Apple My Cheri Amour - I hate you

Ok I have to confess Im a little Bi-Polar about Apple, maybe schizophrenic is a better term. They have some great technology and have made great advances in builidng in access technologies that work really well out of the box. Voiceover on the iPhone is all that one Blind Friend needs - no extra costs than anyone else to run a an accessible mobile phone, he even tweets from it ! BUT .... and its a big but (giggles - I said Big But), it would be so wrong to say that Apple have really understood accessibility from top to bottom. Lets take the iPad as a starter - great kit with some wonderful AAC apps developed for it. But unless you have another computer its a bit of an expensive table mat. Apple seem to assume that anyone who buys the iPad is very tech savvy, on startup that first time it just shows a cable and an icon and says Sync with Itunes or some such thing assuming we understand what iTunes is and where we should stick our cables. For the amount of money some simple guidance out of the box would be helpful

Apple are being touted as great computers for the first timer, the touch interface on Iphone and Ipad is ideal for the elderly and those with Learning disabilities, FaceTalk much just be the first video calling application to actually offer lip rading and converstaion signing for the deaf, but this achievement is hugely undermined by lack of empathy with buyers other than the technocracy.

Which brings me onto another thing, apple love the opening weekend ploy, queues of people lining up to get the new gadget first, something Futrama have recently lampooned (see  http://www.viddler.com/explore/engadget/videos/1633/ if you missed it) and again this gives a message that technology is something beyond the everyday. At the same time as Finland  is passing a law saying that broadband access is a legal right, Apple like to suggest that their products are for an elite and who doesnt want to be part of an elite ?

So come on Apple get in sync, get in (i)tune and in the words of the beatles "come together" If you are making a product that is inclusive, that is for the masses, lets get your backroom and marketing in order, if you are serious the concept of access to all needs to pervade all aspects of not only tech design, but marketing and help as well

I know you can do it - but do you really want to ? 

      

Glove Controllers for Rehab

I spent a little while in Barcelona recently and was fortunate enough to visit UPF to look at some of the new technologies that they were working with. I know its a tough job, but i rose to the occasion as ever. One technology I managed to get my hands on (or in) was a set of Glove controllers.

Whilst they took a bit of getting used to, especially with my big hands, the technology was very easy to use and certainly encouraged co-ordination and movement.  








The question that sprang to mind as I used the technologies was how was the specialist technology different from many of the things that I could do on a Nintendo Wii or more recently things that we see developing on the Microsoft Natal platform. The real difference that the system offered lay in the software, which leads us to the potential of such virtual worlds being made commercially for mainstream platforms or dare we suggest as open source or creative commons options. Those could then be made available via the online delivery of software that is available via wii points or Xbox live.
But the really important thing is that after practice I became really good at hitting the ball back and Im happy to take on all comers !

Welcome to my Personal Blog

Hello to anyone who comes this blog. For those who dont know me I work as Director of Developmnet at AbilityNet in the area of assistive technology and access technologies. For the past few years Ive managed our web 2.0 presence and developed our online communities. More recently Ive wanted to talk a little more personally about the field within which I work and this is part of that response. 

Im especially interested in the integration of online communities into a single network, and wanted a degree of flexibility to test and trial ways of doing that so creating a personal blog will help me to do that.

Ill still be contributing to the AbilityNet blog from time to time, but to help integrate that thinking, Ive archived all of my personal bloggings from the past couple of years onto this blog as well (if for no other reason to remind myself what Ive already said !) 


I guess the final thing to say in an introduction is the disclaimer - I like these, they hopefully get me off any hooks I impale myself upon - but basically all the ramblings here are the product of my own head, they certainly dont reflect any views held by my employers, and may not even reflect my own views tomorrow. 

I look forward to sharing those ramblings in the future