NCSA NEWS

Trace Center Director Speaks on Future Technologies at Washington Meeting

released September 28, 2000

 

Contact
Kate Vanderheiden
vanderk@trace.wisc.edu
608.265.4621

WASHINGTON, DC — Gregg Vanderheiden, principal investigator for the Universal Design / Disability Access project of the National Computational Science Alliance (Alliance), presented on future technology scenarios at the quarterly meeting of the Federal Communications Commission's Technological Advisory Council. The presentation included discussion of the work that has been done with the Alliance and NPACI on exploring sign language and text interpretation on demand over the Grid.

Future scenarios described in the presentation included a hypothetical pen-like device which captures audio in an individual's environment and sends it into the Grid, where it is translated to text and sent back to the individual. The information is instantly displayed on a small clip-on monitor attached to eyeglasses so that all speech in the individual's environment can be captioned. A similar future scenario was described that consists of the same arrangement, except that the speech is translated into sign language and presented to the individual using a computer-generated avatar.

IP-based telephony, Grid-based translation services (for both telecommunication and information technologies), assistance on demand for individuals with hearing, vision, cognitive and aging-related disabilities, and the use of morphing technologies to superimpose communication skills on individuals who do not have them were all discussed. Vanderheiden stated that many of the needs of people with disabilities may be met by using the new flexibility and capabilities being built into standard technologies.

The Technological Advisory Council is a special council set up by the FCC to allow it to better understand technical advances and their implications for the FCC in its work. For more information go to the Council's home page at http://www.fcc.gov/oet/tac/.

Vanderheiden, director of the Trace R&D Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a member of the Technological Advisory Council and moderates the focus group on Accessibility for Disabled Persons. Other members of the council are:

• Bob Lucky (Chair), Telecordia Technologies;
• Jules Bellisio (Executive Director), Telecordia Technologies;
• Bruce Allen, Harris Corporation;
• Jose Alvarez Caban, University of Puerto Rico;
• Vinton Cerf, MCI Worldcom;
• Susan Estrada, Aldea Communication;
• Bran Ferren, Disney/ABC;
• Richard Green, CableLabs;
• Christine Hemrick, Cisco Systems, Inc.;
• Dewayne Hendricks, Com21;
• Ross Ireland, SBC;
• Kalle Kontson, Center for Electromagnetic Science, and IIT Research Institute;
• Charles Jackson, independent consultant;
• William Lee, AirTouch/Vodaphone;
• Paul Liao, Panasonic, and Panasonic Technologies;
• Wah Lim, Hughes Space and Communications;
• Robert Martin, Bell Labs;
• David Nagel, AT&T;
• Glenn Reitmeier, Sarnoff Laboratories;
• Dennis Roberson, Motorola;
• Marvin Sirbu, Graduate School of Industrial Administration, and Carnegie Mellon University;
• Gregg Vanderheiden, University of Wisconsin, and Trace Research and Development Center;
• Jack Waters, Level 3 Communications;
• Pat White, AD Little;
• Robert Zitter, Home Box Office.

 

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