Proceedings of the 11th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility

Welcome to Pittsburgh for ASSETS 2009, the Eleventh International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility. ASSETS is where the international research community comes together to share the latest and greatest advances in the use of technology to support and include everyone in society, regardless of age, disability or situational impairment. We are delighted to welcome Professor Rory Cooper of the University of Pittsburgh as our keynote speaker for 2009. He will discuss emerging applications of technology to promote independence of people with disabilities and support clinical practice. The technical program of 26 podium presentations and 25 posters and demonstrations has been selected through peer-review by a distinguished international program committee. The program committee had the very difficult job of shaping the program from the diverse set of very highquality submissions. The podium presentations were selected from 82 full-length submissions (32% acceptance rate) and have been organized into 8 themes. It is exciting that the papers touch on so many aspects of people's lives - from work to play, from communication to computer/information access, from education to navigation. The program committee was also involved in the poster and demonstration program, chaired by Harriet Fell. These 25 presentations were selected from 44 submissions. The posters and demonstrations provide an opportunity to showcase late-breaking results as well as work in progress and practical implementations. Posters and demonstrations and selected ACM Student Research Competition entries, chaired by Faustina Hwang, are represented by abstracts in these proceedings and in two poster sessions during the conference. The ACM Student Research Competition is sponsored by Microsoft. The winners will go on to compete in the ACM-wide grand finals, where ASSETS entrants have established a strong track record, including last year's overall winner in the graduate category. The poster sessions will also showcase the participants in the doctoral consortium. This one-day workshop preceding the main conference was chaired by Professor Richard Ladner and generously sponsored by the National Science Foundation. It brought together 12 young accessibility researchers to discuss their ideas with a panel of established experts. A special edition of the SIGACCESS newsletter will feature extended abstracts from these students. What better place than the City of Bridges to present this wealth of exciting new research ranging from traditional topics like computer and Web access, and evaluation methods, through to mobile devices, virtual environments, and social accessibility. One of the charms of the ASSETS conference series, with its single track format, broad program and friendly atmosphere, is that it reminds us of the sheer diversity of human experience. As technology penetrates further into everyday life, it has the power to enhance that experience in so many ways. We hope that the conference will leave you with a sense of this variety and promise, having built a few new bridges of your own.