As the audio industry seeks to improve diversity within its workforce, and the music industry seeks to widen the diversity of artists creating music, it is essential that the inclusion becomes woven into the design of the tools available.
But what do terms such as accessibility and inclusive design actually mean?
How might you begin to adopt inclusive design practices so that your software becomes accessible to a wider audience?
What are some of the big-name audio companies doing to support accessibility and how can you learn from their experience?
How can companies take practical steps, together, to act on a shared desire for a more inclusive industry?
These are the kind of questions that this workshop seeks to answer.
Workshop outline
The format of the workshop will be as follows:
1. Introductions and updates from panellists, sharing insight into their companies' recent and future work on accessibility (45 mins).
2. Pre-recorded updates shining a light on other accessibility-related projects from across the industry (20 mins).
3. An overview of accessible GUI design in JUCE (30 mins) – Harry Morley (Focusrite). Harry will:
- Tour the Focusrite Control 2 software to introduce the common accessibility-related terminology.
- Share his experience of working on Focusrite’s Scarlett and Vocaster software, using the JUCE toolkit to make this software accessible to screen reader users.
- Explain key concepts such as screen reader focus and keyboard focus, control grouping, and focus priority order.
- Share useful learnings and tips for working with JUCE, and other things to be aware of.
- Suggest approaches to testing accessibility directly, working with visually impaired beta testers, and collaborating with the user community.
[10-minute break]
4. Panel discussion: a collaborative approach to inclusive design in audio products (30 mins).
- How do we make the most of the shared desire for an industry that is more inclusive to disabled engineers and artists?
- A look into the MIDI Association’s proposed ‘Music Accessibility Standard’ so far, and more.
5. Roundtable discussion in response to audience Q&A. Attendees can contribute in person, or via Zoom Q&A or Discord. If you encounter barriers to accessing these platforms, please send questions to: contact@soundwithoutsight.org
PanellistsSpeaking in person- Jay Pocknell (RNIB)
- Harry Morley (Focusrite)
- Tom Poole (JUCE)
- Adil Ghanty (Native Instruments)
- Scott Chesworth (Freelance Accessibility Consultant and Trainer)
- Martin Keary (Muse Group)
- Arvid Johnsson (Softube)
Joining remotely- Athan Billias (MIDI Association)
- Adi Dickens (Ableton)
