News
Online Call for Project Ideas Coming Soon!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 -A new program is in the works that will give you the chance to help us decide the next slate of projects that our community works on! If you or someone you know has an idea for a software solution you'd like to see developed open source' check back for more info in a couple weeks. We'll keep you posted!
Welcome Aboard: Sean Goggin!
Friday, April 2, 2010 -Project:Possibility would like to welcome Sean Goggin to the Board of Directors! Sean is the Equipment/Systems Specialist at the Center on Disabilities at CSU Northridge. Sean has been an longtime supporter of Project:Possibility behind the scenes, dating to being a guest speaker at the very first SS12! He brings valuable insight into the latest developments and existing needs in assistive technology, as well as deep experience in the public university system. Welcome aboard Sean!
On Our Way to the CSUN Conference!
Friday, March 12, 2010 -
On March 25-27, the top placing team from USC (Double Dragons - GNOME Caribou) and UCLA (Mobile Currency Reader Team) will be on their way to the CSUN Conference! CSUN is hosting the 25th Annual International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference in San Diego, and they have graciously invited us to participate. The teams will be showcasing their projects on Saturday morning, and we will be participating in a Meet & Greet session with some of the Conference's sponsors and VIPs. We're excited to see check things out!
Project:Possibility Partnership with GNOME a Success!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 -
One of the exciting parts of this year's SS12 was working with GNOME. Two of the teams worked on implementing binary input for GNOME's Caribou On-Screen Keyboard, and both projects placed in the Top 3 in the finals! A huge thanks goes to Ben Konrath of GNOME who helped acquaint the students with the Caribou source code. We're looking forward to collaborating with GNOME on future projects!
USC vs UCLA SS12 a Success!
Sunday, March 7, 2010 -Thanks to everyone for participating in the first UCLA vs USC SS12 event. The event was a great success! We got some amazing projects that came out of all of the hard work. I know the judges had a hard time picking winners.
Please join me in congratulating all the teams:
USC Semi Final Winners:
- Sign Language Reader
- Double Dragons (USC GNOME Caribou)
- AxsTweet (Accessible Twitter)
UCLA Semi Final Winners:
- Caribou (GNOME)
- MC Reader (mobile currency reader)
- AACDroid
Final Winners:
- MC Reader
- [UCLA] Caribou
- Double Dragons (USC GNOME Caribou)
Here are some pictures from the event:
Day 1
Day 2
Final
Lastly, thanks again to all the awesome sponsors who made this possible, to ACM staff for their continued support of this program, and to Project:Possibility staff for helping to fill in the gaps!
USC vs UCLA SS12 is underway!
Sunday, February 28, 2010 -The USC vs UCLA SS12 is underway. Teams are feverishly coding. Tonight we will know which teams are going to the finals on March 6th!
See the SS12 site for more information!
Cross-Town Rivalry SS12 coming to UCLA and USC!
Thursday, September 24, 2009 -Project:Possibility, UCLA Association for Computing Machinery and USC Association for Computing Machinery are preparing for an exciting weekend of code!
We have had three successful events at USC and one at UCLA with approximately 80 graduate and undergraduate students participating each time. We are proud to announce that this year's SS12 will be a cross-town rivalry competition between UCLA and USC's best and brightest! UCLA vs USC SS12 will be held on Feb 27-28, with a Final on March 6th.
This event is intended to raise awareness of Assistive Technology needs and empower students to make a difference. There will also be great prizes for the winning teams, plus the pride of beating the rival school and helping people at the same time! We are also looking for industry mentors and sponsors to help guide the teams, if you are interested please contact us.
Project:Possibility is now officially registered for iPhone Development!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009 - This means that participants in our competitions can now utilize the iPhone SDK to build Assistive Technology solutions on the iPhone platform, test their code on real iPhone and iPod Touch devices and we can distribute finished applications as free downloads via the Apple iPhone App Store directly to users!UCLA SS12 project info up!
