Promoting age-friendly digital technologies collaboration and innovation for an inclusive information society

Bridging the Digital Divide: Experts Convene to Foster Inclusion for the Elderly and Disabled

During a workshop focused on digital inclusion, experts and stakeholders convened to discuss strategies for integrating the elderly and people with disabilities into the digital world. The event marked the 30th anniversary of China’s internet access, highlighting the internet’s role in societal transformation and the importance of inclusive digital environments.

Wei Dai emphasized China’s efforts to bridge the digital divide, referencing policies like the barrier-free living environment law, which promotes equal participation for the elderly and disabled. The Internet Society of China’s contribution was noted for improving accessibility on over 30,000 websites and for initiatives like the Digital Ageing Across China and E-Charity Day, which aim to standardize digital technologies and innovate public welfare models.

Xianhong Hu from UNESCO’s Information for All Programme (IFAP) stressed the need for digital inclusion of the elderly, who are often left behind in the digital age. She advocated for evidence-based policies and solutions to ensure the elderly’s full participation in the digital world.

Wei Su from Lanzhou University presented research on AI technology in Braille information processing, vital for the visually impaired. Despite challenges with large language models, the university has developed AI platforms that support Braille translation and other related tasks, significantly aiding the visually impaired community.

Francesco Florio from Huawei discussed the “Tech for All” initiative, which aims to make technology accessible to all, including the elderly. He showcased Huawei’s devices with features like adaptable layouts, hearing aids, and easy-access buttons, all designed to cater to older users’ needs. Florio also introduced a smart home sensor that enhances the safety of the elderly by detecting falls and alerting family or emergency services while maintaining privacy.

Ce Wang from China Mobile outlined the company’s measures to empower the elderly in the digital age, including accessible products and services, digital skills coaching, and community collaborations. China Mobile’s initiatives have led to a substantial number of elderly phone card customers and active users on its elderly-friendly app, demonstrating a strong commitment to digital inclusion.

The workshop concluded with Rui Zhong’s call for a multi-stakeholder approach to digital inclusion, emphasizing the need for collaboration to ensure that no one, including the disabled, elderly, and women, is left behind.

The discussions throughout the workshop revealed a shared vision among speakers to use technology to create a more inclusive society. There was a clear, concerted effort across sectors to address the digital divide and ensure that the elderly and people with disabilities can access and benefit from digital innovations. The event served as a platform for exchanging ideas, best practices, and strategies, fostering a collective commitment to building a digitally inclusive future for all.

Wei Dai:
you recording in progress Elderly and the people with disabilities and what we will do in the future for them. So it’s a great opportunity to participate in the workshop. The year 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of China’s full access to the Internet. So it’s a very great, this year is an anniversary for the 30th anniversary of China’s full access to the Internet. Over the past 30 years, the rapid development of the Internet has profoundly changed the way people work and live, as we know, and improved the efficiency of public services and social governance, including how to create an inclusive Internet for all. According to official reports in China, there are more than 290 million people aged 60 and over. And while the Internet users in the age reached the 170 million at the end of 2023. To measure this gap in Internet usage, China took a series of policies and actions to accelerate the popularization of information services to narrow the digital divide, especially to expand the scope of digital benefits for the elderly. The Chinese government has issued a number of policies to enable the elderly and the people with disabilities to equally use the digital development opportunities. For example, last year, China released the law on building a barrier-free living environment with the purpose of ensuring equal, full and convenient participation and integration of persons with disabilities and the elderly in their social life. So it’s a very great. Also, it further strengthens the barrier-free requirements in the digital information exchange and technology development. To follow up the law, the Internet websites and apps related to news and information services, social networkings and shopping, medical care, financial services, such as training and education and transport and traveling and so on, were encouraged to upgrade and transform so as to meet the desired standards of information. information accessibility. Since 2021, the Internet Society of China provided technical support for more than 30,000 government and public services websites. Yes, 30,000 government and public service websites. By optimizing the interfaces, simplifying applications, and adding online accessible functions and tools. So these websites could be more easily accessed by the elderly and be made more user-friendly. To support the Digital Aging Across China initiative, this initiative launched by Ministry of Industry and the Information Technology of China this year. We will work together with different multi-stakeholders to further promote the standardization of digital technologies, deepen the transformation of internet applications, and promote an information accessible community with a shared future for mankind. Last week on May 25th is the 23rd birthday of Internet Society of China. It is our birthday. So on that day, we initiated the E-Charity Day. On that day, we launched a program called E-Charity Together, encouraging all sectors of society in a joint effort for public welfare, especially through the use of ICTs to innovate the public welfare models. To include building an inclusive and advanced information society, these combined efforts and the Internet Society of China would like to work closely with global partners to. to contribute for the good of all. And thank you again for joining us today. So thank you. And we hope that we can make more opportunities and the chances in the future to discuss what we will do for the elderly and the people with disabilities. So thank you for all. Thank you.

