NEWSLETTER DECEMBER '04 - JANUARY '05 (editorial)

On December 26th, 2004, 14 countries felt direct effects from an earthquake that took place far below the surface of the Indian Ocean. The resulting tsunamis which came ashore have killed, injured and displaced hundreds of thousands of people in these countries. There were many people who either became disabled or with a disability who survived this catastrophe or were unfortunately part of the staggering death toll in these countries where tsunamis came ashore. In addition, for those living with a disability, the already challenging circumstances in which these people live in some areas multiplied by one hundred times. I would like to believe that the humanitarian aid that was initiated from the whole globe will address also the needs of those people.

Something else now in order to change mood. We now entered the year 2005 and it was 10 years ago in October of 1994 when Tim Berners-Lee created the now famous World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). In looking over a few histories of the Internet, I humorously note that in early 1994 there were only a total of 3.000 web sites around the world. Ten years later, that number now exceeds 50 million. Although the continuous advancement of the web is only one small snapshot of the great explosion of information technology over the past 10 years, it does help to illustrate just how much things have changed and how important is to ensure that the community of disabled has full access to this new world.
In closing, I would just like to say that Information Technology and Disabilities will only be as good as the articles submitted to it for publication. We will regularly need quality articles from experts in the field. So please help us to make the next year of e-ISOTIS newsletter just as impressive as its past by contacting us with new ideas for article topics and special issue themes.
The current issue also presents all the projects that e-ISOTIS has either completed or has recently undertaken, as well as the participation and involvement of e-ISOTIS in 7 European projects and the establishment of cooperation with international, European and national consumer

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