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I sent the following message to Dynamicland a few years ago and never got a satisfactory response. Does anyone know if they're doing anything about accessibilit
by mwcampbell 6y ago
I sent the following message to Dynamicland a few years ago and never got a satisfactory response. Does anyone know if they're doing anything about accessibility for blind people or people with other disabilities?
Hi,
First of all, Dynamicland's goal of "agency, not apps" resonates with me. I'm in favor of things that make programming more accessible to normal people.
However, I worry that Dynamicland will be a step backward for people with disabilities, particularly blind people and people with impaired mobility. For us (I'm legally blind myself), I believe the virtual worlds of today's computers aren't imprisoning but liberating. Consider that a blind person can't see that "fully functional" scrap of paper, and a person who can't use their hands can't write on that paper or manipulate the other physical objects in Dynamicland.
Do you have a plan to solve this problem while holding to your goal of "No screens, no devices"? It seems to me that there's no way to reconcile these conflicting requirements without making an exception for people who can't work directly with the paper and other objects.
Or have you decided that it's better to undo the equalizing effect of computers for people with disabilities, for the good of everyone else? I would obviously be disappointed if that's the case. But I understand that everything's a trade-off, and perhaps it's not reasonable to confine the majority to an inhumane way of working for the benefit of a few. So I don't mean this as an accusation; I really want to know.
Thanks,
Matt
- gugagore 6y agoI think your question is important, and I wish you had received a reply. I think it's common for people's needs to be in conflict; everything is a trade-off, as you acknowledged. But I think you baked into your question a false dichotomy. "Dynamicland" does not necessarily have to _undo_ the "equalizing effect of computers", nor does its absence mean that the majority is confined to an _inhumane_ (wow...) way of working.
- mwcampbell 6y ago> an _inhumane_ (wow...) way of working. That was Bret Victor's characterization of being confined to a screen, not mine.
- chromanoid 6y agoI think one could expand the project to incorporate virtual participants that can explore the physical workspace via computer pretty easily. Since the stuff only can come to life when there is a computer that can interpret everything. At the end there would still have to be someone who materializes the virtual objects made by remote participants.
- astrange 6y agoThis is an important point, but it does seem like computers could be providing more information to blind (or deaf) users - there are still other senses we don't use in UX (touch, heat, smell) and it seems like the real life concept could still be applicable somehow.