The Revolution Will Be Spoken: Digital Accessibility in Action

Gartner estimates that roughly 25% of our computer interactions these days happen with our voice. ("Siri, can you confirm that statistic?") 4 out of its "5 Digital Technology Trends for 2020" -- from Multiexperience Across Devices to Interfaceless Machines to Agent Interfaces to Inclusive Design -- hinge their success on voice interaction.

So, are you ready to help implement the Spoken Revolution? In this talk, Scott Davis (Web Architect and Digital Accessibility Advocate, Thoughtworks) will give you a gentle introduction to the basics (Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text), complete with some simple standards-based examples that you can run in any modern browser. You'll also learn how command-driven interfaces work ("Alexa, play some Bob Marley") and how continuous speech recognition can bring live closed captioning to video conferencing.

Agenda:
17:30 Hello from Thoughtworks
17:35 “The Revolution Will Be Spoken” with Scott Davis
18:30 Q&A
19:00 Goodbye and see you next time!

About the speaker:
Scott Davis is a Web Architect, Principal Engineer, and Digital Accessibility Advocate with Thoughtworks, where he focuses on leading-edge, emerging, and non-traditional aspects of web development. Scott specifically works on serverless web apps, mobile web apps (Responsive PWAs), HTML5-based SmartTV apps, Conversational UIs (like Siri and Alexa), and building IoT solutions using web technologies. Scott’s focus on innovative web development has led him to his accessibility advocacy work, which includes educating developers on accessible web design and speaking about the importance of web accessibility for people with disabilities.

To join us, simply click "Attend online" here on Meetup. The Zoom link will be visible to people who RSVP.

We hope to see you there!