Dear AccessWorld readers,
The 30th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference, otherwise known as CSUN 2015, was held March 2 through March 7 in sunny San Diego, California. It's impossible to take in all of the pre-conference workshops, educational sessions, forums, technology exhibits, and group meetings, but the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) was there, doing its best to experience as much of CSUN as possible!
AFB staff members were involved in several educational presentations and meetings with national leaders in the mainstream and access technology arenas. In order to help keep AccessWorld readers up to date with the goings on at CSUN, AFB was, once again, proud to sponsor the Blind Bargains podcast coverage of CSUN 2015. The AccessWorld team encourages you to log on to the Blind Bargains Audio Content page, which features great interviews, presentations, and updates on the latest in technology news from the conference.
Among the many presenters at CSUN was Yahoo, who demonstrated their accessible mobile apps for iOS and Android. After the conference, I spoke with former AccessWorld author Darren Burton, and he shared information about his new work as an Accessibility Specialist on Yahoo's Accessibility Team.
Yahoo has really been ramping up its team lately. The Accessibility team is managed by Mike Shebanek, who helped develop VoiceOver and managed the Accessibility features in OS X and iOS. Also on the team are Alan Brightman and Gary Moulton, who created the original Worldwide Disability Solutions team at Apple. Last year, Larry Goldberg, who founded the National Center for Accessible Media and worked for WGBH, recently joined the Yahoo team as well. Topping the list is our own Darren Burton, who not only contributed to AccessWorld, but spent 12 years at AFB, most recently as Director of AFB Tech.
Darren's primary new responsibility is working side-by-side with Yahoo's mobile app developers to make its apps accessible. That means Darren is quite busy, because Yahoo now has over 575 Million monthly mobile app users and over 500 people working on mobile apps for iOS and Android making Yahoo one of the largest app developers in the world!
Since Darren is so close to the app team, I asked him if he could recommend a couple Yahoo apps for us. Darren really likes the Yahoo Fantasy Sports app and the Yahoo Screen (video) app on iOS for iPhone and iPad. He said, "Screen is a great app for viewing trending video clips from over 30 popular providers like Saturday Night Live, Comedy Central, and NFL Now." He also likes Yahoo's News Digest app for Android and thought Android users might be particularly interested in Yahoo's new Aviate app. Darren said, "Aviate is a launcher app that makes Android screen-reader friendly. It adds new screens that organize your apps by category and an A to Z index to make apps much easier to find and launch. It also adds "smarts" by displaying widgets on yet another screen based on where you are, time of day, and what you're doing."
Darren told me how Yahoo is getting "social" recently launching a new Accessibility website and Accessibility Tumblr blog (Yahoo acquired Tumblr in June 2013)
The website is designed to welcome individuals with disabilities and help them successfully get started with Yahoo products. It includes several resources for contacting Yahoo, providing feedback, and getting technical support. It also discusses Yahoo's philosophy of integrating accessibility into product development, and how Yahoo's Accessibility Team works side by side with designers and engineers and reaches out to gather valuable feedback from individuals with disabilities. You can check it out at Yahoo's Accessibility Page. The Tumblr blog is a great place to learn tips and tricks for using the accessibility features of Yahoo websites and mobile apps, and to learn about Yahoo's Accessibility Team and its work.
As of this issue, I am pleased to announce that Jamie Pauls has joined the AccessWorld team of authors. You may be familiar with his work as a former host of ACB Radio's Main Menu technology show and, more recently, the host of the SeroTalk Podcast. AccessWorld is excited to have him contribute to the publication, and I am sure readers will appreciate his technology knowledge and experience. Be sure to read his articles in this issue.
As part of AccessWorld's special CSUN coverage, please be sure to read J.J. Meddaugh's article in this issue, which highlights some of the technology shown in the CSUN exhibit hall.
It's not too early to mark your calendars and save the date for the 31st annual CSUN conference from March 21st to March 26th, 2016, again being held at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Diego.
Best regards,
Lee Huffman, AccessWorld Editor-in-Chief
American Foundation for the Blind
