A city is smart only if its services, both digital and physical, are accessible to everybody. How can we achieve this goal? Chris and I spoke with Frazer McKimm, Director at New Way Networks, about how inclusivity in smart city infrastructure should not be an add-on feature, but rather be embedded in the design and deployment of services. We discussed the roles of public and private ecosystem entities, regulation, and technology, and service requirements for technology to reduce digital, social, and physical barriers, thereby improving the quality of life for all in the cities of the future, starting today. Inclusively is hosted by Chris Lewis, Lewis Insights, and Monica Paolini, Senza Fili  

Following his success organising the London 2012 Paralympics, Chris Holmes, Member of the UK House of Lords, now uses his role in the UK House of Lords to focus on the opportunities that all of these so-called new technologies bring to the table, but, always with the golden thread of inclusion running through everything. Some surprising parallels with the broader telecoms industry come out alongside the development of paralympic sport and accessibility and inclusion.  

Nick Hunn, a physicist with extensive experience in Bluetooth technology, discusses audio accessibility and inclusion. He highlights the shift from traditional telecoil-based hearing aids to advanced technologies that benefit everyone, not just those with hearing impairments. The new Bluetooth Auracast standard is a game-changer, enabling easy access to audio broadcasts and enhancing experiences in venues such as theaters and concerts.   Hunn emphasizes the importance of optimizing audio quality for all hearing levels and environments. He notes the trend of integrating hearing aid capabilities into consumer electronics, making them more accessible and reducing stigma. The discussion touches on the potential of audio technology to transform how we consume and interact with sound, including the use of smart devices and AI to enhance experiences. The conversation also explores the challenges of background noise and the need for better audio algorithms. Hunn envisions a future where audio plays a more central role in our digital lives, with technology becoming more affordable and integrated into everyday experiences. The potential of voice and sound to provide information and guidance is highlighted, suggesting a shift towards more immersive and inclusive communication technologies. You can find out more about Inclusively at https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/ You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify

Larry Goldberg, a media and technology accessibility consultant, shares his journey from public broadcasting to consulting, focusing on accessibility and inclusion. He introduced captioning and audio description at WGBH in Boston and later worked on accessibility initiatives at Yahoo. Larry emphasizes the importance of captions and audio descriptions, noting their widespread adoption and benefits for broader audiences. He discusses the evolution of technologies, such as Auracast, that offers low-cost, high-quality audio solutions for venues. Larry highlights the potential of AI in accessibility, though he acknowledges the challenges of regulating AI due to its complexity. He advocates for inclusive design, emphasizing that good design inherently includes accessibility. Larry also explores the role of haptic feedback in enhancing experiences for the visually impaired and the potential of AI to transform content delivery. He stresses the need for companies to prioritize accessibility and inclusivity in their products and services, aiming for a more customer-friendly and human-centric approach. You can find out more about Inclusively at https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/ Send us feedback, questions, and suggestions for guests and topics at inclusively@senzafili.com  You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify

Chris McGinley, a Senior Research Fellow at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, part of the Royal College of Art a wholly post graduate art and design institute in London, joined us for this Inclusively podcast. Chris is a Senior Research Fellow. He focuses on the ageing market and diverse user needs in design, but the Centre as a whole looks more broadly at Inclusive Design. In fact, the term Inclusive Design was coined by the original Director of the Centre, Roger Coleman, some thirty years ago. As you might suspect, this is not a technology-centric discussion! More on Inclusively

Neil Milliken and Antonio Santos work for Atos, the global IT Digital Transformation & IT Services Organisation. For them, accessibility and inclusion cut across all domains. Neil and Antonio are also the founders of the AXSChat podcast, which has been running for over ten years and delivers regular content looking at the many aspects of accessibility and Inclusion. Their perspective is one based on delivering advice both within the Atos Group but also to their many clients. More on Inclusively

The elderly population is exploding, and so are their needs and desire to live a fulfilling and independent life and have easy and effective access to healthcare. Wi-Fi and cellular can be game-changing through sensing and home-based services. I talked to Ronnie Chang, Marketing Director Fixed and Multimedia Terminals at ZTE, about a set of applications and services that are commercially deployed in China and that span a large ecosystem that includes vendors, application developers and health-care providers, in addition to the elderly population and their families. You can watch a demo of the solution here. More on Inclusively

Jane Hatton started Evenbreak to help employers to improve the recruitment of disabled people, not as a way to comply with regulation, but as an imperative to improve the quality of the workforce, and as an approach that helps everybody—enterprises, disabled people and everybody else. We deep-dived into the impact of AI in recruitment, the value of diversity in the workplace, and how telecom compares to other sectors. Find out more about Inclusively Telecom and live Inclusively events here

Frances West has a vast experience in making technology more inclusive, that started when she was at IBM. She believes that technology can be a great enabler of inclusion if we put humans—all of them, with all their differences—first from design to market. An inclusive approach will drive demand, user satisfaction and profitability. She also shared her advice for startups and established companies on how to drive an internal inclusivity strategy, and her views on the future of DEI. Find out more about Inclusively Telecom and live Inclusively events here

