霍金与英特尔联手开发辅助技术

    今年，关于高科技产业多元化的报道屡见不鲜，尤其是针对不同性别和种族的创新。这种多元化甚至开始扩展到另一个常被人们忽视的群体——肢体残疾者，尽管这种变化很微妙，但它的确正在发生。

    当然，所谓的“辅助”技术已经面世有一段时间了。这种技术能够帮助那些无法使用键盘、鼠标甚至触摸屏等传统输入方式的人操作电脑和移动设备。

    本周，英特尔（Intel）为这个领域带来了新的亮点。尤其特别的是，该公司将发布一款与世界著名物理学家史蒂芬•霍金共同研发的新系统。【描绘霍金早年生活的电影《万物理论》（The Theory of Everything）今年11月开始在北美上映，所以这真是个不错的时间点。】

    这项技术将于2015年初上市，可以让霍金这样罹患运动神经元疾病的残障人士通过眼球运动控制软件应用。

    与霍金使用了近十年的平台相比，这款新平台最大的差别在于性能出色。英特尔的新技术可以让霍金的“打字”速度提高一倍。这意味着他可以更快地完成撰写电子邮件、用浏览器上网等任务，还能更加无缝地在各个应用间切换。英特尔估计，全球大约有300万人可以受益于该系统。

    霍金表示：“近20年，英特尔一直为我提供支持，让我每天能做自己喜欢的事。这个系统的开发完成将有可能大大改善全球残障人士的生活，它在人际互动及克服曾经阻碍人们的沟通界限方面处于领先地位。”

    英特尔开发的言语合成器和用眼球控制的指针设备，只是辅助技术类产品的两个例子。一些通常跟玩电子游戏相关的设备，如游戏摇杆或动作识别器，也有着非常明显的用途。英特尔研究院（Intel Labs）的研究员拉玛•纳赫曼认为：“供残疾人使用的技术常常被证明就是未来的技术。”

    从一家公司的角度看，采用辅助技术可以让招聘大不一样。我们可以看看这个例子，在本周早些时候，我注意到了一家开发客服中心软件的公司。这家公司位于犹他州，名叫TCN。TCN在他们的云服务中加入了特色功能，从而让企业可以雇佣视力低下的人担任客户支持工作。只要将他们的软件与Freedom Scientific公司的“JAWS屏幕阅读器”连接，就能做到这一点。

    TCN的共同创始人兼首席执行官特雷尔•伯德表示，这项技术适用于任何客服机构。他说，“我们只需要花几个小时就能安装这个功能。我相信一旦公司意识到他们可以雇佣视障人士，让他们坐班或是远程工作，并能给他们平等的地位，那么这项技术就会得到更广泛的应用。”

    You’ve heard plenty about diversity in the high-tech industry this year, mainly focused on matters of gender and race. Subtly, but surely the dialogue is expanding to include another often-overlooked demographic—individuals with physical disabilities.

    So-called “assistive” technologies that adapt computers and mobile gadgets for people who can’t use traditional input methods like keyboards or mice or even touch screens have been around for some time, of course.

    But Intel this week cast a new spotlight on this category. In particular, it’s pitching a system developed in collaboration with the world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking. (Convenient timing given the release of a major motion picture based on his early life, “The Theory of Everything.”)

    The technology, due in early 2015, lets individuals like Hawking—who is afflicted with motor neuron disease—control software applications through eye movements.

    The major differences between this new platform and the one he’s been using for close to a decade center on performance. Intel’s new approach allows Hawking to “type” twice as fast. That means he can complete tasks such as composing an email message or navigating the Internet through a web browser more quickly. It also allows him to switch back and forth among applications more seamlessly. Intel figures there are roughly 3 million people worldwide who could benefit from this particular system.

    Hawking noted: “Intel has been supporting me for almost 20 years, allowing me to do what I love every day. The development of this system has the potential to improve the lives of disabled people around the world and is leading the way in terms of human interaction and the ability to overcome communication boundaries that once stood in the way.”

    Speech synthesizers and eye-controlled pointing devices included in the Intel solution represent are just two examples of technologies that fall under the assistive umbrella. Some things you’d normally associate with computer gaming also have an obvious use, including joysticks or wands that respond to gestures. “Technology for the disabled is often a proving group for the technology of the future,” observed Intel Labs researcher Lama Nachman.

    From a corporate standpoint, supporting assistive technologies could become a hiring differentiator. Consider an example I noticed earlier this week involving call center software. Utah-based company TCN has added features to its cloud-based service that allow businesses to include visually impaired agents in customer support roles. This was made possible by connecting its software with a screen reader called JAWS (which stands for Job Access with Speech) sold by Freedom Scientific.

    “We can roll this out in a matter of hours,” said TCN co-founder CEO Terrel Bird, who positions the technology as useful for any call center organization. “I believe this will be adopted more broadly when agencies realize that they can hire visually impaired people and bring them onside, or have them work remotely, and give them equal footing.”