Sight Tech Global 2022 Agenda Announced

The third annual SightTech Global , a virtual, free and accessible event from December 7-8, brings together the world's leading experts working on assistive technology, especially for the blind and visually impaired. If you are not already into this topic, you should probably do so because many advanced technologies such as OCR and NLP were originally developed for blind people and then became widely used. Register today!

At this year's event, we'll be interviewing several emerging tool makers to help visualize and discuss technology architecture decisions that strike a balance between features and cost and usability of existing platforms.

We're also seeing accessibility in virtual reality for the first time, which is a big concern because if virtual reality is to become popular in entertainment and business, it's important for people with visual impairments to have access. To do. Today on smartphones. and computers with screen readers such as JAWS, VoiceOver, and NVDA.

The third programming element concerns the AI ​​itself. There is no shortage of hype around the potential of AI, and it is important to leave aside the major limitations and drawbacks of current AI practice for people with disabilities, not to mention humanity in general. At the same time, AI can be said to be the best basic technology for the blind. For all these reasons, understanding AI is essential for the future of all people with disabilities. Don't forget to register today!

And before we get into this amazing program for technologists, designers and product professionals working on amazing assistive technologies, we're having a small in-person event on December 9th with assistive technologies workshops, many of which will be hosted by the same light . . On the agenda. . . Are you interested? contact us.

Here's the agenda. Visit the Sight Tech Global program page for schedules and more.

Flexible touch devices: Sacred Braille for education at your fingertips

Continuing last year's APH discussion with Humanware about educational touchscreens (see next session), Greg Stilson updated SiteTech Global on project progress and APH's work on SDKs to enable developers to use touchscreens. . Greg Stilson will also be hosting a breakout session for attendees interested in learning more about flexible touchscreen devices.

Greg Stilson, Head of Global Innovation, APH

Moderator: Devin Caldwee, writer and photographer, TechCrunch.

DOT Pad: How Bible and Smartphone Speaker Technology Inspired Invention.

For decades, engineers have been working on Braille displays capable of displaying tactile images and multi-line Braille. DOT Pad may have broken the code with its innovative approach to creating dynamic margins on Braille icons combined with technology like Apple Voice Over. Eric Kim and Ki Sung will also be holding an introductory session for members who are interested in learning more.

Eric Joo Yoon Kim Co-Founder/General Manager of Doty

Ki Kwang Sung Co-Founder/CEO of Doty

Moderator: Devin Coldwey, writer and photographer for TechCrunch.

Virtual Reality and Inclusion: What Does Non-Visual Access Mean for the Metaverse?

Disability and accessibility advocates work to make the Metaverse accessible to everyone. This panel discusses the challenges modern virtual and augmented reality tools pose for blind or visually impaired people. Remote workplaces, but only if they are designed to be inclusive.

Moderator Bill Curtis Davidson, Associate Director for Accessible Work and Technology (PEAT)

Alexa Hutt, Director of Strategic Communications, PEAT

Brandon Keith Biggs, software engineer at Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute and CEO of XR Navigation.

Aaron Gluck, Human-Centered Computing, Clemson University Ph.D

Invention of "Screen Reader" for Virtual Reality: Cosmic High from Owlchemy Lab

There's good reason for VR game developers to experiment early with accessibility, which is what the Owlchemy Labs team is doing with Cosmonious High, a fun first-person game set in an intergalactic high school in 2022 that, according to one reviewer, "has all the charm" of a child -Nice Nickelodeon kids. And they show beauty. And it showcases some of the early accessibility approaches in virtual reality.

Peter Galbraith, Accessibility Engineer II, Owlchemy Labs

Jazmin Cano, Accessibility II Manager, Owlchemy Labs

Moderator James Rath, director, accessibility advocate and performer

Pixar-style audio descriptions

AI-generated audio descriptions may have a place in some accessible video content, but Pixar's ability to create fully human-generated audio descriptions for its products sets a level of creativity AI will never reach, and it's at its best. Connect with members of the Pixar team who make great voiceovers.

