HLAA 2009 Access Award and Keynote Address - Part Two

By Cheryl Heppner

June 2009

Editor: It's that time of year again! The start of Hearing Loss Convention Season! As is normally the case, HLAA kicks off the activity in June. Char and I didn't attend this year, but super reporters extraordinaire Cheryl Heppner and Bonnie O'Leary from NVRC will be providing detailed coverage of the activities. Here's Cheryl's coverage of the Vint Cerf's Keynote Address. This is part two of two parts.

More coverage of this great convention is at: http://www.hearinglossweb.com/res/hlorg/shhh/cn/2009/2009.htm

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Here's Part One

More Things You Can Do on the Internet

Vint Cerf rattled off some of the cool things that the Internet can allow us to do. Instead of sending an email, you could send an instant message (IM) to get information right now. You could go to a "where's my stuff" website to track an order or find the status of your flight or baggage. And then there's Amazon's book reader, Kindle, which lets you download books to read.

Google is seeking maturing technologies. Its Chrome browser is intended to run quickly. Android can recognize words that are spoken and give answers back with voice or text. Google has also done some captioning work for YouTube, but Vint finds that the technology for speech translation to text in realtime is still not there yet. YouTube can upload video and text and also translate the text to another language.

Today people are continuing to find new ways to use the Internet. Vint cited refrigerators that can network and picture frames that can download pictures. He knows a guy from Netherlands who has created an Internet-enabled surfboard which allows him to surf on the board and Internet at the same time.

Vint's Sensor Network

Vint has taken advantage of innovation to use a sensor network in the home he and Sigrid have here in Northern Virginia. He admits he's got a toy that "only a geek would want." It's a sensor network that could take data over years and give information on how his heating and air conditioning system is doing so it could be more precisely calibrated.

One of the purposes for this network was to keep his wine cellar below 60 degrees Fahrenheit and 60 percent humidity. Should the sensors detect a variance, Vint receives an SMS message on his mobile device.

Vint recalled the time he received a call from his wine cellar sensor network. Sigrid was away at the time so he could not ask her to adjust the temperature. Messages kept coming to his mobile device with ever more dire news - "your wine is warming up for three straight days."

A sensor could also tell Vint when the light in the wine cellar is turned on so he would know any time someone enters the wine cellar. It was pointed out that this wasn't foolproof and a better idea was to put a radio frequency ID chip on all the bottles. Then a friend who was an engineer said the plan would still be flawed because someone could just go in the wine cellar, drink the wine and leave the bottle.

Policy Issues and Advocacy

Broadband access is needed on a global scale that is nondiscriminatory, Vint said. There is not a lot of competition for broadband services, as they are usually provided by a telephone or cable company. It is important to draw attention to the issues and challenges like these, Vint believes. He is also involved in discussions on net neutrality.

Vint has personally committed to advocating for resolution of problems with high definition video captioning and the provision of real time captioning for theater motion pictures and plays. He is also committed to meeting with Senator Tom Harkin on advocacy issues.

Vint is well aware that public education about hearing loss must be stepped up. He shared a story that many of us could relate to when he recounted an airport experience. At his gate, he asked to be informed of any information broadcast on the PA system. The agent responded, "Do you need a wheelchair?"

Let Your Imagination Run Wild

Vint and his colleagues at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab are involved in the Interplanetary Internet because our current Internet doesn't work on an interplanetary scale. Check the Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplanetary_Internet to get the skinny. You'll also find this 2007 photo from a meeting of the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Vint is also keen on Google Mars, which is composed of pictures from different rovers that were stitched together so you can explore the planet. You can use it to pretend you're steering the rover across Martian terrain. Somewhere a Wii developer is going to be inspired.

Following Vint's presentation, HLAA's Deputy Executive Director Barbara Kelley remarked, "I think my brain just grew five times its size."

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