Newer
Older
---
layout: default
---
* TOC
{:toc}
{: .week}
# Week 1 (3/29): Introduction
{: .lecture} Introduction to Accessibility Technology
: **Learning Goals** Overview of accessibility and its relationship to computation; Introduction to Disability studies; History of disability rights
**Slides** {% include slide.html title="Introduction to Course" loc="wk01/intro.html" %}
**Slides** {% include slide.html title="Introduction to Accessibility" loc="wk01/accessibility.html" %}
You will need to submit the [learning goals homework](assignments/hw0-learninggoals.html) and a [canvas discussion on understanding experiences of people with disabilities](https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1465814/discussion_topics/6249052) by next class.
{: .lecture} Guest lecture
: Lecture by Kurt Johnson, Professor, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine on Disability Policy and Law
: **Slides** [Linked handout on canvas](https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1465814/files/folder/guest%20lecture%20content?preview=75691863)
: **Reading**: Please pick two readings from this [Walking While Blind in Manhattan During the Pandemic](https://www.nextavenue.org/walking-while-blind-in-manhattan-during-the-pandemic/); [Q&A with Jamison Hill](https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2021/01/24/qa-with-jamison-hill/); [The AmazonBasics Microwave With Alexa Shows How Gimmicks Are Gold](https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenaquino/2021/01/14/the-amazonbasics-microwave-with-alexa-shows-how-gimmicks-are-gold/?sh=7abb74d95ce4); [How blind people use iPhones](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjb-EbBvikw); [Talking intersections with race, disability, and police violence](http://meloukhia.net/2016/06/talking_intersections_with_race_disability_and_police_violence/); [Deaf people face unique challenges as pandemic drags on](https://www.theverge.com/22254591/deaf-communication-tech-access-coronavirus-isolation); and respond to the thread on the [Canvas discussion](https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1465814/discussion_topics/6249052)
**Prep for [Activity 1](assignments/act1-finding-accessibility.html)**
{: .week}
# Week 2 (4/5): Screen readers
**Readings and other Preparation** This is a first introduction to disability and an important starting place through providing a disability studies perspective up front in the class.
- Optional: [Disability Studies as a source of critical inquiry...](https://make4all.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/MankoffAssets2010.pdf)
- Optional: [Semantics to screen readers](https://alistapart.com/article/semantics-to-screen-readers/)
- Optional: [Rethinking web accessibility on Windows](https://www.marcozehe.de/rethinking-web-accessibility-on-windows/)
{: .lecture} Introduction to screen readers and begin forming teams for homework 1.
: **Learning Goals** Understand a disability-centered perspective and its impact on designing accessibility technologies, get introduced to screen readers.
: **Slides** [Linked slides on canvas](https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1465814/files/folder/screen%20reader%20slides?preview=75865945)
{: .lecture} Activity 1 presentations
: **Learning Goals** Understand how people with disabilities currently use accessibility technologies; Exposure to a variety of AT
# Week 3 (4/12): Screen Readers/Bandwidth and Access
- [Living Disability Theory: Reflections on Research, Access and Design](https://make4all.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/hoffmann-living-disability-theory.pdf)
- [Access Lab - the Switch](https://axesslab.com/switches/)
- [Improving User Experience of Eye Tracking-Based Interfaces](https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3338844)
- Optional viewing: [Switch Control overview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQKEE9nI1lk)
- Optional viewing: [One thumb to rule them all](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BhHwk9qSvI)
{: .lecture} Introduction to Switch Access
: **Learning Goals** Introduction to switch controls and building interfaces for use by people with limited mobility
**Slides TBD**
**Activity2 and HW1 work time.**
{: .lecture} Guest lecture
: Lecture by Brett Humphrey, Microsoft on screen readers
: **Learning Goals** Practical stories on screen reader implementation and use
{: .week}
# Week 4 (4/19): Accessible Media
We will learn about best practices to make certain types of media accessible.
- Intro to alt-text and audio description.
