Disability, Technology, Art, Ethnography, Activism, and Access
Karen Nakamura, Professor
Anthropology
Applications for Fall 2024 are closed for this project.
The Berkeley Disability Lab (https://disabilitylab.berkeley.edu/) has been working on several projects involving disability, technology, art, activism, and access in the Bay Area. We welcome students from all fields of the university (arts, engineering, social sciences, communications, CS, design, music, architecture, etc.), and people with personal experience of disability or exclusion are particularly welcome.
You will be working in teams.
Team projects that we have run in the past include:
* Environmental Sensing – creation of tools that map the sensorial environment (light/noise/volatile chemicals) in order to create more inclusive spaces for people with light/sound/chemical sensitivities
*Team Propaganda - accessible front-end website design and communication
*Team Criptionary - We are seeking undergraduate students with skills in database design and management, backend and frontend development, web hosting and deployment, security and data protection, UX design, and project management to join our team in building an innovative online database.
*Team Toilet - seeking students who wish to create an accessible toilet for disabled people.
Fall 2024 we look forward to continuing some of these projects while also organizing several disability related conferences.
Role: Coming up with the technologies will require:
1. Background research and reading
2. Research specific user needs
3. Design monitoring, evaluation, adaptation tech
4. Field test the adaptations / monitoring with user feedback
5. Writing up the design in a way that can be shared and hacked by the disability community
5. Iterate design
Students will learn how to conduct research into adaptive technology and design. They will learn how to conduct field interviews and run field tests and how to iterate feedback into the design process.
Qualifications: Qualifications: Students with lived experience with disabilities, neurodiversity, or environmental sensitivity are particularly invited to apply. Background experience with standard makerspace tools (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, 3D design tools, CNC, 3D printing, videography and editing, etc.) would be a plus but can also be learned through this lab.
Required: Students must be available for the weekly all-lab meeting and lunch every Friday from 12-2p. This is in addition to your own project team scrum meetings, which you can decide with your teammates and the lab manager. We ask that members dedicate 6-8 a week to the URAP (3hrs for meetings; 3-5 for specific project work). Required: Students will need to agree with both a lab code of conduct agreement as well as lab equipment safety requirements and trainings.
For Criptionary -
Database Design and Management:
Proficiency in SQL for creating, querying, and managing relational databases.
Familiarity with Database Management Systems (DBMS) such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, or similar.
Understanding of Database Design principles, including creating tables, defining relationships, and ensuring data normalization.
Backend Development:
Experience with Server-Side Programming Languages like Python, Java, PHP, or Node.js to develop the logic that interacts with the database.
Knowledge of APIs (RESTful or GraphQL) to enable communication between the database and the front end.
Skills in Authentication and Authorization to implement secure access controls.
Frontend Development:
Basic understanding of HTML/CSS for structuring and styling web pages.
Proficiency in JavaScript (or frameworks like React, Angular, or Vue.js) to build dynamic user interfaces.
Experience with AJAX for loading data asynchronously without page reloads.
Web Hosting and Deployment:
Familiarity with Web Servers like Apache, Nginx, or cloud services (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) for hosting the database.
Understanding of Version Control systems (e.g., Git) to manage code and collaborate effectively.
Interest in Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) practices to automate deployment processes.
Security and Data Protection:
Basic knowledge of Data Encryption techniques to secure data.
Understanding of SQL Injection Prevention and best practices for protecting databases from attacks.
Awareness of Data Privacy Regulations and how to ensure compliance.
User Experience (UX) Design:
Skills in User Interface (UI) Design to create intuitive and user-friendly interfaces.
Awareness of Accessibility Standards to make the database interface accessible to all users.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Nathan Tilton, Ph.D. candidate
Hours: 6-8 hrs
Related website: https://disabilitylab.berkeley.edu/
Related website: http://disability.jp/nakamura