About
Us
Superbase Foundation
Founded in 1999, the Superbase Foundation is a non-profit organization
established to promote the understanding of information as the universal
interface between humans, their machines and nature.
The Foundation's aim is to organize once or twice a year, a series
of lectures known as Superbase Lectures,
delivered by one of the eminent persons in the world of Information
Technology who has personally contributed to the enrichment of our
understanding. The lectures are usually delivered in one of the
public lecture halls in UK or abroad. An expanded version of the
lectures will be published in book form by Superbase
Press.
The first set of lectures were delivered by Dr. Bebo White, a
computational physicist at the Stanford Linear Accelerator at Stanford
University, California and one of the pioneer of Internet where
Bebo was part of the original team that developed the World Wide
Web at the CERN in 1991.
The title of the lecture was: The Internet;
Past, Present and Future and they were
delivered at the American University in Cairo,
Egypt.
More recently, the lectures were delivered by Professor Alvaro
de Rujula, the head of the theory
division at CERN and one of the founders of modern quantum theory.
The following is a brief summary about:
Professor Bebo White
Bebo White is a Computational Physicist
and Senior Computing Information Systems
Analyst at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC),
the high-energy physics laboratory operated by Stanford
University. He also holds academic appointments at the University
of California, Berkeley and the University of San Francisco.
In recent years, Bebo’s work has been dominated by his involvement
with World Wide Web technology, although he remains a contributing
member of the Babar collaboration. He first
became involved with WWW development while on a sabbatical at CERN
in 1989 and was instrumental in establishing the first non-European
website at SLAC in 1991.
Bebo is the author of two books (Programming
Techniques for Software Development, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1989;
HTM Land the Art of Authoring for the World Wide Web, Kluwer, 1996),
and has contributed chapters to several others. He recently signed
a contract with Prentice-Hall to co-author and edit a series of
three books on web mastering. He is also the author (or co-author)
of numerous articles and papers. (A complete list may be found through
http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~bebo/).
Bebo has lectured and spoken internationally to academic and commercial
audiences. He has been particularly involved with two major international
conference series – Computing in
High Energy Physics (CHEP) Conference; and International
World Wide Web Conference. He was the
co-chair
of the Sixth International World Wide Web Conference (WWW6) co-hosted
by SLAC and Stanford University.
In addition, Bebo is often asked to assist in the planning of other
international conferences, meetings and tutorial series. These have
included AusWeb’97 and AusWeb’99
(tutorials co-chair), WWW7 (tutorials
co-chair), WebNet’98 and WebNet’99
(program committee), CNET Builder Conference
(advisory committee), COMDEX Europe
(advisory committee), the ACM HyperText’99
Conference (program committee), the Hong
Kong Web Symposium (instructor), and the Western
Institute of Computer Science at Stanford (organizing committee
and instructor).
In 1996, Bebo was added to the Micro Times 100 list of those making
outstanding contributions to personal computing. He is a past member
of the IW3C2 and is cited by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
as having made significant contribution to the development of WWW.
In addition, he is a member of the executive board of the World
Organization of Webmasters (http://www.joinwow.org/).
Personal
Bebo is married, has two sons, and lives in San Francisco. His
wife, Dr.Nancy Cushen White, is a learning specialist and Assistant
Clinical Professor of Adolescent Medicine at the University of California,
San Francisco (UCSF). He is also a member of the boards of the Parents
Coalition of Bay Area High Schools and Lick-Wilmerding High School
(http://www.lick.pvt.k12.ca.us/).
Stanford
University - The Archimedes Project
Superbase Visiting Research Associates
The Archimedes Project is a multidisciplinary research group focused
on ensuring that everybody can access information regardless of
individual needs, abilities and preferences. The Project is directed
by Neil Scott at Stanford University.
Superbase Developers PLC is involved in the Archimedes Project at
different levels through the Superbase Foundation.
The Foundation has established two fellowships for the posts of
visiting Research Associates. Successful candidates must have a
solid experience with C++ and or Java, Web Technologies or programming
and prototyping microprocessor based hardware. You will be required
to join the Project for at least one year.
Anyone that feels that they have skills and knowledge matching
one or more of the criteria listed above is invited to contact the
webmaster with their details.
The Archimedes Project
What is the Archimedes Project?
The Archimedes Project is unique in that it is organized around
the communication blockages that limit access, not the disabilities
that cause them. The goal is to understand how to provide universal
access for everyone
Mission Statement
The mission of the Archimedes Project is to ensure everybody is
able to access information regardless of individual needs, abilities
and preferences
Guiding Principles
The Archimedes Project developed, and adheres to the following six
Guiding Principles:
Everyone requires help in gaining and effectively using information,
not only those individuals who have disabilities.
In itself, information is neither accessible nor inaccessible, the
form in which it is presented makes it so.
To be disabled is not necessarily to be handicapped. Handicaps can
often be removed whereas disabilities cannot.
Handicaps often result from decisions to design tools exclusively
for individuals with the standard mix of perceptual and motor abilities.
Designed access is preferable to retrofitted access. A merger of
theory and practical expertise is crucial in designing access that
fully utilizes state-of-the-art technology.
Solutions that provide general access can benefit everyone.
Research Goals
The Archimedes Project is a multidisciplinary research group focused
on ensuring everybody can access information regardless of individual
needs, abilities and preferences. The Archimedes Project is unique
in that it is organized around the communication blockages that
limit access, not the disabilities that cause them. The goal is
to understand how to provide universal access for everyone
Areas of Research
The work of the Archimedes Project ranges from theoretical and philosophical
studies about disability through to the research and development
of special hardware and software for providing alternative access
to computers. The project initially focused on the design of human-centered
computer interfaces for people with disabilities but this work has
evolved to include supportive environments for aging people and
human-centered for smart houses, smart offices, and smart appliances
that can be used by anyone.
Current Projects
The Total Access System (TAS) - provides universal access to any
computer-based equipment.
TAS Cloud - A dedicated network protocol for interconnecting all
of the TAS components.
Speech Accessor - A dedicated speech recognition system optimized
for TAS.
Head Tracking Accessor - A pointing accessor that uses head movements,
Eye Tracking Accessor - A pointing accessor that uses eye movements.
Video TAP and GUI Accessor - A system that provides screen access
for blind people.
Multimodal Accessor that combines speech recognition, head tracking
and eye tracking.
Human-centered interfaces for smart environments and appliances.
Summary of Archimedes Project Job Requirements
The Total Access System (TAS) is an innovative applied research
project at Stanford University that is creating a universally accessible
environment in which people can access computers, consumer electronics,
industrial controls, and public information systems using human-centered
interfaces that are closely matched to individual needs, abilities
and preferences. TAS comprises three major components: (i) A Total
Access Port (TAP) that provides a standardized connection to any
target computer, (ii) an access or that provides the user with an
interface matched to his or her needs, abilities, and preferences,
and (iii) a universal communications protocol that enables any access
or to connect to any TAP.
First generation TAPs have been produced for the IBM PC, Mac, Sun,
SGI, and HP workstations. These are currently being revised to incorporate
a more flexible configuration for connecting multiple accessors
and multiple TAPs. The following brief job descriptions are organized
around the major components of the TAS.
The TAP (Total Access Port) Group
TAPs are required for each of the major computer family or type
of electronic device or interface. Ongoing research is necessary
to expand the selection of TAPs as new types of target device are
identified. Job requirements for this group includes:
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(i) Hardware
engineer - Requires the ability to design digital and
microprocessor circuitry and to program microprocessors at
the assembler level, as well as in C/C++.
(ii) Software engineer - Responsible
for developing and implementing network protocols for the
TAScloud that connects multiple accessors and TAPs. (Requires
the ability to work with C++).
(iii) Software engineer - Requires
the ability to develop and test algorithms for software that
coordinates the operation of multiple TAPs functioning collaboratively
through the connections provided by the TAScloud. (Requires
the ability to work with C++).
(iv) Knowledge Engineer or computer
scientist - Required to develop an intelligent resource
manager and to create interfaces that automatically adapt
to both the user and the operating environment.
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Speech Accessor Group
The speech accessor is an integral part of the TAS and one of the
main methods of user input. While speech recognition can provide
a very natural way to interact with a computer, there are many shortcomings
with the currently available speech recognition options. The speech
accessor will be a very compact speech recognition device that is
highly optimized for the TAS. Job requirements for this group includes:
(i) Hardware engineer —Requires
ability to design digital circuits and high-quality audio circuits
for the speech accessor.
(ii) Software engineer — Requires
ability to port an existing Windows based speech recognizer to a
custom operating system and optimize it for operation on a small
hand-held device. This may also involve porting to the Unix Operating
system and the integration of a natural language interface.
(iii) Computational linguist —
Responsible or verifying the accuracy and validity of the language
models used in the speech accessor, customizing existing language
models or writing new language models, and for writing new vocabularies
and vocabulary configurations.
(iv) Software engineer —Responsible
for writing a new version of the Bridge program that provides the
communication between the speech accessor and the TAPs via the TAScloud.
Requires C++.
The Multimedia Accessor Group
The Archimedes Project is collaborating with a major eye tracking
corporation to develop an accessor that integrates speech recognition,
head tracking, and eye tracking. Job requirements for this group
includes:
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(i) Hardware
engineer — Responsible for designing the hardware
needed to combine a speech recognizer, head tracker, and eye
tracker. Requires ability to design digital circuits and program
microprocessors using assembler.
(ii) Software engineer - to
implement collaboration software required to combine speech
recognition, head tracking, and eye tracking. Requires C++
and Oberon.
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Visual TAP and GUI Accessor Group
This group is developing a new approach for enabling blind people
to access computers without the need to load special software into
the target computer. The Visual TAP recovers a bitmap of the screen
image by capturing the video signal that drives the display screen.
The bitmap is analyzed to separate graphical and textual elements.
The textual elements are recovered by an Optical Character Recognition
system that drives a speech synthesizer and/or Braille display.
The graphical elements are processed to recover line drawings that
are displayed to the blind user using combinations of sound and
haptics (force feedback). Job requirements for this group includes:
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(i)
Blindness Researcher - Responsible for determining
which types of alternative display technology work best for
each type of data and each type of operational environment.
(ii) Hardware engineer - Requires
the ability to design high-speed graphics processing circuitry
and to program fast microprocessors and/or Digital Signal
Processors (DSPs).
(iii) Software engineer - Responsible
for graphical-image processing program. Requires knowledge
of C++ and algorithms for digitally filtering graphics.
Research Center at the Computer Department of the American
University in Cairo |
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