Project:Possibility is a non-profit organization that inspires students to create groundbreaking open source software for persons with disabilities. It accomplishes this by partnering with local universities and technology companies to host coding competitions. These competitions introduce them to the world of possibilities unlocked by accessibility and open source assistive technology. After the event, students can then connect to a community of persons with disabilities and software developers - a collaborative community that together enables universal access to experiences previously impossible to achieve.

2013, the coding competition modalities changed compared to the previous years, giving the students more time for their projects and to get involved in the field of accessibility. The goal was collaborative projects involving two or three team members throughout one semester. Teams at participating universities had to compete against each other at regionals with one winner representing a campus at the finals. As far as possible projects should be part of the university curriculum and accredited.

Code for a Cause

The 4th annual EU coding competition will take place in the 2014-2015 academic year. University student teams develop prototype assistive technology and accessibility support software and submit it to the competition. The best team from each university shall be invited to the Final Round to be held at AAATE 2015.

Aim

Our aim is to inspire students, faculty and other stakeholders in Computer Science/Engineering and related fields to take up accessibility and Assistive Technology as a topic. It

• introduces the power and the need of eAccessibility to the next generation of software engineers
• brings students in contact with the eAccessiblity and AT field and in particular with end users
• contributes to easy and fast solutions of pressing AT and eAccessibility problems outlined and defined by users
• releases code as open source which facilitates an accelerated path towards products and services.

Thereby a long term impact on the uptake and implementation of accessibility in practice is expected.

Target Groups

• University and college students in computer science/engineering and related fields to take part.
• Faculty staff and administrators to incorporate event into their engineering curricula to involve students.
• End users and experts to define pressing AT and eAccessibility problems to be solved.
• AT and eAccessibility experts to guide and consult student groups as Mentors.
• Industry leaders in technology and accessibility to connect students with opportunities within their organisations and support the event as Sponsors.

Call for Participation

We call for expression of interest: If you belong to one of the above groups and want to take part, please get in touch with

• Stanley Lam (Project:Possibility) or
• Klaus Miesenberger (ICCHP)

at: ss12europe(at)projectpossibility.org

until February 1, 2015 latest!

More information can be found at www.aaate.net/ProjectPossibility, opens an external URL in a new window