Refresh Portland February: Callie B. Carroll on Assumptions About Users and Accessibility February 25, 2010

Welcome to the 2010 Refresh Portland season! To open up the year, we have Callie B. Carroll, a user experience, usability and accessibility specialist, and humanitarian technologist who speaks both computer and human.

Callie will talk about the tricky art of planning for accessibility, where assumptions must be made about users, and these assumptions can create design that is either inclusive or exclusive, with narrow or broad usability.

The big question she will address: can you think about users in ways that will help designers and developers create technology that works for everyone, rather than technology that just supports what some see as the disparate groups of “normal” users and “those with disabilities”.

Her thesis: When the accessibility of technology (hardware, software, web, and mobile) is considered throughout design, development, and testing, the rewards are systems that provide equal access to functionality, services, and information for their entire range of users.

Official Website: http://refreshportland.org