Twitter Telepathy: Researchers Turn Thoughts Into Tweets

[Reposted from sgLEAD]

From Wired, 20 Apr 09 (the article explains why Twitter works better than trying to get patients to email):

Early on the afternoon of April 1, Adam Wilson posted a message to Twitter. But instead of using his hands to type, the University of Wisconsin biomedical engineer used his brain. "USING EEG TO SEND TWEET," he thought.

... The researchers built upon the BCI2000, a software tool pioneered by Williams and Wadsworth Center neural injury specialist Gerwin Schalk. The software translates thought-induced changes in a scalp's electrical fields to control an on-screen cursor.

Williams described e-mail as a a relatively difficult and inefficient task for someone on a brain-computer interface.

"It's difficult enough to be able to spell words, much less find an address book and select names. The overhead involved in these applications is just too much," he said. "Twitter is very serendipitous. It handles all the things that we've been struggling to make easy for a patient to do. It puts messages where people can find them. Let the world know how you're doing, what you're thinking, and they'll find you. And that's perfect for these patients and their families."

LINK

YouTube video of the software in action, here:


Something that Singapore polytechnics or universities might want to try prototyping?

IFLA 2008 (part 7): E-reading for disabled persons

[From Part 6]

Monday, 11 Aug 2008, Quebec City. Libraries Serving Disadvantaged Persons Section.


"E-reading for disabled persons: The French digital library for the Disabled" by Monique Pujol.

Monique spoke in French but her slides had English explanations so I was able to follow (good thinking, 'cos translation receiver headsets might fail.)

She shared about their digital library serving people with disabilities, based in the city of Boulogne-Billancourt. The project was a multi-party collaboration. It involved the Paris Public Hospital Network, commercial companies (who provided digital content, computer hardware) and disabled persons associations.

The service is offered via this website - bnh.numilog.com


Collections

• They acquire recent (i.e. popular) & classical works
• 55% Fiction and 45% Non-fiction items
• So far they have1,120 written works, 210 audio items, and 7,000 documents.
• The use the PDF format, as it works with Text-to-Voice softwares like JAWS
• Something about adopting "PRC for palm PDA smartphones", as it allows text enlargement (I think it's this)
• Audio formats would be WMA and MP3

Costs
About 50,000 Euros per year to maintain the website and for acquiring the digital books

Users & Fees

• The service is for individuals or institutions
• It's only for users with disabilities of any form. Proof being the disability association they belong
• There's an annual joining fee between eight Euros (for city inhabitants) to 20 Euros for non-residents
• There are 400 registered users, out of which 40% have some form of motor-disabilities and 47% have some form of visual-disability

Results of evaluation
They conducted a study with the help of university students. It was a national sample, using an online questionnaire. Some person-to-person interviews were also done to collect testimonials.

On the minus-side, Users reported an insufficient number of "copyrighted resources" ( I think this means current and popular materials that aren't free or in public domain). The formats and technology was also a challenge to users.

On the plus-side, users liked the remote access service and some felt they had a greater degree of independence in obtaining information materials.


Future plans
Overall the project was deemed as feasible. They now plan to create a telephone hotline for users who need assistance on how to use the service. They intend to expand to youth collections, start a selection committee, and plan to hold discussions with hospitals and agencies.


My thoughts
I wondered how many persons with disabilities in Singapore currently use the digital books and audio collections that are already available via the NLB library website (National and Public libraries). I suspect not many. It's something my colleagues and I can try to ascertain.

Compared to five years ago, the NLB digital collections have improved a lot in terms of quality. There's ebooks and audio. Access and use of digital resources has steadily increased. I suspect a lot is via word-of-mouth.

I don't forsee the quality of collections to be the major issue (although there will always be the issue of bestsellers not in the digital collections, but this is really the publisher's perogative).

Part of the issue may be the lack of awareness of our current digital services, by people with disabilities. This can be addressed through regular promotions and publicity activities, via the organisations serving people with disablilities.

I've a feeling the biggest issue would be web accessibility, where the site is accessible to people using screen-to-voice softwares etc.

It's not easy to create a 100% disabled-accessible site AND still make the site "interesting" to majority of users. I think most developers (and the organisations who commission them) don't really make sure there is web accessibility for people with disabilities. Either because of cost and time constraints, or lack of awareness of such a need, or they feel the priority is for the general population. Frankly, my employer is no exception.

