Community workshops and design crits
Overview
On Tuesdays 2:00 PM ET, the inclusive design community gathers together to learn and discuss various topics in the form of a workshop or a design critique.
Workshops provide the inclusive design community an opportunity for engaging with a broader community to spur our creative processes with topics that may align with our projects, be lateral with, or challenge our ideas by providing alternative perspectives. It also provides the opportunity to make connections with the work of those in the broader community.
Design critique (or more informally a "crit") is an opportunity for us to come together as a small group and examine and discuss a creative artifact - a design wireframe, a persona, a newly-implemented UI or software component, etc. These design crits are informal, constructive, specific, and respectful. It's a forum where anyone from the community can bring their designs and receive feedback. For more information, refer to "Design Crits - Additional Information" below.
Lightning Talks are a quick/short format discussions/presentations, generally geared towards a professional development topic. They are intended to be 15 to 30 min in length, but may stretch longer from time-to-time; however, if they require more time a Workshop or Design Crit may be a better avenue. The lightning talks typically take place after our standup meetings on Wednesdays.
Note about dates and times: In order to be flexible, occasionally the date and times of the meetings will change. Please note these changes in the Upcoming schedule below.
To join the conversation please join us remotely at this Zoom web conference room.
In-person meetings have been suspended due to closures related to COVID-19.
Creative Commons and Community Conduct
Audio and video recordings, notes, and artifacts taken during community workshops and design crits are done under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please let us know if you have any licensing needs or requirements.
Community workshops and design crits follow the Fluid and Inclusive Design Community Code of Conduct. Attendees of these meetings are expected to understand and respect the guidance in the Code of Conduct.
Check out the Meetings page for more reoccurring events.
Check out the Collaborate page for more ways to get involved!
Upcoming
Topic | Meeting format | Facilitator/Presenter | Date | Time | Links / Notes | Coordinator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Open Menu | Community Workshop | Mark Weiler | TBD | 2 - 3pm ET | Wilfrid Laurier University Library’s Open Menu | @Justin Obara |
TBD | Community Workshop | Liz Lane | TBD | 2 - 3pm ET | @Justin Obara | |
Interdepartmental Dyslexia Awareness Network | Community Workshop | John Ward | TBD | 2 - 3pm ET | @Justin Obara @Caren Watkins | |
Licensing and Contributions at IDRC Workshops and Crits | Design Crit | Justin, Jon | TBD | |||
IDRC work calendars and coordinating schedules | Design Crit | Justin, Jon | TBD | |||
Process for sharing IDRC videos and recordings | Design Crit | Justin, Jon | TBD |
Past
Workshops from previous years can be seen on the Previous Community Workshop and Design Crit Topics page. Video recordings may not have captions. If you would like to contribute to captioning any of the videos, please reach out to us through the fluid-work mailing list.
Topic | Meeting format | Facilitator | Date | Time | Links / Notes | Coordinator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Baby bliss bot onscreen keyboard | Design Crit | Cindy Li | August 1, 2023 | 2 - 3pm ET | @Justin Obara @Jonathan Hung | |
Social Bonding, Move2Learn, embodied cognition | Community Workshop | Minna Nygren | July 11 | 2 - 4pm ET | @Jonathan Hung | |
Primer: Baby Bliss Bot | Community Workshop | Maysa, Shirley McNaughton | April 14, 2023 | 1 - 3pm ET | Hour One History of AAC/Educational Application of Blissymbolics, 1971-2023 'Bliss' Community and Teaching of Blissymbolics, 1971-2023 Important features of Semantography (Blissymbolics} 10 minute break Hour Two Exploring possibilities for Baby Bliss Bot - an Educator’s Perspective Group Assignment and Sharing Questions, Answers, Discussion Primer: Baby Bliss Bot transcript (VTT) Primer: Baby Bliss Bot video - Part 2 Primer: Baby Bliss Bot transcript - Part 2 (VTT) Reference | @Justin Obara @Jonathan Hung |
Paper Playground - Interactive Interaction Design Space | Design Crit | Taliesin | Mar 28, 2023 | 2 - 3pm ET | Description: From the Inclusive Design team at PhET Interactive Simulations: A co-design tool and integrated space to collaboratively design multimodal interactions. A design space that allows for mapping physical space to design parameters, detached from standard interaction patterns for web components/design.
