IBM

IBM will be working with two universities to explore the creation of an open, common user interface platform for mobile devices. The software developed by IBM, the National Institute of Design of India in Bangalore, and the University of Tokyo's RCAST, the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, will be made available as open source.

The new research partnership is part of the company's Collaborative Research Initiatives program. One of the goals of the most recent effort is to figure out how illiterate or elderly populations can use their mobile devices to exploit the
information and services available to Internet users.

IBM Research-Japan and WGBH’s Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) are conducting a joint study via an online survey
on the applicability of speech synthesis for audio description of Web-based video.

Adults (18+ years of age) who are blind or have low vision will be asked to share their opinions about a few short video clips which include synthesized
description.

Resources for the Blind, Inc. (RBI) in collaboration with IBM Philippines concluded the 8th National Computer Camp for Blind Students. Twenty (20) visually
impaired students from high school and college levels gathered for a week-long basic training in computer literacy – computer applications,
such as keyboard skills, word processing, web page creation, social Internet networks (Facebook & Friendster), and the use of adaptive software that enable
individuals to use computers regardless of blindness or visual impairment. This year’s participating students came from various schools across Luzon, Visayas
and Mindanao.

The training took place at the IBM Plaza, the computer giant’s headquarters located in Eastwood City Cyberpark in Libis, Quezon City last November 2-6,
2009. More than 170 visually impaired students from all over the country were trained under the program since its introduction in 2001. The Computer Eyes
training program is an exemplary model showing how technology has been bridging the gap for the visually impaired and the digital divide in the Philippines.

DELHI, India - IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it received several prestigious awards in India on World Disability Day, recognizing the company’s work to improve the lives of those
with disabilities.

The first was India’s National Award 2009 in the category of "Technological Innovation" for best applied research aimed at improving the life of persons with disabilities - India’s highest such award. It was awarded personally by India’s Honorable President Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil on behalf of India’s Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and it recognizes the work of IBM Researchers in creating technology for what IBM calls the "Spoken Web" This
voice-enabled technology, developed by IBM Research - India, complements the Internet, and enables people with little or no literacy, or those with visual impairment, to access and share information, perform business transactions, and create social networks using mobile or landline phones.

Researchers at IBM have created a tool to put vocal flow into any web site, making life easier for the blind as well as the exceptionally lazy.

Blind web surfers use software which reads out the contents of web pages at a bewildering speed (to those unused to it), allowing the user to select hyperlinks and navigate sites. Badly-designed sites don't flow properly, which makes it hard to follow. Big sites can afford to optimise their content for the blind, but the new toolkit from IBM allows anyone to create an optimised flow just by dragging arrows to show how the site should be read.