Name: Mark Magennis
Position: Director of the NCBI Centre for Inclusive Technology (CFIT), an initiative of the National Council for the Blind of Ireland.
mark.magennis@ncbi.ie
Tel: +353 1 882 1956

INTEREST
NCBI CFIT works on accessibility of web and TV, providing accessibility training, auditing, user testing and general consultancy as well as doing campaigning and advocacy work. We are active in the HTML5 and WAI Protocols and Formats WGs, are currently developing a set of Universal Design guidelines for digital TV and are involved in EU-funded research on the Universal Design of future ubiquitous internet applications (web2.0, mobile and IPTV services).
We are interested in how the convergence of Web, TV and mobile technologies presents opportunities for older people and people with disabilities, but also significant threats of digital exclusion if designs fail to take account of their needs.

POINT OF VIEW
Universal digital inclusion is increasingly important for full social inclusion and the wellbeing of individuals and of society as a whole. Use of the web and TV are fast becoming essential for access to all aspects of life - employment, education, information, entertainment, healthcare, shopping, social interaction and so on. The Web/TV convergence will see a massive acceleration of this trend.
Older people and people with disabilities represent a large and increasing proportion of society. For example, the UN estimates that by 2050 one in five people worldwide will be over 60. In the EU, one in six (80 million) has a disability. The proportion is usually higher in developing countries.
The switch from analogue to digital TV, and now the convergence of TV and Web, brings more feature rich and therefore more complex interfaces, making usability and accessibility more important but also more difficult to achieve. Many users of Web/TV services will be new to web concepts, such as older people who until now have been able to ignore the complications of the internet but have always relied on television.
To maximise the user base for Web/TV services and to ensure full inclusion, it is essential that Universal Design is put at the centre of all activities, including the design of products and services and the development of standards.

SUGGESTIONS
There is a need to look at how Universal Design processes can be effectively adopted and supported within the design and development of Web/TV products, services and standards.
Designers of TV interfaces and content can benefit from learning about the accessibility work that has been done on the Web. Designers of web-based services can equally can benefit from the work that has been done on TV equipment accessibility (remote control design, packaging, connectivity, etc.).
There is a good deal of legislation and regulation in the TV area already and it is important to look at how this will apply to combined services and web content accessed through TV.
There is a need to look at web/TV service requirements in their social context which includes both communal living (for example where a family constitutes a single 'audience member' and includes one or more older persons or persons with  disabilities) and independent living (for example where a person with a disability needs to have full unaided access to a service). Independent living will be a particularly big future market, including remote monitoring, access to health information, video telephony and other such services.
An important area to consider is how to develop cost effective and resource efficient approaches to the production and delivery of essential audiovisual access services - audio description for blind viewers, captions and sign language for deaf viewers. HbbTV is attractive in this respect.