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Design, Technology , and Engineering benefitting individuals
with disabilities and older adults in the local community |
January 17, 2021 |
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Perspectives is the newsletter of the
Stanford course,
Perspectives in Assistive Technology.
Creating Assistive Technologies
This issue announces the next class session
and encourages
your participation in the course's Assistive Technology
Faire.
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Perspectives in Assistive
Technology is a Winter Quarter Stanford course - entering its
fifteenth year - that explores the design, development, and use of
assistive technology that benefits people with disabilities and older adults.
It consists of semi-weekly online discussions; lectures by
notable professionals, clinicians, and assistive technology users; virtual
tours of local medical, clinical, and engineering facilities; student
project presentations and demonstrations; and a Virtual Assistive Technology
Faire. |
Course
News
Course Statistics -
As of today, 49 students have enrolled in the course, 10 vendors plan to
participate in the Virtual Assistive Technology Faire, and options for student
projects have been presented by six community members. |
Next class session -
Tuesday, January 19th at 4:30pm PST via
Zoom
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Creating Assistive
Technologies - Understanding the Problem
Gayle Curtis
UX Design
Consultant |
Abstract: When we look at the drivers of
effective innovation we see two complementary themes emerging: First, new
technologies or methods that open the way to new solutions, and second, new
insights or experiences that yield a better understanding of the problem. With
a design thinking approach, we begin by building empathy with the user and the
situation, then we use ideation, prototyping, and iteration to explore,
formulate, and test solutions.
In this class session we will look at ways to gain
understanding of user needs, goals, and values around a problem, as well as the
constraints and requirements of the situations around them. One goal for this
session is for students to identify a set of questions to explore through
interview and observation with real users of assistive technologies. Teams may
also get some good ideas about the people they might approach for both
inspiration and insight.
Biosketch: Gayle Curtis is a UX design
consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area, specializing in user interface
architecture and design strategy for online ventures and interactive products.
Recently he was Principal Interaction Designer at Yahoo!, where he also
developed a practice area in strategic ideation and disseminated it through
workshops in the US and Asia. At Stanford he taught courses in Human-Computer
Interactions (HCI) and Product Design. Gayle is a graduate of the MS
Engineering Product Design Program at Stanford.
Zoom Attendance
This class session will not
be open to community attendance - This decision has been made
subsequent to the loss of vocal quality during the first class session - mostly
likely due to the large number of attendees. For this reason, I may have to
restrict Zoom attendance to enrolled students. However, I will provide the link
to this recorded video session to anyone who requests it.
Please note that each Zoom session url is different, so
you can't use a previous url to connect to a future class
session. |
Upcoming class sessions:
Assistive Technology Faire
You are invited to participate
in the Virtual Assistive Technology Faire - This ninth annual
course event is scheduled for Thursday, February 25th and will provide
an opportunity for students and community members to get an up-close look at a
variety of assistive technology devices and learn about available services.
Users of assistive technology products as well as small companies
and agencies serving individuals with disabilities and older adults are
encouraged to join in on this virtual event. Please browse to the
Call for Assistive Technology Faire Participants
webpage for more information and contact me to register. Each vendor will
have 5 to 10 minutes of unopposed Zoom time to display, demonstrate, and
discuss their assistive technology products or services. Everyone is welcome to
attend the Faire. Ten vendors have signed up to participate so far.
Here is the line
up and slides from last year's
Faire. |
Other
Email
questions, comments, or suggestions - Please
email me if you have general
questions, comments, corncerns, or suggestions regarding the course. Thank you
again for your interest.
Dave
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Dave. |
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