Building a More Accessible Social Virtual Reality World
Details
Imagine trying to navigate a virtual space without being able to see the objects in it. If a host tells everyone to move to the outside space and you can't see where is outside and where is inside in the virtual world, then how do you do that?
If the host says, please line up in front of the microphone to ask your question, how do you do that if you can't see the microphone? If there are 50 people in a virtual environment, and you want to find the one person you know inside of that space, how do you do that?
This requires adding a new method for exploring the virtual space and navigating between objects inside of it.
Equal Entry has been hosting events as part of our Accessibility Virtual Reality Meetup for two years. In the last three months, we've worked with developer intern Owen Wang, to create new functionality that makes Hubs easier to use for people who are blind and low-vision.
Come to this talk to learn about how we:
- Added the ability to describe avatars.
- Automatically included label information from SketchFab to objects imported into the world.
- Enabled custom functionality in the chat interface to work with screen readers.
- Added user interface buttons to label and describe any spatial object.
- Added synthesized speech output of descriptions.
PRESENTER BIO
Thomas Logan has spent the past nineteen years assisting organizations to create technology solutions that work for people with disabilities. Over his career, Thomas has delivered projects for numerous federal, state, and local government agencies as well as private sector organizations from startups to Fortune 500s.
He is the owner of Equal Entry, whose mission is “contributing to a more accessible world.” They achieve this for clients through training, education, and auditing for accessibility on websites, desktop apps, mobiles apps, games, and virtual reality. Equal Entry helps companies that build digital technologies.
He is also the organizer of Accessibility Virtual Reality and co-organizer of Accessibility New York, monthly Meetups for people interested in topics related to accessibility and people with disabilities. Thomas lives in Tokyo, Japan.
ACCESSIBILITY
The presentation will be captioned [cc]. The event will have real-time captions and a YouTube live stream.
LIVESTREAM
The actual meetup will be in Zoom, but during the meetup, participants will have the opportunity to experiment in Hubs. The video streaming of the event to YouTube via a partnership with the Internet Society Accessibility SIG (a11ySIG).
SPONSORS
Thanks to Equal Entry for sponsoring.
ACCREDITATION
All A11yVR meetups are pre-approved for IAAP Continuing Accessibility Education Credits (CAEC).
TIMELINE
Please NOTE: Meetup is not skilled in representing time zones. This Meetup is set in Tokyo, Japan so it will display differently than your local time zone. When you RSVP, use the "Add to calendar" link to receive a calendar invite transcribed to your time zone.
This timeline is based on the New York ET time zone.
7:30 - 7:45 PM
Thomas Logan introduction to A11yVR
7:45 - 8:20 PM
Presentation
8:20 - 8:30 PM
Q&A with attendees
Building a More Accessible Social Virtual Reality World