What do Deaf people want in a smart assistant? (with Auslan) | Jessica Korte & Julie Lyons | TEDxUQ

This talk includes sign language interpretation in Auslan by Kahli Bennett and Paul Heuston.

New technology often doesn't cater to disability communities, who have unique needs and worldviews that outsiders don’t always understand. The best way to make impactful technologies is to include the people who will use them in the design process. Dr Jessica Korte is passionate about the ways good technology can improve lives. She is a lecturer at the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at The University of Queensland. To ensure technology is “good”, Jessica advocates for involving end users in the design process, especially when those people belong to “minority” user groups. Her philosophy for technology design is that the needs of people who are disempowered or disabled by society should be considered first; everyone else will then benefit from technology that maximises usability.

Julie Lyons is a research assistant at The University of Queensland. She is passionate about sports, drama, and Auslan. Julie is one of the Deaf leaders within the Queensland Deaf community, being involved in major community sporting and cultural events. She has been a teacher of Auslan for 28 years, and the State Administrator at Deaf Sports & Recreation Queensland for 17 years. She loves being involved in any projects that might be beneficial for the Deaf community, especially those developing technology for better access for Deaf people to communicate with the wider communities. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx