[NFBP-Talk] Fwd: [tech-vi Announce List] Announcing Sight Tech Global 2021

[Jan Lattuca]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Goldfield <david.goldfield at outlook.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2021 00:50:31 +0000
Subject: [tech-vi Announce List] Announcing Sight Tech Global 2021
To: "tech-vi at groups.iotv" <tech-vi at groups.io>

Visually impaired accessible technology - BingNews - Thursday, July
15, 2021 at 9:51 PM

Announcing Sight Tech Global 2021

[https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/image-17.png?w=711]

Shortly after the first  Sight Tech
Global<https://sighttechglobal.com/> event, in December last year,
Apple and Microsoft announced remarkable new features for mobile
phones. Anyone could point the phone camera at a scene and request a
“scene description.” In a flash, a cloud-based, computer vision AI
determined what was in the scene and a machine-voice read the
information. Learning that “a room contains three chairs and a table”
might not seem like a big advance for the sighted, but for blind or
visually impaired people, the new feature was a notable milestone for
accessibility technology: An affordable, portable and nearly universal
device could now “see” on behalf of just about anyone.

Technologies like scene description will be on the agenda at the
second annual Sight Tech Global event, December 1-2, 2021. The free,
sponsor-supported, virtual and global event will convene many of the
world’s top technologists, researchers, advocates and founders to
discuss how rapid advances in technology, many centered on AI, are
altering — both improving and complicating — accessibility for people
with sight loss.

Register<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfberR7NW3F74cBNleiOVauGQ8wrSV0FcZqf1HH5X60mUrS6Q/viewform>
today — it’s free.

At the heart of Sight Tech Global is the hard question: How do highly
advanced, AI-based technologies actually become compelling, affordable
products that folks who are blind or visually impaired readily adopt?
It took 40 years, for example, for the $50,000 “Kurzweil reading
machine,” a boxy desktop device, to evolve into what blind people take
for granted today, a free app available on any mobile phone that can
“read” just about any text. As anyone working in the field will tell
you, shaping technologies into truly useful, everyday, affordable
tools for people with vision loss is no less demanding than it was 40
years ago.

The agenda for last year’s Sight Tech Global
<https://sighttechglobal.com/agenda/> convened many of the best minds
across the spectrum of accessibility-related
technologies<https://sighttechglobal.com/speakers/>, including
Microsoft’s Saqib Shaikh, Amazon’s Josh Miele, Apple’s Chris Fleizach,
Orcam’s Amnon Shashua, civil rights lawyer Haben Girma, author and
professor Sara Hendren and researcher and professor Danna Gurari. In
addition to those speakers were a dozen well attended breakout
sessions<https://sighttechglobal.com/agenda/?status=all&stage=breakout-session&date=all>
led by Perkins Access, Salesforce, APH, Humanware and others.

Because the event was free, virtual and highly
accessible<https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/30/imagine-being-blind-and-trying-to-attend-a-virtual-event-try-that-next-time-you-stage-one/>,
more than 4,000 people from 70 countries attended the event last
December. All the sessions (video and transcript) are still available
on demand via the agenda<https://sighttechglobal.com/agenda/> or on
YouTube<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwJhe8kfyvmp8PRg9dexrOg/videos>.
Attendees gave the event a generous thumbs up: 4.7 out of 5  for
programming and 4.6 out of 5 for accessibility.

Now is the time to register so that our all-volunteer team can keep
you posted on agenda updates and ensure you have a chance to sign up
for limited-attendance breakout sessions. You can register
here.<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfberR7NW3F74cBNleiOVauGQ8wrSV0FcZqf1HH5X60mUrS6Q/viewform>

Got programming ideas? We are happy to hear from you — especially
founders, inventors and researchers who have working technology
products! The programming committee includes Jim Fruchterman (Benetech
/ TechMatters), Larry Goldberg (Verizon Media), Matt King (Facebook),
Professor Roberto Manduchi (UC Santa Cruz) and Will Butler (Be My
Eyes). Contact us
Info at sighttechglobal.com<mailto:Info at sighttechglobal.com>.

Calling all sponsors! We’re delighted that Google, TechCrunch and
Verizon Media have already signed on for 2021, and nearly all last
year’s sponsors<https://sighttechglobal.com/2020-sponsors/> have
signaled that they plan to renew their support for this significant
event. Private donors are also welcome! To learn more, read
here<https://sighttechglobal.com/sponsorship-opportunities/> or
contact us a sponsor at sighttechglobal.com<mailto:sponsor at sighttechglobal.com>.

Sight Tech Global is a production of the Vista Center for the Blind
and Visually Impaired<https://www.vistacenter.org/>, a 501(c)(3), that
has been serving the Silicon Valley area for 75 years. Vista’s
executive director, Karae Lisle, is the event’s chair. Vista is the
beneficiary of all sponsorships and donations to Sight Tech Global. In
2020, 92% of the proceeds from Sight Tech Global went to support the
Vista Center’s work to help thousands of people with vision loss in
the Bay Area lead their best life.

Please join us at Sight Tech Global in December!



http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=C244A9F6BDAE47059D8F1782DE7183FF&url=https%3a%2f%2ftechcrunch.com%2f2021%2f07%2f15%2fannouncing-sight-tech-global-2021%2f&c=10040796476960815064&mkt=en-us


     David Goldfield
Assistive Technology Specialist

Feel free to visit my Web site
WWW.DavidGoldfield.info


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