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A website looking at e-democracy and access to technology for those with disabilities has launched.

Headstar.com brings together eGovernment Bulletin - a news service looking at the effect of electronic technologies in modernising public services and democratic processes - and eAccess Bulletin, which focuses on access to new technologies by people with disabilities.

Both publications, which previously existed only as email newsletters, now have blog destinations on the site where readers can interact with a panel of experts who post on topics of the day, augmenting the news and features of the newsletters.

"We're talking about issues that affect millions of people, so it actually makes good ethical sense, good business sense and good legal sense for organisations to be accessible. It's a very interesting area to operate in as a media organisation, there are lots of things to cover," said Dan Jellinek, founder of Headstar.

The site, said Mr Jellinek, is the logical extension of a community built around the newsletters and a host of offline activities in e-access and e-democracy.

"Digital technologies are now woven in to all aspects of functioning as a citizen. Access to information and services can theoretically be very liberating to people with disabilities," he added.

"If you have issues with mobility, or other issues, then in the past you may have been reliant on other people to help you access information.

"But other people would decide what part of a newspaper was worthy of transcription to braille. Now, potentially, the internet and other technologies have meant that people can have a lot more independence over what they can access."

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Written by
Oliver Luft

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