Upcoming
Topic | Meeting format | Facilitator/Presenter | Date | Time | Links / Notes | Coordinator |
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| TBD | Community Workshop | Liz Lane | TBD | 2 - 3pm ET |
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| Interdepartmental Dyslexia Awareness Network | Community Workshop | John Ward | TBD | 2 - 3pm ET |
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| Licensing and Contributions at IDRC Workshops and Crits | Design Crit | Justin, Jon | TBD |
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| IDRC work calendars and coordinating schedules | Design Crit | Justin, Jon | TBD |
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| Process for sharing IDRC videos and recordings | Design Crit | Justin, Jon | TBD |
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Past
Workshops from previous years can be seen on the Previous Community Workshop and Design Crit Topics page. Video recordings may not have captions. If you would like to contribute to captioning any of the videos, please reach out to us through the fluid-work mailing list.
Topic | Meeting format | Facilitator | Date | Time | Links / Notes | Coordinator |
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| Primer: Baby Bliss Bot | Community Workshop | Maysa, Shirley McNaughton | April 14, 2023 | 1 - 3pm ET | Hour One History of AAC/Educational Application of Blissymbolics, 1971-2023 'Bliss' Community and Teaching of Blissymbolics, 1971-2023 Important features of Semantography (Blissymbolics}
as we teach the language and develop vocabulary today 10 minute break Hour Two
Take the Time - Kari’s song Exploring possibilities for Baby Bliss Bot - an Educator’s Perspective Group Assignment and Sharing Questions, Answers, Discussion Primer: Baby Bliss Bot video Primer: Baby Bliss Bot transcript (VTT) Primer: Baby Bliss Bot video - Part 2 Primer: Baby Bliss Bot transcript - Part 2 (VTT)
Reference
blissymbolics.org | |
| Paper Playground - Interactive Interaction Design Space | Design Crit | Taliesin | Mar 28, 2023 | 2 - 3pm ET | Description: From the Inclusive Design team at PhET Interactive Simulations: A co-design tool and integrated space to collaboratively design multimodal interactions. A design space that allows for mapping physical space to design parameters, detached from standard interaction patterns for web components/design. - Who: anyone exploring the design of something interactive
- What: an environment that combines both virtual and physical design spaces - hopefully for rapid prototyping of multimodal interactions
- Why: to fill a need for a new kind of co-design space/tool
Paper Playground Video Recording Paper Playground Transcript (vtt) | |
Typographic revival of historical scripts
Overview of research projects from the Atelier National de Recherche Typographique | Workshop | Kaveh | Mar 16, 2023 NOTE: Special time and day. | 12 - 1:30pm ET | 
Description: The Atelier national de recherche typographique (ANRT) is a postgraduate research program and place of excellence with specific expertise in typeface design and editorial design at ENSAD Nancy, France. The program was established in 1985, aiming to ‘contribute to developing type design and typography.’
Its purpose is to support self-initiated research projects submitted by applicants and to develop research programs with partner institutions. Typographic revival of historical scripts Video Recording Typographic revival of historical scripts Transcript (vtt) ANRT Projects | |
| Accessible design collaboration tools | Design Crit | Lisa, Cheryl | Mar 7, 2023 | 2 - 3pm ET | Accessible Design Collaboration Tools Video Recording | |
| ChatGPT Accessibility test/comparison | Design Crit | Lisa, Maysa | Feb 7, 2023 | 2 - 3pm ET | ChatGPT Accessibility Testing/comparison Video Recording | |
Suggested Future topics
Topic | Facilitator |
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Agile development: planning | Michelle |
| Teacher to talk about education plans (EP) | Guest? |
| Students with learning disabilities to talk about their experiences | Guest? |
| People working with students on mindfulness and mental health | Guest? |
| Talk to people who teach children to program | Lighthouse Labs? |
| Someone from able gamers to talk about how people with various disabilities interact with games | Guest? |
| People working with young adults with autism | Guest? |
| Rose? How people engage in social connections and relationships | Guest? |
| Empathy Toy |
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| Engage with OCAD students to talk about their projects and/or areas of study. ( MDes and others) | Guest? |
| Music Therapy | Theresa |
| Someone who has developed software for older adults | Guest? |
| Someone who works with brain sensing tech | Muse? |
Someone to talk about entrepreneurship and marketing ( how to reach people to use our software and services e.g. P4A, Outside-in, hack-a-thons, etc.) | Guest? |
| Latest A11y models and principles to follow, and language to use ( e.g. things that the MDes students are taught ) | Jutta? |
| Accessibility in the Toronto Public Library | Guest? |
Case Studies of User Creativity in Computing (Monthly) - Minecraft (led by: Michelle and other)
- Sound Shapes ( Shaw Han??? )
- IFTT (Jon)
- etc
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Skills Development workshops (Monthly?) Below are some examples of topics that could be covered. - Refreshers (e.g. using ARIA)
- best practices
- using new features (e.g. new CSS, HTML, JS)
- new frameworks
- new tools
- design techniques
- etc.
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| Challenges / Hack Session / Workshop | Facilitator |
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A critique (or more informally a "crit") is an opportunity for us to come together as a small group and examine and discuss a creative artifact - a design wireframe, a persona, a newly-implemented UI or software component, etc.
These design crits are informal, constructive, specific, and respectful. It's a forum where anyone from the community can bring their designs and receive feedback.
The idea is to focus on tangibles, not on abstract plans:
- What have we designed or built?
- why is it like this, what are its strengths, and how can we make it better?
Since these meetings are participant driven, there will be occasions when the crit will not meet. Meetings will be announced in the schedule above, and to the relevant mailing lists (i.e. inclusive design community list, and fluid-work).
Why do Critiques?
Techniques like UX Walkthroughs, Inclusive Design Mapping Tool ("Petals & Flowers"), or User States and Contexts will help us concretely assess and discuss an artifact from different perspectives. It's based on the idea that creative work gets stronger when it is discussed amongst peers and diverse ideas are considered.
Crits help us to:
- amplify the strengths of a design
- suggest alternative trajectories
- reflect on our work through the lenses of different users
- identify areas of confusion
- focus on tangible artifacts, not just abstract ideas or goals
We try to keep design crits very informal and casual on purpose. This makes it easier for participants to share designs (requiring less time preparing formal presentations), and opens up more time for organic conversations. A formal presentation of your project or design is not required, and we encourage a more conversational approach.
Presenting at Design Crits
Design crits are a great opportunity to discuss designs, refine ideas, ask questions, and get feedback. To get the most out of a design crit:
- Come prepared with specific design issues to share - this will help focus the discussion on the topics that will help you.
- Try not cover too much or expect to have every question addressed.
- Design crits are intended to be 1 hour in length to help keep the discussion productive and specific.
- If needed, another design crit can be scheduled to continue the discussion, or you can take advantage of the Inclusive Design Community mailing list to reach a broader audience.