Internet and low vision: the 2018 Horizon Prize

Pubblicato il

Friday, 5 January 2018

Argomento

Cecità e Ipovisione

From Europe a challenge to make the Internet accessible to the blind and visually impaired.

On 4 January each year we celebrate the World Braille Daywhich recalls the date of birth of Louis Brailleinventor of the alphabet, which was named after him and which is used by people with visual impairments to read and write.
Today, however, many visually impaired people use not only the Braille alphabet to communicate, but also applications that convert written texts into spoken expressions or specialised keyboards. Moreover, with the digital revolution, communication has become increasingly 'visual': the Internet is full of videos, graphics and other multimedia content, which the visually impaired cannot always fully enjoy.
Today, in Europe alone, some 30 million visually impaired people need assistance to access digital content.
This problem is bound to become more acute in the near future as the digital revolution progresses and, meanwhile, the average age of the population increases.
Adaptive tactile displays are the next frontier of communication in this field, as they allow text and graphics to be perceived through touch: you can therefore 'feel' the Internet!
A tactile display can also be of great help in enabling people with visual impairments to perceive their spatial surroundings and can help them perform all their daily activities independently. In addition to this important social inclusion function, these devices could serve to support the education and cultural growth of blind students and facilitate the solution of problems related to the employment of visually impaired people.
Precisely in response to this need, the EU Commission has decided to launch for 2018 the Horizon' award.
The total amount of the prize is EUR 3 million, to be awarded to portable, low-cost, internet-capable devices equipped with a tactile display that can convert digital content into braille and tactile graphics.