Establishment of resource portal of assistive technology in Taiwan.
OBJECTIVE
To establish an Assistive Technology (AT) resource portal for users, professionals and policy-makers in Taiwan to provide a new and versatile information network for AT popularization.


METHODS
The Centre for AT Resources and Popularization (CATR@P), integrated the resources primarily from five AT Resource Centres of the Ministry of Interior in Taiwan. CATR@P invited representatives of organizations for people with disabilities, AT specialists and policy-makers to join the task force. A web company was responsible for website software design and collaboration with CATR@P, which included planning portal functions, all user-friendly interfaces and pilot testing.


RESULTS
The Resource Portal of AT was officially online in October 2006. The portal was structured with 19 main functions and the contents of this new portal are versatile and multifunctional. It contains vast amounts of national and international resources such as archives of AT centres, AT products, a professionals directory, websites linkage, full text of the AT Companion Journal, E-paper, on-line consultation services, frequently asked questions, and on-line questionnaires.


CONCLUSIONS
Integration of Taiwan AT resources in conjunction with the internet technology has made resources more available for people with disabilities and society.
Lee
Shwn-Jen
SJ
Department of Physical Therapy and Assistive Technology, Taipei, Taiwan.
Yang
Ya-Hsin
YH
Huang
Ping-Chin
PC
Cheng
Yu-Ting
YT
Lee
Chen-Horong
CH
Wang
Tzyy-Jiuan
TJ
D003628:Database Management Systems / Q000458:organization & administration; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D004864:Equipment and Supplies / Q000600:supply & distribution; D017144:Focus Groups; D006295:Health Resources / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D020407:Internet; D012656:Self-Help Devices; D013624:Taiwan; D014584:User-Computer Interface