Perspectives

IN Series is a program of public presentations, which promote discussion and engagement on a wide variety of topics about Inclusion: Disability, Accessibility, Health, Education, Culture and the Arts. IN Series is hosted by the IDI at OCAD University. People presenting are from a wide range of disciplines presenting in various public formats, and topics from the engaging, thought provoking and discussion oriented field of inclusivity. The program began February 2013 and is roughly bi-monthly.

Past IN

• Jammers! An Inclusive Game Jam Workshop, (16/5/2015). Twine is a radical game authorship tool harnessed by the independent games community for making expressive, experimental, and socially conscious text-based games. This inclusive Game Jam deploys Twine as an innovative method for interactive storytelling in a 7-hour, hands-on workshop. Jammers design interactive stories, choose-your-own adventure games, and e-poetry in order to explore digital game authorship as a creative medium of expression. A Game Jam Story: Designing expressive games with Twine

  Each jammer develops a game using the Twine 2.0 freeware. Participants gained basic proficiency in the conceptual, aesthetic, and technical dimensions of text-based game authorship and its markup and scripting languages: HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Upon completion of games, jammers were invited to playtest each other¹s games and upload and share their creations online.

  Game jam theme: Jammers were invited to interpret and creatively translate the game jam¹s theme into their games: What strange world and untold coincidences.

• Hack! Toys for Accessibility Workshop, (27/7/2013). Playing with “off-the- shelf” toys is not possible for many children with physical disabilities.
  What is Switch Accessibility for Toys?
  Playing with “off-the-shelf” toys is not possible for many children with physical disabilities. However, if a child can use their feet, arm, mouth, head or a part of their body consistently, then it is possible to add a switch to make the toy accessible without affecting the function – as the existing button will still operate as it was originally intended.

  This workshop taught families to adapt battery-operated toys to make them more accessible for children with disabilities. It was done by through hands-on activities.

• Traverse—Stories from the Built Environment, (27/10/2013). It was a night of storytelling by a multidisciplinary panel, presenting outstanding examples of access from the urban environment. This IN Series event created awareness, educates, communicate, and foster engagement about topics and issues involving inclusion and accessibility. Panellists discussed a range of positive experiences in areas such as; architectural design, way finding, transportation, environmental policy, industrial design, legislation, lighting, acoustics, and playground design, and they presented best practices in the built environment.
  Guest Panelists:

  Luke Anderson – Co-founder, StopGap Foundation, Professional Engineer, Blackwell Bowick Partnership, Toronto. Shannon Crossman – Artist: Spiral Garden/Centre for the Arts/ Program Coordinator, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. Nancy La Monica – M.A., B.A. Hons, Ph.D candidate, Human Geography, McMaster University. Susan Ruptash – Managing Principal, B.Arch., OAA, FRAIC, AIA, Quadrangle ArchitectsModerator: Colin Clark, Inclusive Design Research Centre, OCAD University

• Entirety – Inclusion in Education for all Children, (28/4/2014). It facilitated discussion and discourse among a range of people with experience and expertise involving education and children including, teachers, writers, parents, advocates, policymakers, researchers and professionals. The concept was to bring together people with a common passion of accessibility and inclusion issues involving children ages 5-12 years old.