Rui Zhong:
Very much, Dai. And next we move to another speaker, Ms. Hu Xianhong, she’s online. She’s from the Program Specialist at UNESCO’s Information for All Program. Ms. Hu, it’s your floor.

Xianhong Hu:
Thank you. Thank you. Let me share my screen first. So I trust you could see my screen clearly. It’s really my, thank you. Yes, my name’s Xianhong, working as the Secretary of Information for All Program. I’m sorry I cannot attend you physically, but it’s truly a pleasure to be here, even virtually, to discuss with you on such a crucial topic. Really thank Internet Society of China and also the China Academy of Information and Communication Technology for inviting UNESCO because promoting age-friendly digital technology is at such so much a heart of our mandate. It’s so important, but it’s so often forgotten in the international debates and policy conversation. And very often we found that the elderly people and there’s also marginally group they are left behind in digital age. I really like to thank you for raising a signal on this issue at WSIS Forum. I also like to recognize the presence of Ms. Dorothy Gordon, the former Chair of Information for All Program. Your presence makes this conversation even more meaningful. I really like to thank the digital technology with that our paths could cross so nicely everywhere, including at the WSIS Forum. And today’s focus on the age-friendly digital technology aligns so closely with all the IFEP six priority area. You know, IFEP was a very unique creation of UNESCO as an intergovernmental program to support member states and all the stakeholders for building inclusive knowledge society. The six priorities we are working on. they are all resonating with this topic, whether it’s information for development, information literacy, information preservation, information ethics, information accessibility, and multilingualism. There’s a commitment to foster the people of aging to include, to be empowered in digital participation is so crucial for all the IFAP priority. And particularly, we had a tremendous work done through our working group on the information accessibility to enable the people with all age group who can fully engage in a digital world. Again, I’d like to pay tribute to the excellent leadership of Madam Dorothy Gordon. Under her leadership, we have updated the IFAP strategic plan for the forthcoming six years to really digitize our actions and to take consideration all the digital transformation context and frame our joint action. And it’s a very ambitious action plan for IFAP to tackle the global digital divide in the digital age. As you can see, as well as framed in our new strategic plan, the program number six, actually it’s number five, we are committed to promoting all the framework and the policy standard on the universal accessibility for inclusion of those marginalized group, including women and girls. And don’t really forget them because there are still 2.6 billion people unconnected. I’ll just now, I also want to congratulate China for having connected billion of people in past 30 years of connection. But at a global level, don’t forget that we have 2.6 billion people unconnected around the developing countries. And two third of them, they are women and girls. And also this program objective will also… We also aim to foster the digital inclusion of youth and children and young people, as well as the elderly and elderly people as today’s subject focus on, plus the persons with disabilities to have them benefit equally from the development of digital technology. I also draw your attention to our program number one. We have updated by not only mainstreaming the policies and the principles for inclusive society to the national development plans and priorities, but also we should promote an evidence-based approach to employ various measurements of frameworks to collect data, collect evidence to address digital inequalities among different countries and communities to really have the data about how older people are being excluded and what are really their needs so as to formulate tailored policies to help them. Promoting age-friendly digital technology is so crucial in this pursuit for inclusive information and knowledge society. We recognize the importance of making the digital technology accessible to all the people, particularly the elderly. Our working group on information accessibility has been organizing an annual conference to look at the critical issue of digital inclusion related to the artificial intelligence to advocate the accessibility aspect to be flagged in the cycle of AI development. I mean, older people are already left behind in the digital age on the internet connection, and they are further being left behind in the entire innovation of artificial intelligence. So it’s very crucial to continuously look at the development of emerging frontier technology and how they are impacting the digital empowerment of older people and also other groups. So we can always have policies and solutions to enable. all the people and other marginalized group to participate fully in the digital age. Certainly, I warmly welcome Internet Society in China and other stakeholders to join our annual conference of AI4IA, which will be convened online and also in a hybrid mode in Africa this year. It will be on 28th September. Lastly, I mean, to have a truly inclusive digital future, we need all stakeholders participation and action. We truly deeply believe in the multi-stakeholder approach. That’s why I’ve joined with a number of partners, as you can see from this screen, with Global Digital Inclusion Partnership Network, with UNU, with OEF, IFLA, et cetera. We recently launched a new dynamic coalition on measuring digital inclusion. This coalition is actually designed to foster the good evidence approach and a digital measurement to advance inclusive digital governance and the transformation with a particular focus on the gender and other marginalized group to participation in digital ecosystem. We should definitely identify and look into more measurement to measure how older people are being left out and how we can ensure their presence and empowerment in the digital age. I really warmly welcome Internet Society of China and other stakeholders to join this coalition. As long as you agree, you are online, you are aligned with our vision and our action to join together in this coalition, you can just scan this QR on the screen. It’ll be a very simple membership submission form and we can have you engaged. We are launching this dynamic coalition at WSIS and also in the forthcoming IDF which is going to be convened in Saudi Arabia in later this year. And in between, we also have a number of launchings with different stakeholder group with different regions. I mean, the participation from China and sharing your good practice and your ideas on this elderly sensitive technology and digital inclusion will be a very important contribution to the coalition. I stop here. I look forward to have more interaction with you and the audiences online and in the room. Thank you.

