First posting and introduction/announcement.
Frank Wilson, Interaction Design Ltd, UK. Project manager for PERIPHERA and
sponsor of ISdAC. I look forward to participating in this discussion list
and invite comment on the information below.
PERIPHERA - a Telematics programme project which has set up seven "self
help" centres, four of which provide a place for people with disability to
exploit teleworking. These centres are now operational (one is a virtual
centre combining four separate sub-sites). The applications are:
- "Customer Call Centre" where wheelchair users run a service for a
municipality as a "one stop shop" for fielding a wide range of enquiries
from the public. Disability does not diminish service quality (Hasselt,
Belgium).
- "Distributed Virtual Company" where four workshops are interlinked with
distributed Lotus Notes, Centrex telephony and ISDN bridges to allow them
to compete for larger work contracts. This also allows management by people
with disability who do not want to travel too much. Videoconferencing is a
useful contact mechanism (Nottingham, UK).
- "Distributed Web Site Design" where wheelchair users who have trained in
IT have set up a company providing web site design services. Each operates
from home and uses a distributed collaborative platform (BSCW) to allow
project coordination at a distance (Hoensbroek/Heerlen, Netherlands).
- "Telework for Deaf People" where a telecottage / telecentre has been set
up by a national deaf association in cooperation with an employment agency.
Deaf people are providing a range of teleworked services to commerce (Sint
Michielsgestel, Netherlands).
See http://www.periphera.org for further information.
ISdAC - the Information Society disAbilities Challenge.
ISdAC is an organisation by people with disability (PwD) and for PwD. It is
currently chaired by Tony Verhelst from the Belgian site in PERIPHERA, and
has involved PwD operating an awareness campaign to encourage involvement
and exploitation of Information Society opportunities. ISdAC organised the
TIDE conference web cast and videoconference sessions for involvement of
PwD. ISdAC is looking for many more people to join and participate, and
there is scope for everyone who can access email communication to get
involved.
See http://www.isdac.org for more information.
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