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    • Why Visual Impairment?

    2009 - 10.25

    Tags: Category Disability, Diversity, Goal, Research | Comments Off

    Alright, the standard belief is that people who want equal access, rights, etc. are stereotypically people that fall into the group that are being marginalized. I am by no measure blind; my nearsightedness is easily corrected with glasses.

    I am an individual with behavioral, learning, and pain disorders that affect my interactions with society. Why not work to improve individuals like myself?

    And there’s lots of reasons why I’ve decided I want to help people with severe visual impairment first.

    First up, people that are severely visually impaired have it a hell of a lot worse than I do. One of my friends is completely blind with not even light perception (extremely rare despite this being the imagined picture of the typical blind individual); I can’t send him Vimeo videos about research he’d enjoy because it isn’t accessible  (there isn’t a textual play). Even something as basic as keep backpacks out of aisles so he won’t trip is difficult for many people to grasp.

    As one can conclude from my research, having a severe visual impairment greatly decreases the opportunities a person has. I never had to worry about whether I would be literate, attend college, and be educated enough to have a profession; I assumed that I just needed to work for it. If a child has a severe visual impairment, this isn’t the case and that depresses and disgusts me.

    Secondly, helping others with different abilities does help me and many others. I find it very difficult to use a touchscreen because of the amount of attention necessary; staring at computer screens will give me a migraine, but I have limited choice with GUIs.

    The drive for multimedia also excludes people with hearing impairments, easily fatigued individuals, and even those that simply are in a hurry.

    Thirdly, and probably most importantly, just because I’ve decided to help one marginalized groups doesn’t mean I’m going to say “tough shit” to anyone else. Despite the common belief, I am not required to make an exclusive decision. I want to include as many people as possible; this just happens to be the area that I’m starting from.

    Simple things to do for accessibility

    2009 - 10.24

    Tags: , , Category Miscellaneous | Comments Off

    It’s depressing to me how inaccessible websites can be for people with disabilities. So, I’m putting together a simple list of things to do to improve web accessibilities:

    1. Include the alternative text tags in images. For users relying on a screen reader, it’s nice to know if an image is relevant and what it is. In HTML it’s as simple as adding a short line like so:
      <img src="image.gif" alt="Dalmatian">

    2. Add subtitles to YouTube videos. Not only do hearing impaired viewers benefit, but also individuals that have difficulty with the included spoken language.
    3. Design with the assumption the user will want to change the screen size. Enlarged text helps farsighted users, while being designed to also fit on small screens helps mobile phone accessors.
    4. Define terms. Don’t assume that the reader knows what you know; their initial visit may be to learn something or be entertained (it isn’t very entertaining to not know what people mean). As the terms I use are usually abbreviations or acronyms I also use some uncommon HTML tags:
      <abbr title="abbreviation">      ABBR</abbr> tags are great for abbreviation.
      Alternatively, the acronym tag: <acronym title="National Science Foundation">NSF</acronym> (which I admit I don’t use as often as I should.)
    5. Make sure there’s a way back to the homepage from every page. It’s terrible to get lost.
    6. Avoid flash media. While great for embedding, flash isn’t necessarily accessible to everyone. (Consider screen reader, mobile phone and other non-traditional users.)

    Getting Started on Grad School Applications

    2009 - 10.24

    Tags: , , Category Graduate school | Comments Off

    Graduate application committees will look at the following things:

    • Transcripts to learn what academic background you have, whether you are missing some of the basic requirements, and how well you did in classes.
    • Test scores are typically used more in figuring out which applicants to compare you against; from what I’ve heard, these don’t make much of an impact except in close cases.
    • Underrepresented in your area. Unlike as an undergraduate, schools are able to choose to allot positions to people who are underrepresented. The exception being that schools cannot ask about disability status.
    • Letters of Recommendation that you have requested. Who supports you and what do they have to say about you?
    • Statement of Purpose is your only contribution that you have complete present control over. What can you say in your own defense?

    My transcripts are alright. 3.0/4 GPA means that I do fairly well in my classes. The questionable aspects are low scores in math courses and that at my first university I specialized in Advertising and switched to Computer Science when I transferred.

