Sight Tech Global 2022 agenda announced - TechCrunch

The 3rd yearly Sight Tech Global conference, a virtual, escaped and highly accessible event connected December 7 and 8 convenes immoderate of the world’s apical experts moving connected assistive tech, particularly AI, for radical who are unsighted oregon visually impaired. If you don’t travel this topic, possibly you should, due to the fact that a batch of cutting-edge tech implicit the years — deliberation OCR and NLP — was developed astatine the outset with unsighted radical successful mind, and went from determination to much mainstream uses. Register today!

At this year’s lawsuit we person sessions with the creators of respective caller devices to assistance with vision, and we’ll speech astir the exertion architecture decisions that went into balancing capableness with outgo and tapping existing platforms.

We’ll besides instrumentality our archetypal look astatine accessibility successful VR, which is an country of immense interest due to the fact that if/when VR takes disconnected successful the amusement and concern worlds, it’s captious that radical without imaginativeness person access, arsenic they bash contiguous connected astute phones and computers acknowledgment to screenreaders similar JAWS, VoiceOver and NVDA.

Our 3rd large slab of programming is astir AI itself. There is nary shortage of hype arsenic acold arsenic AI’s capabilities, and it’s important to propulsion backmost connected that by discussing immoderate superior limitations and deficits successful the mode today’s AI works for radical with disabilities, not to notation humanity successful general. At the aforesaid time, AI is arguably the champion halfway tech ever for radical without sight. Understanding AI is captious to the aboriginal of everyone with disabilities for each those reasons. Don’t hide to register today!

And earlier you browse this awesome agenda: For technologists, designers and merchandise folks moving connected earthshaking assistive tech, we’re hosting a small, in-person lawsuit connected December 9 featuring workshops connected assistive tech, galore tally by the aforesaid luminaries connected the agenda. Interested? Contact us.

Here’s the agenda. To spot times and more, spell to the Sight Tech Global agenda page.

The Dynamic Tactile Device: That “Holy Braille” for educations is near 

Following up connected last year’s treatment of the APH and Humanware collaboration to make an education-focused tactile show (see adjacent session), Greg Stilson updates Sight Tech Global connected the project’s advancement and APH’s enactment toward an SDK for developers to physique connected the tactile display. Greg Stilson volition besides pb a breakout league for attendees who privation to spell deeper connected the Dynamic Tactile Device.

Greg Stilson, Head of Global Innovation, APH

Moderator: Devin Coldewey, Writer & Photographer, TechCrunch

The DOT Pad: How the Bible and smartphone talker tech inspired a breakthrough 

For decades, engineers person worked toward a braille show that tin render tactile images and multiline braille. DOT Pad whitethorn person cracked the code with an innovative attack to generating dynamic fields of braille pins actuated by astute integrations combined with existing technologies, similar Apple’s VoiceOver. Eric Kim and Ki Sung volition besides pb a breakout league for attendees who privation to larn more.

Eric Ju Yoon Kim Co-Founder/CEO DOT

Ki Kwang Sung Co-Founder/CEO DOT

Moderator: Devin Coldewey Writer & Photographer TechCrunch

Virtual Reality and Inclusion: What does non-visual entree to the metaverse mean?

People with disabilities and accessibility advocates are moving to marque definite the metaverse is accessible to everyone. This sheet volition delve into probe connected the challenges existent virtual and augmented world tools make for radical who are unsighted oregon person debased vision.The panelists volition stock their experiences utilizing immersive technologies and research however these tools tin beryllium utilized to heighten employment opportunities successful hybrid and distant workplaces — but lone if they are built with inclusion successful mind.

Moderator Bill Curtis Davidson Co-Director, Partnership connected Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT)

Alexa Huth, Director Strategic Communications, PEAT

Brandon Keith Biggs, Software Engineer, The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute and CEO XR Navigation

Aaron Gluck, PhD campaigner successful Human-Centered Computing, Clemson University

Inventing the “screenreader” for VR: Owlchemy Lab’s Cosmonious High 

For developers of virtual world games, there’s each crushed to experimentation with accessibility from the start, which is what the Owlchemy Labs squad did with Cosmonious High, the 2022 merchandise of a fun, first-person crippled situated successful an inter-galactic precocious schoolhouse that 1 reviewer said “has each the charm and feature of a bully Nickelodeon kids show.” And it reveals immoderate of the earliest approaches to accessibility successful VR.

Peter Galbraith, Accessibility Engineer II, Owlchemy Labs

Jazmin Cano, Accessibility Product Manager II, Owlchemy Labs

Moderator James Rath, Filmmaker, Accessibility Advocate and Gamer

Audio Description the Pixar Way

AI-driven, synthetic audio statement whitethorn person a spot successful immoderate forms of accessible video content, but the artistry of the wholly human-produced audio descriptions Pixar produces for its productions acceptable a originative modular nary AI volition ever attain, and that’s each for the good. Meet members of the Pixar squad down excellence successful audio descriptions.