Monday, February 16, 2009 -The project info for the six exciting new projects from the most recent UCLA SS12 event has been uploaded!
UCLA SS12 a great success!
Monday, February 2, 2009 -Project:Possibility and UCLA Association for Computing Machinery are proud to say that our first UCLA SS12 event was a huge success! We had around 40 eager participants working on the following projects:
- Accessible Facebook
- Audio Guardian
- Color reader
- HandiMap
- Project AWE (website accessibility tagging tool)
- Word Predictor v4
A big thank you to all our sponsors: Google, Cisco, Lockheed, UCLA ACM and Mozilla! Look for the projects to be added to our website soon! You can also check out pictures of Orientation, Day 1, and Day 2!
UCLA SS12 starts this Saturday!
Friday, January 30, 2009 -Our first SS12 24 hour code-a-thon event at UCLA put on by Project:Possibility and UCLA Association for Computing Machinery is about to start!
The competition will run all day this Saturday and Sunday. For more information visit the UCLA SS12 website. If you would like to attend the project presentations and closing ceremonies at the end of the event, please let us know!
USC Stevens Institute for Innovation video highlights Project:Possibility!
Thursday, January 29, 2009 -
The USC Stevens Institute for Innovation has produced a video highlighting Project:Possibility.
Thanks to USC Stevens for all their support!
Project:Possibility wants you!
Sunday, January 4, 2009 -Project:Possibility is looking for project mentors!
Be a part of our exciting programming competitions and at the same time improve the lives of millions of peoples! We are looking for motivated individuals in the Los Angeles area to volunteer to lead a team of university students in developing software for persons with disabilities. We have a two day competition coming up at the end of January (http://ss12.info/ucla/) and another longer competition planned for spring.
If you are interesting or would like more information, shoot us an email: info@projectpossibility.org
Project:Possibility highlighted in the NY Times!
Thursday, December 18, 2008 -
We were recently interview by James Flanigan of the New York Times and our article was published in the Dec 18th edition of the prestigious paper!
Project:Possibility expands SS12 to UCLA!
Monday, December 8, 2008 -Project:Possibility and UCLA Association for Computing Machinery are preparing for an exciting weekend of code. Our last successful event had approximately 50 graduate and undergraduate students participate in second annual USC SS12. Over 100 students applied to be a part of SS12. Spots are in high demand so register early. This year's UCLA SS12 will be held on Jan 31st - Feb 1st. This event is intended to raise awareness around the disabled community and empower students to make a difference. Oh and there's only a $1000 cash prize for the winning team to top it off. Please visit the UCLA SS12 website for all the details and latest announcements!
Project:Possibility wins USC Student Innovator Showcase!
Sunday, October 12, 2008 - Project:Possibility competed in the 2008 USC Student Innovator Showcase sponsored annually by the USC Stevens Institute for innovation. This contest brought together 30 different student projects to compete for the most innovative ideas. Project:Possibility is proud to announce that we won the grand prize of $1000!The speaker at the awards ceremony had some interesting words about our organization. He acknowledged that Project:Possibility entered the contest last year, but did not win. He said that a large part of our success this year came from our headway on implementation, shaping Project:Possibility from an idea to a "movement that will have immense societal impact."
Congratulations to the all staff and members! These are exciting times for our organization.
SS12 Code-A-Thon returns to USC!
Monday, September 22, 2008 -Project:Possibility and USC Association for Computing Machinery are gearing up for another exciting weekend of code. Last year's successful event had approximately 40 graduate and undergraduate students participate in our first ever SS12. Over 80 students applied to be a part of SS12. Spots are in high demand so register early. This year SS12 will be held on Oct 18-19th. This event is intended to raise awareness around the disabled community and empower students to make a difference. Oh and there's only a $1000 cash prize for the winning team to top it off. Please visit the SS12 website for all the details and latest announcements!
