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Subject: Assistive Software and Information Trace Research & Development Center http://www.trace.wisc.edu/tindex.html Overview The Trace Center is an interdisciplinary research, development and resource center on technology and disability. It is part of the Waisman Center and the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. The mission of the Center is: "To advance the ability of people with disabilities to achieve their life objectives through the use of communication, computer and information technologies." Funding for the Center comes from a variety of sources, including federal and state programs, non-profit organizations, and private industry. Since the early 1980's, the Trace Center has been funded as a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center through the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Department of Education. In 1993, Trace was designated as the RERC on "Access to Computers and Information Systems." Along with Gallaudet University and the World Institute on Disability, Trace is also part of a new RERC on "Telecommunications." The Trace Center currently employs 14 full-time and 20 part-time staff and students. These include 9 research, 6 clinical, and 4 support staff, plus varying numbers of students (graduate and undergraduate), in addition to faculty who participate in individual research efforts. Backgrounds of Center staff include electrical engineering, computer science, industrial engineering, biomedical engineering, speech pathology, psychology, library science, and occupational therapy. The Trace Center was formed in 1971 to address the communication needs of people who are non-speaking and have severe disabilities. The Center was an early leader and innovator in the field that came to be known as "Augmentative Communication" - a term that came out of the Trace Center's writings. Among its early achievements was the development of the first portable, user-programmable electronic communication device for non-speaking people. At the time of the emergence of the personal computer, the Trace Center became involved with making computers accessible to people with disabilities. Starting with a 1984 White House meeting on the topic, the Center served as coordinator for the nationwide Industry-Government Initiative on Computer Accessibility. The guidelines developed through this initiative have been widely used by computer companies both as design guidelines and as a yardstick for measuring their products' capacity to accommodate users with disabilities. The Trace Center has worked directly with computer companies to integrate disability access features into their standard, mass-marketed products. As a result of this work, disability access features are now being incorporated directly into most of the major operating system environments in the computer industry, including Macintosh OS, DOS, IBM OS/2, UNIX/X Window system, Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT. With the advent of hypertext language and CD-ROM technology in the mid-1980's, the Trace Center saw the opportunity to put extensive disability-related information in the hands of consumers, professionals, and others in an easy-to-use, accessible form. The Center's software development and organizing efforts led to the Cooperative Electronic Library on Disability, currently in its 9th edition, which is disseminated on CD-ROM as "Co-Net." Recently, the Trace Center has begun focusing its efforts on the accessibility problems of newer generation information and transaction systems. As these systems become more widespread in education, employment and daily life, their accessibility to people with disabilities becomes critical. Using the collaborative model it established with the computer industry, the Center is working with consumers and the information and telecommunication industries to ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to new information technologies and the emerging "information superhighway." List with 5 choices: 1.Trace Program Areas: Project Descriptions, Services, and Contact Information. 2.Trace Publications & Software: The Trace Publications & Media Catalog Online. 3.Designing an Accessible World: A Cooperative Effort to Change the World. 4.Cooperative Electronic Library: Selected Disability Documents and Resources. New. 5.New and Spotlighted Items!. Search this Site using Keyword(s): ------------------- ------------------------------- Excerpt from the CSS INTERNET NEWS For subscription details e-mail [log in to unmask] -------------------------------