Proceedings of the COST conference on telecommunications and people with disabilities
The COST project 219 Conference on "Telecommunications and people with disabilities: Current practice and future plans in Europe" took place in Prague on 16-18 September 1991. The Proceedings of the Conference are now available. The main objective of COST 219 (future telecommunication and teleinformatics facilities for disabled people) is to collect information about existing communications and teleinformatics aids and services, as well as ongoing research and development appropriate to disabled people, and to evaluate the future possibilities of information technologies. Its aim is to start specific projects in appropriate areas where a need is encountered. The Conference was considered an introductory meeting between experts from the whole of Europe. Presentations were made by COST 219 members and experts from Central and Eastern European countries on a broad range of topics. The goal was to define new cooperative research projects based on these presentations and on the recommendations of the working groups. These projects can either be performed as COST 219 projects or be referred to other cooperative programmes in Europe. Topics include telecommunications as a means to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities, the social aspects of telecommunication, telecommunications and visual impairment, proposals to improve accessibility to the ordinary telephone, telephone devices for the deaf developed in Czechoslovakia, picture communication, access to information technology, the positive effects of telecommunications standardization, text communication, electronic mail in the service of people with disabilities, as well as other subjects. Fifty participants represented 19 countries, the Commission of the European Communities and the United Nations. Twenty-one presentations were made and discussions were carried out in four groups on important issues (social aspects of telecommunication, text communication, information services, and videotelephony). These are also reported in the Proceedings. A list of participants and contact addresses is provided.
Pays
Czechia