European Initiative to Improve Communications

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has published a report aimed at improving communications for disabled, young and elderly people by demonstrating the potential benefits of a new communications concept, the Universal Communications Identifier (UCI).

UCI is a concept for tomorrow's advanced communication networks which will bring many benefits to all users, but which has specific and novel features that offer particular advantages for people with functional impairments or with special requirements, such as the elderly and the young (those under 12). In particular, two aspects of UCI systems offer huge potential:

Firstly, instead of simply connecting a terminal with another terminal, the system "knows" the identity of both the originator and the recipient of a communication. The system can therefore take account of any special requirements either may have, ensuring, for example, that an incoming voice call for an elderly user with a hearing defect is redirected via a service that applies pre-defined frequency-based amplification, or that e-mails read at a public terminal by a UCI user with a sight defect are displayed with enlarged text.

The second aspect relates to the UCI's "additional information field". When a UCI is stored in someone's address book, the additional information field can highlight the UCI owner's special communication requirements. These might include almost anything that will help the originator set up a successful communication, including, for example, an indication of the preferred language of the recipient or the diversion of the call to the recipient's preferred service (perhaps fax or e-mail instead of voice if the recipient is deaf).

The report (ETSI Technical Report TR 103 073) outlines the communication difficulties that are currently associated with people with various disabilities, and with elderly and very young people. Where there are current solutions to these difficulties, these have also been included. These findings have been uncovered by extensive consultation with people who belong to or are representatives of the target groups.

TR 103 073 has been developed by an ETSI Specialist Task Force (see footnote 1) (STF 230), which was funded under the European Commission (EC) eEurope initiative and set up to work with ETSI Technical Committee Human Factors (see footnote 2) in telecommunications (TC HF) to accelerate the standardization necessary to enable the new technology of UCI. One of the aims of eEurope is to increase 'e-Accessibility' - by widening access to the Information Society, developing the use of digital technologies across Europe and ensuring that all Europeans are given the chance to use them.

In preparing the report, and so that representative user groups are aware of the potential of UCI-based systems, STF 230 consulted, and received assistance from, organizations such as the European Disability Forum, the European Blind Union, and the European Design for All e-Accessibility Network.

Work now continues on the production of guidelines for manufacturers and developers, based on the findings in TS 103 073, which will ensure that the needs of young, elderly and disabled people are taken into account when UCI-based systems and products are designed.

TR 103 073 may be downloaded free of charge from http://pda.etsi.org/pda.

For further information about this news release, please contact:
Kevin Flynn
ETSI Press Office
Tel: +33 (0)4 9294 4258
E-mail: press@etsi.fr
or
Beverley Wing, Kingston Public Relations, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1482 876229
E-mail: BeverleyWing@aol.com

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