Project:Possibility
presents
Orientation
October 16, 2008
Welcome to the SS12 Orientation
Agenda
• All about SS12
– Purpose
– Projects
– Judging
– Schedule
• Q&A
The Purpose of SS12
• Create empowering software for the disabled
– Because technology is powerful
– Because there is a need
– Because we can
• Software: Open sourced
– Malleable
– Knowledge is retained and
nurtured within a community
– Free to those who need it
most – it cannot be sold for
profit
• SS12 is an Extension
of Project:Possibility
Who is behind SS12?
Organizers
– Project:Possibility
– USC Association for Computing Machinery
Corporate Sponsors
–
–
–
–
Lockheed Martin
Mozilla
Microsoft
Sony
University Sponsors
– Undergraduate Student
Government
– USC Stevens
Word Prediction
• Time is money, but what about those who have
limited mobility and can’t type quickly?
• This project is extending work completed in SS12 ’07
and Semester Project
• This software helps people with limited mobility by
predicting the next word to be typed based on past
words/characters.
• Useful Skills:
– Data structures
– User Interface
– Algorithms
• Mentor: Michael Parker (Google)
Community Captioner
• This software will allow the community
to caption videos for the hearing
impaired
• Useful Skills
– Database
– Javascript
– Flash
• Mentor: Ely Lerner (Amgen)
Neural Impulse Actuator
Game
• Everyone loves a great game, even those
who are visually impaired and hearing
impaired
• Neural Impulse Actuator
(http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/ocz_peripherals/nia-
neural_impulse_actuator) is
hardware that maps
neural impulses to keyboard strokes
• This game is for users to play by just
thinking the action
• Mentor: Harold Tan
(FastTrackFundraising.com)
Multi-IM Client
• A lot of people communicate now-adays through instant messenger
programs
• This software will make an accessible
multi-IM client
• Mentor: Brian D’Souza (Amgen)
Axsjax
• There has been no way to report dynamic updates to
a website to assistive technology—until now!
(WAIARIA)
• AxsJax: Inject accessibility into existing websites
• One project will create an accessible method to
retrieve walking directions from Google Maps
• Another project will make LinkedIn accessible
• Useful Skills
– Web development
– DOM
– Javascript
• Mentor: Prashanth Pandian (JPL)
Barcode Reader
• This project is to help those who are visually
impaired.
• The software will be deployed onto a phone,
which uses the camera to take a picture of
the barcode
• UPC barcode reader will connect to a
database to provide information such as
nutritional information, technical specs, and
pricing
• Mentor: Michael Crowley (USC)
Exhibition Projects
• Speaking Thunderbird
– Integrate TTS engine to Thunderbird email client,
and make the new module as an extension for
thunderbird
• Games
– For the visually impaired and/or hearing impaired
• Head Tracker
– Use a web cam to track head movement and
correlate it to mouse movement
• Mentor: Ojas Mulay (Amgen), Mike Parker
(Google)
Judging
• Is this something that someone would want
to continue work on? This is open source!
– Architecture
– Code Quality
– Documentation
• Is this an effective way of accomplishing the
task?
– Ingenuity
– Innovation
• How well did we meet the challenge?
– Challenge factor
Our Recommendations
• Divide and Conquer is the name of the
game
– Break into roles
– Paired Programming
– Elect a team lead
• Eat, drink, and be merry
– take breaks, have fun!
• Spend sufficient time
on design
SS12 Mentors/Judges
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Kanwal Mahal (Sandia National Lab)
Stefani Chan (Sandia National Lab)
Felix Rabinovich (Amgen)
Michael Crowley (USC)
Michael Parker (Google)
Harold Tan (FastTrackFundraising)
Prashanth Pandian (JPL)
Brian D’Souza (Amgen)
Ojas Mulay (Amgen)
Ely Lerner (Amgen)
Prizes
• Grand Prize
– $1000 Cash – To Top team
• Other Prizes
– $160 USC Bookstore certificates
– Microsoft Software/Games
– SS12 Tshirts
Schedule
Thursday – Orientation
• Students register project preferences
• Mentors contact team members on Friday
Saturday
• Check in begins 9:00 AM Saturday
– Name tags
– Team locations
– Updated schedule
• Opening Remarks/Announcements begin promptly at 9:30 AM
• Code-A-Thon!!!
Sunday
• Day begins promptly by 9:00 AM
• Project Presentations
– ~10 minutes/team at 7:30 PM
What to Bring
•
•
•
•
Laptop with Wireless
AC Adaptor
Pillows/blankets
Text books/references
To Do
• Vote for your project preferences, due by
tomorrow at noon
• Set up SVN on your computer
• Learn how to use wiki
• When you receive your project/team
assignment
– Set up relevant development environments
– Re-familiarize yourself with your development
environments
• Less fumbling, the better
– Feel free to contact your teammates
Q&A
?
Thank You
• Lockheed Martin
• Project:Possibility
– Stanley Lam, Aaron Chan
• ACM Executive Board
– David Richardson, Prateek Tandon, David Hodge
• You, for being part of SS12
• Remember to submit your
project preferences tonight!