The second annual Sight Tech Global conference, a virtual, free event on December 1-2, will convene the world’s top experts on advanced technologies, notably AI, addressing accessibility and assistive tech for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Today we’re excited to roll out the main stage agenda. These 10 expertly moderated fireside and panel sessions capture a remarkable cross section of the work going on today at Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon, to name just four of the giants in the field. We will announce another half dozen breakout sessions in the coming days.

Please register today. It’s free, virtual and very screen-reader friendly.
Sight Tech Global December 1

Designing for Everyone: Accessibility and Machine Learning at Apple
Apple’s iPhone and VoiceOver are among the greatest breakthroughs ever for accessibility, but Apple never rests on its laurels. The next wave of innovation will involve what’s known as “machine learning” (a subset of artificial intelligence), which uses data from sensors on the phone and elsewhere to help make sense of the world around us. The implications for accessibility are just starting to emerge.

Jeff Bigham, Research lead for AI/ML accessibility at Apple
Sarah Herrlinger, Senior Director of Global Accessibility Policy & Initiatives, Apple
Moderator: Matthew Panzarino, Editor-in-Chief, TechCrunch

Seeing AI: What Happens When You Combine Computer Vision, Lidar and Audio AR?
The latest features in Microsoft’s Seeing AI app enable the app to recognize things in the world and place them in 3D space. Items are literally announced from their position in the room; in other words, the word “chair” seems to emanate from the chair itself. Users can place virtual audio beacons on objects to track the location of the door, for example, and use the haptic proximity sensor to feel the outline of the room.

All of this is made possible by combining the latest advances in AR, computer vision and the iPhone 12 Pro’s lidar sensor. And that’s only the start.

Saqib Shaikh, Co-founder, Seeing AI
Moderator: Devin Coldewey, Editor, TechCrunch

W3C ARIA-AT: Screen readers, Interoperability and a New Era of Web Accessibility
Who knew that screen readers, unlike Web browsers, are not interoperable. Web site developers don’t worry about whether their code will work on Safari, Chrome or any other browser, but if they take accessibility seriously they have to test for JAWS, VoiceOver, NVDA and the rest. That’s about to change, thanks to the W3C ARIA-AT project.

(This session will be followed December 2 by a live breakout session with King and Fairchild, as well as several other members of the W3C ARIA-AT team.)

Matt King, Accessibility Technical Program Manager, Facebook
Mike Shebanek, Head of Accessibility, Facebook
Michael Fairchild, Senior Accessibility Consultant, Deque
Moderator: Caroline Desrosiers, Founder and CEO, Scribely

The “Holy Braille”: The Development of a New Tactile Display Combining Braille and Graphics in One Experience
Today, instant access to the written word in braille is much less available to someone who is blind than the printed word is for someone who is sighted. Tools such as single line refreshable braille displays have been available for years, but a single line at a time gives the user a very limited reading experience. This limitation is especially felt when users are reading lengthy documents or when they encounter content such as charts and graphs in a textbook. The American Printing House for the Blind (APH) and HumanWare have teamed to develop a device capable of rendering multiple lines of braille and tactile graphics on the same tactile surface. Currently referred to as the Dynamic Tactile Device (DTD), this tool aims to provide blind users with a multi-line book reader, tactile graphics viewer and so much more.

(This session will be followed by a live breakout Q&A session with Greg Stilson, head of APH’s Global Technology Innovation team, and HumanWare’s Andrew Flattres, Braille Product Manager.)

Greg Stilson, Head of Global Innovation, APH
Moderator: Will Butler, VP, Be My Eyes

Indoor Navigation: Can Inertial Navigation, Computer Vision and Other New Technologies Work Where GPS Can’t?
Thanks to mobile phones, GPS and navigation apps, people who are blind or visually impaired can get around outdoors independently. Navigating indoors is another matter.

For starters, GPS IS often not available indoors. Then there are the challenges of knowing where the door is, finding the stairs or avoiding the couch someone moved. Combining on-phone and in-cloud technologies like inertial navigation, audio AR, lidar and computer vision may be the foundation for a solution, if product developers can map indoor spaces, provide indoor positioning and deliver an accessible user interface.