But in truth, it's easy to hide behind the excuse of "organisation inertia".

I think things will happen when someone wants to make it happen. That someone don't have to be a person at very senior levels. Of course the lower down in the organisation hierarchy, the longer time it will take.

I'll have to start with myself then.

Seems there are two options here:

1. Re-design the existing site (or sections in the website) to ensure the digital resources are disability-friendly
2. Don't try to aim for a disability-friendly site that is exactly the same. Build a sister-website. A no-frills one. Aim to just provide access to the digital resources.

Option 1 would take a long, long time to achieve. And probably not go anywhere. It could cost a lot more and likely to result in compromises in design and features.

I'm inclined towards option 2. The sister-site could be a blog (costs nothing to set up if we use free online services). Include "hardcoded" links on the site to selected e-resources.

Idea needs more work. Maybe the users feel this won't be useful at all. I'll need to discuss with colleagues, and also people in agencies like DPA, SPD, SADEAF.

We need to talk to some of their clients. First we ascertain how many of them are aware of the current digital services and content. If they are already using it or have tried to use it, what are the problems.I'd like to think of this sister-site as a side door to some (not all) of the content and services.

A no-frills "side door"
It's unlikely the site will be a full one-stop portal to the digital content. The different digital content sources have varying degrees of disability-access (in the digital content business model, the service providers own the content and merely gives us a right to access for a subscription fee).

For those cases, users who want more could email the librarian for assistance. Will the librarians be overwhelmed? Who knows until we try?

My point is that the site could be a poor cousin to the full web service. And users won't be fully independent in using the service.

But at least it's there.

[Next: Part 8]

IFLA 2008 (part 6): Senior Spaces - the library place for baby boomers, older adults & their families

[From Part 5]

Sunday, 10 Aug 2008 (Quebec City).

Mr. Alan Kleinmann, from Old Bridge Public Library in the US, spoke about his library's Senior Spaces project (see also, seniorspaces.blogspot.com!)

The room was almost filled for this presentation organised by the Libraries Serving Disadvantaged Persons Section.


Alan said it was a clear indication that there's an interest in this area for years to come. And that the librarians are planning for their own service!

[Probably true. And from what I observe, mention 'Seniors' and you'd tend to attract more participants than if you mention 'Disability' in the programme title].

Alan mentioned that the shift in aging population happening all over the world (true, as cited in this presentation for my Davies Forum talk -- see slides 12 to 17).

At his library, they recognised that baby boomers working for past 20 to 30 years have not used libraries. Also, since there's a specific space for children, why not for seniors? (in fact, Children's spaces was not common in the early days of public libraries).

Hence their 'Senior Spaces' project, serving "all three generations of older adults—the baby boomers not yet retired, older adults who have retired in the last few years, and the elderly many who can no longer get to the library".


What is in this Senior Spaces
The Senior Spaces includes the physical aspect, programmes, meetings (among seniors), learning, a bookstore, "and more" (apparently they have gaming!)

Books remain at the focus of what they created. They have events like "Senior Fridays", a club called "Savvy Seniors" who plan outings for themselves.

There's an extensive large print collection with a Face Out shelving (Alan says the large print collection goes out like hot cakes).


They have free computer classes for seniors. They want to use their libraries to help seniors bridge the digital divide (I totally agree with this approach).

They formed an advisory board comprising of two library board members and library customers. He says the advisory board suggested things which they wouldn't have thought about, like a Foreign Film club.

They teach users how to use the assistive software.

Another cool feature -- the librarian's desk is right smack in the Senior Spaces. Just a table and chair rather than an imposing service counter desk. This arrangement came out of necessity (lack of space) but it worked beautifully, according to Alan (and I would think so).

They have an active seniors club (I think this is the picture showing the Savvy Seniors, who organise their out outings).


Gaming in library - for seniors
Alan showed this slide with a senior next to a young lady (talk about inter-generation!) The punch line was the lady's visually impaired. And with the Wii game set in the library, she played bowling for first time in 10 years.


Here's another one that just says "inter-generation" as well.

Promoting the service
They conduct outreach programmes (like this one to their Senior Center).

They use flyers.

