Engagement

The Taskar Center for Accessible Technology engages communities of practice. There are multiple avenues to getting involved.

Students join our research teams, perform special projects, engage in service learning opportunities or take the accessibility capstone course.

TCAT works with Researchers and Industry Partners as a translation consulting group. We identify best paths for Accessible Technology deployments.

All our projects involve participatory design, working with PWD, caregivers, therapists, practitioners, engineers and designers.

Students

Vertically Integrated Projects

The Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program unites undergraduate education and faculty research in a team-based context. Undergraduate VIP students earn academic credits, while faculty and graduate students benefit from the design/discovery efforts of their teams. The University of Washington’s VIP program is part of a broad national and international consortium of universities.

VIP team members typically commit 3-7 hours per week if registered for 1 credit and 7-12 hours per week if registered for 2 credits.

AccessMap and OpenSidewalks

The AccessMap team is building a mapping application that creates interactive map displays of the physical environment in and around pedestrian ways. Our aim is to enhance representations to assist people with disabilities in planning their routes. The application incorporates mapping, GIS data, municipality-specific data, transportation information, and eventually weather and other state-specific information like construction.

The AccessMap team is multidisciplinary and is especially interested in recruiting students that are studying or have expertise in computer science (big data science, GIS, machine learning, and data visualization are a big plus), hardware engineering, electrical engineering, human centered design, mobile apps, informatics, communications, and public relations.

The AccessMap team is currently looking for students to contribute to the following activities:

  • App development, including iOS and Android platforms
  • Machine learning-based modeling
  • Geographical information system (GIS) integration
  • User experience and user interface development
  • Communications and publicity

Apply here to join the AccessMap team.

OSRead

Open Source Reading Education Assessment and Diagnosis (OSRead) is an open source platform for literacy educators and researchers to implement and measure the success of various reading curricula, specifically targeting populations at risk for Dyslexia. This platform allows a researcher to implement a personalized reading curriculum as short games and activities and to assign these activities in order to encourage students to practice their skills without facilitators. OSRead also allows educators to track student performance and progress over time, simplifying their work particularly in following Individualized Education Plans.

The OSRead team is creating an access-anywhere educational research platform. Our aim is to concurrently enhance and study educational interventions for students considered “at-risk” for learning disabilities. The application incorporates web-app deployment, Drupal Application development, age-specific curriculum related to literacy. The OSRead team is multidisciplinary, bringing together researchers from the UW ILabs and UW CSE departments (Taskar Center for Accessible Technology). We are particularly interested in recruiting people who are studying or have expertise in education, data science, web application building, citizen-science, and learning interventions.

Students in education, computer science (interest in mobile applications, big data science, gaming and data visualization are a big plus), human centered design, mobile apps, informatics, communications, and public relations.
The OSRead team is currently looking for students to contribute to the following activities:

  • Web-based app development
  • Drupal application development
  • Audio signal processing/ Speech processing
  • Audio compression and transmission
  • Machine learning-based modeling (for speech analysis in particular)
  • User experience and user interface development
  • Game development and Gamification
  • Communications and publicity

See our other ongoing Projects.

Community Members

We welcome participation from community members especially from therapists, caregivers, people with varied abilities, and needs experts. The following are few ways to participate:

HuskyADAPT VIP mentors

(targeting adaptive play)

iDesign LAB
(targeting collaborative environments for ppl with disabilities)
DesignForAmerica
(ongoing, shorter term projects)
Accessibility Capstone Needs Experts
(active engagement winter quarter)
Mapathons
Taskar Switch Hackathons (OT workshops)
DesignFestival
Annual Toy Adaptation/ Toy Hackathon