- Describe a video (in class) and an image (in class)
**Monday Slides** {% include slide.html title="Captioning" loc="alt-text/media.html" %}
- [Rescribe: Authoring and Automatically Editing Audio Descriptions](https://amypavel.com/papers/rescribe.pdf) ([talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmyPmT5T0PY))
- [Alt text intro](https://webaim.org/techniques/alttext/) (and find an image with alt text on the web) Was it hard to find? Where did you have to go?
- Optional: [What is audio description?](https://www.acb.org/adp/ad.html)
{: .lecture} Discussion & in-class activity.
: **Learning Goals**
- Understanding how to write good alt text
- Differences between image description and UI description
- Understanding video description
- Awareness of where and why alt text is missing on the web
{: .lecture} Homework 1 final presentations.
: **Slides** to be uploaded by students on canvas
{: .holiday} Everything after this is draft
: **Status below** TBD
{: .week}
# Week 5 (4/26): More alt text, captions and sound recognition
**Readings**
- Paper: [Its complicated: Negotiating Accessibility and (Mis)Representation in Image Descriptions of Race, Gender and Disability](https://guoanhong.com/papers/CHI21-ImageDescriptions.pdf)
- Video: [SoundWatch: Smartwatch-based Deep Learning for Sound Awareness](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UK_Gb1yeUs)
**Optional Readings**
- Its complicated [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By6nzFefcxs)
- SoundWatch [paper](https://homes.cs.washington.edu/~djain/img/portfolio/Jain_SoundWatch_ASSETS2020.pdf)
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
- [vital corona virus is failing the blind and visually impaired](https://www.vice.com/en/article/4ag9wb/vital-coronavirus-information-is-failing-the-blind-and-visually-impaired)
{: .lecture} Tutorial on machine learning, intro to homework 2, and work time.
: **Slides** TBD
{: .lecture} Guest Lecture
: Lecture by [Cynthia Bennett](https://www.bennettc.com/)
**Slides** TBD
{: .week}
# Week 6 (5/3): Activism, advocacy and power
**Readings**
- [How To Do Something Good In The Disability Community If You’re Not Disabled](https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2020/12/16/how-to-do-something-good-in-the-disability-community-if-youre-not-disabled/?sh=4befcb377d7f)
- more readings coming soon!
{: .lecture} Homework 2 check-in
: lecture **We will have office hours with each team with a progress update on their HW2**.
{: .lecture} Accessibility work, activism and advocacy
: **Lecture content coming soon!**
{: .week}
# Week 7 (5/10): Corporate accessibility
{: .lecture} Final presentations for homework 2.
: **Process** Refer to the presentation component of homework 2 spec, coming soon..
{: .lecture} Guest lecture
: Guest lecture by Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Chief Accessibility Officer at Microsoft.
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
: **Slides** coming soon
{: .week}
# Week 8 (5/17): Accessibility's overlooked spaces
{: .lecture} Final project check-in
: process **Please be prepared to present your project idea for five minutes**. The class will discuss and provide feedback on this.
{: .lecture} Accessibility's overlooked spaces
: slides **coming soon**
{: .week}
# Week 9 (5/24): Accessibility checking!
{: .lecture} Final project check-in
: Process **teams present project status for in-class discussion**.
{: .lecture} Accessibility testing
: Slides **coming soon**
: **Readings (tentative)**
- [Google Video on Practical Web Accessibility](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x18vEEfpK3g) — this video provides a great overview of the Web and how to make web content accessible. Highly recommended as a supplement to what we will cover in class.
- [People with Disabilities say this AI is making the web worse for them](https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7az74/people-with-disabilities-say-this-ai-tool-is-making-the-web-worse-for-them)
- [COVID 19 websites violate disability laws](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-02-25/covid-19-vaccine-websites-violate-disability-laws-create-inequity-for-the-blind)
- [Screen Recognition: Creating Accessibility Metadata for Mobile Applications from Pixels](https://docs-assets.developer.apple.com/ml-research/papers/screen-recognition-chi-2021.pdf)
{: .week}
# Week 10 (5/31): Web accessibility
{: .holiday} No Class -- Memorial Day
: **Project** Email checkin