Michael Day

Mr. Michael Day is the Product Manager for BT TextDirect the first service in the world to integrate textphones calls into mainstream telecommunications. Previously when working in BT's Age and Disability Team he worked with product managers to incorporate the features required by disabled people into BT's telephone products. Since the late 80's he has worked on introducing textphone access in BT, Text Payphones, developing the ITU-T V.18 protocol, the BT Textphone and with a colleague conceived the principle behind BT TextDirect, he then guided the development of the idea into the service that is currently available.

Gunnar Fagerberg

Mr Gunnar Fagerberg is currently Principal Scientific Officer in the unit Elderly and People with Disabilities in the Information Society Directorate-General of the European Commission. Previously, he has led research and development work on assistive technology and accessibility at the Swedish Handicap Institute, The University of Western Ontario, Canada and the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. He is past president of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) and the Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe (AAATE).

Gunnar Hellström

Mr. Gunnar Hellström specialises in Accessible Telecommunications and Information Technology. He is the founder of Omnitor, a Swedish company devoted to consulting and product development in this area. Through a series of consultancy tasks, Gunnar has provided international leadership and been the editor of numerous international standards for text conversation in multimedia telecommunications, text telephony, wireless multimedia and video communications for sign language and lip reading. Gunnar currently serves as Chairman of ITU-T Q.H/16 Accessibility to Multimedia Systems and services. He has also developed multi-media communication products that optimises personal communication, among others for deaf and deaf-blind users, making benefit of some of the standards he has been working with.

Paul E. Jones

Mr. Paul Jones has been involved in research and development of protocols and system architectures in the area of multimedia communications, including voice, video, and data conferencing over IP networks, since 1996. In addition to architecture and software development activities within Cisco Systems' Voice Technology Group, Mr. Jones has actively participated in a number of standards and industry organizations, including the ITU, IETF, ETSI TIPHON, and the IMTC. Most notably, he served as editor of ITU-T Recommendation H.323, he currently serves as Rapporteur for ITU-T Q.2/16, and he is also a member of the H.323 Forum Leadership Team. Most recently, he has been heavily involved standards work in the ITU-T and the IETF to resolve issues with transporting textphone ("TTY") signals over IP networks ("Text over IP" or ToIP).

Hiroshi Kawamura

Mr. Hiroshi Kawamura is Director of the Department of Social Rehabilitation, Research Institute of the National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities (NRCD). Trained in geography at faculty of science, he has vast experience in disability-related work and issues; served as the Chairperson of the Section of Libraries for the Blind of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, serving as one of the founders and researcher on Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) as an international accessibility standard, member of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Advisory Committee for Asia Pacific Development Center on Disability, member of Global Applied Disability Research and Information Network on Employment and Training (GLADNET) Association. He is a Steering Committee member of the Web Accessibility Initiative/W3C. He took initiative to revise the copyright law to meet the requirements of persons with disabilities, supports DAISY implementation in developing countries, and conducts research on disaster mitigation, preparedness and response to meet the needs of people with disabilities through accessible ICT development. ICT design for everybody including people with disabilities is the major area of his professional concern. Currently he acts as the Focal Point of Disability Family Groups of the Civil Society Bureau of the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS).

Mr Kleeb is born in Switzerland and became gradually deaf between age 10 and 14. He received his B.A./M.A. in Chemistry from the Engineering College of Chur and was a Special Student at Gallaudet University, Washington D.C., USA.

Mr.Urs Linder is specialised in Accessible Telecommunications and Information Technology with a degree in electronics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). He is the founder and Director of the “Genossenschaft Hörgeschädigten-Elektronik”, a Swiss organisation specialised in communication technology for deaf and hard of hearing persons since 1979. This organisation is now divided into PROCOM, Foundation for Communication for deaf and hard of hearings, managing the Swiss relay (Interpreter Centre and Call Centre for relaying communications between Text Telephone users and “normal“ Telephones) and the GHE-CES Electronic AG (manufacturer of communication and other electronic devices for handicapped people). Urs is one of the pioneers in Europe in the development and production of Text Telephones. He is now busy with multi-media communication software and products, based on IETF's SIP.

Michael Quinlan

Mr. Michael Quinlan has worked for the British Deaf Association (BDA) in the UK for ten years as the Multimedia Information Manager. He has also worked on many projects for different Government bodies and Schools for the Deaf in the UK. He has extensive knowledge of BSL (British Sign Language) and has worked as a Sign/Translation Monitor on several videos/CD-ROMs aimed at the Deaf community. His skills and knowledge are directed to ensure that BSL videos are accessible and made in a way that is clearly understood by Deaf People. He is currently managing the WISDOM project on behalf of the British Deaf Association (one of the WISDOM project partners).

Pierre-André Probst

Mr. Pierre-André Probst started his professional career as a Research assistant at the High Frequency Institute of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (research work and tutor) in the early seventies. He progressed through jobs up to Executive Vice President of Swisscom, Member of the Management Board with responsibility for the Network Services Division (strategy, planning and implementation of Swisscom network platforms). He was also Head of External Relations (1999-2000), relations with international organizations (UIT, ETNO, ETSI, etc.) and the Swiss political and economical bodies and now acts as an Independent consultant in the area of ICT. He has participated in the standardization work in ITU-T for many years, as Rapporteur, Working Party Chairman, and Study Group Chair. For the last 8 years, he has been the chair of ITU-T Study Group 16, "Multimedia Systems, Services and Terminals".