In October 2005, The Institute for Innovative Blind Navigation, in co-sponsorship with World Access for the Blind, and with the National Federation of the Blind will present an international congress on wayfinding technologies. To get an idea of the scope and focus of the World Congress refer to the summary explanation/discussion prepared by IIBN. Using material and information gathered at the congress, the faculty at the Institute on Blindness at Louisiana Tech University will prepare a monograph featuring state-of-the-art wayfinding technologies with suggestions for future development. The monograph will be published by NFB.

Participants at the congress were asked to put together a few paragraphs (maximum one page) explaining their interests and background, along with all relevant contact information. As we received these "bio-abstracts" we complied a list. This will be recorded here and in hard copy for the congress.

In the summer of 2006, The Institute for Innovative Blind Navigation will sponsor a wayfinding technology camp for blind students. At the fall, 2004 board of directors meeting, the following initial decisions were made for the development of this ambitious program:

1. That IIBN board member Brunhilde Merk-Adam would be the project coordinator
2. That the target audience would be blind children, their parents, and their teachers
3. That the camps would be held in the summers and that the first should take place in 2006
4. That the camps would probably be held in Michigan and probably at a major university
5. That the duration of the camps would be from ten days to two weeks
6. That the scope of the camps would be at least national and probably international
7. That camps would be offered every two years to follow Moore's Law
8. The overall strategy for the camps will be in place (in writing) by January 2005
9. The role of the coordinator was defined as follows: to delegate; to set time lines; to be the chief communicator; to keep track of the overall strategy; to set up committees and coordinators as needed; and to set priorities

Considerable fund raising will occur over the next several months. To participate in the support of this large undertaking, please contact Brunhilde Merk-Adam:

bkmabma@worldnet.att.net

There is no adequate system in the United States that teaches advanced wayfinding technologies to blind children. To address this issue, IIBN will bring together experts and consumers to study the challenge and to create a blueprint for change. We will accomplish this goal through the design and offering of national/international wayfinding technology camps.

Technology training camps are a strategy for introducing and teaching sophisticated wayfinding technologies. This approach would have the following advantages:

1. Jobs would be provided for older and experienced blind students as camp trainers and counselors

2. Training would be provided to professionals (alongside the children they teach) as an avenue for learning the technologies

3. Vendors would donate technology or help with training and get immediate feedback about their products

4. This would be a good recruitment tool for college students entering the field; working in camps gets them interested and motivated

5. This would be an avenue for parent/family training and involvement

6. This would be an opportunity for college students majoring in assistive technology to get their internships; it would also interest them in blind wayfinding

7. Most importantly, this would be the only concentrated program in the world for exposing blind children to these emerging technologies; the only extended hands-on training they are likely to receive with the newest and most sophisticated tools for blind navigation

All of our global projects are under review and subject to change in priority and organization. Our major energy over the next two years will be on the World Congress, and the wayfinding technology camps for blind students.