Consulting
I am available to hire as a consultant. I bring experience from early stage startups and the world of academic research. I can bridge this gap for clients who want to bring research into the real world. I have a keen appreciation for product usability, a strong awareness of accessibility and a breadth of software development experience. I speak the language of academics, users, developers and business practitioners.
I have experience supporting individuals with access needs, in particular those using alternative input methods to control their computer.
What can I do for you?
I work on a freelance basis, helping companies to:
- build accessible software
- evaluate the accessibility of their products and services
- adapt existing games for eye-gaze users
- turn lab prototypes into user-friendly professional-quality applications
- understand accessibility concerns and assistive technology
I also work with employers and universities to support individuals on bespoke accessible setups for work and study, with a particular emphasis on writing code, and using eye control amongst other input methods. This involves working collaboratively with the individual to support their workflows using a variety of existing tools, bespoke scripting and customisation of Optikey interfaces.
Past consulting and open-source projects
Optikey - open source communication and computer control
I have contributed to Optikey for many years, adding core features, bespoke features for particular use cases, writing documentation and supporting deployment of the suite of Optikey applications.
CraytaAccess - building games with eye control
As the accessibility consultant for Crayta I worked with Unit2 Games to improve the accessibility of their game-creation platform. I also built a custom eye-controlled interface for to allow users with physical disabilities to build their own games with everyone else.
EyeMine - eye controlled Minecraft
EyeMine is a project that allows players with disabilities to access Minecraft using only eye control. It was built for the charity SpecialEffect, and is entirely open source.
The Open Voice Factory - communication aids for all
In the early stages of the Open Voice Factory project (previously named ‘AzuleJoe’) I developed a Qt-based cross-platform app based on a prototype web interface for symbol communication. The project won the inaugural Nesta Inclusive Technology prize.
Fuel3D handheld 3D scanner
After Fuel3D launched a successful kickstarter to convert their medical technology into a consumer product, I joined the team as a research & development consultant to lead the development of the core computer vision algorithms.
Previous employment experience
I started my career in engineering consulting, working for Arup as a pre-university student and throughout my Engineering degree. Most of this time I worked for the Advanced Technology & Research Group, where I built systems for remote monitoring and automated data analysis. After graduating I first worked as a software developer at Eykona Technologies (now Fuel3d) and later was joint first technical employee at DotProduct GmbH. In these roles I learned about the practical concerns involved in translating academic research into a viable business - including working on large collaborative codebases and the importance of quality user experience design.