Accessibility & Innovation Initiative Speaker Series Presents Clayton Lewis: The Future of Inclusive Design Online
Professor Clayton Lewis kicked off the Accessibility & Innovation Initiative’s speaker series with a presentation called "The Future of Inclusive Design Online" and focused on how the evolution of technology is creating both new barriers and opportunities for accessibility and usability.
Topics included:
- the shift from accessing a presentation of content in a particular form such as a web page, to accessing the underlying content through a program that can render it in a different form, such as an audio summary;
- the shift from mass production to personalized customization of content;
- the development of tools that allow individuals with disabilities to be producers as well as consumers of content;
- and the design of policies that make these things possible.
Additionally, from 12:30 pm-3:00 pm, demonstrations of accessible technology solutions related to topics of the presentation were available for viewing in the FCC's Technology Experience Center located in the same building.
Summary: The evolution of technology is creating challenges to traditional thinking about making information and services available to people with differing functional needs and preferences, and creating opportunities to provide superior access. This talk surveyed some of the developments, such as the shift from focus on access to presentations of content to access to content itself; the replacement of mass production by customized, individualized creation; non visual access for traditionally "visual" activities like games, interactive simulations, and visual programming; the need for tools usably by end users to craft their own information environment; the prospect that technology can automatically create new and different presentations of information and services; and the policy changes that may be needed to address these opportunities.
Clayton Lewis Bio: Clayton Lewis is Professor of Computer Science and Fellow of the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado. He is well known for his work (with students and colleagues) on evaluation methods in user interface design, including the thinking aloud and cognitive walkthrough methods. His recent work on technology for people with cognitive disabilities has been presented to the US Access Board Technical Advisory Committee, CSUN, RESNA, ACM ASSETS, and other forums, and he has served as Scientist in Residence at the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities. He is a member of the CHI Academy, recognizing his contributions to Human Computer Interaction. He is currently on leave from the University, serving as a consultant on cloud computing for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, US Department of Education, where he serves as co-chair for the subcommittee on technology for the Interagency Committee on Disability Research.