From February 27 through March 1 of this year, hundreds of assistive technology trainers and specialists, rehabilitation professionals, and leaders in the blindness field descended upon New York City for the annual American Foundation for the Blind Leadership Conference (AFBLC). In recent years, technology has been a key focus of the fast-growing conference and this year was no exception. While it's virtually impossible to talk about every session at the event, below are some highlights from a few of the weekend's technology sessions.
A Big Presence from Google
Google has been no stranger to accessibility conferences of late, and the 2014 AFBLC was no exception. The Friday morning keynote was given by Kannan Pashupathy, Vice President and Director of International Engineering for Google. Pashupathy, who also oversees the company's accessibility efforts, outlined some new initiatives and policies that Google is undertaking, including embedding accessibility specialists throughout the company and ensuring that all new apps are accessible before release. It remains to be seen what effect, if any, this policy will have on Google apps and services. Many recent Google apps for the iPhone, for example, still remain largely inaccessible, including recently released versions. That being said, the keynote offered a glimmer of hope that the culture at Google is starting to improve when it comes to access. Many would like to see an acceleration in the pace of change in the coming months.
Later that day in a breakout session, Eve Andersson, Google's Manager of Accessibility Engineering, gave some demos of the Android operating system and its capabilities using the Talkback screen reader. While few details were given as far as future plans for Talkback, Andersson demonstrated an awareness of some of the current inherent challenges and hinted that change may be on the way. Recently, Android's accessibility team merged with the main Android team, which may lead to a more cohesive exchange of ideas between the various developers. Google is expected to release the next major version of Android this June at their annual Google IO conference.
Google Glass and its implications for accessibility were also discussed, including an application for recognizing text while walking. For those unfamiliar with Google Glass, it is essentially a computer worn as glasses. In addition to a wide array of visual applications, the possibility exists for creating a virtual reality using sound and the vantage point of the glasses. Sadly, face detection has not received the same love, as it is implicitly banned by Google for privacy reasons. While this restriction is for the most part understandable, it's unfortunate that Google has chosen to categorically disallow face detection apps as this could open up a world of possibilities for the blind. An opt-in system using photos of friends might be an appropriate compromise and allow for the ability to find a friend who is in the same room.
YouDescribe Helps Increase Access to YouTube Videos
While the amount of descriptive video on television and at the movie theater has increased much in recent years, online content has largely been excluded. But providing description for the millions of YouTube videos currently available would be extremely cost prohibitive. Enter YouDescribe, the brainchild of researcher Josh Miele at the Smith-Kettlewell Institute. YouDescribe is a website that allows anyone to provide audio description tags for online videos. The simple tools allow the user to pause the video at the point where a description needs to be added and to record a description. Then, anyone can go to the site and listen to the descriptions recorded by others.
The site provides guidelines and tips for how to describe videos, though people are free to utilize the service in the way that most suits them. In fact, the same video could include more than one description track. For instance, one set of audio descriptions may focus on the action taking place in a scene while a different track may focus on scenery, visual effects, or costumes. Users can effortlessly switch between these tracks and listen to the descriptions that suit them. The descriptions are provided by volunteers, so the cost to have a video described is quite negligible. YouDescribe is still in its infancy, and it'll be interesting to follow its developments.
Roadblocks for Accessible Telephony in the Workplace
Darren Burton, Director of AFB Tech, provided some preliminary findings from an ongoing AFB research project on Voice over Internet Telephony, or VoIP. These systems are most commonly found in offices and customer service call centers. Several software solutions were tested, with most providing limited or no accessibility.
Cisco produces the leading phone system used in commercial environments, and while Cisco phones are not accessible out of the box, third-party software called Accessaphone bridges this gap and provides full accessibility, albeit at a very hefty price of $1,500 per user. This has the effect of creating an access barrier for an employer who wishes to hire a person who is blind for a customer service position, since someone, whether it is the company or an agency for the blind, would need to cover this cost. For organizations that need to provide accommodations for several employees, a discounted pricing structure for multiple licenses is available.
While other software for VoIP systems exists, it is generally not compatible with the mainstream solutions. So unless you have control over which phone system is being used at a particular company, you are forced to use the system that's available, often to the detriment of accessibility. In addition, many of the mobile apps currently include unlabeled buttons or other focus issues. AFB research on the subject is ongoing and may include the development of their own software to solve some of these issues.
AFB Access Awards
AFB Access Awards are given to companies or organizations that go above and beyond when it comes to accessibility. Among this year's winners was Image Searcher, creators of TapTapSee, the innovative object identification app for iOS devices. TapTapSee allows a user to take a picture of an item and be told more about it, using a combination of automatic detection and human workers. I discussed the app and its development with the company's cofounders for a podcast on Blind Bargains. Other winners this year included Fleksy for their accessible iOS keyboard, Independence Science, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
An Industry Comes Together
There are trade associations for teachers, lawyers, doctors, and countless other fields, but those in the field of accessibility have had few options when looking for a group that represents them. The International Association of Accessibility Professionals seeks to change this by providing a means for members to network and share resources. A common sentiment spoken throughout the weekend is that accessible design should be taught at the college level to computer science students. Often, it is a lack of awareness that leads to programmers creating code and products that are not usable by all, and attacking the problem early on is seen as a possible solution.
Looking Ahead
The 2015 Leadership Conference will be held April 9–11 at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown. If you have an interest in access technology, this event should be on your radar. The large presence by mainstream technology companies including Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Panasonic, and IBM was quite impressive and provided an excellent opportunity to have an honest and constructive dialogue with these teams. There are a lot of individuals who genuinely care about improving accessibility to their products, and hearing about their successes and failures was quite enlightening.
This year's conference was the largest and best attended in AFB history, a record that may only stand until the 2015 event convenes in Phoenix. Make plans now to attend—and we hope to see you there!
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