Ways to increase awareness about accessibility in higher education

To promote inclusion on the campus

• add AT (Assistive Technology) as a core course
• Create an Accessibility and AT program for undergraduates and beyond
• Research focused on AT
• Support students with special needs
• Recruit disabled staff/faculty

We are all on the same boat. Word prediction technology previously developed for the disabled now becomes ubiquitous on almost all mobiles.

album

I am visiting Quality of Life Technology Center, (Gates Center for Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University).

(Letter from ACM ASSETS 2009)
QoLT is a unique partnership between Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Its mission is to create intelligent systems to give greater independence to older adults and people with disabilities. We are delighted to offer ASSETS attendees the opportunity to see some of their latest exciting projects. Attendees will meet with QoLT researchers over light refreshments generously provided by QoLT.

Homework 10-17-2009

1. Survey the major industry players in cloud computing and propose a taxonomy.
2. Summarize the following paper in 200 words.

Yao-Jen Chang, Hsin-Yu Hsu, Tsen-Yung Wang "Nonprofit Housing Services using Web 2.0 Mapping Tools" WWW 2008, Beijing China. Apr 21-25. pp. 953-957. (EI)

3. Summarize the following paper in 200 words.

Yao-Jen Chang, Tseng-Yun Wang, Shi-Kai Tsai, Yu-Chia Chuang, "Action Science Approach to Experimenting Nonprofit Web 2.0 Services for Employment of Individuals with Mental Impairments" 2007 International Workshop on Social Media Analysis in conjunction with ACM/IEEE Web Intelligence, Fremont, USA, Nov 2~5, 2007. (EI)

Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE)

(news from IEEE)

IEEE Std. 1609.3–2007, released in April

The IEEE Trial-Use Standard for Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE)–Networking Services belongs to a family of standards that will let motor vehicles communicate with each other and with roadside systems so they can access safety and travel information. The standard defines services at the network and transport layers that support wireless connectivity.

WAVE technology—also known as dedicated short-range communications—will allow for new on-the-road applications such as Internet access and ordering goods and services. It will operate in the 5.9-GHz band for intelligent transportation systems, the band authorized by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

Related Research: Yao-Jen Chang, Shan-Yao Wu, Ting-Liang Shih, Intersection Location Service and Performance Comparison of Three Location Service Algorithms for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks in City Environments

Midterm Design Project

"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.
- Marie Curie"

Due: Nov. 30, 2009

Design a wireless network that can be fast deployed in an area under disastrous strikes.
Use powerpoint to prepare a 10-minute slide presentation. For the presentation format, here is one.

The issues here are the communication infrastructures in such areas may have been destroyed due to the catastrophy. There may be no infrastructures at all in the first place.

Optical fiber, ADSL and cable modem alike are based on wired technology. Therefore, it is not viable to deploy in a short time, especially in disastrous areas. That's one of the reasons why people turn to wireless technology in such needs.

Therefore, in the design of wireless network, you may want to minimize the use of wired infrastructure.

Hurricane Katrina may be one of the examples where you can find some clues for this project.

Reference:

1. Teaching of Prof Chuah.

2.
Wireless Business News Updates: http://www.wifiplanet.com
Some of the historical events were covered in this online magazine. Such as rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. One article is shown here and more can be found online.

a glimpse ahead, Microsoft's vision 2019

Today I went to the Window 7 launch party in a round table setting at Microsoft Taipei Headquarter. What really interests me is a glimpse ahead, Microsoft's vision 2019. It is not available in a CD but Youtube already has it. I do encourage you to take a look.

Longer version

course materials for 10-17-2009

• Cloud Computing, examples