| @Justin Obara |
Typographic revival of historical scripts | Workshop | Kaveh | Mar 16, 2023 NOTE: Special time and day. | 12 - 1:30pm ET |  Typographic revival of historical scripts Description: The Atelier national de recherche typographique (ANRT) is a postgraduate research program and place of excellence with specific expertise in typeface design and editorial design at ENSAD Nancy, France. The program was established in 1985, aiming to ‘contribute to developing type design and typography.’ Typographic revival of historical scripts Video Recording | @Justin Obara @Lisa Liskovoi |
Accessible design collaboration tools | Design Crit | Lisa, Cheryl | Mar 7, 2023 | 2 - 3pm ET | @Justin Obara | |
ChatGPT Accessibility test/comparison | Design Crit | Lisa, Maysa | Feb 7, 2023 | 2 - 3pm ET | @Justin Obara |
Suggested Future topics
Topic | Facilitator |
|---|---|
Agile development: planning | Michelle |
Teacher to talk about education plans (EP) | Guest? |
Students with learning disabilities to talk about their experiences | Guest? |
People working with students on mindfulness and mental health | Guest? |
Talk to people who teach children to program | Lighthouse Labs? |
Someone from able gamers to talk about how people with various disabilities interact with games | Guest? |
People working with young adults with autism | Guest? |
Rose? How people engage in social connections and relationships | Guest? |
Empathy Toy | |
Engage with OCAD students to talk about their projects and/or areas of study. ( MDes and others) | Guest? |
Music Therapy | Theresa |
Someone who has developed software for older adults | Guest? |
Someone who works with brain sensing tech | Muse? |
Someone to talk about entrepreneurship and marketing ( how to reach people to use our software and services e.g. P4A, Outside-in, hack-a-thons, etc.) | Guest? |
Latest A11y models and principles to follow, and language to use ( e.g. things that the MDes students are taught ) | Jutta? |
Accessibility in the Toronto Public Library | Guest? |
Case Studies of User Creativity in Computing (Monthly)
| |
Skills Development workshops (Monthly?) Below are some examples of topics that could be covered.
|
Offsite Visit: Location | Topic | Contact |
|---|---|---|
Yura Zenevich | ||
Underground Hack Lab? | ||
IDI Partners (e.g. UofT, Ryerson, etc) | ||
Teaching children to program |
Challenges / Hack Session / Workshop | Facilitator |
|---|---|
Design Crits - Additional Information
A critique (or more informally a "crit") is an opportunity for us to come together as a small group and examine and discuss a creative artifact - a design wireframe, a persona, a newly-implemented UI or software component, etc.
These design crits are informal, constructive, specific, and respectful. It's a forum where anyone from the community can bring their designs and receive feedback.
The idea is to focus on tangibles, not on abstract plans:
What have we designed or built?
why is it like this, what are its strengths, and how can we make it better?
Since these meetings are participant driven, there will be occasions when the crit will not meet. Meetings will be announced in the schedule above, and to the relevant mailing lists (i.e. inclusive design community list, and fluid-work).
Why do Critiques?
Techniques like UX Walkthroughs, Inclusive Design Mapping Tool ("Petals & Flowers"), or User States and Contexts will help us concretely assess and discuss an artifact from different perspectives. It's based on the idea that creative work gets stronger when it is discussed amongst peers and diverse ideas are considered.
Crits help us to:
amplify the strengths of a design
suggest alternative trajectories
reflect on our work through the lenses of different users
identify areas of confusion
focus on tangible artifacts, not just abstract ideas or goals
Design crits are intentionally informal and casual
We try to keep design crits very informal and casual on purpose. This makes it easier for participants to share designs (requiring less time preparing formal presentations), and opens up more time for organic conversations. A formal presentation of your project or design is not required, and we encourage a more conversational approach.
Presenting at Design Crits
Design crits are a great opportunity to discuss designs, refine ideas, ask questions, and get feedback. To get the most out of a design crit:
Come prepared with specific design issues to share - this will help focus the discussion on the topics that will help you.
Try not cover too much or expect to have every question addressed.
Design crits are intended to be 1 hour in length to help keep the discussion productive and specific.
If needed, another design crit can be scheduled to continue the discussion, or you can take advantage of the Inclusive Design Community mailing list to reach a broader audience.