Disseminating concepts of information and communications accessibility to the world by Hajime Yamada

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Summary

Our everyday lives are filled with a variety of information and communication equipment and services. As society becomes even more information-oriented, so we will become increasingly dependent on such equipment and services. Currently available equipment and services, however, do not always provide ease of use for all possible users.

Typical groups that have poor accessibility are the elderly and people with disabilities. However, they are not the only ones who are experiencing difficulty in operating information and communications equipment such as PCs. Improved accessibility will have an impact on a greater range of users, and allow information and communications devices and services to penetrate deeper into our daily lives. To realize a highly information-oriented society, improvement of accessibility is an inevitable task.

Accessibility is also an important issue for people in developing countries. Whether they can access and create information through information and communications technologies will influence their future possibilities.

We are now facing the problem of how to disseminate accessibility standards for the elderly and people with disabilities to developing countries. In this paper, we will discuss the problem and make some recommendations.