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Asher Moses talks the M-enabling conference
Transcript
16 June 2013
Roberta: The M-Enabling Australasia Conference is coming up in Sydney next month, taking a unique approach to the accessibility of mobile devices, operating systems and apps for people with a disability. With us today is Media Communications Manager for ACCAN, the organisation behind the conference, Asher Moses. Welcome, Asher.
Asher: Hi, thanks for having me.
Roberta: Now, what’s the aim of the conference?
Asher: We really want to highlight how people with disability, and older consumers, are using mobile technology to improve their lives. And while there’s a lot of positive stuff happening in this area, you know, part of it is creating awareness that there are millions missing out while there are many taking advantage of technology.
There are many people with disability, and older Australians, who are missing out because apps aren’t being made accessible. So part of the conference is to create awareness that developers need to follow the guidelines on accessibility that companies like Apple or Microsoft already provide. And secondary to that, we want to showcase some of the gadgets and apps that are accessible, some of the good examples of what’s out there.
We’re hoping to show off some Apple accessibility features and there’s companies such as Telstra and Red Button and Humanware that we’re hoping to have along for a showcase, to actually demonstrate some of their technology. And finally, we just want to bring together, I guess, experts on accessibility technologies and service providers and developers and manufacturers and regulators and pretty much everyone with an interest in the space, to try to improve apps and websites for people with disability and older Australians.
Roberta: Now, I believe this is the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. How is it unique?
Asher: So ACCAN and Telstra partnered to bring the conference to Australia but it’s an initiative that’s already been held in other cities, like Washington DC, Beijing, Milan, San Francisco and Moscow. So we’re bringing it here. We feel like there are a lot of Aussie unique voices that can talk about these issues. They’re affected by these issues.
We’ll have some of the major international speakers coming down but in Australia we believe that the issue is important enough to have our own M-Enabling initiative. For instance, one in five Australians has some form of permanent disability. So it’s a pretty broad issue and these people want the same access to technology as everyone else.
Roberta: You’ve just announced your major speakers, Asher. Can you tell us a bit about them?
Asher: Yes, so we’ll have people including Australian Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes.
Roberta: Wonderful.
Asher: We’ll have the President and Executive Director of the G3ict, which is a global initiative around accessibility. We’ll have Karen Strauss from the US Federal Communications Commission; South Australian MP, Kelly Vincent. We have Dr Scott Hollier, who is the Project Manager of Media Access Australia.
Roberta: Yes, I know Scott.
Asher: He’s done his PhD in this stuff. We’ve got Greg Alchin, who’s a technology expert who’s visually impaired, and he is also an accessibility consultant. So we’ve got quite a range of people going, so it should be really interesting.
Roberta: Now, who can attend?
Asher: So we really want anyone who’s interested in or affected by these issues, anyone who has an interest in making technology more accessible for people with disability and for older Australians.
Roberta: Now, where and when it is and how much does it cost?
Asher: So it’s happening on August 14 and August 15, over two days, at the Australian Technology Park Conference Centre in Sydney and there’s a range of prices, depending on who you are, but it’s from as little as $45. So we think there’s quite a lot of value in there. Overall, we feel like there’s still a long way to go in getting developers and ICT professionals to build their websites and apps in a way that conforms with accessibility guidelines, but we’re hoping this conference will go some way towards raising awareness of these issues and showing people what’s out there.
Roberta: Asher, how can people register?
Asher: People can register via our website.
Roberta: Well, thank you very much for all of that, Asher. I’m sure that it will be a success because it has to be.
Asher: Thanks for the opportunity.
Roberta:I’ve been speaking with Asher Moses, Media Communications Manager for ACCAN, and that segment was brought to you courtesy of Media Access Australia. If you would like to register for that wonderful conference in August you can do so on their site. I think it will be something really worthwhile going to. Media Access Australia, thankfully, are supporters of this program.