Editorial

Citation

Abbott, C. (2012), "Editorial", Journal of Assistive Technologies, Vol. 6 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/jat.2012.55106daa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Assistive Technologies, Volume 6, Issue 4

We have a very full issue for you, with four peer-reviewed articles, an opinion piece and a report of a project in progress. We also include reviews of two recent books likely to be of interest to our readers: we are keen to review books more regularly in future, so please contact us with suggestions of publications we should cover.

Our first peer-reviewed paper in this issue comes from JAT Editorial Board Member Maurice Mulvenna, writing with his colleagues Gaye Lightbody, Eileen Thomson, Paul McCullagh, Melanie Ware and Suzanne Martin, all from the University of Ulster, in most cases the School of Computing and Mathematics. Their topic is an important one for JAT and one to which I am sure we will return regularly in the years to come: the use of brain control interfaces. The province of science fiction only a few years ago, this is now reality, although the efficacy and availability of current systems may not represent the position that could be reached in the relatively near future. Maurice Mulvenna and his colleagues set out to look at the potential of some of these systems to enable communication and control, particularly where the user in question has suffered a stroke or traumatic brain injury. They deal with the practical issues of attaching electrodes, using gel and managing calibration, but take a user-centred design approach within their European-funded research project. The Ulster team worked with colleagues from the Universities of Bremen and Warsaw, and with industry partners and an NGO, and report in this paper on their engagement with disabled and non-disabled users as participants. User participation in research is another key area of interest for JAT, focussed as we are on the users of technology rather than the technology itself. The groups of users participating in the project were disabled people with acquired brain injury in Northern Ireland and people without movement disabilities in Spain. It is clear from the results of this project that the use of BCI by the former group is likely to be extremely challenging and to require significant future research. The authors of the paper offer some helpful guidance as to the areas that need to be addressed if the potential of this group of technologies is to be fully realised for all users.

The authors of our next peer-reviewed paper are Rebecca Checkley, formerly of Sutherland House School, writing with Katie Holmes, Research Manager at Communication Matters, and three colleagues from Sheffield Hallam University: Lisa Reidy from the Department of Psychology, Sociology and Politics and Sue Chantler and Nick Hodge from the Autism Centre. Focusing their study on the provision of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for children with autism, the group used a mix of methodologies to observe three boys, using their voice output communication aids (VOCAs) and when these were not available. The team found significant increases in communication when the VOCA was in use, suggesting that these technologies can have a positive effect on the language complexity of children with autism, and beyond the level of requesting alone.

Our third peer-reviewed paper considers the perennial problem of the abandonment of assistive technology and the associated area of its usability, in this case with regard to technologies for those with hearing impairments. The author is Bodil Ravneberg, another international author, this time from Norway where she is based at the Uni Rokkan Centre for Social Studies. She aims to approach the use of assistive technology through two lenses: disability as a social phenomenon and technology as a social actor. Not all readers of JAT are likely to be immediately receptive to this approach, but it is our role as a leading journal in this field to be open to new and possibly contentious approaches – and we would, of course, welcome further contributions to the debate. The data on which Bodil develops her argument was obtained from a series of interviews with five people with hearing impairment and seven service providers. This data is analysed through a phased taxonomy: transaction, objectification, incorporation and conversion.

Abbas Riazi is our first author from Iran, and we are delighted that we continue to expand the international reach of JAT in this way. He is based at the Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, and writes here with colleagues from the University of New South Wales: Mei Ying Boon, Catherine Bridge and Stephen Dain. In their paper, the group consider the guidelines which should be followed when home modifications are made to meet the needs of people with visual impairments. They address, in particular, the experiences of those with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and the ways in which they have developed their own understanding of effective and worthwhile modifications. The team interviewed 31 people with AMD and then analysed the results in order to discover the understanding that users have developed in this area. After describing the particular effects of AMD on vision, they explain how the interviews, which took place in Australia, were set up and recorded. Among the key areas discussed are living alone, reading print on controls, specific issues related to AMD, lighting, colour contrast, fear of accidents and assistive technologies.

Following this rich and varied peer-reviewed section of the journal, we have two shorter articles in this issue. Annette Haworth from a charity called Access-ability Communications Technology in Reading and its iMuse programme, writing with Peter Williams from the Department of Information Studies at University College London, describes the use of QR codes to increase accessibility in a museum. The article describes some fascinating and developing work at the Museum of English Rural Life in Reading, where symbolised labels incorporate QR codes which can be scanned by smartphones (either owned by visitors or loaned to them by the museum). The paper helpfully addresses some of the practical difficulties that arise when QR codes are to be used in a museum environment, and if smartphones or tablets are to be easily carried from place to place by a user group with a range of disabilities. QR codes have infiltrated popular media very rapidly, so it is good to see serious attention being paid to their use as assistive technology, and we look forward to further news of this and similar projects.

Our second short article is an opinion piece from JAT Associate Editor Kevin Doughty, writing with Billy Mulvihill from Celtic Communications in Galway, Ireland and David Godfrey from Alert-it, Leicester. In their paper, the group propose a new model for Assisted Living. In particular, they address what they term plesiocare in addition to telecare. The latter is concerned with support from a distance using sensors, but the team propose the term plesiocare (from the Greek plesio for local) to indicate the use of telecare services to support carers, and to enable them to play their role more effectively. Telecare, plesiocare and self care are then considered in a model which places them alongside mCare, the use of mobile technologies in this context.

Our first book covered this month is Assistive Technology: Principles and Application for Communication Disorders and Special Education by Oliver Wendt, Raymond Quist and Lyle Lloyd. It has been read for us by Ann Aspinall, JAT Reviews Editor. The second book review comes from Jill Jepson from the University of East Anglia, who has been reading Design Meets Disability by Graham Pullin.

In our next issue we will be pleased to publish a group of papers from ICCHP 2012 (the 12th International Conference on Computers helping People with Special Educational Needs). Our Editorial Board are currently reviewing a range of papers from the section of that conference dealing with putting the disabled student in charge and user focussed technology in education. We congratulate all who have contributed to JAT this year – and we thank our Editorial Board and reviewers for all their support – and we look forward to the beginning of Volume 7 in 2013.

Chris Abbott