C. Stephanidis and M. Antona (Eds.): UAHCI/HCII 2014, Part IV, LNCS 8516, pp. 443–452, 2014.
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
Prosperity4All – Setting the Stage
for a Paradigm Shift in eInclusion
Matthias Peissner
1
, Gregg C. Vanderheiden
2
, Jutta Treviranus
3
, and Gianna Tsakou
4
1
Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO, Stuttgart, Germany
matthias.peissner@iao.fraunhofer.de
2
University of Wisconsin – Madison, Madison, WI, USA
gv@trace.wisc.edu
3
OCAD University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
jtreviranus@faculty.ocad.ca
4
SingularLogic S.A., Nea Ionia, Attica, Greece
gtsakou@singularlogic.eu
Abstract. This paper provides an overview of the recently started Prosperi-
ty4All project. Prosperity4all aims at a paradigm shift in eInclusion. It focuses
on developing the infrastructure to allow a new ecosystem to grow; one that is
based on self-rewarding collaboration, that can reduce redundant development,
lower costs, increase market reach and penetration internationally, and create
the robust cross-platform spectrum of mainstream and assistive technology
based access solutions required. This will be done through a process based
on true value propositions for all stakeholders and resulting in a system that
can profitably serve markets as small as one, at a personally and societally
affordable cost.
Keywords: Accessibility, ecosystem.
1 Introduction
In our global society, access to information and communication technologies and
services is increasingly becoming essential for everyone, leaving those who cannot
effectively access and use these technologies at risk of exclusion from education,
employment, commerce, health information, and almost every other aspect of daily
living and civic participation. Those at risk include those who cannot use ICT and
services due to disability, low literacy, low digital-literacy or aging related barriers.
In the past those who could not access these technologies could get by, avoiding
technology entirely. However, ICT is now becoming so engrained in all aspects of
society that this is no longer an option. If we cannot provide access to these groups
they soon will be unable to participate in education, employment, commerce, our
health system, transportation, or even daily independent living. This need to ensure
that everyone is able to access and use ICT however is occurring at the same time we