Microsoft Accessibility : academic research

Trip Report: Accessibility research conference, DSAI 2009, sponsored by Microsoft

AnnuskaP — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:27:00 GMT

The research presented at the 2009 DSAI conference proved to be representative sampling of the types of research happening in universities around accessibility. (DSAI: Development for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Info-exclusion) Areas of study included web 2.0 accessibility (e.g., tag cloud reader), mobility (from dexterity, wheelchairs, and navigating the physical world); speech control and speech engines; and vision imaging. I was especially interested in the research around cognitive disabilities, such as social networking ideas to support people with autism. Plus, there was some research around supplementing person-to-person communication, like computer recognition of facial expressions. There was also a compelling workshop demonstrating how motion sensors can be used to precisely capture, and analysis, physical movement. By calibrating the sensors, they can track gross motor movements and fine motor control. You can imagine the potential implications for assessing changes in physical ability as we age, or fine-tuning a prosthetic.

So, in sum, the conference was great food-for-thought and its promising to see academic research in accessibility deepening.

The conference web site is: http://dsai2009.utad.pt/.

More awareness and recognition of assistive technology

AnnuskaP — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:58:00 GMT

WebAnywhere did indeed win a Mellon Award for Technology Collaboration! Congratulations! You can read about the awards at: http://matc.mellon.org/press-release.

Imagine Cup Accessibility winner, WebAnywhere, up for today's Mellow Award

AnnuskaP — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:04:00 GMT

Jeff Bigham and Professor Richard Ladner, from University of Washington, are in D.C. today for the 2008 Mellon Awards Ceremony. Their project, WebAnywhere, is nominated for an award, which celebrates technology collaboration in higher education, especially benefitting non-profits. WebAnywhere is a wonderful example of how we can apply technology to solve accessibility problems - in this case, surfing the web and needing the information read aloud to you.

WebAnywhere won the Accessibility Award in Microsoft's 2008 Imagine Cup. So, yes, I'm biased, but I think it has a great chance at today's Mellon Award. The award ceremony is in about an hour. I'll post again, once the winners are officially announced.

Call for Papers for Accessibility Research Conference, DSAI2009

AnnuskaP — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:15:00 GMT

In June 2009, Microsoft is co-sponsoring the International Conference on Software Development for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Info-exclusion (DSAI 2009). The conference is a forum to discuss innovations and research in the accessible technology field. We hope to find synergies between university and industry goals and efforts.

I'm on the research paper review committee and we are launching our call for papers. Areas of interest are:

Software and Web accessibility
•Software engineering for accessibility
•Web accessibility tools and evaluation
•End-user development for accessibility
•E-learning and accessibility

Technologies
•Virtual environments
•Augmented reality
•Assistive technology
•Computer vision
•Automation and robotics
•eHealth
•Smart homes
•Advanced prototype systems for independent living and active ageing

Interfaces and interaction
•Ergonomics
•Accessibility and usability
•Adaptive interfaces
•Novel and multi-modal user interfaces
•Improving digital TV and electronic communications access
•Human computer interfaces
•Computer simulation of the user interaction
•Non-invasive brain computer interaction~
•Gesture interfaces
•Speech interfaces
•Natural language interfaces
•Tangible and Organic interfaces

Case studies

Full papers are due January 31, 2009. You can find all the details at the conference web site: http://dsai2009.utad.pt/index.html.

Participate in survey about security features on a web site

AnnuskaP — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:13:00 GMT

The University of Washington is conducted a study about a security feature on web sites. This feature, called "CAPTCHA" is often used when you are logging onto a web site for the first time and creating a user name and password.

The research team is hoping to get responses from a wide-range of people, both those using assistive technology and those that don't. I encourage YOU to participate in this short online survey at http://webinsight.cs.washington.edu/webeval/captchas2/.

Summit on Cyber-Infrastructure for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

AnnuskaP — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:28:00 GMT

Last week, I participated in a summit on the technology needs of university students who are deaf and hard-of-hearing (“deaf/HH”). The summit was hosted by the Rochester Institute of Technology National Technology Institute of the Deaf.

The primary purpose of the summit was to collect input from various stakeholders about communication and learning issues in universities today, especially for deaf/HH students in Science, Engineering and Technology. Another goal of the summit was to brainstorm ways technology (and support processes) can help these students become even more successful in academia and in a transition to the workforce.

If you are designing features that will be used by deaf/HH people, or planning research, here are some user experience factors to consider:

- The Deaf/HH community is diverse and likewise, their technology needs and preferences are diverse. When creating new innovations or research, it is imperative to get the perspective and input from the community along the way.

- ASL is a language (just like a spoken language, like Spanish), not a representation of spoken English. ASL is an evolving language. There are new terms being created by the community. For example, there are several ways to sign “computer’.

- In the various academic environments (lab, ad-hoc, etc), students have to process a lot of information coming at them visually. They have to quickly decide whether to focus on the interpreter, professor, text, visual materials, or other students.

- Along with access to spoken language, dead/HH students also may learn concepts in different ways than hearing students. Relevant academic research points to the need to better understand the learning cognitive processes and areas of the brain used to process ASL and text.

- Providing access to spoken language can be accomplished in different ways (captions vs ASL), but these ways are not equal in all circumstances. Reading the text captions is not the same visceral experience as communicating in ASL.

Overall, the summit was very insightful for me. It was a chance to learn from various perspectives, and a respectful dialog about different opinions. I was inspired by the dedication of the students, researchers, Dr. Hurwitz (the VP and Dean of NTID, and Dr. Diaz-Herrera (the Dean of the RIT’s College of Computing and Information Sciences), and other summit leaders. I look forward to the formal report that will compile the input and recommendations from the summit.