Month: November 2022

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Opportunity to Participate in Research Study

Hello! Researchers at the University of Victoria, Department of Computer Science are conducting research to design an interactive system to improve diagram accessibility for people with visual impairments.

If you meet the following criteria, we would love to hear and learn from you!

  1. Consider yourself to be blind, visually impaired, or partially sighted;
  2. Rely on the auditory channel, or auditory combined with other sensory channels to access information from a computer;
  3. Use screen readers, braille-based systems, self-created solutions or others to access digital information;
  4. Have an age of more than 18 years;
  5. Reside in Canada.

During the study, you will be asked to participate in a remote interview session on Zoom or on Microsoft Teams. This session will be centred around understanding the current experience of you accessing diagrams and diagrammatic information, and assessing the need for a technology solution that could improve the accessibility of diagrams.

Insights gained from interviews with you will help us explore approaches to broaden access to diagrammatic information for people who may be otherwise left out or limited from the types of information they can readily access due to the constraints of how current technologies are designed (i.e., high reliance on visual channels of access). The result of this study will help inform the design of future computational systems to address diagram accessibility issues for people with visual impairments. The interview session will last 1 hour and as a thank you for your time we will provide an Amazon gift card of $30 CAD.

This project is titled “Improving Diagram Accessibility for People with Visual impairments”, and the researcher conducting this study is Yichun Zhao, an MSc student in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Victoria. This study is taking place under the supervision of Dr. Miguel Nacenta and Dr. Sowmya Somanath. The University of Victoria research ethics number for this study is 21-0425.

If you have any questions or would like to participate in this study, please contact me directly via email at yichunzhao@uvic.ca. Thank you, Yichun Zhao

This study recruitment information is also available through this accessible link: https://chunthebear.github.io/diagram-accessibility-research/.

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Oceans and Climate Undergraduate Info Session – Nov 24 @2PM

Would you like to learn more about ocean science and climate studies as part of your science degree?

Join us 24 November, 2 PM in the Bob Wright Centre lab wing B121

Learn about the Minor in Ocean Sciences, joint programs with other departments, and some of the exciting careers that our graduates move on to.

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The Princeton Review: free Virtual Mock DAT Day event & free Virtual Dental School Symposium

Are you thinking about applying to Dental School? We’ve got some upcoming virtual events that we think would be perfect for you!

Virtual Mock DAT Day

Join us for a free practice DAT with The Princeton Review on Saturday, November 26th from 10am-1:30pm. You will be virtually proctored by one of our awesome reps! After the test, you will get free access to a detailed, interactive score report.

Virtual Dental School Symposium

In addition, Princeton Review will be hosting a virtual Dental School Symposium on Wednesday, November 16th, from 7:00pm-10pm EST, 4:00pm – 7:00pm PST, 5:00pm -8:00pm MST, and 6:00pm-9:00pm CST.

This exciting event includes:

  • Overview of the application process to dental school
  • Strategy Session for the DAT
  • Q&A panel of dental school students and grads to get all your questions answered

To register for BOTH events, please visit: www.princetonreview.com/dentaleventscanada.

Find the 6-digit event code (PSOId) for your campus and enter it here: https://secure.princetonreview.com/free-event-enrollment

Questions?
Call 1-800-273-8439 ext: 1207.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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IMPAC5 Call-for-Applications: Coastal Connections Pre-congress Programming

Are you hoping to attend IMPAC5 in Vancouver in February?

IMPAC5 has recently released an exciting call-for-applications for international youth ages 18-35 to participate in IMPAC5’s youth pre-congress and congress-based program. Ocean Wise is pleased to be leading the program, Coastal Connections, in coordination with the Government of Canada’s IMPAC5 team.  

Here are the program overviews for indigenous  and non- indigenous applicants and here’s the application page for youth to apply to.

In short, Coastal Connections offers pre-congress and congress-based programming for youth and young professionals. Youth can apply for multiple connections including virtual training, in-person team building, and an intergenerational knowledge exchange/mentorship program.  

We’re particularly looking to reach Indigenous and Northern youth, and there is a limited amount of funding to cover their accommodation, transportation, and registration to the Congress. Indigenous youth will be prioritized for this funding. It will be an extraordinary experience for a young person to accelerate their personal and professional development at IMPAC5.  

The application deadline is Nov 14th.