3 Ways Events Are Making Tech More Accessible
There’s been a lot of criticism across the industry, either saying that tech is falling short when it comes to helping under-represented minorities, or that inequalities have persisted long after they’ve been called out as being unacceptable.
Though these may be small events, I wanted to share some reassurance this week by showing you three examples which prove that events are making tech more accessible, one community at a time:
Workshop: Easy and Affordable User Testing
Convincing people to act as guinea pigs for any new idea you have is challenging enough. When we think about how much investment and convincing goes into the professional version of that, namely user testing, we realise persuasion gets even harder.
Frozen Rockets have figured out that not everyone has the money or the time to source, convince, bribe, beg or get testers otherwise. As a result, they’re providing a workshop for those who are either lacking the tools or the knowledge for efficient user testing. The one-day workshop aims to help those who haven’t previously been able to utilise user testing to make more intuitive products for their consumers in the long run.
Tickets? 14 left. Available here.
Date? September 20th, 2018
We Love Accessibility
Red Badger will be holding their second meetup under their rebranded community events banner: welovetech.london. This installment will feature talks about how the tech community can bolster accessibility through efforts ranging from hiring older people to using semantic HTML.
Global Accessibility Awareness day will be taking place on May 17th, and in celebration of that, Red Badger are hosting this event, reaffirming that they are part of the community empowering those with online accessibility needs through grassroots means.
Date? May 31st, 2018
Ruby for Good
Code for Good is one of those organisations where it’s hard to fathom all their generosity at once. They provide custom software FOR FREE to non-profits and civic organisations.
Their three main tenets are:
- Help people who are doing great things
- Provide opportunities in tech for people who are under-represented and
- Provide education and leadership opportunities for people in the industry
(Even if you can’t or don’t go to Ruby for Good, you can donate to their cause in general here.)
Ruby for Good is a DC-based, annual event where the team bring together Ruby programmers to make things that serve social good. They have other versions for other languages, but this one promises swag, food, accommodation, karaoke, and “hanging out with the best people around.”
Tickets? Waiting list, unfortunately.
Date? June 7th-10th, 2018