INESC TEC wins FCT’s Digital Inclusion and Literacy Award

Ramiro Gonçalves, researcher at INESC TEC’s Centre for Information Systems and Computer Graphics (CSIG) and associate professor in IT at the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, has won the Digital Inclusion and Literacy Award, promoted by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), with the project “Barometer for Web accessibility in Portugal”.

The goal with the project was to improve the levels of Internet access in Portugal. In a country where 70% of the population has regular Internet access, it is fundamental to develop accessible websites. According to the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium – the main internet World Wide Web standard organisation), one of the main causes for the lack of accessibility has to do with the poor understanding of web content creators (IT, consultants, companies) and organisation managers on this subject.

To improve this scenario, the researchers conducted evaluations and created a barometer for accessibility, issuing a number of recommendations and best practices with methods, approaches and techniques to be implemented by these professionals in order to improve Internet access.

According to the researcher, who has been conducting studies in this area since 2007, this award “acknowledges the studies and initiatives developed so far” but also “the opportunity to continue doing research and disseminating this area, always aiming to increase the levels of Internet access in Portugal”, he states.

The Digital Inclusion and Literacy Award honours highly exemplary digital inclusion and literacy projects which are models of good practices. The award contributes to the development and implementation of innovative ideas, and well as to encourage the sharing and dissemination of good practices. This year, the FCT awarded 17 projects.

The INESC TEC researchers mentioned in this article are associated with the following partner institutions: UTAD.