The Hispanic in Computing group is an informal online community comprising students, faculty, and industry representatives dedicated to providing support to Hispanic students in computing. Established over a decade ago, the group organizes gatherings at national conferences to strengthen the social bonds that connect this small community. This Birds of a Feather seeks to bring together Hispanics and other members of the Computing Education Community interested in supporting Hispanic students.

The Hispanics in Computing group has been around for over a decade and serves as a networking group bringing together members of this community. Members of the group organize gatherings at national conferences to strengthen the social ties that connect this small community. This Birds of a Feather seeks to bring together Hispanics and other members of the CS Education Community interested in providing support to Hispanics. The Hispanics in Computing community was founded in 2009. Since then, the group has been meeting at annual conferences as a way to provide networking opportunities for Hispanic students and professors. As an added benefit, this group has become a resource to the larger computing community. The group has grown in numbers and in their online presence hosting a Facebook group, LinkedIn group, and a website. But by far, the most active medium of communication is the Hispanics in Computing listserv with more than 400 members. This group serves as a source of mentors for students and faculty, as a point of dissemination for faculty positions, and as a way to discuss topics relevant to the community. This gathering at the Technical Symposium will allow Hispanics to meet face to face and discuss issues important to our community. As the number of Hispanics in our classrooms grows, it is important that we provide mentors and role models for these new students.

The Hispanics in Computing group has been around for over a decade and serves as a networking group bringing together members of this community. Members of the group organize gatherings at national conferences to strengthen the social ties that connect this small community. This Birds of a Feather seeks to bring together Hispanics and other members of the CS Education Community interested in providing support to Hispanics.

By virtue of being underrepresented in computing, Hispanic women completing a Ph.D. face additional challenges starting their new careers. Completing the dissertation, applying for jobs, interviewing, and negotiating job offers are made more difficult by the lack of a community of mentors that fully understands their intersectional identities. This panel presents the challenges faced and the accomplishments of three recent Hispanic women Ph.D. recipients as they navigated the last stages of the dissertation, applied for jobs, considered job offers, and started their professional careers in computing.

The Hispanics in Computing group has been around for over a decade and serves as a networking group bringing together members of this community. Members of the group organize gatherings at national conferences to strengthen the social ties that connect this small community. This Birds of a Feather seeks to bring together Hispanics and other members of the CS Education Community interested in providing support to Hispanics.

Those who work in politics and policy are often unprepared to address the issues that current technology developments have created. A glaring example is the congressional hearings with Facebook where Congress Members asked embarrassingly fundamental questions and were not able to get to the heart of the issue. Many congress people do not have technology advisor on staff to assist in addressing technical issues. Not only does Congress not have technology experts on staff, but the few who are involved are not from underrepresented minority communities. This makes it even more difficult to adequately address issues that more directly impact communities of color including predictive policing, voter suppression, and facial recognition.

Fully autonomous or "self-driving" vehicles are an emerging technology that may hold significant mobility potential for both disabled persons and for older adults unable to operate a conventional motor vehicle. It can be argued, however, that the needs, preferences and concerns of older adults and disabled persons regarding this technology have been insufficiently explored. Using focus group methodology, this study explores the sentiments of 39 older adults (55+) regarding self driving vehicle technology. Discussions from the focus groups revealed that although participants believed that self-driving vehicles can enhance their mobility and independence, they were concerned about their reliability and safety. Participants expressed additional concerns regarding their ability to purchase such a vehicle and the training required to operate it. Opinions were mixed regarding the consideration of older adults in the design of the technology.

Fully autonomous or “self-driving” vehicles are an emerging technology that may hold tremendous mobility potential for individuals who are visually impaired who have been previously disadvantaged by an inability to operate conventional motor vehicles. Prior studies however, have suggested that these consumers have significant concerns regarding the accessibility of this technology and their ability to effectively interact with it. We present the results of a quasi-naturalistic study, conducted on public roads with 20 visually impaired users, designed to test a self-driving vehicle human–machine interface. This prototype system, ATLAS, was designed in participatory workshops in collaboration with visually impaired persons with the intent of satisfying the experiential needs of blind and low vision users. Our results show that following interaction with the prototype, participants expressed an increased trust in self-driving vehicle technology, an increased belief in its likely usability, an increased desire to purchase it and a reduced fear of operational failures. These findings suggest that interaction with even a simulated self-driving vehicle may be sufficient to ameliorate feelings of distrust regarding the technology and that existing technologies, properly combined, are promising solutions in addressing the experiential needs of visually impaired persons in similar contexts.

Fully autonomous vehicles, commonly referred to as self-driving vehicles, are an emerging technology that may hold tremendous mobility potential for individuals who are blind or visually impaired who have been previously disadvantaged by an inability to operate conventional motor vehicles. This study explores the opinions of 38 participants who are blind and low vision, through the use of focus group methodology, regarding this emerging self-driving vehicle technology. Participants were overwhelmingly optimistic about the potential for independence and mobility that self-driving vehicles may provide but were concerned that the needs of individuals with visual impairments were not being adequately considered in the development of the technology. Participants also raised questions about how the technology would satisfy their need for situational awareness, how the technology would enable blind or visually impaired operators to verify their arrival at their desired location and a host of issues related to parking, vehicle location and roadside assistance. Participants also expressed a preference for smartphone and speech input capabilities as a primary means of system interaction. These findings suggest that at a minimum more needs to be done to engage individuals with visual impairments in the development of self-driving vehicle technology and to increase awareness of manufacturer efforts.

In 2012, about one-third of voters with disabilities reported having issues when voting in a polling place. Although the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was passed in 2002, it is clear that there is room for improvement within the domain of accessible voting. Prime III is a voting technology that addresses many issues that plague other accessible voting systems. By addressing the needs of different communities, Prime III has become a ballot marking system that allows all voters to vote on one machine. This demonstration will showcase the accessibility features of Prime III and how it can be used in elections.