Smart Campus in Your Pocket

This article is the second in a series of articles about the CulturAll 2.0 Network, a national multi-sector network developing innovative approaches, tools and strategies to ensure that everyone in Canada can participate in the Canadian cultural exchange online.


The exponential increase in the computing power of today’s electronic processors can only be compared to the similarly accelerated reduction in their size. As a result, the number-crunching capabilities offered by the portable devices we carry with us, from media players to hand-held digital organizers, can now be used to create powerful applications on the go. This relatively new, increasingly affordable, and readily available portable computing power has provided a great range of opportunities for interaction, creativity and, of course, personal and cultural expression.

Unfortunately, these achievements have not been matched in the area of accessibility, where we still face myriad limitations that risk the exclusion of many from the cultural exchange in the electronic mobile space.

In response to this challenge, the Smart Campus in Your Pocket (SCYP) Project, based at the University of Toronto’s Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC), is recruiting students, disability advocacy groups and industrial partners into a variety of research and development activities focused on the design of innovative and inclusive mobile technologies that accommodate the wide variety of physical, social, cultural and educational needs and preferences of Canadians.

SCYP (pronounced “skip”) is using the University of Toronto campus as a testing ground for initiatives that range from surveying the various contexts in which specific communities are using, or may use, mobile devices in the near future, to the development of applications that offer services tailored to a particular user’s context.

THE POTENTIAL OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES
There are already many examples of the impact that current and emerging mobile technologies can have in our lives. For instance, the now-ubiquitous global positioning systems (GPS), which met their commercial success in the form of navigational aids for automobile drivers, have also found a warm place in the hearts of blind users who have managed to employ GPS technology as an additional and useful source of information when finding their way through outdoor environments.

The SCYP team is currently working in collaboration with Synthetic Imaging Inc., a user-led organization, toward the development of an indoor extension to the primarily outdoors GPS technology. Our first prototype indoor positioning system will use public information broadcasted by wireless Internet access points in order to safely and privately determine the location of a mobile device user.

The potential applications of such extensions go far beyond enabling indoor navigation for people with visual disabilities. Other conceivable services include, for example, the development of electronic museum guides that can be downloaded to a visitor’s mobile device, and which will not require them to dial a particular code every time they want to learn about a nearby piece of art. A visitor may also be able to use their mobile device to retrieve real-time information (e.g., captioning) about a lecture taking place in the auditorium next door. Artists themselves will likely find creative ways to take advantage of such technology in order to engage their audiences in innovative ways.

MANY MODES, MANY ALTERNATIVES
SCYP is also focused on the development of rich, multi-modal mobile device user interactions. With multi-modal interactions, users will have access to information in a wide variety of formats, ranging from the customization of visual elements in a display, to the novel incorporation of sensory pathways, such as touch and tactile interaction, into the user experience. In this regard, SCYP has already initiated a research collaboration with Immersion Corp., a leading manufacturer of tactile feedback technologies.

Other SCYP initiatives include student- and user-driven projects on relevant topics such as social networking and alternative physical access. All together, these efforts should provide increased opportunities to fulfill the needs and preferences of all mobile- device users in Canada.

The SCYP Project is supported by Bell University Labs. CulturAll 2.0, including the extension of SCYP to the cultural exchange in the mobile space, is made possible by financial support from the Department of Canadian Heritage through Canadian Culture Online.

For more information about SCYP, please visit the project website, http://scyp.atrc.utoronto.ca. 

Jorge Silva is a disability engineer who is co-ordinating the SCYP Project. He has spent the past 10 years trying to make the world fit people with disabilities. You can reach Jorge by email at jorge.silva@utoronto.ca.