    My GRE test scores are abysmal and I don’t expect they will improve. It is very time consuming to get the ETS to approve alternative testing for people with disabilities. In addition, I would still need to take the exam at the standard ETS testing locations;  at my university, this is a room with noisy computers and painful fluorescent lights.

    My letters of recommendation  I can expect to be fantastic. There’s a number of reasons for this:

    • All letters come from university faculty members. Professors prefer letters from other professors; it gives a point of reference.
    • My letters are by professors I have worked with. The worst kind of letter to have sent are ones that say “X did well in my super-hard course;” they can see that in the transcript. My professors know me well enough to comment on my work ethic,  researcher potential, and personality.

    So, I am a female, disabled student in computer science. I know the female portion will give me a boost when competing against European and European-American males. That said, it doesn’t guarantee me acceptance. In contrast to the “reverse racism” ideologists, I still need to earn acceptance.

    Which is where the statement of purpose comes into play. To get into any of my chosen schools, I need a great statement of purpose. Things that I should not include:

    • My disabilities. There’s a very good reason why universities can’t ask about disability status: many people (independent of their backgrounds) have a negative bias about disability.
    • Self-deprecating language. I have quite a propensity to say what I have done as being less impactful than it is.
    • Humor. I don’t know who will be reading it. They may be culturally different and not find humor where I do. They may simply not read the humor into it (humor tends to die once one has read a few hundred essays). They may simply have a different sense of humor.
    • My failings. Despite advisors telling you to explain why you have had a shortcoming (such as my poor math skills), you should not remind the reader of something negative found elsewhere in your application. 1)  It solidifies the shortcoming more in memory. 2) The explanation may come across as making excuses.

    So, I need to be serious, upbeat, and force myself to brag about my accomplishments. Not exactly my strongest feature.

    It’s actually because of graduate school that I started refract.me. I needed an outlet to practice writing about myself in at least a neutral if not positive manner. And I’ve done reasonably well. I have nice overviews of my projects, for example.

    Statement of Purpose

    2009 - 10.23

    Tags: , , Category Graduate school | Comments Off

    It’s past the halfway point of the semester. Soon, I will be sending off applications to HCI and related graduate school programs. From faculty mentors, I have received mixed opinions on whether to write a general or university-specific statement of purpose. Unlike the personal essay for undergraduates, the statement of purpose is better with focus rather than breadth.

    The focus being what is your goal in your intended field and what “prep work” have you already done towards this goal. For a sampling of what they’re looking for, here are the statement prompts for some of the schools (in alphabetical order) I’m considering (or skip ahead):

    Carnegie-Mellon (HCI focus in CS)

    Prepare a concise one or two page essay that describes your primary areas of interest in research, your related experiences, and your objective in pursuing a graduate degree at Carnegie Mellon. Your essay should be specific in describing your interests and motivations. When describing your research interests, you should explain why you think they are important areas of study and why you are particularly well-suited to pursuing them. You should describe any relevant education, research, commercial, government, or teaching experience. If you are applying to more than one program, you may (but are not required to) submit a separate Statement of Purpose for each program. […]

    Human-Computer Interaction applicants: Indicate your intended area of emphasis in the first paragraph of your Statement of Purpose. If appropriate to your background, you may include a link to your portfolio. If you are unable to provide a link, you may mail a CD of your portfolio to Martha Clarke, Admissions Coordinator, at the address given above.

    Georgia Tech (Human-Centered Computing in CS)

    Please give a Statement of Purpose detailing your academic and research goals as well as career plans. Include your reasons for choosing the Computational Science and Engineering Program as opposed to other programs and/or other universities.

    MIT (Media Arts and Sciences)

    Please give your reasons for wishing to do graduate work in the field you have chosen. Prepare your statement of objectives and goals in whatever form clearly presents your views. Include as far as you can, your particular interests, be they experimental, theoretical, or issue-oriented, and show how your background and MIT’s programs support these interests. The statement could be much like a proposal for graduate studies, in the more specific context of your professional objectives. You should set forth the issues and problems you wish to address. Explain your longer-term professional goals. The Admissions Committee will welcome any factors you wish to bring to its attention concerning your academic and work experience to date.