Rui Zhong:
Thank you, Xiaofeng. Thank you for your sharing and the invitations. Yes, it includes the information that society needs all different stakeholders joined together to work for everyone, no one left behind, including the people with disability, the elderly and the women. The next speaker from the Mr. Su Wei, Director of Information Accessibility Research Center of Lanzhou University in China. Mr. Su, it’s your floor. Okay, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you.

Wei Su:
Okay, I will share the screen. So, let me, oh, sorry, wait a minute. Sorry, wait a minute, I need to close up. Okay, so, can you see my screen? Yes. Okay, yeah. Yeah, good afternoon, everyone. It’s an honor to be here today to present my research on application of AI technology in real information processing. This is Xu Wei from Lanzhou University of China. According to the last WHO survey, there are about 238 million visually impaired people. In China, there are about 17 million visually impaired people. Reading is a general right, not a privilege for them. As we all know, nothing can substitute for the ability to read. For the blind, Braille as a technical writing and reading language is an essential tool in the process. processing of education, employment, communication, and becoming literature. Both recorders and synthesis speech are useful tools for the blind, but they can’t replace the ability to read and write. One study shows that only 30% of blind people are employed, but in this group, 90% are braille readers. So the braille information processing is properly considered to enable computers and digital devices to recognize and generate braille. There are three main tasks for the braille information processing, braille machine translation, optical braille recognition, and image thought processing. For the braille machine translation, it’s mainly focused on converting natural language, such as English, Chinese, German, and the mathematical or chemical formulas used in the skull to or from brailles. For the optical braille recognition, it’s focused on detecting braille cells and dots from braille documents imaged and converting them into corresponding natural language characters. The optical braille recognition system are useful and meaningful to protect and republish earlier braille books. Recognize handwriting. real documents and automatically evaluate examination papers in the special education fields which are now merely processed manually. Image data processing is a field to analysis and segment image to produce tactile graphics for best speed for the visual impact users. As we all know the large model, large language models like ChatterGPT, GAMI and Sora has shown impressed capabilities in natural language processing such as text-to-speech generation, image processing and other fields. But the large model when the processing the braille there exist a lot of problems. On the screen the first three lines are the result of translation from Chinese to braille with ChatterGPT, GAMI and Capilab. And the last line is a reference of the right answer of braille. We can see the results are not very good for large models. ChatterGPT and GAMI can get braille tested but there’s no word segmentation which is necessary for Chinese braille. And the character of braille are not right too. So in Lanzhou University we started researches on application. application of AI technology in braille information processing since 2004, we launched a braille online AI platform named BAW. We utilize the AI technology to break through the difficulty of braille information processing, including braille translation, optical braille recognition, and dot processing. The BAW platform surveyed the 70 million visual impaired in China. It supports the new national braille standard of China, which is published in 2018. It also covers most middle and elementary schools for the blind in China. And nowadays, there are 3,000 daily visitors for the platform. In the platform, we provided a Chinese to or from braille translation system. Compared to the English to braille translation, Chinese braille translation is significantly difficult because of loss of new intelligence in Chinese braille translation. Chinese braille is a kind of phonetic writing based on pinyin and braille word segmentation rules. Firstly, in Chinese, there are a large number of polyphonic characters and different pronunciations of the same character corresponds to different braille representation. Firstly, tech-reading for visual-impaired real-world segmentation rules, which are much different from standard Chinese segmentation, are complex and difficult to learn. By using large-language model technology such as Transformer and GPT, we implemented a pre-training-based AI model for braille translation in 2022 and published the paper in 2023. In 2023, we implemented a pre-training model through a two-part loss approach, which includes token prediction and segmentation labeling prediction. In this year, we developed a non-autoregressive Chinese braille translation model. In the model, we invented a two-embedded method for CTC loss, which increased translation accuracy and decreased inference time. For braille Chinese translation, you know, in Chinese, there are numerous homophones, which are single pronunciation correspond to multi-different characters. As a result, the same braille segments can respond to various characters, increasing the difficulty of translation. In recent years, CBHT is a blocking used in text-to-speech model. We bring the CBHG model into Braille to Chinese translation. To solve the re-capitalism problem, we implemented two models named CBHG-SE and CBHG-ECA. These two models can reach 93Bb on Braille Chinese dataset. Sorry, I have to interrupt you. You have only two minutes. Okay, thank you. We also compared joint training and pre-training to test-lead universal language model in Braille domain. This general Braille model can solve multi-tasks like Braille-to-Chinese-to-Braille and word segmentation problem. We also developed mathematical formula Braille system which can convert mathematical formula to speech and Braille. Visual-impaired people can use these tools to read, input, and listen to the mathematical formula. This is another tool in Bob’s platform which is automatic Braille translation of chemical formula. AI model for a formula conversation. And this is a physical bridge diagram conversation system. We can also visit it from the BOP platform. And this is a system for the translation of musical score to Braille. And the user can use this tool to translate the music score, include the steve and the jianfu. Jianfu is a number musical notation, mostly used in China. And in our platform, we can translate both steve and jianfu to Braille. Yeah, that’s all. Thank you.

Rui Zhong:
Okay, thank you Dr. Xu for your sharing. Now we’ll move to another speaker, Francisco O’Florio, software director for Huawei consumer BG in Europe. It’s your floor. Yeah, thank you. For the presentation. Oh, yeah. Stop the sharing.

Wei Su:
Oh, I’m sorry. Okay.

