Flickr’s Relevant Photo Group Collections

Flickr has several groups that contain interesting images related to accessibility and technical communication. Log on to Flickr and go to the Groups tab to see a list of all groups and search for a group. You'll be sure to find something that is relevant or gives you a good laugh. Some groups we like are

  • Usability & Accessibility – Photos from the UPA.
  • This Is Broken – Photos about the brokenness (bad design) of items, places, etc. … see

    http://goodexperience.com/tib/ for more.
  • !Rock That Disability! – This is a group for anyone with a disability, physical, mental or otherwise. (But not just them!) Pictures you want to share.
  • Crutches, Wheelchairs and Canes – The beauty of people who use crutches, wheelchairs, or canes to get around. We welcome pictures of these items being used.
  • Design: Oohs & Aaughs – Photos of both praiseworthy and inadequate design. These are products, objects, and experiences (good or bad), which impact us enough to stop and take notice (and take a photo, too).
  • Public Computer Errors – Computer crashes, errors and other horrors as viewed by those of us innocently traveling along in life.
  • Accessible Travel – Photos of accessibility in tourism hot spots around the world. This includes wheelchair access, Braille signage, sound, markers for the hearing impaired, accessible and inaccessible intersections, public transportation, maps, lodging, restaurants, bathrooms, telephones and communication infrastructure, museum signage, best practices/worst practices, You (!) enjoying a public place with superb accessibility.
  • Wheelchair Accessible Trails – Photos taken on wheelchair accessible or paved hiking trails.
  • Rolling Rains – Travel with a Disability – This group gives travelers with disabilities, their travel companions, friends, and allies of the disability community a place to post about travel. Sometimes we see (or use other senses) differently; sometimes not. To publish your work here you don't need to snap a shot of every curb cut or Braille road sign – aesthetics counts – but somehow weave in insights about accessibility as you tell your story. The combination of photos, firsthand commentary, and the ability to contact the poster provides a unique and ever-changing consumer-level guide for the disability community on to where to go for a good time.
  • Old Wheelchairs, Gurneys, & Outdated Medical Equip – Photographs of outdated/decayed/found Medical Equipment/Devices. The older the better.
  • Writing Machines – Photos of typewriters, printing presses, and movable type—anything to do with the mechanical reproduction or creation of the written word.
  • Writing – Photos about writing and the life of writers. If you are a writer/journalist, you can show fragments of your writing life. Includes photos of handwritten pieces, pens, notebooks, Moleskines, and so on. Photos of people writing and artworks if the theme is "words, writing, writers".
  • Written In Stone – Photos of inscriptions (i.e., words, phrases, names) carved into stone such as on tombs, monuments, and buildings.

If you encounter another group you think we should add, please send us a note with the name of the Flickr group.

Speak out – the conferences want your papers!

With all the open calls for papers for various conferences, it is easier to blog about them than to tweet about them.

Why the call for papers?

Conferences are excellent opportunities to exchange knowledge with your peers. It's never too early or too late to share. Some even provide special student opportunities to encourage the new generation.

Think about it. If you pride yourself on being rather good at what you do, why not share that information with your professional colleagues? It is great for your career, but it is also great for your personal development.

Who wants these papers?

In semi-due-date order, we give you the conferences that have come to our attention:

  • Usability Professionals Association conference, Munich, Germany, 24-28 May 2010. Submissions due 11 September 2009.
  • Interaction 10 – IXDA, Savannah, GA, 4-7 February 2010. Submissions are due 15 September 2009.
  • WritersUA, Seattle, WA, 21 – 24 March 2010. Deadline for proposals is Saturday, 19 September 2009.
  • CSUN Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference, Northridge, California, 22- 27 March 2010. Submissions are due Friday, 16 October 2009. PS it's the 25th CSUN annual conference.
  • CHI (ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems), Atlanta, GA, 10 – 15 April 2010. Read the submissions page because there are several categories, each with different dues dates. For example, Media Showcase (new this year), Doctoral Consortium, Panels, and Case Studies are due by 9 October 2009. Special Interest Groups (SIGs), Work-in-Progress, and alt.chi are due 4 January 2010.

Finally, there are a slew of conference listings on the iInteraction Design Community. Tons of HCI-oriented conferences are listed. You'll also discover that the KeyContent wiki calendar lists many conferences. Look for the ones that interest you and find out when papers are due. Conference websites tend to be similar from year to year. Find out whether they have a newsletter or a Twitter account so you can find out the moment they have a new call for papers.