How does AI help identify and treat mental health, and how can it improve treatment, work performance and quality of life of mentally ill and neurodiverse people

How to make cities more inclusive with better connectivity services

Microsoft support for Bluetooth Low Energy Audio (LE Audio) improves audio quality in hearing devices

Salesforce has built accessibility and inclusive design into its processes, products and services and established an accessibility group at the heart of the business. Its multi-pronged approach benefits from executive buy-in and builds up from the bottom with a specialist accessibility team spreading the word throughout the organization. In this Inclusively conversation, Jacqui Tolisano  Senior Director, Product Accessibility and Adam Rodenbeck, Senior Digital Accessibility Engineer at Salesforce, joined Chris Lewis and Monica Paolini to explore how this inclusive approach works within the Salesforce model and how their lessons learned can be applied to the telecoms industry.   You can find out more about Inclusively Telecom and the live Inclusively events at https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/ Send us feedback, questions, and suggestions for guests and topics at inclusively@senzafili.com  You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify

Be My Eyes is a fantastic example of how human volunteers and, now, AI, leveraging the power of smart phones, can help blind people interact with the world around them. From a simple start using the phone camera to help guide someone around their home, it has now evolved into a global business helping blind people, as well as businesses serving their blind and vision impaired customers.   Chris and Monica talked to Hans Jørgen Wiberg, Founder, and Jesper Hvirring Henriksen, CTO at Be My Eyes. Read Chris' summary of the podcast at  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-eyes-creating-more-accessible-world-ai-chris-lewis-otmpe You can find out more about Inclusively Telecom and the live Inclusively events at https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/ Send us feedback, questions, and suggestions for guests and topics at inclusively@senzafili.com  You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify

Chris Lewis and Lewis Insight, and Monica Paolini at Senza Fili, the hosts of Inclusively Telecom introduce the new podcast. They talk about the format, goals, topic and approach. You can find out more about Inclusively Telecom and the live Inclusively events at https://senzafili.com/inclusively_in_telecom/ Send us feedback, questions, and suggestions for guests and topics at inclusively@senzafili.com  You can subscribe to the podcast on the platform of your choice, including Apple and Spotify

Diversity benefits everyone—people, businesses and customers. How can we improve gender diversity in the workplace, in our daily work practices and in our environment to benefit both women and men? In this Inclusively conversation, in collaboration with UKTIN, women and men compare their perspectives on how gender diversity plays out and how to create a work environment and career opportunities that fit everybody. Chris Lewis and Monica Paolini hosted this conversation with Lesley Holt at UKTIN, Marc Gilmour at ConnectiviTree, and Vicky Messer at Picocom, starting with three questions: What is the impact of imbalanced workplaces? What do women and men want? Is it different? How? How can women and men jointly make the workplace more flexible and open to encourage women’s participation?

Inclusivity starts at home. Being able to live independently at home is, for many of us, fundamental to our quality of life. How can technology help us live on our own more safely and give our caretakers better tools to assist us? We talked to Saibal Chakraburtty, Director of Product Management at Cognitive Systems, about how Wi-Fi sensing can do this. Wi-Fi sensing uses the Wi-Fi radio signal to detect motion within the Wi-Fi network coverage area. Unlike location-based services, sensing detects the motion of people, pets or objects that have no connected device or sensor, making it very inobtrusive to deploy and operate. In a home environment, it is more respectful of privacy boundaries and does not require a smart home separate infrastructure. By tracking human motion in a residential environment, Wi-Fi sensing can detect anomalies (e.g., your mother did not get up this morning, or your father keeps going out of the house for hours at unusual hours) or other patterns that may alert caretakers or trigger an emergency response. We talked about what the technology can do, how it can be deployed and operated, how can Wi-Fi sensing services be deployed, and what are the use cases for elderly and disabled people who want to live on their own.

Rachel Collins, Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Colt joined us in this Inclusively event. Rachel brings a wealth of experience and will describe how accessibility, inclusion and diversity form a key part of building the business and culture of which Colt is rightly very proud. This comes from the very top of Colt and the CEO’s very open ESG agenda. 

AI and ML are powerful tools that can improve our lives, but also can create social and economic challenges, and increase inequality. What role can they play in promoting inclusion, reducing biases, helping people with physical and mental disabilities? Or can they hinder these efforts? Is there something we need to do to ensure that AI and ML will bring a positive contribution? Our guest was Greg Mayo at NETSCOUT, an expert on AI and ML with experience in mentoring and volunteering youth facing challenging social conditions. We talked about how these new technologies can improve these experiences and conditions.

Ibrahim Gedeon, CTO at TELUS, joined us in a live conversation to explore how he sees the organization and the wider ecosystem building towards a more inclusive future both inside of the telco but also extending out to customers in Canada. We explored how technology and business model shifts bring many exciting opportunities to build a better-connected society and industries. Ibrahim shared his perspectives on how technology and culture shape this transformation. Never shy to share his opinions on key matters, Ibrahim was instantly up to join us to discuss how we build this more inclusive future.