Next generation mobile web

Scientists at The University of Manchester have a launched a new project which seeks to combine web accessibility with mobile phone technologies.

The aim of the three-year project is to develop a host of new software with the potential to make the mobile web as simple to use as the internet.

Currently, websites have to be re-designed to work on mobile phones. This is due to the fact that many conventional websites can’t be displayed on small screens. Consequently, both the content and the choice of websites available on the mobile web are limited.

The RIAM project will draw on the experiences of blind and visually impaired users and the technologies they use to surf the internet, such as screenreaders, in a bid to simplify the content of conventional websites so that they can be accessed via the mobile web.

Dr Simon Harper from the University’s School of Computer Science will lead the £205,000 project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, alongside semantic web expert Professor Ian Horrocks and web accessibility expert Yeliz Yesilada.