About

Computers are playing an ever more important role in assistive technology for a wide range of disabilities. In this seminar, we will explore the state of the art and current research in computer-based assistive technology for blindness, deafness, cognitive impairment, and other disabilities.

The seminar will include a mix of lectures, invited speakers, readings and discussion. The goal of the seminar this quarter is to get students familiar with disability studies issues in technology and to review some top papers in access technology from recent conferences.

First meeting is on March 30, 2010.

Organizer: Richard Ladner

Registering

No particular background is required. Non-computer science majors and undergraduates may (and are encouraged) to attend with permission of the instructors.

Be sure to sign up for the mailing list (below) to be kept informed about any room/time changes.

Project requirement (for undergraduates only)

If you are an undergraduate student, you will need to satisfy the following project requirement in order to receive your 1 credit.

Each student will choose a topic to investigate, and write a short 4 page paper and give a 30 minute presentation at the end of the quarter. Final resentations will be at 10:30-12:20 p.m. on Wednesday, Jun. 9, 2010

Undergraduate topics this quarter are:

• Will Johnson: The history and technology related to Braille.
• Sanjana Prasain: Disability and technology in the developing world with emphasis on Southeast Asia.

Seminar format

Presentations are generally 30 minutes followed by 20 mintues of discussion.

All talks and discussions are in CSE 503 in the Paul Allen Center on Tuesdays at 9:30 - 10:20 am.

Mailing list

Subscribe to the seminar mailing list and also check out the archive for past postings.

List of speakers, topics and readings:

Date	Topics	Speaker
3/30	Organizational Meeting
4/6	ASL-STEM Forum: Enabling Sign Language to Grow Through Online Collaboration. Please read: CHI 2010 Paper. Please read: Assistive and Mainstream Technologies for People with Disabilities from the Future of Disability in America, National Academies Press, 2007.	Talk by Anna Cavender Discussion led by Shiri Azenkot, UW
4/13	AT and employment: Conserving resources and augmenting function. Please read: Use of cognitive aids and other assistive technology by individuals with multiple sclerosis. Check out the website Assistive Technology & Universal Design Resources	Kurt Johnson Center for Technology and Disability Studies, UW
4/20	The Impact of "Deaf Technology" Please read Chapter from "Web Accessibility: A Foundation for Research" Deaf Technology Presentation	Talk by Richard Ladner
4/27	Experiences at CSUN	Wendy Chishom
5/4	Disability Studies: Issues & Tensions. Please read: The Ragged Edge: From the pages of the Disability Rag , Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence , Disability Studies / Not Disability Studies .	Dennis Lang, Associate Director, Disability Studies, UW
5/11	No Seminar
5/18	Social accessibility: achieving accessibility through collaborative metadata authoring by Takagi et al. at ASSETS 2009	Shiri Azenkot
5/25	The One-Key Challenge: Searching for a Fast One-Key Text Entry Method by I. Scott MacKenzie at ASSETS 2009	Richard Ladner
6/1	TBA	Chandrika Jayant
6/9	Wedneday 10:30 - 12:30: Student Presentations

Additional Resources

Relevant academic conferences and resources:

• ACM Digital Library - click on the Proceedings link, and you can search for academic research papers related to access technology in conferences such as ASSETS, CHI, and UIST.
• ASSETS 2009 conference