Introducing the GPII/Cloud4all project

[Javier Hernández Antúnez <jhernandez emergya com>]

After some months of hard work is the time to introduce the Cloud4all
project to the GNOME community.

What is GPII/Cloud4all?
=======================
Cloud4all is an international project funded by the 7th Framework
Programme of the European Union that will advance the concept of the
Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII) Open in a new window.
The GPII is a project of Raising the Floor Consortium Open in a new
window of academic, industry and non-governmental organizations and
individuals. Cloud4all is an European Commission FP7 grant that will
develop key parts of the GPII, building the knowledge base and
algorithms needed and evaluating the ability of the concept to work
across platforms, technologies and applications. GPII/Cloud4all aim at
the following objectives:

    - Simple Instant accessibility for ALL.
    - Anywhere Any Device Access.
    - Supply and Demand better connected.
    - Affordable method to offer diversity needed.

>From the innovation perspective, GPII/Cloud4all aims to develop a
complete new paradigm in accessibility, by augmenting adaptation of
individual products and services (2nd generation) with automatic
personalization of any mainstream product or service a user
encounters, using cloud technologies to activate and augment any
natural (built-in) accessibility or installed access features the
product or service has or recommending the appropriate third-party
solutions, based on the user's needs and preferences.

Which output will we get from Cloud4all?
========================================
Cloud4all will create an infrastructure that will support the creation
of solutions that correspond to and respect the full range of human
diversity. The infrastructure will enable users to declare
requirements in functional terms (whether or not they fill into
traditional disability categories) and service providers, crowd
sourcing mechanisms, and commercial entities to respond to these
requests. This will mean that users with disabilities do not need to
be constrained by their diagnostic categories, individuals do not need
to self-identify as having a disability and users that do not fit
traditional categories will not "fall through the cracks."

Goals
=====
New systems need to allow prospective users to access and use
solutions not just on a single computer, but on all of the different
computers and ICT that they must use (in different classrooms and
laboratories, at home, at work, and the community, when traveling,
etc.).

Whereas the lack of accessibility or even the maintenance of the
status quo would further increase social exclusion, its improvement
can contribute to greater social inclusion (better access to health
and public services, improved employability and productivity,
increased embeddedness for people in social relations and networks,
etc).

By substantially improving accessibility, over the next ten years we
will open up access to, and improve the use of, ICT products and
services in general (whether eCommerce, eGovernment, eHealth,
eCulture, or Internet banking) and make opportunities available for
older people and for people with disabilities.

Vendors and implementers
========================
The Vendors and Implementers working group is composed of vendors and
others who are trying to implement GPII compatibility in their
products and those providing information and support to these efforts.
And this working group will try to take the Cloud4all implementation
to many devices and platforms. At this moment we're starting the
implementations and there is the possibility of not implementing some
of them, but we have in mind the following list:

    - Operating Systems
        Windows
        GNU/Linux
    - Browsers
        Internet Explorer
        Firefox
    - Phones
        Smartphone - Android
        Simple Java Feature Phone
        Sample Social Networking App
    - Assistive technologies
        Read Write Gold
        SuperNova
        Allan eC
        SAToGo
        Maavis
    - Web Applications
        UI Options
        EasyOne series
    - Embedded
        Application on Microsoft Surface platform
        Kiosk
        Smart House Online Simulation
        DTV

Relationship between Cloud4all and GNOME
========================================
Nowadays, our efforts on the GNU/Linux implementation are mainly
focused on the GNOME Desktop platform but the other Desktop
platforms/environments will benefit from this concrete implementation.
At this moment, there are some implementations and we have working
(downloadable and testeable) demonstrations that are able to:
    - Detect a user login via USB Stick, RFID or web browser
    - Launch/Stop applications
    - Interact with GSettings to personalize the desktop environment
    - Deal with JSON configuration files

The chosen technology under the core framework is the popular
framework called Node.js, which brings an easy way to create scalable
web applications.
As we're in a early development stage, we're not trying to cover all
the casuistry right now but to provide the mechanisms to achieve them
in a future.

At this moment, there is some WIP and/or some stuff in mind:
    - Add support for PackageKit
    - Add support for the Orca Screen Reader
    - Real-time control of applications such as media players
    - Simplification of the user desktop/experience
    - Add facial recognition and NFC user login support
    - ... and many more

Since the project has a duration of four years (three years left), we
still don't know what will be definitively implemented or not, so my
role as the GNOME implementer will be to stay in tune with the GNOME
development process, to interact with developers, to decide and
implement features on Cloud4all, and of course, to engage the
Cloud4all working group with the GNOME community. From my point of
view, this is a good opportunity for both the Cloud4all and GNOME
projects to benefit from each other, but finally the most benefited
ones will definitively be the users.

This mail is intended to introduce the Cloud4all project to the
community and I'm not going to talk about technical or more advanced
details, so if you want to know more about the project, it has a web
page [1] and a wiki [2] where you can find all kind of information
about the project and its development. Also we have some mail lists
[3] and the existing code lives in github under the GPII organization
[4]. Anyway, if you want to know more and/or get involved with the
Cloud4all project, feel free to contact me or whoever in the Cloud4all
project.

Best regards,
Javi


[1]: http://www.cloud4all.info/
[2]: http://wiki.gpii.net/index.php/Main_Page
[3]: http://wiki.gpii.net/index.php/Mailing_Lists
[4]: https://github.com/GPII/

-- 
Javier Hernández Antúnez
<jhernandez emergya com>