The workshop topic is the research, design, development and implementation of accessible infrastructures, information and communication technologies (ICT), accessible environments and mobility technologies to improve the education and mobility of blind, partially sighted and deafblind people (subsequently referred to as blind people), particularly in Brazil. Education, including retraining people who become blind later in life, and mobility are very important for access to employment and other activities. In addition, blind people experience significant barriers to equal participation in education and safe travel. The increasing recognition of the relevance of social inclusion of blind and other disabled people makes the workshop particularly timely.
The target audience will be early career researchers (ECRs) with backgrounds in biomedical, electrical, mechanical, rehabilitation, civil engineering, computer science, information technology, assistive technology, automation, design, and occupational or speech therapy, 17 from the UK and 17 from Brazil. The overwhelming majority would be expected to have a PhD and the others equivalent research experience or working in an area such as occupational therapy where a PhD is generally not required.
The British Council and FAPESC will cover the costs of participation in the workshop, including: travel (both international and local), accommodation and meals. Visa costs, if any, will be covered, but participants will be responsible for making all the necessary arrangements. Although this cost will not be covered by the British Council, participants are encouraged to purchase adequate travel and medical insurance. The British Council accepts no responsibility for any problems which may occur when the participants are in Brazil.
Benefits of Participation
Improve capacity of early career researchers (ECRs) to carry out research on accessible infrastructures for education and mobiity for blind people. Improve capacity of ECRs to design accessible infrastructures for local contexts, particularly that of Brazil. Organise networking and other links which lead to specific proposals and awareness of the state of the art and opportunities for funding. Those objectives will be achieved by lectures, panel discussions, team design work, further collaboration section, brain storm and discussion of specific topics.
Draft Programme
Day 1
10:00 Workshop Registration
10:30 Cofee break
11:00 Welcome and introduction to Workshop, Drs Hersh and Garcia
11:30 Individual Introduction
12:00 Designing accessible infrastructures for education and mobility of blind, visually impaired and deafblind people, Dr Hersh
13:00 Lunch
14:30 Usability of contextualised mobility & learning technologies for blind people, Prof Gitirana Ferreira
15:30 Introduction to team design problems, Prof Brewster
16:00 Career development (discusion in four groups, mediated by mentors)
16:30 Welcome cocktail
17:00 Cultural activity
Day 2
09:00 Education & training of visually disabled people: mobile apps, robotics, contextualisation, Prof Petrie
09: 30 Methods for involving visually disabled people in research, Prof Petrie
10:00 Team building session (discusion in four groups, mediated by mentors)
10:30 Cofee break
11:00 Team building session (discusion in four groups, mediated by mentors)
12:00 Panel discussion with local blind people - mobility & learning technologies – customisation, the Internet of Things and privacy management
13:00 PM Lunch
14:30 Methods for involving visually disabled people in research, Prof Petrie
15:30 Team discussion of selected brainstorm topics as research projects (discusion in four groups, mediated by mentors)
16:30 Cofee break
17:00 Brief presentations by ECRs
18:00 End of activities
Day 3
09:00 Education & training of visually disabled people: mobile apps, robotics, contextualisation, Prof Petrie
10:00 Methods for involving visually disabled people in research Prof Petrie
10:30 Cofee break
11:00 Team design work supported by mentors & organisers (discusion in four groups, mediated by mentors)
13:00 Lunch
14:30 Technical visit
18:00 End of activities
16:30 Cofee break
17:00 Team discussion of technical visits and lessons learned (discusion in four groups, mediated by mentors)
18:00 End of activities
Day 4
09:00 Multimodal feedback for non-visual navigation Prof Brewster
10:00 Brainstorm – Accessible contextualised infrastructures for education and training of blind people
10:30 Cofee break
11:00 Team discussion of selected brainstorm topics as research projects (discusion in four groups, mediated by mentors)
12:00 Group speed networking (discusion in four groups, mediated by mentors)
13h Almoço
14:30 Producing successful assistive technology products, Mr Mortimer
15:30 Team design work (discusion in four groups, mediated by mentors)
16:30 Cofee break
17:00 Team design work (discusion in four groups, mediated by mentors)
18:00 End of activities
Day 5
9:00 Web accessibility to support visually disabled people, Prof Petrie
9h30 Brainstorming - Recent technology developments to support mobility of blind people
10:30 Cofee break
11:00 Discussion with mentors or organisers of the team designs and feedback
13:00 Lunch
14:30 Future collaboration and networking
15:00 Workshop closure activity
Senior researchers
Marion Hersh. Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor). University of Glasgow. Field of interest: Accessibility and usability, design for all, end-user involvement..
Alejandro Rafael Garcia Ramirez. Associate Professor. Applied Computing.
Universidade do Vale de Itajai (UNIVALI). Field of interest: Robotics, Assistive Technology.
Helen Petrie. Professor of Human-Computer Interaction. Department of Computer Science. University of York. Field of interest: Access to information and learning for blind people, accessibility on the web.
Stephen Brewster. Teacher. Department of Computer Science. University of Glasgow.
Field of interest: Mobility technology projects for blind people and non-visual feedback.
Marcelo Gitirana Gomes Ferreira. Teacher. Design department. Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (UDESC). Field of interest: Usability, user experience, Assistive Technology.
Robert Christian Mortimer. Technical coordinator. LARATEC - Assistive Technology Center. Sao Paulo.
Institute for Assistance to People with Visual Disabilities (LARAMARA). Field of interest: Blindness and low vision, Assistive Technology.
Additional Information
Date: December 10th to 14th, 2018
Schedule: 09:00 - 18:00.
Dates and venue: 10-14 October, 2018, Campus Ilha, Universidade do Vale de Itajai, Florianópolis, Brazil.
UK coordinator: Dr Marion Hersh, University of Glasgow. marion.hersh@glasgow.ac.uk
Brazil coordinator: Dr Alejandro Garcia, Universidade do Vale de Itajai. E-mail: ramirez@univali.br
Organizing Committee: Dr Anita Maria da Rocha Fernandes, Fabiana Panosso.
Application and Deadline: The application form below must be completed and submitted by 11 July 2018. Eligibility Criteria:
- Applications must be submitted using the Researcher Links application form.
- Application must be submitted before the above deadline.
- Participants must be Early Career Researchers: i.e. have a PhD (or equivalent research experience - contact the organisers if you do not have a PhD) and up to 10 years post-PhD research experience. [This is equivalent to the ‘Recognised Researcher’ and sometimes ‘Experienced Researcher’ categories in the EU framework for researchers’ careers.
- Participants must have a research or academic position (a permanent post, research contract, or fellowship etc) at a recognised research institution either in the UK or Brazil
The application form, with more details of the initiative, can be downloaded at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-pD_v1B1TmvVrZBYDzAWsGTE91TsmH1Fa89ywCcf8Ds/edit?usp=sharing
In addition, the form may be completed directly at:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LnYaTA1zLK2ZnHWl5y6RZRad8DHtaD4R9YVBtu5-0rQ
The application form below must be completed and/or submitted before July 11, 2018 to newtonworkshop2018@gmail.com