Author: Marissa Wu

 

Accessibility is a topic that many of us struggle with. Even with the best of intentions, it’s a hard problem to solve. Still, like any hard problem, it’s worth tackling and doing right.

Seren Davies, a developer at Elsevier and a co-organiser of JSOxford, came to speak to us about what we can do to support accessibility beyond just looking at screenreaders. The talk looked at a number of different scenarios where users may be struggling – everything from dealing with dyslexia, to just being a bit tipsy on a night out.

Seren showed how users can be affected in many ways that may prevent them from using what we build, and that there are many more users dealing with these kinds of problems than we might think.

• Video recording of this talk
• Slides from this talk

Keep in touch

If you’re not connected to the Software Development Community already, there are lots of ways that you can find out about future events. If you’re a member of staff at the University then you can join the mailing list or the Slack channel, and anyone can find us on Twitter and Facebook.

As developers, how do we know that we are making a positive difference? Irina Preda, a former graduate of the University, came to speak to the Software Development Community about an organisation called Code Your Future which is doing just that.

Code Your Future is a non-profit group that works with refugees and asylum seekers in the UK to help them find work as developers. The organisation trains students in the necessary skills they will need to find jobs, including more abstract skills such as networking and preparing a CV.

• Video recording of this talk
• Slides from this talk (requires a University login)

Code Your Future is locally based in Glasgow, and they are actively looking for interested folk to act as volunteers and mentors. You can apply on their website. Technical skills are not required, as there are many ways to get involved.

If you’re not connected to the Software Development Community already, there are lots of ways that you can find out about future events. If you’re a member of staff at the University then you can join the mailing list or the Slack channel, and anyone can find us on Twitter and Facebook.

While I understand the concepts behind Bitcoin and blockchain, I’ve never really understood how they actually worked. So, I was pleased when Mark Simpson and Steven Wang from RBS offered to come do a talk for us on the subject. This was our second industry talk of the 2017/8 academic year, the last one being Katie Fenn: Chrome DevTools, Inside Out.

Slides: PowerPoint file (University logins only)

I first met Mark when I saw him speak at Design It; Build It (read more in DiBi 2017 Reflections). I was very interested to learn about some of the innovative work that his team has been doing at RBS. Since then, we’ve been looking for an opportunity to work together, so I’m glad that it finally worked out!

Continue reading “Mark Simpson & Steven Wang: Bitcoin, Crypto Assets and Blockchain”

At the end of November, we were lucky enough to have Katie Fenn (http://www.katiefenn.co.uk/) come to the University of Edinburgh to give a talk on “Chrome DevTools, Inside Out”. This kicked off the community’s industry talks for the 2017/8 academic year. Although this talk was some time ago, I’ve only gotten a chance to write it up now…!

Katie has given this talk numerous times, so I’ve included some links to slides and recordings below:

• Slides of this talk from WordCamp London 2016
• Recording of this talk at WordCamp London 2016
• Recording of this talk at Render 2016

Continue reading “Katie Fenn: Chrome DevTools, Inside Out”

As we are reaching the end of the University’s financial year, I thought this would be a good time to look back on the first year of the Front-End Development Community. The community began in the fall of 2016, when I was awarded a bit of money for this idea from the Innovation Fund. My idea was to create a community where people interested in front-end development could come together from across the University, to discuss ideas and share best practice.

A few months were spent on the initial brainstorming and organisation, so the community didn’t really get started until February 2017. Over the course of 6 months, we have put on 7 highly successful events:

• 2 industry talks (from Harry Roberts and Chad Gowler)
• 3 community lightning talk sessions
• 2 talks on Designing for IT Accessibility (from Viki Galt)

I’ve been greatly helped by the hard work and dedication of my colleagues, without whom we wouldn’t have been able to accomplish this.

Overall, we have had an impressive total of 280 registrations for events, with 188 different attendees. This shows that we have a dedicated core group who are actively engaged in participating in the community.  Continue reading “6 months of Front-End Development Community”