The growth and advancement of technology in the recent times has risen rapidly. It has welcomed many inventions which were seemingly impossible to mankind and helped solve a wide range of issues. Technology is now an essential part of human living that defines this era. The paper looks at how technology has been improved to favor the visually impaired and the products put in place to narrow the digital divide.
The blind (visually impaired) people were for quite some time left behind as the rest of the world transitioned to the “smart” age. It was until in the recent past when technological companies started coming up with inventions in their favor. The National federation for the blind (NFB) and Ray Kurzweil, a senior google employee invented the first app to aid the blind in using smartphones. This app is called the KNFB Reader and is usable on iOS systems. The app allows the blind to tilt the camera on a phone and read printed materials out loud by use of the pattern-recognition and image-processing technology.
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Another app that has aided greatly the visually impaired is the LookTel Money Reader invented by IPPLEX. This app helps the blind in knowing the value of paper money they have. The visually impaired have always had a challenge in knowing the value of paper money they have but the LookTel Money Reader has done away with it. By use of the iPhone camera, the app announces the denomination of money. The money is focused on by the camera and the app talks, stating the value of this money. This invention has done away with situation where a blind person would have to look for a sighted person to tell them of the value of money they have.
The advancement in technology has, however, created a huge digital divide. These advancements have mostly favored those with access to technology only, and left out those with no access. This has thereby led to a need for technology experts to come up with products and initiatives to bridge the gap between these two groups of people.
The invention of mobile phones was such a great boost in bridging this gap. According to the International Telecommunications Union, 70% of mobile users are from developing countries (Radovanovic, 2014) . The social media has also brought together people from both divides under one umbrella. Facebook, for instance, has more than a billion users today. These are people from areas characterized with poverty or no access to technology to help them interacting with people from technologically advanced areas. Through this they get to learn more about what is new and trending in the tech-world. It is however not very efficient because of its use of internet which is also not vastly distributed.
Developers have also come with initiatives, as previously stated, to cub this divide. One such initiative is the $100 laptop initiative that was developed by One Laptop per Child organization. Equipping young people with laptops especially those in underdeveloped areas provides them with a platform to acquire technological skills at tender ages. It exposes them to a whole new world of opportunities. Though the gap may not be bridged immediately, it will eventually narrow down over time. Again, tech companies have also come up with non-profit initiatives where they provide open-source software for use by the public in sharing of information on whatever is happening within their surroundings.
With such evolving trends in the tech-world, the future is foreseeably a great place to be in. Technology presents a wide range of opportunities in the job market and also the consumer market. It is a great tool in the resolving and providing of solutions to our modern day challenges.
References
Radovanovic, D. (2014). Bridging the Digital Divide: Mobile and Social Media . Retrieved from https://rising.globalvoices.org/blog/2014/01/17/bridging-the-digital-divide-mobile-and-social-media/ .
Morley, D. (2015). Understanding Computers and Technology in a Changing Society, 6 th Edition . Australia: Delmar.