Francesco Florio:
Good afternoon, everyone. I’m Francisco O’Florio, software director at Huawei consumer business group in Europe. I’m based in Munich. And today for me it’s an honor to talk about how technology leaves no one behind at Huawei and our practice and explorations in the field of the digital age. But before that, I would like to share some numbers. So based on a report on January, 2023 from the. United Nations Department of Economics and Social Affairs, currently we have 761 million people age 65 years or more. And the projection is that by 2050, we will have 1.6 billion people. And we’re talking about one out of six of the entire world population. So it’s quite clear if to have a sustainable future, we need to take care of the rights and the well-being of our elders. Okay, thank you, thank you. So I also would like to say some word of Mr. Lee Yun-Shua is the United Nation under Mr. General of Economics and Social Affairs. And he said, together we can address today’s inequities or the benefits of tomorrow’s generation challenges and capitalize the opportunity of the elder population. And what we cannot agree more on that. Indeed, since 2019, we established an initiative called Tax for All. And the scope of this initiative is to make technology more inclusive and be available for anyone. Doesn’t matter the age or if there is any disability or just impaired ability. So our scope is to have nobody left behind. And our vision is to bring digital to every person, home and organization, for a fully connected and intelligent world. Next. Okay. So in 2011, we established the Corporate Sustainable Development Committee and the strategies to meet the unique challenges of the consumer electronic industry. And this strategy is based on four key pillars that are accessibility, education and health, environment protection and corporate responsibilities. And what we’re seeing is that having this such of important key pillars, we can support society to be better and also to help our company to grow up in a sustainable way. Also, there is a definition of the Internet Society of China about information that should be accessible to everyone. And especially on this direction, Huawei is working to and is committed to provide a seamless experience for our elders. So what we did was to try to understand what are their needs and try to based on this knowledge, try to redefine our devices and our user experience to be more easy and usable and solve some of the pain points that usually have. And furthermore, we have established some initiative in China to support elder having some training and also distribute some manual and tutorials to let them be more close to technology. Next. Okay, perfect. So what happened is when you start to get old, some changes happen. into your body. They mostly are involved visual and perception, eyesight, basically you can start to have problems to make everything on focus or you start to have a narrow field of view or still have some problem to distinguish the color and have more and lose some perception of that. Also hearing starts to be a problem, especially maybe when there is some, when you are in a noise environment you start to not understand properly and even the touch or the way as you interact with the device start to be more complicated because getting old you can have some problems to touch exactly one specific point of the display and furthermore even motor skill can change because your agility, your movements start to be slow, sometimes not so certain as before and the risk of fall can be something that can happen. And also some other cognitive development can change, so usually older can start to have some loss of focus or they start to don’t remember properly all the paths to, for example, achieve one point of a specific app because maybe it involves several steps. And like we, at Huawei, we try to address all these pain points and try to find solutions for that. Next. So one solution we have in our device is the auto-adaptable layout with larger phones. What we can do in our device is to change pretty much all the settings of the phone size, icon size, image size and to make them bigger enough to let a user use the device in a proper way. So with just one single tap you can select one of the seven magnification