| ComLink is an open modular system for building Augmentative & Alternative
Communication (AAC) software for communication, environmental control, education, employment,
and leisure. ComLink provides sample applications, software for creating and running applications,
a set of basic components, and detailed standards for developing new components. There will be
support for any mix of text, symbols, pictures, and sound. By using ComLink, Rehabilitation Technology companies no longer need to build entire applications from scratch. Instead they can use ready-made components, concentrating their resources on creating specialised components where necessary. The ComLink editors, with their graphical interfaces, make it easy to combine and adjust ComLink components to make an application. Assessment and resource centre staff can use the same editors to modify applications to suit the diverse needs of end-users (adding a speech synthesis component, perhaps, or making major alterations to the vocabulary or selection sets). Non-technical therapists and helpers can also make some changes to an application, using a toolbar (created by the application designer) instead of the editors. The toolbar makes it easy to adjust text size, scanning speed or selection set items, for example. With manufacturers and assessment centres using a common set of tools to create and modify applications, it becomes more technically and economically feasible to produce, adapt, maintain, upgrade, and support new products to meet the diverse needs of the expanding market of elderly and disabled people. The ComLink website is currently at
where there is information about the ComLink system, including the research and development work done so far and the organisations involved in that work. The latest version of the software and the technical documentation can be downloaded from the website. The software can also be downloaded from the Handicom website:
ComLink applications can be run either with the full Editor version or with the smaller Runtime version (this is the version distributed to end-users). ComLink requires a Pentium processor. Developers and RT companies wishing to know more about ComLink should contact one of the organisations listed on the website. |