Meeting Minutes

August 27, 2020

Date: August 27, 2020

Minutes recorded by: Patricia Debergue

Meeting objective: Follow-up on project advancements.

Attendees:

Items discussed:

• OCAD proposes to give presentations on 3 subjects:
  • Introduction to assistive technologies
  • Canadian legislations: specifications, regulations and laws with regards to accessibility
  • Existing guidelines (WCAG)
• We discussed the need for personalization with regards to accessibility.
• For assistive technologies, a major culture change is needed that would support better inclusion as people and their needs may be quite different in the disability space. Also, as you age, your needs are changing and if you already have a disability at the start of aging, this can be dramatic. There may also be sometimes a misuse of personalization tools and the push of assistive technologies, such as software overlays, in the hands of users who don’t really need them.
• Jutta discussed guidelines and what worked in the past and examples of what backfired and how vendors would put more energy in trying to avoid guidelines, getting exemptions, instead of trying to conform. Drafting guidelines is therefore not an easy task.

August 13, 2020

Date: August 13, 2020

Minutes recorded by: Denis Laroche

Meeting objective: Follow-up on project advancements.

Attendees:

Items discussed:

• Denis started Ethics approval process at NRC.
• Jutta reported on discussion with Ministry of Digital Government of Canada. Specific point was about hardware update and assistive technologies (AT). People with disabilities who receive support to purchase the often expensive AT only qualify for renewal every 5 years. This means that the majority have old hardware that won’t support the COVID app. The Minister is organizing a strategy to address this, as is Hilary Hartley with the Ontario Digital Service. This will have an impact on virtual health app usage.
• Jutta proposed we look deeper into assistive technologies in the project.
• Hélène informed that NRC is planning a survey with Léger and suggested we could include one for the project.
• Jutta recommend we collect info from several survey reports. These include the Health Data Research Network led by paprica@ices.on.ca, Canadian Council of the Blind, and the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health(CADTH) led by Kim McGrail kim.mcgrail@ubc.ca
• Jutta proposed inviting specialists on surveys to report with virtual care in Canada.
• Jutta proposed Lisa to prepare a presentation (small course) for NRC on assistive technologies.
• Denis and Jutta discussed if WCAG and ISO guidelines cover enough this project.
• Jutta suggest we get more familiar with G3ICT (g3ict.org) as they offer many relevant reports.
• Helene and Jutta discussed on Design for All in EU, and Jutta suggested to look at Mandate 376 (http://mandate376.standards.eu/) (Jutta based the publicly reviewed and yet to be enacted Phase 2 of the AODA on this to arrive at the Functional Accessibility Requirements. The FARs as they are called are also reflected in the US Rehab 508 Refresh. See: https://www.ontario.ca/page/review-information-and-communications-standards-2019-initial-recommendations-report. There are a set of infographics that accompany this prepared by our graphic designers that are very helpful. 
• Jutta shared a blog she wrote that discusses the untenable nature of the AT ecosystem https://medium.com/@jutta.trevira/lets-not-spend-public-funds-to-perpetuate-digital-disparity-a4413132ca

Actions:

• Denis to follow-up with NRC REB
• Jutta to see if it would be possible to have a meeting with survey experts.
• Lisa to prepare material for helping NRC to understand assistive technologies
• Jutta to provide orientation to accessibility regulations globally and the positioning of WCAG

July 30, 2020

Minutes recorded by Patricia Debergue

Meeting objective:

Follow-up on project advancements.

Attendees:

Items discussed:

• Ethics approval received on July 28, 2020
• Hélène shared report on virtual care landscape in Canada.
• Discussed several approaches with different perspectives and viewpoints, being followed in the guidelines world for inclusivity, accessibility and universality, with their advantages and disadvantages. IDRC will share information for NRC to have a better understanding of this area of research.
• How to apply web-based guidelines to non-web content and available tools to test to what extent mobile apps or desktop software follow guidelines. Lisa suggested to look at the BBC mobile accessibility guidelines: https://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/futuremedia/accessibility/mobile
• Justin gave a demonstration on how to edit wiki pages

Actions:

• Patricia/Denis to follow-up with NRC REB and contact Vera if details are required
• Hélène/Denis to validate guidelines information that can be posted on the wiki and post it - taking into account the fact that IDRC have taken part in the evaluation and repair of the W3C so know them very well
• IDRC to share information/recorded webinars on 'Introduction to assistive technologies' or any other content that will help NRC better understand this area.

July 16, 2020

Videoconference meeting recorded by Patricia Debergue.

Demonstration of NRC remote care platform & IUI prototype, as well as IDRC software tools.

June 29, 2020

Minutes recorded by Patricia Debergue

Meeting objective:

Kick-off after contract signature – discuss and arrange collaboration details (frequency of meetings, roles and responsibilities, communication vehicles)

Attendees & roles:

Two main parts of the project:

• Guidelines (focus first) & Software components for personalization
  • Vera, Lisa and Colin are the main persons responsible
  • Ethics protocol to be put in place soon, building on existing ones
  • Discuss the co-design process, digital exclusion, identification of the weak spots
  • Will get started with literature review on both sides – validate what ca be shared on the NRC side.

Action:

• Meetings to setup every two weeks: proposal sent for Thursdays 10am – waiting confirmation
• OCAD to create a wiki project page to share information on the project – Done; Justin gave NRC access.
• https://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/IUIGFVP/Intelligent+User+Interfaces+and+Guidelines+for+Vulnerable+Populations
• Need to populate the content and organize the information in a second step
• Next meeting: plan for a bConnected demonstration as well as a demonstration of OCAD software tools for a better understanding - Plan on recording for absent people.