Monday, June 23, 2014

An API for Mobile Phone Accessibility




Published on June 19th, 2014 | by Travis Korte  Center for Data Innovation

The Federal Communications Commission’s Accessibility Clearinghouse offers a variety of information about phones and other means of communication that are accessible to people with disabilities. The clearinghouse includes data on communications devices, service providers, equipment manufacturers, and other products and services. Users can browse resources by manufacturer, physical features, and how accessible they are to a given disability. Entries for devices include details on a broad range of accessibility features, including whether or not a user can adjust the device’s font size and whether or not the device supports voice-activated dialing, and searches are sorted according to how many of the 100 possible accessibility features each device offers. Although not available for bulk download, the data is accessible through a public application programming interface (API).

Get the data.

Photo: Flickr user Quinn Dombrowski

About the Author


Travis Korte is a research analyst at the Center for Data Innovation specializing in data science applications and open data. He has a background in journalism, computer science and statistics. Prior to joining the Center for Data Innovation, he launched the Science vertical of The Huffington Post and served as its Associate Editor, covering a wide range of science and technology topics. He has worked on data science projects with HuffPost and other organizations. Before this, he graduated with highest honors from the University of California, Berkeley, having studied critical theory and completed coursework in computer science and economics. His research interests are in computational social science and using data to engage with complex social systems. You can follow him on Twitter @traviskorte.

No comments:

Post a Comment