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

Table of Contents

1. A Note from the Editor
   Sri Kurniawan and Jinjuan Heidi Feng
2. Persuasive Mobile Exercise Companion for Teenagers with Weight Management Issues
   Sonia Arteaga
3. Widget Identification and Modification for Web 2.0 Access Technologies (WIMWAT)
   Alex Q. Chen
4. Sign Language Synthesis: Skeleton Modelling for More Realistic Gestures
   Maxime Delorme
5. AudioNav: A Mixed Reality Navigation System for Individuals Who Are Visually Impaired
   Navid Fallah
6. Using Interactive Objects for Speech Intervention
   Foad Hamidi
7. Assistive Systems for Children with Dyslexia and Autism
   Harini Sampath, Jayanthi Sivaswamy, and Bipin Indurkhya
8. MobileAccessibility: Camera Focalization for Blind and Low- Vision Users On the Go
   Chandrika Jayant
9. Modeling Animations of American Sign Language Verbs through Motion-Capture of Native ASL Signers
   Pengfei Lu
10. An Online Multimedia Language Assistant for People with Aphasia and Other Language Barriers
    Xiaojuan Ma
11. Haptic/Audio Based Exergaming for Visually Impaired Individuals
    Anthony Morelli
12. Improving Vocabulary Organization in Assistive Communication Tools: A Mixed-Initiative Approach
    Sonya Nikolova
13. ASSETS 2010: The 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

Labels: January 2010, Newsletter

We are very pleased to announce the launch of an ASSETS Conference page on Facebook.

This page will be another venue for past and future ASSETS Conference attendees to share information, get announcements about upcoming conferences, finding and stay connected to colleagues they meet at the ASSETS year to year. In addition, videos and photos of conferences can be posted, to allow us to share links, videos, pictures, and other media from conferences! This Facebook page will be updated with information about each upcoming ASSETS Conference.

The new ASSETS Conference Facebook page is open to anyone who has a Facebook account. Any member will be able to post to the online discussion list, share media and links.

Labels: ASSETS, Conferences, Social Networking

The 12th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, 25-27 October 2010, Orlando, Florida, USA.

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.

Important Dates

Paper Submission:

7th May 2010

Posters, Demos, Doctoral Consortium and Student Research Competition:

2nd July 2010

URL:

http://www.sigaccess.org/assets10/

Labels: ASSETS, Call For Papers, Conferences

We are pleased to request nominations for the ACM SIGACCESS Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computing and Accessibility. The award recognizes individuals who have made significant and lasting contributions to the development of computing technologies which improve the accessibility of media and services to people with disabilities. Outstanding contributions through research, practice, or advocacy will be recognized. Towards this goal, contributions will be considered from academia, industry, as well as other professions that focus on computer users with disabilities and the application of computing technology to improve access. The award will recognize members of the community for long-term accomplishments or those who have made a notable impact through a significant innovation.

Candidates’ contributions can include innovative ideas, influence in the community, and/or the social impact of their work.

The award includes a $1000 honorarium, an award certificate of recognition, and an invitation for the recipient to present a keynote talk at the ASSETS 2010 Conference in Orlando, Florida, USA (25-27 October 2010). A public citation for the award will be placed on the SIGACCESS website.

Nomination Procedure

A nomination for the award should include:

1. A statement summarizing the candidate's accomplishments, description of the significance of the work, and justification of the nomination (two pages maximum)
2. Curriculum vitae of the nominee;
3. Three endorsement letters supporting the nomination including the significant contributions of the candidate. Each endorsement should be no more than 300 words;
4. A concise statement (one sentence) of the achievement(s) for which the award is being given. This statement will appear on the award certificate and on the website.

Nominations should be sent either:

Electronically:

Gerhard Weber gerhard.weber -AT- tu-dresden.de

Hardcopy:

Gerhard Weber,

ACM SIGACCESS Award Chair
Department of Computer Science
TU Dresden
Noethnizer Str. 46
01602 Dresden,
Germany

We kindly request that nominations meet the following conditions:

1. The nominee can be any member of the scientific community.
2. The nominator must be a SIGACCESS member.
3. No self-nomination is allowed.
4. Current members of the SIGACCESS Executive Committee as well as members of the Awards Committee are not eligible.

Important Dates

Submission of Nominations:

31st March 2010

Notification of Selection:

1st June 2010

Selection Committee

Julio Abascal

University of the Basque Country, Spain

Enrico Pontelli

New Mexico State University, USA

Gerhard Weber (Chair)

TU Dresden, Germany

Labels: Awards, Outstanding Achievement, SIGACCESS