Open Tech Calendar

Yes, that's right - Accessibility Scotland, but this time in Glasgow.

Not the full day conference, but two talks related to inclusive design and accessibility.

Sandwiches and soft drinks will be provided.

Speakers
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Léonie Watson - Talking Technology.

We've been talking with technology for longer than you might think, but despite increasing conversational sophistication, relatively few ways exist to help us make artificial speech sound human. Find out how to use Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) with the Amazon Echo or Google Home, and the Web Speech API in the browser; how the CSS Speech module might be useful (if only it were more widely supported); and how we might be able to solve some problems by making things talk.

Presenter Bio:
Léonie is Director of TetraLogical; a member of the W3C Advisory Board;
co-Chair of the W3C Web Platform Working Group; and a member of the
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Advisory Committee.

Amongst other things, Léonie is co-organiser of the Inclusive Design 24 (#id24) conference; co-author of the Inclusive Design Principles; and mentor to young people interested in the fields of accessibility and inclusive design. She is also a Microsoft Most Valued Professional (MVP).

Léonie is often found at conferences, talking about web standards, accessibility mechanics, and pushing the boundaries of inclusive design (with existing technologies like SVG, HTML, ARIA, and JavaScript, as well as new technologies like AI and WebVR). She has also written about these things for Smashing magazine, SitePoint.com, and Net magazine, as well as on her own site Tink.UK.

In her spare time, Léonie likes reading, cooking, drinking tequila, and dancing (although not necessarily in that order)!

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Peter Heery - So you want to create an accessible app?

Native applications (apps) are everywhere, from your smartphone to your smartwatch. What accessibility actually means in native apps is hard to pin down – and there’s not much practical help available.

In this talk, you’ll get solid tips for approaching native app design and learn some smart ways to incorporate accessibility into your projects.

Presenter Bio:

Peter is a recovering web developer from Northern Ireland. He specialises in Accessibility, UX (User Experience) and training.

He is the founder of Universal Accessibility, an Edinburgh based consultancy and co-organiser of Accessibility Scotland.

His experience includes time well spent working on all manner of accessibility projects at both at Apple Inc. and The Paciello Group (TPG).