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New OpenOffice.org Writer Extension Produces Braille

Leuven, Belgium, 4 August 2010 - The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U.Leuven) today released an extension for OpenOffice.org Writer that enables users to save documents as Braille or to send them directly to a Braille embosser. “odt2braille” (http://odt2braille.sourceforge.net/) is a freeware extension for OpenOffice.org, a office suite that is freely available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux/Unix and Solaris.

More information can be found in the press release.

Registration 1st ÆGIS International Conference now open!

Seville, Spain, 6-8 October 2010

1st International Aegis Conference announcement banner and link to conference website

We would like to kindly invite you to the 2nd Pan-European Workshop/User Forum and the 1st International ÆGIS Conference entitled “Access for All in the desktop, web and mobile field: an end-user and developer perspective” which will take place in Seville, Spain on 6 and 7-8 October 2010 respectively. All events are organised by the ÆGIS IP initiative (Open Accessibility Everywhere: Groundwork, Infrastructure, Standards - www.aegis-project.eu), partially funded under FP7 (Theme: ICT‐2007.7.1; ICT & Ageing).

Download here the accessible PDF version of the Conference invitation

Download here the guidelines for the papers (pdf)

The Workshop/User Forum aims to bring together end-users and experts in the field of assistive technologies, from both the OSS community as well as the proprietary one, that focus on the accessibility of desktop, web and mobile applications. During the workshop the project will present the tools developed so far, and will stimulate discussions between both end-users and application developers vis-à-vis the project’s outcomes so far. The outcomes will be taken into account by the Consortium during the further course of the project. Participation to the workshop will be free of charge.

Detailed info and registration about the 1st International AEGIS Conference is available through www.aegis-conference.eu.

We kindly invite you and your colleagues to submit papers in the following categories:

  • Scientific papers
  • Technical papers

Conference topics (non-exhaustive list):

  • Accessible desktop applications (AT, developer tools and accessible applications)
  • Accessible mobile applications (AT, developer tools and accessible applications)
  • Accessible Rich Internet Applications (AT, developer tools and accessible applications)
  • Accessibility and Standardisation (e.g. ISO, eInclusion, Policies, Legislation)
  • Accessibility and Usability (e.g. Design for All)
  • Accessibility research (e.g. Assistive technology usage by end-users and their satisfaction, innovative AT training via accessible e-learning)

Important dates:

  • Paper submission deadline: 20th July 2010
  • Notification of acceptance and outcome of review process: 29th July 2010
  • Final camera ready papers: 27th August 2010
  • Registration by 30th September 2010

More information can be found here.

ÆGIS @ ICT 2010

ÆGIS will participate in the ICT 2010 networking session "Built-in accessibility assessment and interoperability architectures in products of the future", which will take place on 28/09/2010 (16:00-17:30).

ÆGIS launches its own Twitter page

ÆGIS now also has its own Twitter page at twitter.com/aegisproj. An accessible variant can be accessed via www.accessibletwitter.com.

About ÆGIS

AEGIS systemThe ÆGIS project seeks to determine whether 3rd generation access techniques will provide a more accessible, more exploitable and deeply embeddable approach in mainstream ICT (desktop, rich Internet and mobile applications). This approach is developed and explored with the Open Accessibility Framework (OAF) through which aspects of the design, development and deployment of accessible mainstream ICT are addressed. The OAF provides embedded and built-in accessibility solutions, as well as toolkits for developers, for “engraving” accessibility in existing and emerging mass-market ICT-based products, thus making accessibility open, plug and play, personalised and configurable, realistic and applicable in various contexts; ÆGIS is placing users and their needs at the centre of all ICT developments. Based on a holistic UCD, ÆGIS identifies user needs and interaction models for several user groups, (users with visual, hearing, motion, speech and cognitive impairments as well as application developers) and develops open source-based generalised accessibility support into mainstream ICT devices/applications:

  • desktop,
  • rich web applications, and
  • Java-based mobile devices.

All developments will be iteratively tested with a significant number of end users, developers and experts in 3 phases and 4 Pilot sites Europe wide (in Belgium, Spain, Sweden and the UK).

The project includes strong industrial and end user participation (the participating industries are among the market leaders in the corresponding mainstream ICT markets). The project results’ uptake is promoted by strong standardisation activities, as well as the fact that much of the technology results will be either new open source applications or will be built into existing and already widely adopted open source ICT.