settings we already have in our device and for example in this slide we can see the first one is like 1.7 times bigger, the second one is two times bigger, the third one is 3.2 times bigger. So elders can select what kind of size they fit the most. Even for hearing, in case a user can feel that he is not able to understand properly, in this case we have a tool and a test into the device that can be run and automatically can detect if there is an hearing loss and in this case there are some algorithms that can compensate the volume or even remove the noise from the environment to make the phone call more clear and to help them to understand more and better. Next one. Another feature we have is for a new device is the Huawei Nova Epsilon 91. It is an ND button, a physical button in the side of the device and this button can be configurable with three different actions, the single click, the double click, and the long press. What do those buttons do again? I couldn’t hear that, I’m sorry, say that again please. Sorry, so there is a button into this device, a physical button that can be configured with three different capabilities, single press, double press, or long press. In any of this action, you can set what you want. For example, for this single click, usually there is a, that can pop up the list of the most used apps. And if you, for example, select the long press or the double click, usually for elders is convenient to show them the part of the apps that is charge of make some payment because generally it’s quite common to pay with this QR code. Or for example, to show the ticket for the public transportation. So this kind of feature is quite useful because it avoids them to remember all the paths to arrive in a specific app, in a specific section of the app. They just like can configure this button and then when they have to pay, they just long press and then they can do the action. So it’s good for this feature. Of course, not only for elders. For example, everyone can enjoy this handy button. For example, for young people, they can just configure the most used app. For example, a book reader, or traveler, or the music app, or whatever. It’s just something that improve and simplify the access to part of the apps into our devices. Okay, next. And also, this is a device what presented to the press last 15 of May. It’s part of our smart home solution. It’s a sensor that is based on millimeter web radar technology. It allows to track a person into the environment and understand if something is going wrong. For example, there is a fall or there is any kind of problems. Of course, he can understand the level of how dangerous is what is going on. So if it’s something, for example, that is not so important, for example, just some cough, then maybe this information can be shared with the family member with just a notification in the app. But if something can be more dangerous, for example, a fall or the stop of movement, in that case, the emergency call is called as well as the family member with a phone call, messages, notification in the app, and all the ways we have. One important thing of this device is we take care of all the aspects of the privacy. Indeed, this device doesn’t record any images, but is able to track the body points of the person. So only these coordinates are used in order to elaborate the information and the status of the person. And also, all the data are analyzed into the device, and only the results are shared into our cloud. And even when these results data are shared into the cloud, we have many mechanisms to guarantee the maximum privacy. For example, we have the account isolation, we have the encrypted storage, encrypted user verification, and distributed data across our server. This is important because even in case of branch, your sensitive data cannot be shared with anyone. Yes, yes, yes, I’m finished. So we have some activities here. We can see since 2020, training session in many, many province in China. We have some distribution of training material, and we really take care of our elders as much as we can. And 2024, we are continuous with this activity. just next and yeah our follow-up plan is to bridge the digital divide and allows everyone to access the digital world trying to let no one behind. Thank you.

