M4all Day helps to place mobile applications at the service of senior citizens and the disabled

• Mobile World Capital Barcelona sponsored m4all Day with the aim of promoting mobile technology solutions to improve people’s quality of life, regardless of their disabilities or socio-economic conditions
• By downloading simple apps for mobiles or tablets it is now possible to communicate with a deaf or blind person or find out about which entrances at a museum are disabled-accessible
• The La Mercè Festival and the 18th Associations Exhibition played host to the first edition of m4all Day, a celebration of mobile technologies for everyone

September 23, 2013

This past weekend Mobile World Capital organized the first edition of m4all Day, an event forming part of Barcelona’s 18th Associations Exhibition with a view to improving the quality of life for those with disabilities through the use of apps for mobiles or tablets. The day featured a series of activities, presentations, and workshops at the Mobile World Centre designed to spotlight the accessibility of mobile solutions all day on Saturday the 21st, and continued to be present at the Exhibition through a stand open to passers-by right in Plaça Catalunya until Tuesday the 24th.

On Sunday the Mobile World Capital stand received a visit by Xavier Trias, mayor of Barcelona and president of the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation, on hand for the distribution of commemorative m4all Day t-shirts featuring the “Yo soy Barcelona, yo soy Mobile” (“I’m Barcelona, I’m Mobile”) slogan. During the Exhibition over 500 t-shirts were given away, as can be seen on the Instagram social network and the Mobile World Capital website, featuring a compilation of images of visitors to the stand wearing them.

This initiative allowed participants to learn about how it is possible for a deaf person to communicate by mobile phone, or how domotics and mobile solutions can be used together to make life easier for seniors, among others. In this context, the Mobile World Capital made a selection of apps that includes the latest and most important developments in the field, produced by technology professionals and which seeks to serve as a guide to the most useful mobile solutions for people with various disabilities: 

Audiovisual Content Adaptation (AYNA) –http://www.s-dos.es

Ayna facilitates the synchronized reception and emission of audiovisual content adaptations. This is an application designed for the sensory impaired and people with attention deficit issues, for both smartphones and tablets. Ayna allows one access to audiovisual content via the subtitling of films, series, documentaries, etc., which are reproduced on TV, radio, or in the cinema or theater.

Prometteo –www.prometteo.com

Prometteo is a resource for the community of deaf travelers (web format). Users download the app to find out which of a city’s facilities are adapted for the deaf. In this way, by combining the official information that we upload in video format on all the city’s monuments and the information that the users themselves upload, it is easy to find deaf-friendly locations while traveling.

SVIsual application for access to the video interpretation service for the deaf –www.fundacioncnse.org

Allows deaf people to contact the SVIsual video interpretation service via smartphones and tablets, for access to telephone services and face-to-face attention from entities. Visual and intuitive design. Users only have to press the LSE or LSC button (Spanish or Catalan sign language).

Easy house control, for all – www.cvi-bcn.org

See-Home is an application to control and display, in an intuitive and simple way, the different features of homes offering domotic technologies. It allows for full access to the settings for lighting, climate control, blinds, water and gas valves, etc. It also boasts a great capacity for customization, adaptable to the different profiles of users and households. Viewing and control may be carried out from the home itself or via a remote connection on mobile networks.

Esaccesible App – www.esaccesibleapp.com

An application for mobile phones and tablets allowing users to find and share establishments (bars, restaurants, hotels, parking facilities,…) that are accessible for people with reduced mobility. Through user collaboration, it is possible to build a collaborative and socially accessible tourism and leisure project.

Mobile Accessibility –www.codefactory.es

Mobile Accessibility is an accessible application that allows the blind to use an Android phone in an intuitive, simple and easy way.

App Tur4all, Accessible Tourism, Tourism for all –www.predif.org

TUR4all is a free and accessible application promoted by the Fundación Vodafone España with support from PREDIF and the Real Patronato sobre Discapacidad (Royal Board on Disabilities). The purpose of this application is to offer both persons with disabilities and the general public information on accessibility conditions at over 1,400 tourist establishments throughout Spain. It allows users to plan their trips, establish search criteria based on their own needs, and locate, on-site, the closest accessible tourist establishments.

APPSccesibles –fundacion.vodafone.es/

This application has been developed by the Fundación Vodafone España to offer, in a single location, accessible applications that can help the disabled or elderly in a fast and simple way. This portal features applications developed in collaboration with other entities and partners within the framework of domestic and European projects. All the applications have been endorsed by the groups at which are aimed.

Comunicador ONCE –cidat.once.es

This application is a tool that makes it possible for the deaf-blind to communicate with others through the exchange of written information. It is a support program for people suffering hearing loss which prevents them from understanding spoken messages and, at the same time, a visual impairment. The application makes it easier to carry out everyday tasks involving communicative interactions, such as shopping, making a doctor’s appointment, asking for an address or about the price of something, etc.

Some of these applications and initiatives were presented in workshop format throughout the day on the 21st when visitors to the Mobile World Centre were able to see key figures and talk to the backers of these activities. The ONCE Foundation, the Vodafone Foundation, PREDIF and Spain’s Royal Board on Disabilities, the i2CAT Foundation, and the City of Viladecans Foundation are some of the institutions that participated in this first edition of m4all Day.