Mike May, Chief Evangelist, GoodMaps
Paul Ruvolo, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Olin College
Roberto Manduchi, Professor of Computer Science, UC Santa Cruz
Moderator: Nick Giudice, Professor of Spatial Informatics, University of Maine
Sight Tech Global December 2

Why Amazon’s Vision Includes Talking Less to Alexa
As homes become increasingly more technology-driven, inputs from multiple sources — teachable AI, multimodal understanding, sensors, computer vision and more — will create a truly ambient, surround experience. Already, one in every five Alexa smart home interactions is initiated by Alexa without any spoken command. As Alexa develops an understanding of us and our home well enough to predict our needs and act on our behalf in meaningful ways, what are the implications for accessibility?

Beatrice Geoffrin, Director of Alexa Trust, Amazon
Dr. Prem Natarajan, Vice President of Alexa AI, Amazon

Inventors Invent: Three New Takes on Assistive Technology
Inventors have long been inspired to apply their genius to helping blind people. Think of innovators like Mike Shebanek (VoiceOver, Apple) or Jim Fruchterman (Bookshare, Benetech), to name just two. Today, innovators have a nearly miraculous array of affordable technologies to work with, including lidar, computer vision, high-speed data networks and more. As a result, innovation is moving ahead at a dizzying pace. In this session, we will talk to three product innovators on the forefront of turning those core technologies into remarkable new tools for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Cagri Hakan Zaman, Co-founder of Mediate and SuperSense
Kür?at Ceylan, Co-founder, WeWalk Technology
Louis-Philippe Massé, Director of Product Management, HumanWare
Moderator: Ned Desmond, Executive producer and founder, Sight Tech Global

Product Accessibility: How Do You Get it Right? And How Do You Know When You Have?
Accessibility awareness is on the rise, but even teams with the best of intentions can flounder when it comes to finding the right approaches. One key is to work closely with the appropriate communities of users to get feedback and understand needs. The result is not trade-offs but a better product for everyone. In this session, we’ll hear from experts on the frontline of accessibility in product development.

Christine Hemphill, Founder and Managing Director, Open Inclusion
Alwar Pillai, Co-founder and CEO, Fable
Sukriti Chadha, Product Manager, Spotify
OIiver Warfield, Senior Product Manager for Accessibility
Brian Fischler, Commissioner, All Blind Fantasy Football League; stand-up comedian
Moderator: Larry Goldberg, Head of Accessibility, Yahoo

For Most Mobile Phone Users, Accessibility Is Spelled Android
Nearly three-quarters of mobile phone users in the world use phones built on Google’s Android operating system, not Apple’s iOS on the iPhone. For people who are blind or have low vision, the key app is Google’s Lookout, which draws on the vast resources of Google’s AI infrastructure, including its computer vision database and Google maps. How is Google approaching the huge accessibility opportunity Lookout represents?

Eve Andersson, Director of Accessibility, Google
Andreina Reyna, Senior Software Engineer, Google
Warren Carr, Blind Android User Podcast

Getting around: Autonomous Vehicles, Ridesharing and Those Last Few Feet
Summoning a ride from a smart phone is a dream come true for many, but when you have difficulty finding that ride, even when it’s a few feet away, the experience can be a nightmare, not to mention dangerous. How are rideshare and autonomous taxi companies working to make those last few feet from rider to car safer and better for blind and low-vision riders?

Kerry Brennan, UX Research Manager, Waymo
Marco Salsiccia, Accessibility Evangelist, Lyft
Eshed Ohn-Bar, Assistant Professor, Boston University
Moderator: Bryan Bashin, CEO, LightHouse, San Francisco

Don’t forget to register for this free, virtual event.

Sight Tech Global is a production of the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired. We’re grateful to current sponsors Ford, Google, Humanware, Microsoft, Mojo Vision, Facebook, Fable, APH and Vispero. If you would like to sponsor the event, please contact us. All sponsorship revenues go to the nonprofit Vista Center, which has been serving the Silicon Valley area for 75 years.