Rui Zhong:
Thank you very much for sharing your solution. Let’s move to Ms. Wang Ce. She is the researcher of China Mobile Research Institute.

Ce Wang:
Hello everyone. The title of sharing is Technology Empowers the Slow Group in the Fast Era. China Mobile’s Practical Matters and Future Prospects in the Field of Digital Aging. And in the first half, we briefly introduced the background of advancing digital aging with the increasingly severe trend of global population aging, actively responding to the impact of aging and promoting coordinated economical… Just a little louder, please. Okay, and social development has become a global consensus. Data shows that by 2025, the total number of elderly people over 60 years old worldwide will reach about 1.2 billion, with 70% of the elderly population living in developing countries. In the process of social digital transformation and development, information and communication technology is constantly deeply integrated with the population and life scenarios of the elderly. When aging intersects with digitization, the elderly become one of the largest digital disadvantages groups. How to help the elderly participate in information life more equally, conveniently and safely has become an important proposition for actively responding to aging and building a digital society. And China Mobile has been quick to understand that challenges like digital literacy and proficiency are shining a spotlight on the necessity for… elderly individuals to adapt digitally. Firstly, there’s growing need for accessible design with digital products. Secondly, there’s a pressing demand for the elderly to improve their own capacity to adapt to the digital society. To ensure that the elderly populations in digitally disadvantaged positions can access the advantages of digital development, China Mobile has prioritized addressing the digital aging needs of seniors. Its efforts are centered around creating a barrier-free environment and providing complimentary public services. First of all, China Mobile focused on the accessible environment suitable for the construction of aging needs and continue to launch intelligent, customized applications of healthcare technology for the elderly. Secondly, China Mobile focuses on understanding the network usage characteristics of the elderly population, aiming to build usable, willing, and loving digital aging information communication product services. China Mobile launches the inclusive products and services for the elderly and by the end of 2023, the number of elderly phone card customers reached nearly 8.5 million. Also, China Mobile launches an elderly priority line enabling individuals aged 65 and above to directly access human services by dialing the hotline. As of the end of 2023, the hotline has directly served elderly customers, a cumulative total of 70.9 million times with a total service volume of 320 million times. Additionally, China Mobile app launches aging service aiming to provide elderly-friendly and accessible services. By the end of 2023, China Mobile’s elderly-friendly app has nearly 10.4 million monthly active users and provides elderly-friendly and accessible services 42.9 million times per month. Thirdly, China Mobile actively multiple forces to help build a long-term support system for the elderly to actively integrate into the digital society. It leverages traditional channels familiar to elderly populations such as offline community centers and service hotlines to create offline service host senior care section. This section hosts various forms of digital skills coaching with a focus on promoting knowledge related to information applications, online payments, risk identification, and other relevant areas. In addition, China Mobile collaborates with community and other social service organizations to launch public welfare education activities like the mobile classroom. Finally, I’d like to talk about high quality promotion of digital aging work in future prospects. Looking ahead, high quality promotion of digital aging construction needs to be guided by the development concept of co-governance construction and shared by the whole society actively explore new paths for technology to empower digital aging around the new generation of information technology represented by AI and continuously improved diversified personalized precise and intelligent supply of accessible information products and services for the elderly in order to realize the vision of sharing digital dividends and inclusive development of the digital economy. by the whole society and contribute to the global development of barrier-free information. First of all, taking the lead in applying emerging technologies to addressing digital aging with standardized approaches is vital. Secondly, fostering innovative, high-quality information accessibility solutions tailored to the diverse needs of the elderly is essential. And thirdly, it is imperative to continue building a societal support system for information accessibility among the elderly. That’s all. Thanks for listening.

Rui Zhong:
Thank you very much for the speaker and the audience staying with us. And if you have no time, sorry to interrupt. If you have any questions, we can indicate after the meeting. This is why BT cannot cut the copper network in the UK, because of the safety.