ASSETS

We are pleased to welcome you to the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019). The ASSETS conference is the premier computing research conference exploring the design, evaluation, and use of computing and information technologies to benefit people with disabilities and older adults. In our 21st year, the ASSETS conference will continue its tradition of presenting innovative research on mainstream and specialized assistive technologies, accessible computing, and assistive applications of computer, network, and information technologies.

Our keynote speaker is Dr. Karen Nakamura, Robert and Colleen Haas Distinguished Chair in Disability Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and Director of the Berkeley Disability Lab. Dr. Nakamura's talk is titled My Algorithms Have Determined You're Not Human: AI-ML, Reverse Turing- Tests, and the Disability Experience.

This year's technical program features the most papers of any ASSETS conference to date. We received 158 paper submissions. Of these, the program committee selected 41 papers, resulting in an acceptance rate of 26%. These papers present work from the leading edge of accessible computing research, including innovative user interfaces, advances in accessible education, and studies of how people with disabilities use, adapt, and create new accessible technologies. The ASSETS Experience Reports track received 16 submissions, of which four were selected for presentation, resulting in an acceptance rate of 25%. The ASSETS Experience Reports document authors' personal experiences related to the creation, use, and deployment of accessible technologies.

The posters and demos track, chaired by Martez Mott and Kristen Shinohara, received 97 submissions. The program committee selected 40 posters and 17 demos for submission, resulting in an acceptance rate of 59%. The accepted posters present late-breaking results from the research community, while the accepted demos provide an opportunity for conference attendees to directly experience new advances in accessible technology.

ACM SIGACCESS is committed to developing the next generation of researchers in the field of accessible computing. This year's ASSETS continues the tradition of supporting and showcasing the work of student researchers. The doctoral consortium, chaired by Jon Froehlich and Amanda Lazar, brought together 15 doctoral researchers to discuss their work with a panel of established researchers in a one-day workshop the day before the main conference. A special edition of the SIGACCESS newsletter will feature extended abstracts from these doctoral students. We thank the U.S. National Science Foundation and SIGACCESS for their generous support of the doctoral consortium.

The ACM Student Research Competition (SRC), chaired by Robin Brewer and Foad Hamidi, offers a unique forum for undergraduate and graduate students to present their original research before a panel of judges, and also a chance to meet other students and to get direct feedback on their work from experts. This year, eight entries have been selected as SRC finalists to give poster presentations, with selected participants also giving oral presentations at the conference. Winners from the ASSETS 2019 SRC will go on to compete in the ACM-wide grand finals.