In-Process has been missing in action for a couple of weeks, but don’t fret, we’ve all been working hard! This week, it’s all about the events. Let’s get into it:
Microsoft AT Partner summit
Mick and Quentin spent a week in Seattle at the Microsoft AT Partner Summit. The summit brings NV Access and other assistive technology companies together with Microsoft. It is a chance to work together on the future of Microsoft products. Microsoft shares their plans for the direction of accessibility in their products. Partners provide advice and suggestions about how best to implement strategies. We were also able to meet with people and departments to collaborate. We appreciate the opportunity to be able to share our expertise with Microsoft. Working together towards shared goals will improve the experience for all users.
Michael Curran in SR-71 Blackbird cockpit at the Museum of Flight, Seattle
It wasn’t all work, we also got to visit the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field. They have models of very early planes, exhibits from WWI & WWII. There are also aircraft you can walk through, including a Concorde, and the first jet Air Force One. Before we went, we had organised for a Docent tour. This was a fantastic experience. Wearing gloves, we got to touch a lot of the planes which are otherwise roped off. We are very grateful to the team at the museum who put in a lot of effort to give us a memorable time! Do visit if you are ever in Seattle.
Google Summer of Code Mentor Summit
While half the team were in the USA, the other half went to Germany for a different summit. Reef and James travelled to the Google Summer of Code (GSOC) Mentor Summit. Back in March, In-Process covered NV Access being accepted as a Mentor Organisation for the Google Summer of Code. Since then, mentoree Bill Dengler has worked with mentors Mick Curran and Reef Turner. Anyone looking at NVDA pull requests will have seen quite a few from “CodeOfDusk”. Bill, we hope you got as much out of your time with us as our users will from your contributions! And, we look forward to seeing your career go from strength to strength in the future!
James with a hundred of his closest friends at the Google Summer of Code Mentor Summit
#ID24
ID24 logo
October also saw the 2019 Inclusive Design 24, or #ID24 conference. ID24 is a 24-hour, online accessibility conference. The conference is free and live-streamed on YouTube. The brainchild of Léonie Watson, in 2019, the event ran across October 9 – 11 (depending on your time zone). Don’t worry if you’re just hearing about the event for the first time. All the events are still available on The #ID24 YouTube Channel. NV Access is honoured and humbled that many of the speakers donated their speaker fees to us. This donation goes towards supporting the continued development of the NVDA screen reader. Thank you to Léonie Watson and the team at #ID24, the speakers, and all the companies who support the conference!
NVDACon
#ID24 isn’t the only online conference worth crowing about this week. Our very own conference, NVDACon 2019 is rapidly approaching. Remember to save the 15th to the 17th November as we gear up for the biggest NVDACon yet. The schedule will be out soon and promises content from four continents, and heaps of speakers. Plus, the first-ever NVDACon session to be live translated! Read more at https://www.nvdacon.org/ or follow NVDACon on Twitter or Facebook for more details as they come to hand!
Preparing for success in Kiribati
Recently we featured the story of Ben Claire’s work in Kiribati, a small Pacific nation. Ben has taught many students to use NVDA and they are going on to build fantastic futures for themselves! As excited as we were to showcase this story, we’ve been blown away by the reactions from around the world. We’re thrilled that Jenny Lay-Flurrie used it to open the Microsoft AT Partner Summit. Jenny is the Chief Accessibility Officer at Microsoft, so quite high recognition indeed. In sharing it on Twitter, she said “Read this. It says more about the power of #accessibility to include than I ever could. Thank you, Ben Clare, for sharing your knowledge and technology with the students in Republic of Kiribati. NVAccess, this is what it’s all about! #inclusion #disability”
Ben Clare working with students
That’s all for this week. We won’t leave it so long before the next In-Process. Since it’s Halloween tomorrow, I carved a special NVDA Pumpkin!
NVDA Halloween pumpkin
Rest assured, I won’t be taking up a new career as a sculptor any time soon. To make up for that, let’s flashback to a much more creative effort from several years ago. In 2017, Derek Riemer released this Halloween add-on for NVDA. Note that it will randomly make you jump, so be warned!
Until next time, keep participating in the user group and on Twitter and Facebook. Remember too, you can always send us any comments, questions or suggestions via email.