Creative Technologist
With a background in psychology and聽an academic focus on聽the social psychology of disability,聽Ben Lee joined the Social Impact track of the MS CTD program to be "part of the change that no longer treats universal design as an afterthought." Specifically, he sought experience in聽UX/UI of accessible technology.
Backstory
As an undergraduate, Ben聽was a social activist working聽to destigmatize mental illness, developmental/physical disabilities聽and eating disorders. Towards the end of college, he聽discovered the field of usability design and its importance in a聽world with an ever-changing and technologically complex future. After graduating from Oregon State University聽with a BS in psychology, Ben聽worked for a remote IT help desk聽and as a business office manager. As a volunteer, he worked as an event photographer for the National Association of the Blind, as a sighted workout partner for Achilles International as well as served meals to those struggling to make ends meet聽in the Stone Soup Kitchen in Corvallis, Oregon.
Coursework
Core:
- Global Development
- ICTD Case Studies
- Fieldwork Methods
- ICTD Laboratory
Electives:
- Creative Technologies
- User-Centered Design & Development 1
- User-Centered Design
- ATLAS Master's聽Independent Study
- Input Interaction Access
- Science Programming and Data Lab聽
Projects
:听聽Providing an reverse online job fair experience that is completely accessible for those with visual impairments through the use of screen readers.
Ben's聽culminating Social Impact聽Thesis project used screen readers聽Job Access with Speech (JAWS)聽and Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA)聽and was developed in conjunction with the National Federation for the Blind, Boulder chapter, the Achilles Boulder chapter and the Audio Information Network of Colorado. In this online reverse job fair, employers visit booths set up by potential employees with visual impairments to give the potential employees greater control over their introductions聽and presentations and maintain the job fair goal of allowing employers to identify the people most relevant to their job listings. Ben created聽the project to have total screen reader accessibility, to improve an experience that was already available for people with vision impairments and sighted employers and to offer a聽platform that allowed people with vision impairments to give context to their professional history and skills.聽
Career Goals
To make sure future technologies are accessible to all.