Joshua Miele

Last updated

Joshua Miele
Joshua Miele at the Third Annual Chairman's Awards for Advancement in Accessibility.jpg
Born1969 (age 5354)
New York, U.S.
Education University of California, Berkeley
Awards MacArthur Fellowship (2021)
Scientific career
Fields Accessibility
Institutions
Thesis Human auditory perception of trajectories of motion in a simulated open-field environment  (2003)
Doctoral advisor Ervin Hafter

Joshua A. Miele (born 1969) is an American research scientist who specializes in accessible technology design. Since 2019, Miele has been Principal Accessibility Researcher at Amazon Lab126, a subsidiary of Amazon that works on hardware products. Miele previously conducted research on tactile graphics and auditory displays at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in California for fifteen years. He has been blind since early childhood.

Contents

Miele's work at Smith-Kettlewell includes Tactile Map Automated Production (TMAP), a web application for generating tactile maps of streets printable with a braille embosser, and YouDescribe, a web platform for creating and listening to audio descriptions of YouTube videos. In 2014, he worked with the San Francisco-based nonprofit LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired to start using TMAP to produce tactile maps of the Bay Area Rapid Transit for teachers and other consumers. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2021.

Life and career

Early life

Joshua A. Miele was born in New York in 1969, the son of Isabella and Jean Miele and one of three siblings. [1] [2] At the age of four, he was blinded in an acid attack outside of the family home in Park Slope, Brooklyn, [1] and he underwent surgeries for his burns and blindness through his childhood. [2] He attended the Industrial Home for the Blind for kindergarten. [1] [3]

Miele recalls his mother wanted him to be "as active and engaged with the world as possible" growing up, [4] and she encouraged him to feel art in museums. [2] Electronics and model kits that his mother bought for his birthdays lacked accessible instructions, so he would attempt to build them through trial and error. [5] His father worked as an architect. When he was six or seven years old, he would play with floor plans and layout tape in his father's office. [6] After his parents separated in 1975, Miele spent much of his time with his sister. [1]

In the first grade he was mainstreamed into Public School 102, [1] [3] where he was taught by the same teacher, from the third grade through high school, who transcribed all of his learning materials into braille. [4] Miele and his sister moved to Rockland County with their mother's new partner. [1] His stepfather, a geophysicist, would become a strong influence. [7] He observed that, in this new environment, "most kids were afraid of me because I was different, and, for the first time in my life, I had classmates who thought it was fun to mess with the blind kid". [8] In high school, he took classes in chemistry and biology [7] and applied to study physics at the University of California, Berkeley in 1987. [9]

Education

Before moving to California for university, Miele's only significant encounter with other blind people was at a camp for blind youth in Vermont. [8] At Berkeley, he studied with other visually impaired students [9] and described going through classes with "almost no negative experiences" with his professors. [7] He spent time in a study center for blind students in the basement of Berkeley's Moffitt Library, nicknamed "The Cave", where he recalls gaining awareness of "design and assumptions" and seeing how design choices in the world were shaped by "ableist thought behind who's in control of the tools that we use, whether those tools are intersection controls or building entrances or computer technology." [8] Initially desiring to be a rocket scientist, Miele took an internship at NASA. [4] One semester prior to graduation, he paused his education to work at Berkeley Systems, then a start-up developing Macintosh computer software to be accessible to blind people; [9] he was hired to perform software testing and technical support for their OutSpoken screen reader software and took on more responsibilities such as technical writing and marketing for the product. [8] [6]

Miele returned to university to finish his physics degree and completed a summer internship at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco, where he designed and developed accessible technology for visually impaired people. When Berkeley Systems was sold in 1996, Miele debated whether he should start a company or pursue a PhD in policymaking. His mentor from Smith-Kettlewell, Bill Gerrey, recommended Miele work as a scientist and obtain a degree in experimental psychology instead. [2] Miele then began a PhD in psychoacoustics at Berkeley. [4] [9] His studies focused on auditory motion perception—perception of the direction and speed in which sounds are traveling through hearing. Through his studies he worked with the numerical computation software package MATLAB to develop tools for reproducing graphical information created by MATLAB, such as bar charts, in auditory and tactile formats. [2]

