Hosted by Space Telescope Science Institute
April 13, 2023
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM EST
Space Telescope Science Institute, Muller Building, Bahcall Auditorium
Free and open to the public. Breakfast & lunch provided. Registration required.
Space Telescope Science Institute’s mission is to share cutting-edge astronomy with the world. To achieve this, we must remember that the world includes people with disabilities: both scientists and the general public. During the Day of Accessibility, you will engage with the challenges around making science and technology inclusive.
Learn about accessibility efforts at STScI focusing on alt text, Jupyter Notebooks, and data sonification. We will also hear from our keynote speaker Joshua Miele: a MacArthur fellow and leader in adaptive technology design. Participate in hands-on workshops to learn the fundamentals of how blind and visually impaired individuals access tech using screen readers. Attendees will leave informed about accessibility challenges in STEM, and will be prepared to act as accessibility advocates in their work.
The Day of Accessibility is free and open to the public, but you must register to attend. The event will take place in person in Baltimore at the Space Telescope Science Institute from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM EST. Registration will close on April 6th, seats may be limited.
Are you near Baltimore, but can't attend the full day? When registering, select the "Keynote only" option to indicate that you will attend only the session by Joshua Miele at 12:00.
While this is not primarily a remote event, all sessions will be streamed and recorded. If you would like to receive a link to view the stream, please select the "I would like to receive a link to stream the event" option when registering. This site will be updated with a link to the stream closer to the event.
Sessions will be recorded and shared with all registrants after the event.
For those attending in person, the Muller Building is located at 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218. For more information on how to get here, please review this page on travel and parking.
Participants at the Day of Accessibility will be expected to follow the STScI Code of Conduct.
| Time (Eastern) | Session | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 9:30 AM | Coffee | Find your seats and meet other participants while enjoying coffee and pastries from Carma’s Cafe. |
| 10:00 AM | Welcome | A short introduction to the event, including overview and schedule. |
| 10:10 AM | Notebooks for All | Presentation from Notebooks for All, an STScI initiative to make Jupyter Notebook outputs more accessible. |
| 10:45 AM | Break | |
| 11:00 AM | Illuminating the Universe with Accessible Text Descriptions | Presentation about the process of developing accessible descriptions for the initial observations from the James Webb Space Telescope - Margaret Carruthers |
| 11:45 AM | Break | |
| 12:00 PM | Keynote by Joshua Miele | Keynote presentation by Joshua Miele, MacArthur Fellow and leader in adaptive technology design. | 1:00 PM | Lunch | Sandwiches and snacks provided at Carma’s Cafe, located inside the Muller Building. View 3-dimensional tactile graphics of telescope imagery in the café and lobby. |
| 2:00 PM | Hearing the Light with Astronomy Data Sonification | Presentation about Astronify, a Python package for turning telescope observations into sound. Test your listening skills with an interactive sonification game show - Scott Fleming |
| 2:45 PM | Learn to Use a Screen Reader | Interactive session on learning to use a screen reader - Patrick Smyth, Iota School. |
| 3:30 PM | Being an Advocate | Concluding session on how to be an advocate and next steps on your accessibility journey. |
| 4:00 PM | Event end |
Space Telescope Science Institute helps humanity to explore the universe by performing scientific operations for the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes and by sharing open astronomical data and research with the world. Read more
This event is organized by the Notebooks for All initiative. In 2022-2023, Space Telescope Science Institute is taking steps to make scientific outputs, and especially Jupyter notebooks, more accessible for people with disabilities. Read more