Calendar

Jan
1
Thu
Telephone Call @ Mada and Southampton
Jan 1 @ 1:00 am – 1:00 am

This is a telephone call meeting to discuss the start of the Arabic Symbol Dictionary project and use of Insipio for TTS for another year etc.  There is no set  Agenda

Attendees – David Banes, Aejaz Zahid and E.A. Draffan

Feb
4
Tue
Meeting Sarah Parsons
Feb 4 @ 10:00 am – 11:00 am

Discuss ethics and digital consent forms  and use of tablets with AAC support.

Feb
5
Wed
1st Arabic Symbol Dictionary telemeeting
Feb 5 @ 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

This is the first virtual meeting.
Agenda to be discussed but could include:

  • Welcome
  • Work packages:
    1. Early selection of participants and stakeholders known to HMC with collaboration from the Mada AAC forum as user participation was cited as a plus in comments from reviewers.
    2. Discuss the need for an advisory group and if so – who?
    3. Discuss need for systems to support the research and development phases as well as the actual Arabic Symbol Dictionary – Do we need a forum, blogs, a wiki and other social networking sites plus a dedicated website for the dictionary?
    4. Making Symbol Choices – Further research into available symbols sets to assess suitability, availability and development prospects – so far we only have three free choices and even these will need adaptations.
    5. Core vocabulary – select words that can be shown in each symbol set chosen as possibly being suitable for use by Arabic AAC and other symbol users. Prepare selections for participants as a series of the symbols representing similar concepts via an online portal and in print format.
    6. Gather a group of participants (AAC users, carers and stakeholders) to observe choices of symbols.  Discuss outcomes with the team and if possible have the results available as an online voting system so that we can clearly show which symbol set was the best for the users.
    7. Symbol systems ranked in order of preference with particular reference to symbols that have proved to be inappropriate – mini report of outcome.
    8. Decisions around the development of a Gulf Arabic Core Vocabulary for AAC users – how this will be achieved so that we can then start to develop the dictionary.
    9. Appointment of additional staff.
    10. AOB.  Date for next meeting.

     

Mar
15
Sat
Mike Wald and E.A to Doha – Meetings and visits
Mar 15 @ 4:26 pm – Mar 18 @ 5:26 pm
May
12
Mon
5th Arabic Symbol Dictionary telemeeting
May 12 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Arabic Symbol Dictionary – Agenda May 12th 2014,1pm Qatar time and 11am UK time

 Welcome

  1. Those attending and apologies
  2. Minutes of the last meeting – changes and acceptance
  3. Matters arising from the minutes that do not come into the following items in the agenda such as 1st biennial report, staffing update and resources
  4. Focus group and interviews for core / fringe vocabularies – Tullah/EA – issues around Arabic and English lexicons and symbol collection.
  5. Advisory Group – further confirmations – need to send members a version of 1st biennial report and updates on the project
  6. Mail list serve for AAC Forum participants
  7. Making Symbol Choices – Symbol Manager update – link using my home email address and password which we will change after this event!  ea@emptech.info password ead123 http://symbolmanager.ecs.soton.ac.uk/symbolmanager
  8. Dissemination –
    1. AAATE  workshop on Care and Technology – Holland – Poster
    2. ICCHP 2014 – Poster – Paris http://www.icchp.org/
    3. ISAAC 2014 – Portugal https://www.isaac-online.org/english/conference-2014/
    4. Arabic Natural Language Processing Workshop
      collocated with EMNLP 2014, Doha, Qatar http://www.emnlp2014.org/workshops/anlp/call.html
    5. RAATE 2014  UK – http://www.raate.org.uk/
    6. Communication Matters 2014 UK  – http://www.communicationmatters.org.uk/page/conference
  9. Next Telemeeting – Phone number for Southampton #4402380593667

 

May
22
Thu
AAATE Workshop – poster presentation
May 22 @ 11:30 am – May 23 @ 4:00 pm

AAATE Workshop 2014: Education in “Care and Assistive Technology”, Heerlen, The Netherlands, May 22 and 23 2014 (The program for this workshop can be found here.)

Professionals across Europe play a critical role in the successful application of AT for people with disability. The level of their knowledge and expertise regarding Assistive Technology is therefor essential. Education is a key element in building and maintaining the required expertise.

The 2014 AAATE workshop focusses on various aspects of AT education in Europe. The inspiring program highlights best practices and seeks discussion among members of the AAATE, ISG and their colleagues.

The program of the workshop addresses education covering technology aspects regarding both Assistive Technology supporting individual end-users but also the related field of Care Technology, supporting care providers. It will cover both the application of existing technology and the development of technological innovations. It will address both primary education as well as lifelong learning. A special interest will be given to Multi-disciplinary collaboration in support of development and application of AT and CT.

The workshop is of interest for healthcare professionals, technical developers and professionals and researchers in the domains of Assistive technology and Care technology. We look forward meeting you all in Heerlen, the Netherlands.

Jun
17
Tue
Meeting Annalu Waller @ University of Dundee
Jun 17 @ 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Sep
14
Sun
Communication Matters 2014 – UK @ University of Leeds
Sep 14 @ 10:00 am – Sep 16 @ 11:00 am

The Communication Matters National AAC Conference is the UK’s leading annual AAC event, with a diverse programme of plenaries, presentations and exhibition held over two and a half days.The conference provides a unique forum to meet and exchange information with representatives from all disciplines associated with AAC, including people who use AAC, parents, carers, professionals and suppliers of AAC equipment. Communication Matters encourages and supports people who use AAC to attend.

Jan
8
Thu
Telemeeting
Jan 8 @ 9:30 am – 10:30 am

Arabic Symbol Dictionary – Agenda January 8th, 2015, 12.30pm Qatar time and 09.30am UK time

 Welcome

  1. Those attending and apologies
  2. Minutes of the last meeting – changes and acceptance
  3. Any matters arising from the minutes – ARASAAC contact, Audio recordings and Arabic translation.
  4. Voting choices for Symbol Manager that will be used on 19th January, 2015
  5. Organisation of voting lunch on 19th January, 2015
  6. Core vocabularies – First 400/500 Arabic words/phrases
  7. Parts of Speech and lexical entry issues
  8. Checking with Dana that Google+ and symbol creation working well.
  9. Timescales for Year 2 – work packages – any changes needed?
  10. Conference proposals and acceptances – CSUN etc.
  11. AOB
  12. Next Telemeeting – Phone number for Southampton #4402380593667

 

Jan
26
Mon
Telemeeting
Jan 26 @ 9:30 am – 10:30 am

Arabic Symbol Dictionary – Agenda January 26th, 2015, 12.30pm Qatar time and 09.30am UK time

 Welcome

  1. Those attending and apologies
  2. Minutes of the last meeting – changes and acceptance
  3. Any matters arising from the minutes – Audio recordings and Arabic translation.
  4. Discussion about outcomes from voting sessions on 18/19th January, 2015
  5. Discussion about prioritising symbols to be developed, who many in a batch and next voting session.
  6. First 400/500 Arabic words/phrases – categorising, POS etc
  7. Case Studies
  8. Initial Dictionary Interface design ideas for first batch of accepted symbols.
  9. Conference proposals and acceptances – Confirmation of attendance -CSUN etc.
  10. AOB
  11. Next Telemeeting – Phone number for Southampton #4402380593667