SIGACCESS News

News from the ACM Special Interest Group on Accessible Computing

ASSETS Winner Places Third in the ACM Student Research Competition Grand Finals

Many congratulations to Timothy Walsh of the University of Delaware. His undergraduate research project 'Utterance-based systems: organization and design of AAC interfaces' won third place in the Grand Finals of the ACM Student Research Competition for 2010-2011.

Timothy's project was the second place winner in the undergraduate category at ASSETS 2010. Details of the other winning ASSETS 2010 entries are on the SIGACCESS web site.

Timothy joins a growing list of ASSETS Student Research Competition winners who have gone on to place at the Grand Finals:

  • 2009: 1st place Graduate: Xu Liu (University of Maryland) 'Mobile Currency Reader for People with Visual Impairments'
  • 2007: 1st Place Graduate: Eugene Borodin (Stony Brook University) 'HearSay: Context-directed Non-visual Web Browser'

This reflects very well on the quality of entries we get at the conference. We look forward to seeing more outstanding entries in Dundee at ASSETS 2011. See the ASSETS web site for information on how to enter this year's competition (deadline July 1, 2011).

This year's ACM Grand Finals winners.

ASSETS 2011 Call For Papers

The 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, 24-26 October 2011, Dundee, UK.

People with disabilities can use Computer and Information Technologies to overcome barriers encountered in day-to-day life, and to participate more fully in society.

The ASSETS series of conferences explores the potential of Computer and Information Technologies to support and include individuals with disabilities, and those around them. ASSETS is the premier forum for presenting innovative research on the design and use of both mainstream and specialized assistive technologies by people with disabilities. Sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and its SIGACCESS Special Interest Group on Accessible Computing, ASSETS includes formal paper sessions, demonstrations, posters, a doctoral consortium, and a student research competition. The single track and friendly atmosphere make ASSETS the ideal venue to meet researchers, practitioners, developers and policymakers to exchange ideas, share information, and make new contacts.

Topics

High quality, original submissions on topics relevant to computers and accessibility are invited. Appropriate topics include (but are not limited to) the use of technology by and in support of:

  • Individuals with hearing, sight and other sensory impairments
  • Individuals with motor impairments
  • Individuals with memory, learning and cognitive impairments
  • Individuals with multiple impairments
  • Older adults

Successful submissions typically present (though submissions from other related areas are encouraged) novel ideas, designs, techniques, systems, evaluations, scientific investigations, methodologies, social issues or policy issues relating to:

  • Assistive technologies that improve day-to-day life
  • Assistive technologies that improve access to mainstream Computer and Information Technologies
  • Innovative use of mainstream technologies to overcome access barriers
  • Accessibility and usability of mainstream technologies
  • Identification of barriers to technology access that are not addressed by existing research

Where relevant, work that includes empirical data from the target user groups is strongly preferred. ASSETS strives to publish research that carefully addresses the issues involved when individuals with disabilities interact with information technologies. In general, this means that empirical studies should include participants that are representative of the intended users of the system being studied. This does not mean that all participants must be representative of the intended users, but it does mean that some individuals fitting this description should be included in an appropriate way in the data collection process. In some cases, articles may be accepted for publication if representative users are not included in studies, but only if a sufficiently compelling argument is presented as to why it is appropriate or necessary to use non-representative users and any implications of this decision are adequately addressed. Authors should refer to the General Writing Guidelines for Technology and People with Disabilities when preparing submissions.

Submission Procedures

ASSETS accepts submissions in the following categories:

All submissions will be peer-reviewed by an international panel. Submissions MUST contain substantial original, unpublished material. Please refer to the ACM policy on plagiarism for guidance.

Important Dates

Requesting mentors:
4 March 2011, Friday
Paper submission:
6 May 2011, Friday
Notification of acceptance:
17 June 2011, Friday
Posters and demos submission:
1 July 2011, Friday
Doctoral consortium submission:
1 July 2011, Friday
Student research competition submission:
1 July 2011, Friday
Notification of posters and demos acceptance:
27 July 2011, Wednesday
Notification of doctoral consortium acceptance:
27 July 2011, Wednesday
Notification of student research competition acceptance:
27 July 2011, Wednesday
Camera-ready materials:
15 August 2011, Monday

All deadlines are at midnight HAST (GMT-10:00) on the specified day.

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January 2011 SIGACCESS Newsletter Now Available

The January 2011 edition of the SIGACCESS Newsletter is now available online from the SIGACCESS Newsletter pages.

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September 2010 SIGACCESS Newsletter Now Available

The September 2010 edition of the SIGACCESS Newsletter is now available online from the SIGACCESS Newsletter pages.

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Volume 3, Issue 2 (November 2010) of TACCESS Available Online

Volume 3, Issue 2 of ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing is now available in the ACM Digital Library.

Table of Contents

  1. Guest Editorial ASSETS 2009
    Kathleen F. McCoy
  2. Exploratory Analysis of Collaborative Web Accessibility Improvement
    Daisuke Sato, Hironobu Takagi, Masatomo Kobayashi, Shinya Kawanaka, and Chieko Asakawa
  3. Orienting Kinesthetically: A Haptic Handheld Wayfinder for People with Visual Impairments
    Tomohiro Amemiya and Hisashi Sugiyama
  4. Usability of a Multimodal Video Game to Improve Navigation Skills for Blind Children
    Jaime Sánchez, Mauricio Saenz, and Jose Miguel Garrido
  5. Multimodal Presentation of Two-Dimensional Charts: An Investigation Using Open Office XML and Microsoft Excel
    Iyad Abu Doush, Enrico Pontelli, Tran Cao Son, Dominic Simon, and Ou Ma

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Recent News

  1. September 2011 SIGACCESS Newsletter
  2. June 2011 SIGACCESS Newsletter
  3. ASSETS 2011 Call For Papers
  4. January 2011 SIGACCESS Newsletter Now Available
  5. September 2010 SIGACCESS Newsletter Now Available
  6. Volume 3, Issue 2 (November 2010) of TACCESS Available Online
  7. ASSETS 2010 Student Research Competition Winners
  8. SIGACCESS Best Paper Award 2010
  9. SIGACCESS Best Student Paper Award 2010
  10. Volume 2, Issue 4 (September 2010) of TACCESS Available Online
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