Profile: Kathleen Cohen
Guest Contribution
The keynote was one of the most valuable parts of my #Hackfort experience as not only did it introduce new technology, but it changed my own personal views about how we should be approaching technology in general. The keynote was given by Kathleen Cohen, an Experience Strategist. Kathleen focuses on the intersection of art and technology, and even policy.
Kathleen also spoke about her current venture, which is participating in a virtual reality competition put on by the US Dept of Education that was started under the Obama administration. The US Dept of Education had found that there was a huge gap between 11th grade and first time college or career experiences. She along with her gaming colleagues designed a VR platform of quick gamified tasks of current job skills which would give kids a chance to see what they’re good at through job simulation, for example experiencing dental surgery through VR.
Kathleen stated that we should design for the toughest design challenges to raise the bar for humanity. I thought that was a powerful statement that should be applied to both hardware and software. How is the software you’re developing helping the most disadvantaged, the most needy?
She used the example of Eyewriter , an organization dedicated to helping ALS patients draw using only their eyes. It tells the story of a young artist, TEMPTONE, who was “diagnosed with ALS in 2003, a disease which has left him almost completely physically paralyzed… except for his eyes.” He is now able to make art with just his eyes.
The inspiring video below shows the story behind Eyewriter.
https://medium.com/media/82e40cefa11f8e11dc4180e338c8e582/href
With the advent of VR and mixed reality, it is our duty as developers and designers to continue raising that bar even higher.
This is an excerpt from my website. The full article can be viewed at jowaynejosephs.com
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