There's a prominent wall to promote books that might attract baby boomers.

Here's a really nice idea -- a "Memory Case". Seniors contribute stuff from their past and showcase it in the library.

According to Alan, some seniors were so proud that they could do this so they got all their friends to come and told people about the library service.

They've gone into "Web 2.0 space", as in this blog with contributions from their users (like this post).


How they sought approval for the space
Alan explained that they incorporated the Senior Spaces proposal in their strategic plan, which was approved by their library board. They sought external funding in addition to what the board granted. They raised USD$30,000 but Alan emphasised that they were prepared to do the same with less money. They saved money by doing the space planning on their own.

Future plans
This includes more blogging activities, vodcasts, podcasts.

They plan to develop a presence in SecondLife. He sees their library's roles as teaching seniors technology (about YouTube, Web, Blogs).

Alan suggests that it's easy to create a Senior Spaces project in libraries. You just need a sign board to tell people the space exists, have the appropriate book display, and furniture.


In ending, he says, "I hope you begin to think about democratic changes that are coming".


Q&A
Someone asked, "Will users mind being labeled as 'Seniors'?"
Alan says this issue is not clear cut. There are some who embrace the term and some who just refuse to use the service because of the name (to their loss). Old Bridge PL do have criticisms about the term Senior Spaces but it was their advisory board who adopted the name. They kept it because the seniors themselves couldn't come up with any better alternatives.

"How do you define a Senior?"
The US official definition is 65 but there's no clear cut benchmark even in the US. Alan jokes that their library considers the 50 to 70 year olds as "young seniors" and the Above-90 as "elderly".

---

My thoughts
In Singapore, the Toa Payoh library has a Seniors Corner. It's the only one with a clear demarcated physical space.

In comparing that one with Old Bridge PL's, it obvious to me now that the success of the space is more than just having a physical presence.

In fact, the physical aspect of the space did not come up very strongly in Alan's presentation, and yet he shared a very compelling story of his project.

So it's really about having a whole suite of activities -- programmes, customer involvement and empowerment, online and offline publicity and activities.

The key success criteria seems to be a strong group of regular seniors who use the space. And who readily identify themselves with the space.

It might be a challenge for Singapore libraries to try this. My feeling is that most of our seniors don't want to be in the limelight. They are from a generation whose thinking is that they'd rather remain in the background of things. For instance, something like the Memory Case may be difficult to try.

But having said that, I feel if we don't make the attempt to try, we won't know. For all I know, it could be a wrong perception on my part.

Definitely something I'd explore with my colleagues when I get back.

Alan's paper can be downloaded, here (PDF, 88KB).

[Next: Part 7]

Off to IFLA Conference: 19-23 August 2007, Durban, South Africa (part 6)

Spotted this at the conference venue: A "Braille Trail" for those who rely on Braille -- the sign provides instruction on how to get around. For instance, to get to Hall 2, one has to "Turn to 3 o'clock, and walk straight ahead".

Rather than say "turn 90-degrees", it said "turn to your 3 o'clock". Makes sense.

A clever system.

I closed my eyes as I touched the surface of the sign (as if I was reading the Braille sign). I was facing the sign. So I pictured 3 o'clock, which was a 90-degrees turn to my right. Walking straight would get me to Hall 2.



[Reference: Part 5]

HSBC Sign & Tell 2007: “Storytelling with a difference”

Spotted this poster at the Bishan Community library (BICL) today:


The event is held over four Saturdays (14 April, 9 June, 15 September, and 8 December, 2007) at Bishan Community Library, courtesy of staff from HSBC. They will deliver the stories using narration and sign language. One example of inclusive library programming, with help from community partners.

[Also blogged at sgLEAD]

Technorati Tag: sign language

Updates: Disability-related groups and events

Recent posts from sgLEAD.wordpress.com:

i-CREATe 2007

Thanks to Dennis for the heads-up on this event — i-CREATe 2007 (www.i-create2007.org). He informs the mailing list that, “NLB is the venue for inaugural International Convention for Rehabilitative Engineering & Assistive Technology (i-CREATe) 2007″.

[Link]

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Photography website for People with Disabilities (PWDs)

Alvan says: Looks promising and interesting, as a shutterbug myself...

[Link]

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Disability-related groups at Flickr.com

[Link]