18th May 1999

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Being able to order your drinks from a bar through a computer and helping deaf people communicate with their doctors are the themes behind two projects from the north west of the province which will be presented to a special conference on business opportunities, which begins today in Massachusetts. (Tuesday May 18).

Students at the University of Ulster's Magee College in Londonderry/ Derry have developed the projects.

They will be presented to a conference on technology investment and partnership opportunities which will include business leaders from Boston, Israel, Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The projects have already attracted the interest of the Boston based investment Company, the Cullinane Group. Its President John Cullinane has long been associated with economic and social development programmes here:

"These students are outstanding. In today's Internet world, such people are capable of becoming entrepreneurial high-tech superstars literally overnight," he said.

The project to help those with hearing difficulties is being developed by Warrenpoint man John Ryan:

"I have spent some time at an American college which specialises in the training of teachers for deaf people and I am very conscious of the issues involved.

"In my research I discovered that around 75% of people with hearing difficulties leave their general practitioner's surgery without really understanding what the doctor's diagnosis has been. I also found out that in the traditional five-year medical training period, students get little more than half a day's guidance in how to communicate with deaf people.

"Communication is also a problem in the commercial world. I worked for a time in a shop in the Castlecourt complex in Belfast. The staff there always preferred that I deal with customers who had hearing difficulties. They did not feel able to cope." John is devising a CD-Rom, which offers advice to people on how to interact with those with hearing difficulties:

"It includes suggestions such as telling hearing people to keep eye-to-eye contact with the deaf person. It suggests that they do not shout and that they should not be afraid to write things down. I am also consider giving instruction on how to communicate the most common phrases"

Nichola Gill, who is from Ballinrobe, County Mayo, is working on a system which allows bar staff to communicate drinks without having to walk to the bar and wait for the order to be prepared:

"The staff carry a special electronic notebook, pen and wallet. They take the order in their own handwriting, which is then transmitted to the bar. This saves the staff having to go to the bar, repeat the order and wait for it to be served before delivering it back to the customers.

The device also acts as mini cash register. Waiters do not have to go back and forward to the bar to pay bills and get change.

Nichola believes the system will benefit both bar managers and their staff:

"It will free up a lot of time for the bar staff and help them in remembering orders. It will allow managers to have a better picture on how business is carried on in the bar and help them identify problems."

Magee College has recently opened a business 'incubator' centre, which has been established to provide support for staff and graduates with viable business technology and software ideas.

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk