FYI: Valuing Web Usability and Accessibility - A Colloquium on Standards, Tools, and Testing

Dear Colleagues:

The following is not a solicitation. It is to inform you of an upcoming
event at Michigan State University that I believe will significantly further
progress in the area of usability and accessibility to people with
disabilities, our common thread.

The event will be recorded, captioned, and available as a webcast through
MSU's local broadcast station, WKAR. The featured speakers include Mary
Theofanos, Chauncey Wilson, Tom Tullis, John Eulenberg.

If you are interested in attending, please refer to the contact information
below. If you have received this notice more than once, please accept my
apology.

Regards and thanks,

Mike Paciello

============================================================================

The following notice is from Dr. Diane L. Zimmerman, Director,
Administration & Advancement University Outreach, Michigan State University

Michigan State University's Office of the Provost and Office of University
Outreach invite you to join us for a colloquium on May 5 on Usability and
Accessibility.
Below is the text of the print invitation. Please forward the invitation to
others you feel would like to join this conversation. Or, to receive a copy
or copies of the print invitation send an e-mail with your mailing address
to
hought17@msu.edu.

The colloquium is free, and we are providing a continental breakfast and
lunch. We have outstanding speakers. Please RSVP by April 25 to reserve
your place and a place for those who will be coming with you.

INVITATION TEXT:
Valuing Web Usability and Accessibility
A Colloquium on Standards, Tools, and Testing
May 5, 2003
9:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Kellogg Center
Michigan State University

Join this conversation with noted speakers from higher education,
government, and the corporate world to address issues on emerging
technologies and tools at the intersection of usability and
accessibility. The conversation will cover user-centered Web and
information systems design, user testing models, practical applications
of tools across all age spectrums and for those with disabilities,
governmental regulations, and Web standards. The colloquium is open to
researchers, faculty, students, Web designers, technology developers,
and people across many disciplines who are interested in this rapidly
developing field.

Agenda
9:30 - 10:00 a.m.
Registration and Continental Breakfast
10:00 - 10:20 a.m.
Welcome - Hiram E. Fitzgerald, Assistant Provost for University
Outreach, Michigan State University
Opening Remarks - Lou Anna Kimsey Simon, Provost, Michigan State
University
Introductions - Michael Paciello, Moderator, The Paciello Group
10:20 - 11:00 a.m.
Chauncey Wilson, Bentley College
Mary Francis Theofanos, National Cancer Institute
11:00 - 11:10 a.m.
Break
11:10 - 11:50 a.m.
Tom Tullis, Fidelity Investments
John Eulenberg, Michigan State University
11:50 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Conversation
12:30 - 2:00 p.m.
Lunch, River Cafe, Kellogg CenterRound Table Discussions

Speakers
Michael Paciello, President of The Paciello Group, is an international
authority on Web accessibility and assistive technology. He cofounded
the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) for the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C).  Mike has spent the last 18 years as a technologist,
international consultant, and professional speaker in the area of
assistive technology and accessible interface design, working with such
clients as Microsoft, Adobe, Sun Microsystems, Fidelity Investments, GE,
Compaq, Dell, Easter Seals, The Kennedy Center, NASA, Yale, MIT, CSUN,
CAST, and others.  Mike also serves as a member of the Microsoft
Corporation Accessibility Advisory Board and the Federal Government
Electronic and Information Technology Access Advisory Board.  He is the
author of the best-selling book Web Accessibility for People with
Disabilities.

Chauncey Wilson, a senior user experience consultant, spent two years as
the Director of the Bentley College Design and Usability Testing Center.
He is a professor in the Human Factors and Information Design program
where he teaches graduate and professional education courses in
user-centered design and prototyping methods. Prior to Bentley, Chauncey
was a product line development manager at BMC Software, Inc. where he
developed complex performance monitoring software. He has been a
human-computer interaction (HCI) architect and usability engineer for
IDX Corporation, FTP Software, Dun & Bradstreet Software, Human Factors
International, and Digital Equipment Corporation. He is currently
working on two books in the area of HCI.

Mary Frances Theofanos has worked for the National Cancer Institute to
build and manage its Communications Technologies Research Center, a
state-of-the-art user testing, collaborative design and training
facility. She and her colleagues have conducted usability testing for
numerous federal agencies, including the government portal FirstGov.gov
and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Mary is
establishing a research program to promote evidence-based user-centered
design and the development of usability metrics to analyze the
effectiveness of communication products and services.  Her research
program will ultimately result in guidelines for accessibility.  She
received her M.S. in Computer Science and is a Ph.D. candidate
completing her dissertation in Software Engineering.

Tom Tullis is Senior Vice President of Human Interface Design at
Fidelity Investments, where he manages a department within Fidelity's
Center for Applied Technology, which focuses on continuously improving
the usability of Fidelity's interactive systems and Web sites. Recent
strategic usability studies have focused on improving the usability of
Web sites for older adults.  Dr. Tullis received his M.A. in
Experimental Psychology and Ph.D. in Engineering Psychology.  He has
over 27 years of experience in the human-computer interface field and
has published over 35 papers in technical journals.

John Eulenberg is Professor of Audiology and Speech Sciences and
Director and Cofounder of the Artificial Language Laboratory at Michigan
State University.  He also serves as chairperson of MSU's Accommodating
Technology Committee, which studies ways to make university programs
more accessible to those with disabilities.  His research interests
include augmentative communication, multilingual speech synthesis, child
language development, and applications of computers to speech science
and speech-language pathology.  John's work in using artificial language
technology to enable a severely disabled teenager to speak and chant at
his bar mitzvah was recently profiled by ABC's Nightline program.  Dr.
Eulenberg holds both an M.A. and Ph.D. in Linguistics.

Co-sponsored by:
MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences
MSU College of Engineering
MSU Libraries, Computing, and Technology
MSU Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities
MSU University Relations

Please RSVP by April 25
Call Tina Houghton at 517-353-8977 or e-mail hought17@msu.edu.Please
give the number of people in your party and their names.Breakfast and
lunch provided.  Free parking in the Kellogg Center ramp.
Kellogg Center is fully accessible to persons with disabilities.  For
accommodations, please call 517-432-4000.

Hosted by Michigan State University, Office of the Provost, and Office
of University Outreach. Michigan State University is an
affirmative-action, equal-opportunity institution.



Diane L. Zimmerman, PhD
Director, Administration & Advancement
University Outreach
Michigan State University
55 Kellogg Center
East Lansing, MI 48824
Telephone:  (517) 353-8977
Fax:  (517) 432-9541
E-mail:  zimmerdl@msu.edu
WWW:  http://outreach.msu.edu

Received on Tuesday, 29 April 2003 12:35:05 UTC