Joshua Miele
Joshua Miele | |
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MacArthur Fellowship (2021) | |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Accessibility |
Institutions |
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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
Miele's work at Smith-Kettlewell includes Tactile Map Automated Production (TMAP), a web application for generating tactile maps of streets printable with a
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.
Miele recalls his mother wanted him to be "as active and engaged with the world as possible" growing up,
In the first grade he was
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.
Miele returned to university to finish his physics degree and completed a summer internship at the
Career
Miele returned to the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute under a
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
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 | |
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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
Maps produced with TMAP were featured in a 2018 exhibition at
Audio description
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
Selected publications
As of 2019[update], Miele is listed as a co-author of at least seven journal publications:[29]
- Miele, Joshua A.; Hafter, Ervin R. (2002). "Trajectory perception in the free field". .
- Miele, Joshua A.; Landau, Steven; Gilden, Deborah (2006). "Talking TMAP: Automated generation of audio-tactile maps using Smith-Kettlewell's TMAP software". British Journal of Visual Impairment. 24 (2): 93–100. S2CID 16459256.
- Seelman, Katherine D.; Palmer, Catherine V.; Ortmann, Amanda; Mormer, Elaine; Guthrie, O'Neil; Miele, Joshua; Brabyn, John (2008). "Quality-of-life technology for vision and hearing loss [Highlights of Recent Developments and Current Challenges in Technology]". S2CID 28055925.
- Morash, Valerie S; Pensky, Allison E Connell; Miele, Joshua A (2013). "Effects of Using Multiple Hands and Fingers on Haptic Performance". S2CID 8325678.
- Morash, Valerie S; Pensky, Allison E Connell; Tseng, Steven T W; Miele, Joshua A (2014). "Effects of Using Multiple Hands and Fingers on Haptic Performance in Individuals Who are Blind". S2CID 21239436.
- Morash, Valerie S.; Siu, Yue-Ting; Miele, Joshua A.; Hasty, Lucia; Landau, Steven (2015). "Guiding Novice Web Workers in Making Image Descriptions Using Templates". ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing. 7 (4): 1–21. S2CID 632530.
- Abrahamson, Dor; Flood, Virginia J.; Miele, Joshua A.; Siu, Yue-Ting (2019). "Enactivism and ethnomethodological conversation analysis as tools for expanding Universal Design for Learning: the case of visually impaired mathematics students". S2CID 52847229.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Jamieson, Wendell (March 2, 2013). "The Crime of His Childhood". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Kendrick, Deborah (May 2013). "Series: The Work of the Smith-Kettlewell Institute Part I: A Profile of Principal Investigator Joshua A. Miele". AccessWorld. 14 (5). American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
- ^ a b "DVP Interview: Joshua Miele and Lainey Feingold". Disability Visibility Project. April 25, 2017. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Wall, Alix (September 29, 2021). "Berkeley inventor of blind adaptive technology wins MacArthur 'genius' prize". Berkeleyside. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
- ISSN 0883-3419. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
- ^ ISSN 0883-3419. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
- ^ a b c "Learning to adapt". Physics World. May 30, 2013. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Cueto, Isabella (March 28, 2022). "'Where the bats hung out': How a basement hideaway at UC Berkeley nurtured a generation of blind innovators". Stat. Retrieved May 19, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f McDede, Holly J. (April 20, 2016). "The Blind Leading the Blind: Designing an Inclusive World". California Magazine. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
- ^ a b "Joshua Miele". MacArthur Foundation. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
- ^ a b Kendrick, Deborah (June 2013). "Series: The Work of the Smith-Kettlewell Institute Part II: The Video Description Research and Development Center". AccessWorld. 14 (6). American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
- ^ Cueto, Isabella (May 24, 2022). "Amazon accessibility researcher says inclusion of people with disabilities is 'lacking' in health tech". Stat+. Archived from the original on May 24, 2022. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Wall, Alix (September 30, 2021). "Joshua Miele went blind at 4. Now he's a MacArthur Genius". The Forward. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
- ^ Jamieson, Wendell (August 29, 2013). "Joshua Miele: Inspiration from an Unthinkable Crime". Reader's Digest. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
- ^ Kendrick, Deborah (October 2013). "Series: The Work of the Smith-Kettlewell Institute Part IV: Smith-Kettlewell Meets Touch Graphics: Mapping Access to Visual Information for People with Vision Loss". AccessWorld. 14 (10). American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
- ^ "Tactile Map Automated Production (TMAP)". Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
- ^ CityLab. Archived from the originalon January 15, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
- ^ "Braille and Tactile Maps, Doris W. Kahn Accessible Transportation Award". Metropolitan Transportation Commission. October 19, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
- ^ "Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum to Present "The Senses: Design Beyond Vision"" (Press release). Smithsonian Institution. February 27, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
- ^ "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.
- ^ JSTOR 26420567.
- ^ Kendrick, Deborah (September 2013). "Series: The Work of the Smith-Kettlewell Institute Part III: The Video Description Research and Development Center, Continued". AccessWorld. 14 (9). American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved November 20, 2021.
- ^ a b Colin, Chris (November 2, 2014). "Hearing Pictures". The California Sunday Magazine. Archived from the original on November 2, 2014. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
- ^ a b "Berkeley scientist designs tools for the visually impaired". Crosscurrents. KALW. March 2, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
- ^ "overTHERE". Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
- ^ Kendrick, Deborah (November 2021). "Employment Matters: Dr. Joshua A. Miele, Amazon Accessibility Researcher and MacArthur Genius". AccessWorld. 22 (11). American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
- ^ "Blind Arduino Project". Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
- ^ "Joshua Miele". Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
External links
- Joshua Miele on Twitter