Career

Miele returned to the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute under a predoctoral fellowship, and after earning his PhD in 2003, completed a postdoctoral fellowship [2] [6] which ultimately led to a full-time position as a scientist. [6] He acted as a principal investigator on some of the organization's projects and was associate director of research and development from 2007 to 2019. [10] Using funding from the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs, Smith-Kettlewell opened its Video Description Research and Development Center (VDRDC) in 2011, with Miele as its director. [11] From 2011 to 2015, Miele served as president of the board of the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco. [1] [10]

Miele left Smith-Kettlewell at the beginning of 2019, after working for the organization for more than fifteen years, [6] and joined Amazon Lab126 as Principal Accessibility Researcher. In this position, he has developed the usability of Amazon's website and devices for visually impaired people. Projects he has been involved with include braille and tactile interfaces for Amazon devices such as screen readers, tablets, and microwave ovens; the "Show and Tell" feature for Amazon Alexa, which identifies items the user holds up to the device; and audio descriptions for the streaming service Amazon Prime Video. [8] [4]

In 2021, Miele was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship "for his inventions giving blind and visually impaired people access to everyday technology"; the award citation highlighted his Tactile Map Automated Production, WearaBraille, and YouDescribe projects. [4] He explained at a 2022 conference that the prize would be used to found a nonprofit organization, named the Center for Accessibility and Open Source, that would fund open-source projects for people with disabilities. [12] Later in 2022, he was named a Distinguished Research Fellow in Disability, Accessibility, and Design at his alma mater Berkeley, to be working alongside professor Karen Nakamura. [13] He said he was writing a book with Wendell Jamieson, a former editor and reporter for The New York Times who wrote an article about Miele in 2013, to be published by Hachette Books. [13]

Personal life

Miele lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife and two children. [1] [4] He plays the bass for services at a Jewish spiritual community in Berkeley. [2] [14] He has two siblings. His older sister, Julia Miele Rodas, is a writer and professor at Bronx Community College, [1] and his brother Jean Miele is a photographer. [15]

Until 2013, when The New York Times published a profile of Miele's early life and career, he was hesitant to have his story published, feeling as though it would let the day he was attacked as a child "dominate his life" rather than let him be recognized for his work. [1] [8]

Research

Tactile graphics

External videos
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg BART Tactile Mapping Project of the Blind, LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 17:50, June 8, 2012

In 2003, while working at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, Miele began developing the Tactile Map Automated Production (TMAP) Project, a web application capable of producing tactile maps of streets suitable for printing with a braille embosser. [16] [17] Miele later worked with the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired to create tactile maps of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). In developing a concept, Miele adapted a Livescribe digital pen to read off relevant information when the user taps a certain part of a tactile map, like which buses come through each bus stop. [9] [18] The LightHouse implemented Miele's concept through a four-year process which involved software design and testing, surveying transportation services, and building the maps. Distribution of the maps for use by teachers and other consumers began in 2014. [18] [19]

Maps produced with TMAP were featured in a 2018 exhibition at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. [20] In 2018, the National Federation of the Blind presented LightHouse with its Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award for the development of TMAP. [21]

Audio description

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler with award recipients at the 2014 FCC Chair's Awards for Advancement in Accessibility 6.9.2014 Third Annual Chairman's Awards for Advancement in Accessibility (14260150159).jpg
FCC chairman Tom Wheeler with award recipients at the 2014 FCC Chair's Awards for Advancement in Accessibility

A major project of the Video Description Research and Development Center (VDRDC) was the development of YouDescribe, a website where volunteers can record accompanying audio descriptions for YouTube videos and view videos alongside the audio descriptions. [9] [11] [22] In order to gauge the popularity of audio description and obtain feedback through focus groups, Miele and his research group attended meetings of the National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind in 2012. [23]

The YouDescribe website was launched in 2014. That year, Miele began hosting the annual Describeathon, a one-day event held at Smith-Kettlewell during which people recorded audio descriptions. [24] The same year the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) awarded Miele the FCC Chair's Award for Advancement in Accessibility. [24] [25] In a 2016 article on audio description in Representations , Berkeley professor Georgina Kleege discussed YouDescribe's benefits and potential pitfalls and her experience using the service with her students. [22] According to Smith-Kettlewell, by May 2022, the service was set to have nearly 5,000 video descriptions at the end of the year. [8]

Other projects

An early project at Smith-Kettlewell is WearaBraille, gloves that allow interaction with a smartphone by tapping braille on a hard surface. The WearaBraille functions wirelessly and can be used to send text messages, open applications, and answer phone calls. [4] [25] Miele also developed a basic iPhone application for blind wayfinding named overTHERE [4] [26] and in 2015 founded the Blind Arduino Project, a local group of blind students and hobbyists involved with the maker movement focused on designing their own technological devices. [27] [28]

Selected publications

As of 2019, Miele is listed as a co-author of at least seven journal publications: [29]

Related Research Articles

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Perkins School for the Blind, in Watertown, Massachusetts, was founded in 1829 and is the oldest school for the blind in the United States. It has also been known as the Perkins Institution for the Blind.

