Computers and Society Food For Thought Page 19 GUIDING PRINCIPLES June 1995 The Archimedes Project: Providing Leveragefor Individuals with Disabilities Through Information Technology BeLsyMacken CSLI, Stanford ~hm,ersqty betsy@cs#,star!ford,edu MISSION Equality of opportunity, equal access to accommodations, and equality before the law are recognized as basic American principles. These principles entail another: equal access to information. Project Archimedes seeks to promote equal access to information for individuals with disabilities by influencing the early design stages of tomorrow's computer-based technology. Equal access to information requires the ability to communicate rapidly and efficiently with humans and computers. This includes a wide variety of activities, such as: everyday conversations, committee meetings, instructions on the job, requests for information, access to databases, use of application programs, and use of computercontrolled technology such as VCRs, fax machines, and microwave ovens. Many of the accomplishments in removing barriers to communication have dealt with physical access to the sources of information: building ramps, lowering of ATM machines and telephones, installing elevators, and so forth. Many obstacles remain for disabled people once they sit before a computer or at a conference table, however. A person with motor impairments may not be able to use a keyboard or
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