IBM aims to make cellphone usage easier for the disadvantaged

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 11 March 2010 12:08

Business IT - Technology

IBM has teamed up with the National Institute of Design (NID) of India and Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology, at the University of Tokyo to develop an open, common user interface platform for mobile devices that will make them easier for use by disadvantaged people around the world.

IBM says that any software to emerge from the project will be made available as open source, and other materials developed will be made publicly available, in order to allow governments and businesses around the world to take advantage of the technology.

"As the world‘s infrastructure becomes increasingly digital and governments around the world provide information and services via Web sites, it‘s critical that the Internet be accessible to all people, including those who are illiterate, blind, deaf, or elderly. The aim of the collaborative research is to help make this possible," IBM said.

Chieko Asakawa, IBM fellow and chief technology officer of IBM‘s accessibility research, said: "Through this collaborative research initiative, we will uncover real information accessibility requirements and issues that the elderly and people in developing economies are facing today."

"By focusing on mobile devices, which have a tremendous potential to empower [users] we believe the findings will help us offer affordable services to a large population, who are still deprived of access to key information sources."

IBM Research India and NID will identify the communication needs and preferences of non- and semi-literate people, to not only help them connect but to engage with information through mobile devices.

IBM researchers in Tokyo and RCAST‘s human information engineering research team will focus on Japan‘s elderly population - the largest in the world as a percentage of the total. "With IBM‘s accessibility technology expertise and RCAST‘s expertise, they will work directly with the elderly to investigate and determine real-life requirements of elderly people when using mobile devices," IBM said.

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