There has been a lot of interest on the Internet recently over MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) professor Sherry Turkle’s new book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other and her assertions about how technology, including social media, makes us “less human”: “we are changed as technology offers us substitutes for connecting with each other face-to-face” (Turkle 2011). So, what exactly is “human”? The Wikipedia entry for the term “human” points out that “…self-awareness, rationality, and sapience, are considered to be defining features…” As humans, sharing that essential human nature of commonality of our experience with people who understand our reality is necessary to maintain mental health. We are social creatures, after all. So, is it the essential nature of social media and technology that make us more disconnected, or is it how people choose to use these technologies?
Posts Tagged ‘web accessibility’
Refreshable Braille Display with iPhone 4 Tutorial
Thursday, December 23rd, 2010
Victor Tsaran of the Yahoo! Accessibility Lab demonstrates how to use a refreshable braille display to drive the iPhone.
Cognitive Accessibility Online
Monday, December 13th, 2010
For most of us, the Internet is an important part of our daily lives. It is a source of news, information and entertainment. However, for individuals with cognitive disabilities, especially those with severe cognitive disabilities, the Internet is difficult, if not impossible to use.
According to the US Census Bureau, 14.3 million Americans age 15 and over have a cognitive disability. This includes 1.9 million who have Alzheimer’s disease, senility or dementia, and 3.5 million with a learning disability (US Census Bureau, 2001). This means that improving accessibility of the web to this population is an important problem; however, “those with cognitive disabilities and learning difficulties, appear to have slipped through the cracks to a large extent when it comes to website accessibility” (Hudson, Weakley & Firminger, 2005).
Single Switch Tutorial
Friday, November 12th, 2010
The following tutorials demonstrate how to access a computer using a Single Switch:
Part 1: Onscreen Keyboard & Mouse
In part 1 of the single switch tutorials we introduce the concept of an onscreen keyboard and mouse, a software that the single switch depends on.