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is a UK charity offering information, support and advice to almost two million people in the UK with sight loss.

An audio game is an electronic game played on a device such as a personal computer. It is similar to a video game save that there is audible and tactile feedback but not visual.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian currency tactile feature</span> Feature on the Canadian Journey and Frontier series of Canadian banknotes

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The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) is an American non-profit organization for people with vision loss. AFB's objectives include conducting research to advance change, promoting knowledge and understanding, and shaping policies and practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visual impairment</span> Decreased ability to see

Visual or vision impairment is the partial or total inability of visual perception. For the former and latter case, the terms low vision and blindness respectively are often used. In the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment – visual impairment may cause the individual difficulties with normal daily tasks including reading and walking. In addition to the various permanent conditions, fleeting temporary vision impairment, amaurosis fugax, may occur, and may indicate serious medical problems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CNIB Foundation</span> Organization for the blind

The CNIB Foundation is a Canadian charitable organization and volunteer agency dedicated to assisting Canadians who are blind or living with vision loss, and to provide information about vision health for all Canadians. Founded in 1918 as the Canadian National Institute for the Blind to assist soldiers who had been blinded in the First World War, CNIB originally offered sheltered care and specialized employment to people with vision loss. It has since expanded to include other programs and services, including research, public education, rehabilitation counselling and training, advocacy and an alternative-format library for people living with a print disability. It is a member of the Braille Authority of North America.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute</span> Non-profit organization in San Francisco

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Jamieson, Wendell (March 2, 2013). "The Crime of His Childhood". The New York Times . Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kendrick, Deborah (May 2013). "Series: The Work of the Smith-Kettlewell Institute Part I: A Profile of Principal Investigator Joshua A. Miele". AccessWorld. American Foundation for the Blind. 14 (5). Retrieved November 20, 2021.
  3. 1 2 "DVP Interview: Joshua Miele and Lainey Feingold". Disability Visibility Project. April 25, 2017. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Wall, Alix (September 29, 2021). "Berkeley inventor of blind adaptive technology wins MacArthur 'genius' prize". Berkeleyside . Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  5. Miele, Joshua (2016). "The Making of a Blind Maker". Future Reflections . Vol. 35, no. 2 - Special Issue: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults. ISSN   0883-3419 . Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Stein, Deborah Kent, ed. (2019). "Semiconductors, Streetscapes, and Learning Through Touch". Future Reflections . Vol. 38, no. 2 - Special Issue on Tactile Fluency. American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults. ISSN   0883-3419 . Retrieved November 20, 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 "Learning to adapt". Physics World . May 30, 2013. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
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  13. 1 2 Wall, Alix (November 13, 2022). "A year after life-changing award, Berkeley inventor for the blind is writing a memoir". Berkeleyside . Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  14. Wall, Alix (September 30, 2021). "Joshua Miele went blind at 4. Now he's a MacArthur Genius". The Forward . Retrieved November 13, 2021.
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  17. "Tactile Map Automated Production (TMAP)". Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute . Retrieved January 6, 2022.
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  20. "Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum to Present "The Senses: Design Beyond Vision"" (Press release). Smithsonian Institution. February 27, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  21. "Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired of San Francisco". National Federation of the Blind. Archived from the original on August 7, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
  22. 1 2 Kleege, Georgina (Summer 2016). "Audio Description Described: Current Standards, Future Innovations, Larger Implications". Representations . University of California Press (135): 89–101. doi:10.1525/rep.2016.135.1.89. JSTOR   26420567.
  23. Kendrick, Deborah (September 2013). "Series: The Work of the Smith-Kettlewell Institute Part III: The Video Description Research and Development Center, Continued". AccessWorld. American Foundation for the Blind. 14 (9). Retrieved November 20, 2021.
  24. 1 2 Colin, Chris (November 2, 2014). "Hearing Pictures". The California Sunday Magazine . Archived from the original on November 2, 2014. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
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  26. "overTHERE". Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute . Retrieved January 20, 2022.
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