Charity Pitcher-Cooper
Scientific Program Coordinator
Degrees: Bachelor Science of Nursing, San Francisco State University
Trained Audio Describer: The American Council of the Blind and Audio Description Associates, LLC
Trained Audio Describer: The American Council of the Blind and Audio Description Associates, LLC
Pronouns: she/her I joined The Smith-Kettlewell Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) team in 2017 as an assistant to scientist Dr. Joshua Miele. My 20 years of nursing experience in maternal and child health, as well as course work in early childhood education led to my interest in working with Dr. Arvind Chandna with SeeLab's cerebral visual impairment (CVI) research project. Currently I facilitate a research advocacy group of clinicians, parents, TVIs, and SKERI researchers related to cerebral visual impairment, CVI@SKI, and assist in administration of the Higher Vision Function Question Inventory (HVFQI). In addition to my work with CVI, I manage YouDescribe (a free tool for anyone to add audio description to YouTube videos). As a trained audio describer for YouDescribe, I view and critique videos, support volunteer describers one on one with personalized tutorials, and teach group audio description classes for new volunteers looking to get started. I also support a new study currently in the development stage with Dr. Giovanni Fusco for tScratch, a Universal Design for Learning informed tactile interface for teaching Scratch, a beginning coding language.
Tabs
Journal Articles
. (2023). You Described, We Archived: A Rich Audio Description Dataset. Journal On Technology And Persons With Disabilities, 11.
. (2022). Getting in Touch with Tactile Map Automated Production: Evaluating Impact and Areas for Improvement. Journal On Technology And Persons With Disabilities, 10.
Presentations/Posters
. (2021). Assessment and management of cerebral visual impairment (CVI). . Date Published 04/2021, CTEBVI.
Other Publications
. (2021). The Unstoppable Utility of YouDescribe. Wireless RERC 2021 State of Technology Forum Proceedings. Date Published 09/2021.
Video Description Research and Development Center
The Smith-Kettlewell Video Description Research and Development Center (VDRDC) investigates innovative technologies and techniques for making online video more accessible to blind and visually-impaired students and consumers. Through collaboration with a broad array of partners and stakeholders in the Description Leadership Network, we are developing advanced video annotation methods for use in a wide variety of educational settings, as well as helping educators and other description providers make better use of the tools already available.
Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center
The Center's research goal is to develop and apply new scientific knowledge and practical, cost-effective devices to better understand and address the real-world problems of blind, visually impaired, and deaf-blind consumers
Active
Active
YouDescribe
YouDescribe is a free, web-based platform for adding audio description to YouTube content.
Active
Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI): An in-depth study of visual functioning in everyday life
The purpose of this research study is to learn about how cerebral visual impairment affects everyday visually guided behaviours and determine interventions to treat the difficulties. This study is conducted remotely through telephone or video link and also in person at the laboratory.
Active
t-Scratch: Tangible Programming Environment
tScratch: Tangible Programming Environment Targeted for Students who are Blind or Visually Impaired Introductory programming languages are overwhelmingly designed with sighted students in mind. Our goal is to expand and enhance scratch (https://scratch.mit.edu/), a block-based visual programming...
Inactive
Inactive
The Smith-Kettlewell Technical File
The Smith-Kettlewell Technical File, edited by William Gerrey (WA6NPC), was a publication by and for blind and visually-impaired electronics professionals and enthusiasts. It was published by the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute from Fall 1980, through Spring 1998 and was at various times...
Inactive
Video Description Research and Development Center
The Smith-Kettlewell Video Description Research and Development Center (VDRDC) investigates innovative technologies and techniques for making online video more accessible to blind and visually-impaired students and consumers.
Contact Information
Email:
cpc@ski.org
Email:
cpc@ski.org
Office Phone:
(415) 345-2131
Lab Phone:
(415) 345-2131
Mobile Phone:
(415) 345-2131
Fax:
(415) 345-2131