Another CSUN conference has come and gone. This year was the 30th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference (Twitter hash tag #CSUN15) held in downtown San Diego, California from March 2 to March 7, 2015 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel.
Below is a podcast with three interviews; some resources on recommended sessions; info on fun special events and activities; two award events; a short Best Of list; about a conference theme; and next year’s dates plus links to conference tips.
Podcast Interviews
I had the opportunity to speak to a few folks while attending; check it out!
Download Web Axe Episode 101 (CSUN15 Interviews)
- Sandy Plotin: Managing Director of the Center on Disabilities; California State University, Northridge (CSUN)
- David MacDonald (@DavidMacD) of CanAdapt Solutions
- Steve A Lee (@SteveALee) of Open Directive
Recommended Sessions
- 7 Lessons from Developing an Accessible HTML5 Video Player by my author Dennis Lembree (@DennisL)
- Accessibility in the Web Project Life Cycle (PPT) by Denis Boudreau (@DBoudreau)
- 4 hot issues from 1999, still issues on 2015 by David MacDonald (@davidmacd)
- Desktop and Mobile Accessibility Testing with Jim Thatcher’s Favelets by @PaulJAdam
- Choosing an Accessible UI Framework by Gerard Cohen of Wells Fargo
- Gaining Support through Empathy & Awareness Exercises (Slideshare) by @PatrickDunphy
- Accessibility in an Agile World (PDF) by @jessehausler and @cordeliadillon of Salesforce
- Cognitive Accessibility 101 by Jamie and Lion at CSUN15, a review by my author @DennisL.
- Digital Accessibility Legal Update by @LFLegal
Fun Stuff
I want to give a shout-out to three Tweeps I’ve known online for a while now and finally met in-person: Mike Gifford (@mgifford), Adrian Roselli (@aardrian) and Jason Kiss (@jkiss).
The 30th Anniversary Party featured keynote speaker Mick Ebeling (@mickteg) of Not Impossible Now (@notImposs). It was very interesting and moving—a great keynote.
“Surround yourself with people who make you feel stupid.”
-Mick Ebeling
Geri Jewell, one of the past Keynote Speakers, served as the program’s emcee and introduced performances by comedian Chris Fonseca (who was hilarious!) and musician and humorist, Mark Goffeney.
Once again, happy CSUN birthdays to @Jennison and @MarcySutton. The birthday celebrations sure brought a lot of income to The Cheesecake Factory across from the hotel!
There were a couple sky-diving outings planned and executed, wow!
There was a tandem bike event organized by @MarcySutton, @Nethermind and sponsored by @SimplyAccesses.
Highly successful Sign Language Karaoke event organized by Wendy Chisholm (@WendyABC) in conjunction with @DequeSystems. [Note that eBay and other folks donated to this event but don’t believe it wasn’t announced.]
CSUN15 Photo query on Twitter (no alt text of course, you need to use @EasyChirp for that!)
Added March 22: CSUN15 Flickr Album by @DennisL
Awards
The good folks at @Knowbility held an event to announce and present awards to the Community Heroes of Accessibility. Also, here’s a cool tote bag I picked up at the Knowbility exhibit booth.
Project Possibility (@ProjPossibility) held the SS12 Finals on Saturday morning. Congrats to the winner USC‘s “Stealth Fly” team who edged out CSU Northridge. The team presented a competitive vertical-scroller game to three judges.
Best Of
- Most popular session: Jamie Knight (@JamieKnight) “Cognitive Accessibility 101”. So much in demand that it was actually repeated the next day!
- Best Dressed: Sam Ogami of HP. He is one nice, classy fellow!
- Best slide: Dude, where’s my ARIA?
- Best nearby restaurant: Puesto (wicked tacos and drinks)
Theme
A theme which became obvious throughout the conference is this: embed accessibility into the development process—everyone is responsible. This topic was mentioned in numerous sessions, and with good reason. Teams must work together; from execs to content owners, to designers, to developers, to quality engineers.
Emerging theme of #CSUN15 – build accessibility into the process. #a11y
— Dennis Lembrée (@dennisl) March 5, 2015
Next Year
The conference next year is planned for March 21-26 2016 (a bit later than usual). There will be a new exhibitor call for papers (in addition to science research and general session), and less paper/Braille programs (more digital). If you plan on attending, you’ll find some great advice in these two articles:
- CSUN For Newbies by @JohnFoliot
- CSUN Tips & Tricks by @PaulJAdam
Other CSUN15 Reviews
- CSUN 2015 Report: Traditional Leadership by Chris Hofstader
- CSUN15 Wrap-Up by Dennis Deacon
Greg Kraus (@gdkraus), the University IT Accessibility Coordinator at North Carolina State University. He presented The Gamification of Accessibility, which included details about a 
Kathy Wahlbin (@wahlbin), CEO/Founder of