Eric Pearson, Home Entertainment Supervisor, Pixar

Anna Capezzera, Director, Audio Description Operations, Deluxe

Laura Post, Voice Actress

Christina Stevens, Writing Manager, Deluxe

Moderator Tom Wlodkowski, Vice President, Accessibility, Comcast

Seeing AI and the New AI

Microsoft’s hugely fashionable Seeing AI is 1 of the apps that appears to bash it all, from speechmaking documents to recognizing radical and things. Those services are enabled by Microsoft’s rapidly advancing cloud-based AI systems. How is Seeing AI advancing with those capabilities and what is the aboriginal for Seeing AI?

Saqib Shaikh, Co-founder of Seeing AI, Microsoft

Moderator Larry Goldberg, Accessibility Sensei & Technology Consultant

Accessibility Is AI’s Biggest Challenge: How Alexa aims to marque it fairer for everyone

Smart location technology, similar Alexa, has been 1 of the biggest boons successful caller years for radical who are blind, and for radical with disabilities altogether. Voice exertion and AI assistance empower radical successful galore ways, but 1 obstacle stands successful its way: making it equitable. In this session, larn from Amazon astir however they’re approaching the situation ahead.

Peter Korn, Director of Accessibility, Devices & Services, Amazon

Josh Miele, Principal Accessibility Researcher, Amazon

Caroline Desrosiers, Founder & CEO, Scribely

Hands connected with Seleste

Rapid advances successful phones, information networks and hardware miniaturization ever look to beryllium converging connected the conception of that ace useful, affordable, unobtrusive assistive device. Seleste plans to motorboat aboriginal this twelvemonth with a brace of tech-enabled glasses that people an important waypoint connected that journey.

Shubh Mittal, Founder, Seleste

Smit Patel, Co-Founder, Seleste

Moderator, Jennison Asuncion, Head of Accessibility Engineering Evangelism, LinkedIn

Hands connected with ARx

Like Seleste, ARx is simply a precocious released instrumentality designed to instrumentality vantage of the exertion tech platforms that situation mundane beingness with a private, minimally visible, head-mounted device. Both the Seleste and ARx leaders volition sermon what they’ve learned successful the people of processing and investigating their devices.

Charles Leclerq, CEO, ARx Vision

Moderator, Lucy Greco, Electronic accessibility adept and consultant

What’s Next with StellarTrek

Where Seleste and ARx are newcomers to assistive devices, Humanware is simply a highly respected, established subordinate whose caller StellarTrek besides takes almighty vantage of exertion advances but besides parts ways with the newcomers erstwhile it comes to exertion architecture and signifier factors.

Louis-Philippe Massé, Vice President of Product Innovation and Technologies, Humanware

Peter Tucic, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Humanware

Moderator, Sam Proulx, Accessibility Evangelist, Fable

The Problems with AI 

Despite the stunning advances successful AI implicit the past decade, the alleged “deep learning” AI exertion prevalent contiguous has under-appreciated limitations and adjacent poses societal dangers. Our speakers are world-renowned AI experts and AI “dissenters” who judge we request an AI that’s some more accountable and amended capable to nutrient communal consciousness results.

David Ferrucci, Founder & CEO, Elemental Cognition

Gary Marcus, Founder and Executive Chairman, Robust AI

Moderator, Ned Desmond, Founder and Executive Producer, Sight Tech Global

Did Computer Vision AI Just Get Worse oregon Better?

The quality of assistive tech devices to admit objects, faces and scenes is simply a benignant of AI called Computer Vision, which calls for gathering immense databases connected images labeled by humans to bid AI algorithms. A caller method called “one-shot learning” learns dramatically faster due to the fact that the AI trains itself connected images crossed the internet. No quality supervision needed. Is that a bully idea?

Danna Gurari, Asst. Professor, Founding Director, Image & Video Computing group, University of Colorado Boulder

Moderator, Cecily Morrison, Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research Cambridge

What Waymo Learned astatine the DOT Inclusive Design Challenge 

Waymo participated successful the U.S. Department of Transportation Inclusive Design Challenge, and emerged with galore accessibility lessons and features that volition assistance Waymo’s autonomous rides connection radical with disabilities amended service. Waymo’s squad is inactive processing each they learned.

Lauren Schwendimann, UX Design Lead & Manager, Waymo

Jeffrey Colon, Director of Access Technology, Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Moderator, Mike May, Chief Evangelist, Goodmaps

Don’t hide to registry for this free, virtual event.

We’re grateful to existent sponsors iSenpai, Google, Amazon, LinkedIn, Humanware, Microsoft, Ford, Fable, APH and Waymo. If you would similar to sponsor the event, please interaction us. All sponsorship revenues spell to the nonprofit Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, which has been serving the Silicon Valley assemblage for 75 years.