    University of California, Irvine (Ubiquitous Computing & Applications in CS)

    In an essay, please describe your aptitude and motivation for graduate study in your area of specialization, including your preparation for this field of study, your academic plans or research interests and experience in your chosen area of study, and your future career goals. Please be specific about why UC Irvine would be a good intellectual fit for you.

    […] The “Statement of Purpose” is expected to focus on your academic/research background and interests…

    University of Colorado at Boulder (Digital and Social Systems in CS)

    A Statement of Purpose regarding why you want to pursue graduate work in Computer Science and what you would like to do after you have received your graduate degree.

    University of Maryland (HCI in CS)

    Statement of Goals, Research Interests, and Experiences.…

    So, from these, what do I know about what I shall write?

    First, and most important, I need to know what my goal is in graduate school. What do I expect to get out of it? Despite the joke to the contrary, attending graduate school is not intended as an alternative to getting a real job after graduation. Students are committing 2-7 years of their life to pursuing a graduate degree.

    The goal itself  needs to address during graduate school and after. During school, what sort of research will you pursue? While this project proposal isn’t set in stone, you should have some idea of what you want to do. The second part can be very brief and is usually summed up as what job do you want? Typical answers are professor or researcher; atypical answers may be best kept to one’s self to avoid seeming naïve or frivolous.

    Secondly, where have I come from? What experiences have come together to create this goal and shape a person? Research, beliefs, employment, hobbies, interests, etc. all come together to answer this. While no one wants to hear about your life story, they do want some explanation as to why you are pursuing your goal. In almost all cases, you have done something already to either achieve your goal or to make something your goal. (The portfolio requirement comes into play with this section.)

    Thirdly, why do I want to be in this program and how do I fit it? It would be silly to apply to departments that do not do HCI research for me. The admissions people and faculty at the department want proof that you know what goes on at their university. As with the in-school goal, you can use a proposal to demonstrate knowledge.

    A different sort of admissions letter

    2009 - 10.21

    Tags: , Category Graduate school | Comments Off

    Last week I got an email from Berkeley. Today, Riverside contacted me.  Their email is quite a bit different:

    We received correspondence that you are interested in our Computer Science and Engineering Graduate Program. The first place that you should check out is our website: www.cs.ucr.edu <http://www.cs.ucr.edu/> and see what we are all about. Second, please let me know if there are any questions and/or concerns that you may have about the program; we have students from many different disciplines: math, biology, IT/IS, physics, business informatics, electrical engineering, etc. We also have students from many different backgrounds and countries, and celebrate the diversity of our department and university! If you apply online (http://graddiv.ucr.edu) as a PhD before January 5, 2010 then you are eligible to receive a fellowship that awards an average of about *$50,000* in the first two years alone! Our PhD students are fully funded, so if you have a minimum GPA of 3.0 (in your last two years of undergraduate study) and 1100 GRE score, please apply. You too, can attend graduate school essentially FOR FREE!! We are currently accepting applications for Fall 2010, Winter and Spring 2011. Please e-mail or call us if you have any questions or would like to schedule a visit to our campus. (If offered admission to our department, we will fund your visit up to $500 for you to come out and see us in our spring open house!)

    There’s something very wrong when I had not heard of the school and would not have sent any sort of correspondence. And that’s a difference I would like to keep from my undergraduate applications.

    As an incoming undergraduate, it’s  my responsibility to find schools I’m interested in and contacting them. I was competing for attention against millions.

    As an incoming grad student, it’s different. Universities know who I am (or more accurately that I am a female science student) and are contacting me.

    The second difference is the focus of the letter. This one focuses a lot more on money compared to the Berkeley one. And I am very confused as to why. I am a PhD student in the sciences; I expect my academic career to be paid for by the university I choose to attend. For a full graduate career, I should be researching and it is silly to expect me to give a university IP without being employed.

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