Current Calls for Papers
Special Issue on Wearables for Accessibility
Guest Editors:
Audrey Girouard, Carleton University, [email protected]
Sowmya Somanath, University of Victoria, [email protected]
Daniel Tetteroo, Eindhoven University of Technology, [email protected]
Wearable accessories and devices such as smart clothing, fitness and health trackers, cultural adornments and, various forms of body enhancement and modifications are becoming part of our everyday lives. They provide intimate communication mechanisms that can be adapted to suit varied situation needs, serve as statements about self, society and culture, and their adaptive nature presents opportunities to create multi-sensory disability-friendly devices. To create broader acceptance and applications of wearable technologies, questions regarding accessibility have to be further examined. Wherein accessibility refers to many things including studying and designing wearables to meet individual needs, creating adaptations to support people with diverse-abilities on the persona spectrum, addressing social and cultural inclusion, and creating tools to prototype and test if wearables meet accessibility standards.
This special issue of TACCESS invites contributions from researchers working at the intersection of accessibility and wearable computing. We welcome contributions that include studies, methodologies, design frameworks and systems/tools. Through this special issue we hope to create an opportunity for researchers in HCI, Design, Accessibility and other relevant domains to share their knowledge and insights gained from both current and emerging approaches to accessible wearable computing. We hope that the collection of papers from this special issue will help expand our view of what accessibility means in the context of wearable computing as well as demonstrate meaningful instantiations of research that can serve as helpful examples for future research in this area.
Topics of interest for this special issue include (but are not limited to):
- Understanding user needs in the design of wearables for accessibility
- Designing and conceptualizing with and for users of wearables for accessibility
- Fabricating and integrating wearable devices, e-textiles, smart textiles for accessibility
- Adoption and abandonment of wearable technology for accessibility
- Understanding the in-context application of wearables for accessibility, e.g., in transportation, at work, at home.
- Tangible interfaces, physical computing, on-body electronics designed with and for people with disabilities
- Inclusive design of assistive wearable devices
- DIY approaches and technologies for accessible wearables
- Methodological approaches for understanding or assessing wearables in accessible contexts
- Visualization of data from wearable assistive devices
- Understanding and exploring the potential and limitations of wearable technology in the context of specific target user groups, such as e.g., older adults, persons with dementia, persons with diabetes.
- Social, physical and cognitive aspects in relation to the application of wearable technology for accessibility.
Submission and Review Process:
Contributions must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere, although substantial extensions of conference or workshop papers will be considered as long as they adhere to ACM's minimum standards regarding prior publication. All submissions must be prepared according to the Guide for Authors as published in the Journal website. Submissions should follow the journal's suggested writing format (listed at Author Guidelines) and the SIGACCESS guidelines for writing about accessibility. Submissions should be submitted through Manuscript Central https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/taccess, indicating that the paper is intended for the Special Issue. All papers will be subject to the peer review process and final decisions regarding publication will be based on these reviews.
Accepted papers may be presented at the ASSETS conference following publication. Details about presenting accepted TACCESS papers at the ASSETS conference may be found at Policy on TACCESS paper presentations at the ASSETS or W4A.
For questions and further information, please contact [email protected].
Important Dates:
- Submissions deadline: October 15, 2021 Extended to December 15, 2021
- First-round review decisions: Jan 15, 2022 March 15, 2022
- Deadline for revision submissions: March 15, 2022 May 15, 2022
- Notification of final decisions: May 15, 2022 July 15, 2022
- Tentative publication: June 15, 2022 August 15, 2022