time Captioning on Galbraith's Webcasts
Galbraith Communications of Ottawa, a pioneer in webcasting, is now offering real-time captioning of live webcasts for participants who are deaf or hard of hearing. Live audio is converted to text by the on-site webcaster who types as close to verbatim as possible. "This is not only essential for people in the deaf community, it is a good idea for all participants, some of whom may be in their offices and therefore cannot turn up the volume. The real-time text transcript also becomes a written record of the proceedings," said Cory Galbraith, Director of Operations.
Webcasting of government meetings and workshops has doubled over the past 6 months, according to Galbraith Communications, as a way to cut costs while improving both accessibility and transparency. The webcast interface provides video, audio, text transcription and a live text chat so that the web audience can participate in events from the comfort and convenience of their home or office.
"We are disappointed that more government departments and non-profit organizations are not taking advantage of this inexpensive and proven technology in order to improve public access. But the industry is still new and many people are unaware of the advantages and ease of use. We have a big job to do in educating the public sector about the importance of webcasting to e-democracy," added Galbraith.
For more information, visit Galbraith Communications on the Web at: www.galbraithcommunications.com .
Contents.News Bits
- In December, Catherine Fichten, who co-directs the Adaptech Research Network (www.adaptech.org), received the 2007 Canadian Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to Public or Community Service. This award recognizes individuals who, in the opinion of the Committee on Fellows and Awards and the Board of Directors of the association, have made outstanding contributions in serving the public or a community through their knowledge and practical skills. She was particularly noted for her many years of significant contributions to individuals with disabilities. In addition to her work with Adaptech, Catherine is a faculty member at both McGill University and Dawson college, she conducts sleep research and maintains a practice as a psychiatrist at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal.
- Also in December, the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) launched a number of Requests for Applications/Funding. Information on all IMHA's Researcher Funding Opportunities can be found at:
www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/26667.html . - On December 19, the World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org) issued a press release announcing the 10th anniversary of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), the technology designers use to create attractive, economical, and flexible Web sites. "The design community has confirmed that using CSS promotes beauty while making it easier and less expensive to build sites," said Bert Bos, W3C Style Activity Lead and one of the original co-authors of the specification that became CSS level 1 (www.w3.org/TR/CSS1) published on 17 December 1996. To celebrate this anniversary, dubbed CSS10, W3C invites developers to propose their favorite CSS designs for the CSS10 Gallery (www.w3.org/Style/CSS10/reactions.html). Bert Bos and Håkon Lie, the other original co-author of CSS, will select designs for the gallery based on originality, utility, and aesthetics. W3C welcomes proposals until December 2007 and they expect to add to the gallery at least once monthly. Please email design proposals to css10@w3.org .
- On January 1, the Treasury Board released the new Common Look and Feel guidelines (CLF 2.0) for internet sites. All sites will need to comply with the new guidelines by December 31, 2008. For more information on CLF 2.0, visit the Treasury Board website at: www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/clf2/index-eng.asp which outlines the new guidelines and provides a comparison of CLF 1.0 and the new CLF 2.0 .
- The European Union has launched its Seventh Framework Program (FP7), a major funding initiative whose aim is the research and development of a wide variety of new and innovative products, systems and services. FP7 has allocated funding of 9.1 Billion Euros over a period of seven years (2007-2014) for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) research, including a component on ICT for Independent Living and Inclusion of older adults and people with disabilities. International cooperation is sought with North America in the area of coordinating and developing future research agendas relating to Accessible and Inclusive ICT. To find out more, visit the FP7 website at: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/home_en.html .
- The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) is in the process of updating its standard, CAN/CSA-B659-01 Design for Aging. This is in fulfilment of the CSA's requirement that standards be renewed at least every five years. Upon its completion, expected in the second half of 2008, the updated B659 will replace the current edition, which was published in 2001. Until it is replaced by the updated edition, the 2001 version has been reaffirmed by the CSA.
