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One-size-fits-one Digital Inclusion

Jutta Treviranus

Director, Inclusive Design Research CentreInclusive Design InstituteOCAD University

Co-Director - Raising the FloorRaising the Floor

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Digital Exclusion

• access to online systems no longer an option

• new entranceway to government services, commerce, education, employment, recreation, social engagement, civic engagement....

• estimated social and economic cost of digital exclusion (55.2 billion annually in the US)

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Bridging the Gap

• Standard information and communication technology (ICT) developers design for the typical or average user

• Assistive technology (AT) is intended to bridge the gap to reach anyone that requires alternative access systems

• the Assistive Technology bridge is inadequate and crumbling

• impossible technical task• impossible business conditions• only some disability, only a small

part of the world• increasing cost • decreasing availability, functionality,

reliability and diversity

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Special Services to support Digital Inclusion

• Currently spend more on policing and excluding people from specialized services than on delivering service

• Cost containment measures result in vicious cycle

Accessibility Legislation• Essential for cultural change, but hard to

update and keep current

• Seen to constrain innovation, flexibility and customization

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We need a new approach

• Will only get worse…

• The new approach must…

• be sustainable

• be integrated

• take advantage of technical advance rather than trying to catch up

• include the full spectrum of users who face barriers

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The New Approach

• gpii.org

• the GPII is not a single entity, a single technology, a single set of tools or a single architecture but the orchestration and linking of a large diversity of tools, infrastructures, applications, contributors, organizations and participants globally - like the Web

• harnessing the flexibility of digital systems, the Cloud and global networks

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Potential to be “the most powerful Digital Curbcut yet”

• access to education for the “doubly marginalized”

• literacy and e-literacy

• an inclusive demand-supply pipeline

• impetus for innovation and market diversification

• even good for waste reduction

• integrated and at the forefront of innovation