September 14, 2007

A day at work with Guido Corona is no sitting down matter. As a software engineer and business developer, 25-year employee of IBM, and with his first-hand experience with the needs of the blind and visually impaired, Corona´s expertise is in high demand at the IBM Accessibility Center. As a result Corona is usually on the go, with multiple meetings, extensive travel, and loads of information to keep track of.

With the need to stay on top of a busy schedule, Corona became one of the first users of the Icon mobile manager. "I like the Icon so much that these days I use three of them. I use them in the office for work projects, and everywhere else — like when I travel, on airplanes, at customer sites, in hotels, and of course at home for both work and recreation. It´s almost a 24/7 device," he said.

Now when Corona moves through his day, he can easily keep up with his schedule. "At work, my Icon is first and foremost my scheduler. Anywhere I go I get an unmistakable reminder that I have an upcoming meeting," he noted. "And that is a god send."

As important as the scheduler is to Corona, the Icon´s advantages go way beyond the calendar. "The Icon is a knowledge manager for the blind, or anyone with low-vision or some forms of dyslexia. I get access to news, information, newspapers, books, music and even instant stock quotes and Internet radio feeds with the same speed and timeliness as my sighted colleagues. To me, that is priceless," said Corona.

He further commented, "IBM has long been at the forefront of accessibility in information technology, and considers its strategic commitment to accessibility part of a world-wide societal transformation, which is enabling more people to join the global village. By embedding accessibility features in IBM products and services we are bringing services, work, education information and knowledge to more people — including seniors and people with disabilities." Corona´s work with the IBM Accessibility Center has given him the opportunity to make a difference for many people in North America and beyond.

"It is a very good thing to include accessibility from the ground up, and IBM puts significant resources to embed accessibility in every element of its business. The company also provides meaningful career opportunities to people with disabilities," he said.

IBM´s commitment to employ blind and visually impaired people makes their technology partnership with LevelStar a natural. Recently, IBM selected the Icon as the initial accessible platform for an experimental research software project that will yield full non-visual alternative access to the IBM Bluebird Media Library. This IBM internal library houses thousands of podcasts on IBM-related matters, from technical topics, to market trends, to employee training materials on a wide variety of key areas. The non-visual interface is also being validated in partnership with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB).

Outside of work, Corona´s interests range from volunteering for Bookshare.org, to classical music, high-end audio systems and photography. "It´s unusual for a blind person to love photography, but I loved it when I was sighted and still enjoy keeping up with advances in digital camera equipment. By the way, on the very dynamically interactive dpreview.com photography site there is a pervasive use of onmouseover and onclick events in the navigation menus. The way the Icon handles these is quicker, easier and more intuitive than anything I have experienced this far. It just takes one single keystroke to activate the element and navigate to the new point of regard, where JAWS requires chords of three simultaneous key presses plus a manual jump to some line number. Believe me, that makes a big difference in ease- and pleasure-of-use," said Corona.

Corona also likes to exercise, read, listen to classical music, and help his college-age daughter with her interest in digital photography. "I keep the Icon with me through my whole day. Anytime, anywhere is the key. You can read a book or newspaper, listen to music, and be connected — even while jogging up and downstairs during exercise time."

Corona has seen many assistive devices come and go, and until now has infrequently been impressed. "I have resisted using dedicated mobile technology for the blind for 20 years. I considered the cost-benefit to be pretty low — they were bulky, the functionality was not at par with sighted devices, and the prices were prohibitive," said Corona.

"When the Icon came along, it bridged elegantly the power of technology for the sighted with the needs of the blind. It provides more functionality, weighs a mere seven ounces, fits in your palm, and is a fraction of the cost," concluded Corona.

To learn more about IBM´s Human Ability and Accessibility Center visit http://www.ibm.com/able