The Centre for Inclusive Technology (CFIT): Promotion, Education, Assistance in 2008 and Beyond

In the past year you may have heard about many of the presentations and technical papers that CFIT has worked on and given in Ireland and around Europe. But is that all CFIT does? Not by a long shot.

Last year was a busy one for CFIT. Much of the income generating work that CFIT does is for external clients who wish to help make their websites and information services accessible to NCBI service users. This work consists of consultancy services, web accessibility auditing, user testing or a combination of all three. The clients CFIT worked for last year included: The Department of Social and Family Affairs (DSFA), An Post, Discover Ireland, Fáilte Ireland, the Revenue Commissioners, Irish Research eLibrary, Mid Western Regional Authority and SafeFood.

The work that CFIT does with these clients has a direct impact on improving the accessibility of the websites and services that we all use. For example, the Revenue Commission’s website will be used by anyone in employment when they need to check their tax credits or claim medical expenses. The DSFA is also important for a great deal of NCBI service users as many vision impaired persons deal with the DSFA to receive their benefits.

So How Did CFIT Help to Improve These Websites and Services?

In order to help the DSFA figure out how to improve their web services CFIT ran a user test consisting of eight people with vision impairments using various assistive technologies. In the user test the participants attempted real world tasks such as finding information on disability benefits, calculating the amount of their entitlements, requesting application forms and looking up contact details for their local welfare offices.

The results showed that many of the tasks were either very difficult or impossible for some users to complete. CFIT’s recommendations have enabled the DSFA to redesign the online forms and data tables so that they are not only fully accessible to people with vision impairments but also lead to fewer input errors or misunderstandings of the data. In addition, the audit produced recommendations for remedial work that will ensure that the site meets the highest international standards for making websites accessible to all. The results are that NCBI’s service users and others will now be better able to find information about benefit entitlements and apply for those benefits.

What Else Was CFIT Up To?

Aside from the day-to-day work of helping to make the online environment more accessible for NCBI service users, CFIT was involved in the creation of the ‘Comreg Guide to Telephone Services and Equipment for People with Disabilities’.

The resulting ‘Guide to Telephone Services and Equipment for People with Disabilities’ is now available through all the major service providers’ websites and retail outlets. It provides the much needed information that people with vision impairments require in order to make informed choices about which service provider and equipment best meet their needs. Also through the work of the forum, the free directory enquiry service now extends to all telephone users and not just Eircom customers.

Digital Television and the TV Access Campaign

As some of you may have already heard CFIT is spearheading the campaign to make accessible digital television a reality for everyone in Ireland. A big step forward was the creation of the TV Access campaign and partnership with other interested parties including Enable Ireland, the CRC, Deaf Hear, DFI and Age Action.

CFIT is also involved in building working advisory relationships with key government and industry players including DCENR, BCI, RTÉ, Boxer DTT, Eircom. For more on the TV Access campaign and accessible digital television see the website www.tvaccess.ie.

CFIT in 2009

In 2009 CFIT will continue to campaign and advise on improving the web, TV and telephony. CFIT may also potentially move into the mobile services area. Mobile services (where a user accesses a range of services via their phone such as email and the web) are an area of interest for many NCBI service users who regularly use their mobiles for a sophisticated and ever changing range of tasks.

It is therefore vital to ensure that the websites and services used by NCBI service users are made accessible to everyone so we can all take advantage of the exciting possibilities that mobile technology offers.

For further information on CFIT please contact: mark.magennis@ncbi.ie or joshue.oconnor@ncbi.ie or log on to the CFIT website on www.cfit.ie

Two images appear on page they are a screen-shot (picture of a computer screen) of the CFIT web homepage and the CFIT TV access Logo.