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Ludic design for Accessibility

Series: Department Seminar

Speaker: Dr. Manohar Swaminathan (Swami Manohar) Principal Researcher Microsoft Research India

Date/Time: Sep 15 15:00:00

Location: On-Line (Microsoft Teams)

Faculty Advisor:

Abstract:
Technology solutions for accessibility have long been created using a narrow utilitarian lens, especially in the global south due to the multi-dimensional challenges and resource constraints. We propose an alternate design methodology called the Ludic Design for Accessibility (LDA) that puts play and playfulness at the center of all assistive technology design and use. We have been exploring the application of this methodology in developing solutions for diverse disabilities using a range of technologies. In this talk I will focus on the application of this methodology to the following challenge and the lessons being learnt: introducing digital skills and computational thinking to children in schools for the blind in India starting at grade 2.

Speaker Bio:
Manohar Swaminathan (Swami Manohar) is a Principal researcher at Microsoft Research India, where he is part of the Technologies for Emerging Markets group. Manohar is an academic-turned technology entrepreneur-turned researcher with a driving passion to build and deploy technology for positive social impact. He has a PhD in CS from Brown University, was a Professor at the Indian Institute of Science, and has co-founded, managed, advised, and angel-funded several technology startups in India.
He has guided over 40 graduate students and has more than 50 refereed publications. His current research interests are broadly in technologies for the global south and in particular, ludic design for accessibility. The latter covers a broad set of interdisciplinary research topics, and is being applied to computational thinking for children who are blind, video games for the vision impaired, and gaze-tracked interfaces for children with sensory motor impairments.

Microsoft Teams link : https://teams.microsoft.com/l/team/19%3a68daf29425434a608aff44016c558a16%40thread.tacv2/conversations?groupId=157bca6a-0bb7-4769-81fb-685bab1009b8&tenantId=6f15cd97-f6a7-41e3-b2c5-ad4193976476

Host Faculty: Prof. Chiranjib Bhattacharyya