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News Release from: Institution of Engineering and Technology
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 23 January 2006
Turing Lecture Series tours the UK
Chris Mairs will tackle the paradoxical relationship between technology improvements and accessibility in the 2006 IEE/BCS Turing Lecture Series
In our current 'technology heavy' society, with its iPods and BlackBerrys does technology help or hinder the disabled?. Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of MetaSwitch, Chris Mairs, who is himself blind, tackles the paradoxical relationship between technology improvements and accessibility in the 2006 IEE/BCS Turing Lecture Series: 'Lifestyle access for the disabled - adding positive drift to the random walk with technology'.
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Mairs has overcome his disability to create a high-tech company.
He will discuss lessons learnt from first-hand experience of helping the visually disabled community.
'It's a great honour to be selected to address disability issues in the Turing Lecture Series'.
'This is an opportunity to convey my experiences, as both a disabled user of technology and 'industry insider', to help raise awareness of some issues that affect a significant portion of the population', he said.
'For example, while synthesised access to talking newspapers and email reading/writing with speech technology can aid the vision impaired, other devices, such as microwave cookers and hard-to-use mobile phones often disenfranchise these very same people'.
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'It's vital that we recognise this dichotomy and work to close the usability gap'.
Mairs has a keen personal and professional interest in making technology accessible to the disabled, as well as simpler to use for the technically averse.
Outside work, he runs a charity, a-technic, to develop assistive technology for the disabled.
He also water-skis for the British disabled team, which he has captained to win several world championships.
As this year's speaker, Mairs is recognised for his significant contributions to technology.
In the early years at MetaSwitch's parent company Data Connection, which he cofounded in 1981, Mairs was lead architect for the company's successful communications products, which have been adopted by leading technology companies worldwide such as Cisco, IBM, Lucent, Microsoft, and Nortel.
Currently, he is responsible for product management and business development in Data Connection's MetaSwitch division.
CEO of the IEE, Dr Alf Roberts welcomes Mairs as he joins an illustrious list of past presenters: 'Over the years the Turing Lectures have developed a tradition of presenting distinguished figures addressing topics that cut across technological and social boundaries'.
'I'm sure that Mr Mairs will continue this tradition when he presents what is sure to be a memorable and thought provoking lecture', he said.
The IEE and BCS established the Turing Lecture in 1998 in recognition of British scientist Alan Turing who is widely acknowledged as a central figure in the computer revolution, and related fields of mathematics and philosophy.
The lecture will be touring the UK this week: Monday 23rd January at the Western Infirmary Lecture Theatre, University of Glasgow; Tuesday 24th January at the Playfair Library, University of Edinburgh; Wednesday, 25th January in the Roscoe Building, University of Manchester; and Thursday 26th January at the IEE, Savoy Place, London.
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