- HumanWare Canada (www.humanware.ca) has been awarded $399,500 in repayable funding by Canada Economic Development. The funding, which the Drummondville, Quebec company will use for commercializing new products in North America and Europe, was announced in January by Jacques Gourde, MP for Lotbinière-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière on behalf of the Minister of Labour and Minister of Canada Economic Development, the Hon. Jean-Pierre Blackburn.
- T-Base Communications has become the first alternate format company in North America to become PCI compliant. PCI is a standard of the Payment Card Industry and is used by credit card companies to protect cardholder account and transaction information. The standard is intended to increase security not only for the credit card company, but also for service providers and consumers by guarding against identity theft.
- Effective February 1, Albert Ruel of Victoria, BC becomes the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians' (AEBC) first National Equality Director. In a statement released to announce the appointment, AEBC President John Rae said, "I am looking forward to having someone on board who has Albert's depth of experience, as an important part of his work will be to bring new ideas, approaches and energy to the work of AEBC." To learn more about AEBC, call 1-800-561-4774 or visit the AEBC web site at: www.BlindCanadians.ca .
- Check out the re-designed Madentec web site at www.madentec.com . The Edmonton-based company continues to develop and market a growing range of innovative computer access devices and now, with the new look to their web site, finding the computer solutions that work for you is even easier. You can search for products by product name, product category or by disability type which includes everything from ALS to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome to Spinal Cord Injury.
- The Centre de recherche informatique de Montréal and Canadian and European Partners of the IST-EC 2 project (www.ist-ec.org) are proud to announce the first Canada-Europe eInclusion Symposium to take place on March 15, 2007. This inaugural summit will bring researchers from Europe and Canada together who are focused on e-Accessibility: the right of people with disabilities to benefit from the information society, a key focus of the global eInclusion thrust. In conjunction with the eInclusion Symposium, a FP7 Information Day will occur the following day, on March 16, which will enable researchers to network and learn all about ICTs, especially eInclusion as it relates to international cooperation in FP7.
- Beverley Milligan, formerly of Media Access Canada (MAC) has moved to
the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario, ADO at the Ministry of
Community and Social Services (MCSS) as a Policy Advisor specializing in the
area of accessible Information and Communication Standards. Replacing
her as President and CEO of MAC is Christie Christelis. Beverley Milligan can be contacted at: MCSS Accessibility Directorate of Ontario, 777 Bay Street, 6th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M7A 2J4 tel: 416-314-0913, email Beverley at: Beverley.milligan@ontario.ca . Christie Christelis can be contacted at: President, Media Access Canada #610 — 115 George St. Oakville, ON L6J 0A2 tel: 416-339-0109 fax: 416-339-3079.
- Curo Interactive Inc. has developed unique accessibility mobile user
interface technologies (UI) that simplify the operation of mobile phones in
revolutionary ways. Curo usability solutions are integrated into mobile
phones and the user operates the phone with a dedicated Curo "Quick Access
One Button". The accessibility mobile phone platform has various models
specific to people who are visually impaired, or who have cognitive or mental disabilities and easy one button operation with specially designed options for people who have physical disabilities. A Beta user interface product demo is available for evaluation. Curo is proposing to Bell Canada's Accessibility department to promote an "accessibility mobile phone" launch to ensure that people of all walks of life, age and ability can enjoy using their mobile phones. For more information, please visit Curo Interactive on the web at: www.curointeractive.com .
Our Web Site
Our Web site can be found at www.at-links.gc.ca. At this site are all our old newsletters as well as different listings and links to other sites of interest. Should you be using these old newsletters, please bear in mind that the web addresses were correct when the newsletter was created but that they may not be accurate now. We do not plan to change the back issues of the newsletters.
Communications From ADIO
If you would prefer to receive our newsletter on disk or by
e-mail, please contact us at the address below.
Where To Find Us
For more information or to get on our mailing list, please
contact:
Mary Frances Laughton or Deb Finn
Assistive Devices Industry Office
Industry Canada
P.O. Box 11490 Station H
Ottawa, Ontario
K2H 8S2
tel: 613-990-4316 or 613-990-4297
fax: 613-998-5923
TTY: 613-998-3288
email: adio@crc.ca
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