Eric Pearson, director of home entertainment, Pixar

Anna Kapetsera, Voice Description Director, Deluxe

Laura Post, voice actor

Christina Stevens, Lead Writer, Deluxe

Moderator: Tom Wolodkowski, VP Access, Comcast

New AI and AI views

Microsoft's most popular Singh AI app is one that can do everything from read documents to recognize people and objects. The service is powered by Microsoft's fast cloud-based artificial intelligence system. How to see AI with these features and how does the future look at AI?

Saqib Sheikh, Co-Founder of AI, Microsoft

Moderator Larry Goldberg, accessibility and technology consultant

Accessibility is AI's biggest challenge: How can Alexa make it fair for everyone?

Smart home technologies like Alexa have become a huge boon for the blind and disabled people in general in recent years. Voice technology and artificial intelligence will help people in many ways, but one obstacle stands in their way: it makes them unfair. In this session, hear Amazon explain how it's approaching the challenges ahead.

Peter Korn, director of accessibility, tools and services, Amazon

Josh Miele, Senior Accessibility Researcher, Amazon

Caroline Derosier, founder and CEO of Scribely

Hand with celtite

The rapid development of cell phones, data networks and small upgrades to devices always seems to lead to this concept of a very useful, affordable and unknown accessory. Celeste plans to release a pair of tech eyewear later this year as part of this journey.

Shub Mittal, founder of Celeste

Smith Patel, co-founder of Celeste

Moderator,Type Asuncion, Primary Access Evangelist, LinkedIn

Use ARx

Like the Celeste, the Arx is a newly released device to deploy a technology platform that pervades everyday life with a private, discreet head-mounted device. Celeste and ARx executives discuss what they learned from developing and testing their device.

Charles Leclerc, CEO of ARx Vision

Moderator, Lucy Greco, e-accessibility expert and consultant

What's next for StellarTrek?

While Celeste and ARx are newcomers to assistive devices, Humanware is a respected and established player, and the new StellarTrek takes advantage of technological advances, but differentiates itself from newcomers in terms of technology, process architecture, and form factor.

Louis-Philippe Massey, Vice President of Innovation and Technology, Human Devices

Peter Tuczyk, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Human Devices

Moderator, Sam Proulx, Accessibility Evangelist, Stories

Problems with AI

Despite the impressive advances in AI over the past decade, today's so-called "deep learning" AI technologies underestimate their limitations and pose a risk to society. Our speakers are world-renowned AI experts and opponents who believe we need AI that is accountable and better able to deliver results that make sense.

David Ferrucci, Founder and CEO of Elemental Cognition

Gary Markus, Founder and CEO of Strong AI

Moderator, Ned Desmond, Founder and Editor in Chief, SiteTech Global

Is computer vision artificial intelligence worse or better?

The ability of assistive technology devices to recognize objects, faces and sights is a type of AI called computer vision, which requires creating a large database of human-tagged images to train AI algorithms. A new method called "one-time learning" learns quickly because the AI ​​learns from network images. No human supervision required. Is this a good idea?

Danna Gurari, assistant. Professor, founding director of the Image and Video Processing Group at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Moderator, Cecily Morrison, Principal Scientist, Microsoft Research Cambridge

What Waymo Learned From the DOT Inclusive Design Challenge

Waymo entered the United States Transportation Agency's Inclusive Design Competition and introduced several lessons and accessibility features to help Waymo's self-driving rides provide a better experience for people with disabilities. The Waymo team is still processing what they learned.

Lauren Schwendiman, Manager and Head of UX Design, Waymo

Jeffrey Colon, Director of Access Technology, Lighthouse for the Blind and Blind

Moderator, Mike May, Lead Evangelist, Good Maps

Don't forget to register for this free virtual event.

Thanks to current sponsors iSenpai, Google, Amazon, LinkedIn, Humanware, Microsoft, Ford, Fable, APH, and Waymo. If you would like to sponsor an event, please contact us. All proceeds from the sponsorship will go to the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, a nonprofit that has served the Silicon Valley community for 75 years.

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