About a11ybos 2010

According to Wikipedia: “An unconference is a facilitated, participant-driven conference centered on a theme or purpose.” (Wikipedia). It is within this context that a Boston Accessibility Unconference was held on May 15, 2010 with, as the name suggests, the theme centering on accessibility—namely, to information technology for people with disabilities.

This will be Boston’s first IT accessibility unconference, bringing together developers, usability professionals, web designers, other IT professionals and end-users with disabilities together in an informal, non-threatening environment to learn from each other and to promote universal design of and accessibility to IT. As it is an unconference, speakers will be solicited on-site and the schedule will be built on the spot. What’s more, the event will be free of charge to participants.

The idea of an accessibility unconference for Boston was first inspired by someone commenting on LinkedIn that they could not afford to make it out to the International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference (CSUN), and wouldn’t it be nice to have some sort of event in the northeast.

That comment was then shared on Twitter, with the idea suggested of possibly having an event similar to Accessibility Camp DC held in October 2009. Over time, through the power of Twitter, the idea gained momentum. Similar events are actively being considered for Seattle and London (UK).