大象传媒

Cashing in your chips

• By Paul Crichton
• 30 Aug 07, 07:07 PM

Two recent stories with contrasting implications for getting and spending your money if you are visually impaired appeared in the press recently.

Firstly, the good news. , called OnePulse, for transactions costing less than 拢10. Similar systems have been tried out elsewhere in the world, but this is groundbreaking for the UK.

The multinational bank has installed over 1,000 swipe pads in a variety of shops around London. Users will be able to pay for their skinny lattes and fat muffins with a casual swipe of their flexible friend in Coffee Republic, for example. Other credit card companies are due to introduce similar systems later this year.

The great thing about this is that it eliminates the need for signing anything, entering PIN numbers, or even mucking about with change. That鈥檚 pretty convenient for all of us, but especially so for visually impaired people. Although chip and PIN is easier than signing a receipt, since no two PIN keyboards are the same, trying to feel around for a smooth enter key on an unfamiliar keypad isn鈥檛 ideal. Swiping a card, then, will be even more blind-friendly, at least for purchases under a tenner.

I imagine that the success of touch and pay systems will be monitored in America where all the notes (sorry, 鈥渂ills鈥�) are the same size, which must be inconvenient at best for most VI Americans. And a right pain in the butt for tourists, who are unfamiliar with the bills. Or notes.

By contrast, researchers at Stanford University have developed a system that allows you to enter your PIN merely by looking at the numbers, rather than having to physically press any buttons. Called, , the system uses an invisible infrared light to track eye movements that are then recorded by a camera. This is thought to be far more secure than physically tapping in your PIN with a keyboard, when someone peering over your shoulder might be able to work out what you are typing.

Improving security is a great ambition but this isn鈥檛 a terribly inclusive solution. Whilst doubtless popular for people with motor function issues, it clearly won鈥檛 work for people with poor or no vision. There is a danger of sending the message that the money of visually impaired people isn鈥檛 as important as that of everyone else.

The banks will almost certainly have to retain a keyboard as an alternative. Banks are aware of their responsibilities in this regard - some cashpoints currently have earphone inputs to provide assistance for blind users.

It is clear that both technology, and people鈥檚 enthusiasm for electronic cashless systems has come a long way since Mondex鈥檚 ill-fated trial in the late 1990s. If notes and coins are going to become curios from the past, then it is equally important that these new systems to access money are inclusive to everyone.

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