Information pool of computer aids for the blind and visually impaired

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The public project Information Pool Computer Aids for the Blind and Visually Impaired ( INCOBS for short ) supports the establishment of computer workstations for blind and visually impaired people in Germany. The aim is to make the market for aids more transparent and to support users and consultants in the selection of suitable products. For this purpose, INCOBS creates market overviews, checks the range of important electronic aids and provides checklists for product selection.

INCOBS is funded by the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and carried out by DIAS GmbH with the support of the German Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired and the German Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired in Study and Work (DVBS). The project has been running since 1999 and is approved until 2011 (officially now INCOBS3).

In cooperation with test partners such as Stiftung Warentest , electronic products such as mobile phones or speech recognition software are tested for their accessibility. The product tests are developed together with users and experts. The aid providers make their products available to INCOBS for the tests. The accessibility of important application programs as well as the usability and ergonomics of hardware and software are checked. The comparative product tests enable manufacturer-neutral information on the performance of electronic aids. Checks are, for example, Braille displays , screen readers , magnification software , screen readers .

New to the INCOBS2 project are tests of the usability of information and communication technologies for the blind and visually impaired.

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