ASSETS

Welcome to Dundee, Scotland -- The City of Discoveries -- for ASSETS 2011, the Thirteenth International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility. We come to the city that is said to be built on Jute, Jam, and Journalism to try to make some discoveries of our own. We are fortunate to be close to the University of Dundee whose school of computing has such a rich history of accessibility work. It is an ideal location for the international ASSETS community to come together to collaborate and share innovative research on the design and use of both mainstream and specialized assistive technologies.

We are delighted to welcome Professor Alan Dix, who specializes in Human Computer Interaction at Lancaster University, as our keynote speaker for 2011. He will discuss the changing face of our world brought about by the data-centric web and what it means to interactions and accessibility.

The technical program of 27 podium presentations and 45 posters & demonstrations has been selected through peer-review by a distinguished international program committee. This committee had the very difficult job of assembling a conference program from the diverse set of very highquality submissions. We received submissions from more than 20 different countries. The podium presentations were selected from 90 full-length submissions (a 30% acceptance rate), and have been organized into 9 themes including design issues for assistive technologies, comprehension studies, interfaces for mobile & ubiquitous systems, and web accessibility. The accepted papers address a variety of assistive technology users including older adults, people who use sign language, and people with visual, intellectual, mobility, and severe speech impairments. The program committee was also involved in the poster and demonstration program which was chaired by Leo Ferres. These 45 presentations were selected from 79 submissions (a 57% acceptance rate). The posters and demonstrations provide an opportunity to showcase late-breaking results as well as work in progress and practical implementations.

Posters & demonstrations and selected ACM Student Research Competition entries, chaired by Krzysztof Gajos, are represented by abstracts in these proceedings and in two poster sessions during the conference. The winners of the ACM Student Research Competition (sponsored by Microsoft) will go on to compete in the ACM-wide grand finals, where ASSETS entrants have established a strong track record including last year's third place winner in the undergraduate category.

The poster sessions will also showcase participants in the Doctoral Consortium. This one-day workshop preceding the main conference was chaired by Professors Clayton Lewis and Faustina Hwang, and generously sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation. It brought together 11 emerging researchers working on accessibility to discuss their ideas with a panel of established experts. A special edition of the SIGACCESS newsletter will feature extended abstracts from these doctoral students.

We are pleased that this year's conference also hosted the 2nd International Workshop on Sign Language Translation and Avatar Technology (SLTAT), which featured a variety of presentations focused on symbolic translation of sign language, animation of sign language using avatars, and usability evaluation of practical translation and animation systems.

We come to the City of Discoveries for an exciting and diverse program centered on accessibility for all. We thank the many members of the research community who have contributed to this conference and hope that it will result in some discoveries of our own leading to new perspectives in assistive technologies and making a positive difference in peoples' lives.