Women Making Things Better
Ms. Kristina Tsvetanova and Ms. Siroun Shamigian, recipients of Cartier Women’s Initiative Award, discuss their tech-driven enterprises
They started out with small dreams, but Ms. Siroun Shamigian from Lebanon, and Ms. Kristina Tsvetanova, a Bulgarian living in Austria, both ended up far from what they had wanted to accomplish. Ms. Shamigian has co-founded Kamkalima, an online platform that uses AI and data analytics to help schoolteachers better cope with the requirements of their profession, while Ms. Tsvetanova has co-founded Blitab Technology, creator of a tactile tablet for the blind and the visually impaired.
They simply wanted to help people they knew, but somehow ended up championing the greater inclusion of people – fellow Arabic schoolteachers in the case of Ms. Shamigian, and the visually impaired in Ms. Tsvetanova’s – who have not benefited as fully as the rest of us from the digital revolution.
This year, for their efforts, Ms. Shamigian and Ms. Tsvetanova are among the recipients of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards, launched by the French jeweller and watchmaker in 2006 to recognize the far ranging positive outcomes of femaleled businesses.
SETTING SIGHTS ON TECH
A simple request from a university classmate set Ms. Kristina Tsvetanova on her way to develop a revolutionary tool for the blind. “When my colleague asked me to sign him on an online course, I realized that despite widespread use of digital technology, it has remained inaccessible to the visually impaired.”
Working with a team of engineers and developers, Ms. Tsvetanova has helped the launch of the first ever Braille tablet device. Called Blitab®, or tablet for the blind’, it is helping lower the barrier to the social and economic integration of the visually impaired by allowing them access to information and participation in activities that can improve their chances of obtaining proper education, finding gainful employment, and being part of the larger society.
“Blitab® uses a disruptive actuating technology to deliver tactile text and graphics to the user in real time,” explains Ms. Tsvetanova. It is very similar to the tablet that people with normal vision use but with tactile content in the form of Braille text. Unlike unwieldy gadgets that are aimed to deliver information to the visually impaired, Blitab® is sleek, handy and, more importantly, more affordable, she adds.
The tablet converts any document into Braille text. Little smart dots called ‘tixels’ rise immediately from its surface and fall down again when text changes, Ms. Tsvetanova expounds. It is equipped with touch navigation, text-to-speech output, and Perkins-style keyboard application.
Blitab® has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for wireless communication, and can run a number of Android apps. It supports connectivity that gives users tremendous opportunities for learning, sharing and collaborating; it also serves as a platform for software applications for the blind, both existing and under development. As the gadget allows a whole page reading on a tactile screen, even first-time users instantly get the feel of using an interactive mobile device that provides real time digital access to online information.
“We want to be a leader in digital lifestyle for every blind and visually impaired user of our device,” Ms. Tsvetanova exclaims. The blind and visually impaired have been marginalized because of their condition. Poor literacy, which contributes to low employability, have diminished their chances to participate in important socioeconomic activities. Blitab® corrects that situation by placing them alongside everyone else.
EMPOWERING ARAB SCHOOLTEACHERS
As a schoolteacher in Lebanon, Ms. Siroun Shamigian has come to terms with the difficult chores associated with her profession: Assessing the individual performances of her students, placing them in tiers to ensure they get the instruction they require and deserve, and finding engaging and effective teaching materials.
What she wasn’t prepared to accept, however, was the dearth of tools to make the completion of these important tasks easier and more efficient. “A teacher’s job does not begin and end in the classroom,” she says. “We have to plan the lessons and prepare for class before we even face the students. After class, we have to spend a lot of time just correcting papers,” she says.
Her search for materials and tools online yielded little. Although web-based educational tools for teachers and students existed, none were made for those teaching and learning in Arabic. This frustration led Ms. Shamigian to start building an online Arabic educational tool.
With the use of technology, Ms. Shamigian and her team developed a powerful digital platform offering tools to teachers, students and school administrators in Arabic. Among its features are a project bank for new lesson plans ideas, a machine learning technology for student assessment, an archive for all assignments, and even an interactive digital library where students can publish their individual and collaborative works.
“Whatever time is saved from routine chores is used in enriching lessons and interacting with students,” Ms. Shamigian emphasizes. “We also help teachers improve their technology skills by offering a platform that is very easy for them to use.”