Policy and Outreach Initiatives (DS1)

June 2013 — Wireless RERC principal investigator, Dr. Helena Mitchell, presented 9-1-1 & Alert Trends for People with Disabilities at the National Emergency Number Associations’ (NENA) annual conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. NENA’s educational tracks, among other things, addressed NG911, accessibility, text-to-911, public outreach, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). NENA hosted thousands of public safety

On June 13, 2013, Wireless RERC researchers Ben Lippincott and Salimah LaForce presented an overview of the Wireless RERC to industry representatives at a webinar hosted by CTIA's Accessibility Outreach Initiative (AOI).   Also discussed were services and other collaborative opportunities the RERC has available to offer CTIA member companies. Attendees included representatives from companies such as Verizon,

On May 21, 2013, Wireless RERC researcher, John Morris, gave a presentation of Wireless Technology Use and Disability: Results from the Survey of User Needs at CTIA's Wirless 2013 Accessibility Outreach Initiative (AOI).  John, along with other disability and consumer advocacy experts, provided a roundtable discussion on wireless accessibility and consumer needs to industry and federal regulatory professionals.  Below is a PDF of

On February 28, 2013, Wireless RERC Principal Investigator, Helena Mitchell, gave a presentation on a study of the nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) on the effectiveness of EAS for people with sensory disabilities at the CSUN 2013 28th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference.

On February 28, 2013, Wireless RERC researchers Salimah LaForce, John Morris and Jim Mueller gave a presentation on social media use by people with disabilities during public emergencies at the CSUN 2013 28th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference.

The Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Academies hosted a workshop to examine current knowledge and research on geotargeted disaster alerts and warnings on February 21-22, 2013 in Washington, D.C.  The workshop was organized by the Committee on Geotargeted Disaster Alerts and Warnings, which is charged with examining current knowledge and research to improve the effectiveness of alerts and warnings with greater

On February 15, 2013 James Mueller, a Wireless RERC scientist, presented “Getting Wireless: An Introduction to Universal Design and Wireless Technology” to 32 sophomore industrial design students at Virginia Tech.  This is part of the Wireless RERC’s initiative to educate the next generation of wireless technology designers on universal design as a core practice for innovative and future design of products and applications.

The

"IDEAL Group Reader" is a fully-accessible eBook reader app that can read text aloud, just like an audio book.  It was developed by Apps4Android with support from Wireless RERC's App Factory.  The Beta version of this ePub3 reader has been tested by thousands of users in 116 countries.

Apps4Android's CEO Steve Jacobs showcased the IDEAL Group Reader (IGR) at the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA) International CES 2013 in