Last 02 December the partners met for the first online check on the activities’ progress of the DIGIVETT4VIP project. During the meeting, the results of the preliminary survey carried out in Italy and Poland to identify the main problems and difficulties encountered by people with visual impairments who use technologies at work were presented and discussed. Collecting info on their needs and on their current work methods constitutes the first indispensable step to define the contents of the most relevant expected result of the project: an operating procedure with specific indications for carrying out remote support for users with visual impairment, who use digital devices.
The partners' main goal (UIC Italian Union of Blind - Tuscany Council, Applicant, Centro Machiavelli, and the Polish Union of Blind from Warsaw) is to provide operators employed by Blind Associations with a set of additional knowledge - specific for remote technical assistance - useful for assisting users in solving problems related to the daily use of assistive technologies and to the most popular programs for the accessibility of digital content.
The skills that the partners intend to identify and systematize thanks to the project will allow operators already specialized in support services and professional guidance for people with visual impairments to complete their action, acquiring the know-how of the "Digital Tutor" - the so-called Missing Tile” - the link between the blind/visually impaired worker and the full access and use of his/her work tools. The whole project action is therefore aimed at developing the autonomy of the blind worker but, at the same time, also at improving their use of devices for everyday needs.
The online meeting also allowed the partners to plan the next steps for the implementation of the procedure, discussing the index and the methods of organizing and drafting the contents. On this occasion, the partners also dealt with and planned the schedule of obligations and contributions for the interim report for the Italian National Agency, scheduled for the end of March 2023.