Assistive Technology for All (Part 2)
All people should be able to use technology to their advantage on different aspects of ther lives, personal or professional, efficiently and with less effort.
This is part 2 of the the main Idea which can be found in “Assistive Technology for All” part 1.
The Tool
Like all new tools, this one should clearly state its purpose, and it has to be accompanied by a proper software for desktop, laptop or tablet.
Initially, apart from an existing keyboard or mouse, one could also connect one or more devices such as
- a gamepad or an adaptive controller
- an adaptive device or switch
- a sip-and-puff system
- an eye-tracker
- a haptic device
and so on.
And then this new tool would present the…
Main Screen
From here on, we could choose several paths to follow, such as…
Surfing the Web
Using our favourite browser, opening / closing a new tab would be a trivial and more importantly….
Searching
And so on. Well, you get the point.
Important note: All the images above are just a draft re-presentation of the concept (the idea) that I am trying to make it true; Not the final ones.
Pointer or Cursor
Of course, it should be trivial to control the cursor or mouse pointer at all times with the existing connected device. To tell the truth, there are already solutions that let you control (somehow) your computer with your eyes or, even in our times (AI, Chat-GPT e.t.c), with your voice, however this is not possible for some people, for many reasons.
Managing Content
We need to communicate, so we create “content” such as files, sending emails, posting to chat e.t.c. File management should be done conveniently and fast. Assistive technology tools should ease the burden of having to know more about the Operating System (Windows, iOs, Linux e.t.c) and its internals.
People can handle a 2-button device more easily than a system with a FrontEnd interface of sort-of “hidden” complexity
Assistive tools should be be able to connect such simple devices with the simplicity of creating, editing and deleting any type of digital content.
Handling Applications
Digital technology requires from us to use many applications, more of which require a keyboard and a mouse. Such devices either have a slow learning curve to operate efficiently (i.e keyboard layouts), or they need precision (mouse point & click) which some of us struggle to master. Assistive technology tools should be able to adapt to our needs and help us handle software applications more easily ; such as browsing the web, sending emails, playing games e.t.c.
A New Tool
A series of new tools are in the prototype phase at the moment, which will help people connect, communicate, collaborate, have fun with others, using digital technology and especially desktop and laptop computers.
If you want to know more, then please take a look at the DEMO of “Code Assistant Tools” project
https://nikolaosmargaris.gr/blogs/code-assistant-demo1.html
along with the concept idea behind it
https://medium.com/@reverence23/code-assistant-476e921aae5b
Finally
And remember
Technology should be accessible to everyone! And I mean everyone!
More about the idea on the next blog post…
