IS Seminar: Access in a Virtual World - Shari Trewin
Date Posted: - 1/8/2009
You are cordially invited to attend the seminar:
Access in a Virtual World
Instructor: Dr. Shari Trewin
Date: Wednesday, January 21, 2008 11:00 AM
Location: ITE Building, Room 459
Abstract
Virtual worlds have developed to the point where millions of people use them for fun, social
interaction, education and even employment. They could provide a liberating tool for people
whose day to day access to these opportunities is limited by a disability. To make this a reality,
the virtual worlds themselves must be accessible. This talk considers what it takes to make virtual worlds usable by individuals with a range of perceptual, physical, and cognitive disabilities. Examples are drawn from PowerUp - IBM’s multi-player 3D virtual world game. PowerUp includes an extensive set of accessibility features, based on empirical work with legally blind teenagers and adults with cerebral palsy. These features provide a core level of accessibility, and continue to be developed with the goal of reaching equal access, in which users with disabilities are indistinguishable from any other player.
Short Biographical Sketch
Dr Shari Trewin is an HCI researcher at IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center,
New York. Her long standing research focus has been in supporting technology users with
physical, sensory or cognitive impairments. Shari has been working with people with disabilities
since 1989. As part of the Accessibility Research Group, she has looked at accessibility in virtual worlds (PowerUp), Web browsing (Web Adaptation Technology and accessibilityWorks), physical control of technology (Steady Clicks, Keyboard Optimizer and Dynamic Keyboard), preferences, and personalization. She is collaborating with researchers at the University of Dundee, Scotland, and the University of Miami in an examination of the technology requirements of older workers. She recently joined the Software Productivity Group where she hopes to blend her interests in users with her background in artificial intelligence and parallel programming into something useful.