Mozilla Foundation Comes out in Support of Project:Possibility
Sunday, September 7, 2008 -
The Mozilla Foundation has awarded Project:Possibility a $15K grant to continue its efforts in spreading awareness of accessibility and encouraging students to engage in open source accessibility projects. The funds will be used in support of the Project:Possibility initiative for the continuation of the SS12 Code for a Cause and Semester Project programs, development of new programs that will pipeline university students and young professionals into the open source and assistive technology communities, a detailed design of a self-sustaining online community for open source accessibility, and injection of open source accessibility material into the university curriculum.
It's Official! We are a 501(c)3 Tax Exempt Non-profit Organization
Friday, August 29, 2008 - Project:Possibility is very excited to announce that we have obtained 501(c)3 tax-exempt status from the IRS. The IRS grants this coveted status upon organizations who meet specific legal requirements and operate under strict conditions with the goal of providing a public benefit. 501(c)3 status makes P:P exempt from paying federal taxes and allows any donations to be a tax deduction for the donor. This status is also a requirement by all foundations and government agencies when applying for grants. We started the process in September of 2007 when P:P was formally organized as a public charity non-profit corporation. After many forms and paperwork, legal fees, government fees, and a lot of effort we were able to surpass this milestone and be granted exempt status. This opens many doors for the project, allowing us to seek and apply for grants and accept public donations. The grants team looks forward to identifying and applying for grants that will enable P:P to continue providing programs such as SS12 and Semester Project and make headway into developing solid community based open source software to promote our mission.Welcome Aboard New Board Members: Mark Sakata and Steve Lee
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 - Project:Possibility would like to welcome two new members to the Board of Directors: Mark Sakata and Steve Lee.
Mark is a Disability Specialist at Pasadena City College. He has served individuals with disabilities for over 20 years within non-profit, medical rehabilitation and post-secondary educational settings. His expertise in assistive technology includes experience as an Assistive Technology Specialist, Trainer, and Rehabilitation Counselor at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, and the Center on Disabilities at California State University Northridge. Mark has a Masters degree in Rehabilitation Counseling and Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mark's first hand experience and contact with persons with disabilities provides P:P with a platform to showcase and test our projects with real users. His passion to help people, which is displayed in his daily job, along with his experience will be an asset to overseeing the direction of the project.
Steve is a freelance software developer and advocate of Open Source Assistive Technology and accessibility and has been creating with IT for some 27 years. Based in the UK, he plays an active part in the Mozilla and GNOME accessibility developer communities as well as being a founder of oatsoft.org and board member of schoolforge.org.uk. Current activities include an open symbol set, computer and web access for those with age related disabilities, and introducing older people to the possibilities of computers and the web. Steve is also an avid blogger and as such will be and enormous asset in promoting P:P in the open source accessibility communities. His passion to make technology accessible has been demonstrated over the years and will undoubtedly help in ensuring the future of P:P.
Mark and Steve join current board members Christopher Leung, Elias Sayfi, and Stanley Lam. Board member Marc Allen has decided to step down. We wish him luck in his endeavors and hope to have him continue on the team in other roles. The Board of Directors looks forward to providing strategic planning and long-term direction to P:P in fulfilling our goals and meeting our mission. With the addition of these two very qualified individuals we're well on our way.
Welcome aboard new Executive Directors: Ely Lerner, Jacquelyn Leong, and Prateek Tandon
Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - Project:Possibility would like to welcome aboard new Executive Directors Ely Lerner, Jacquelyn Leong, and Prateek Tandon. Ely is an Information Systems Solution Developer at Amgen with a degree in Computer Science from UC Santa Barbara. He became involved with P:P at the Semester Project 2008 program as an industry mentor, leading his team to successfully developing the Community Captioner which won third place in the competition. Jacquelyn is also an Information Systems Solution Developer at Amgen with a Computer Science and Engineering degree from UCLA. She joined the P:P team as General Manager of the Semester Project 2008 program and oversaw it to its successful completion. Prateek is working towards a Computer Science and Engineering degree at USC. He participated in the SS12 2007 code-athon and the Semester Project 2008 program at which he was on the overall winning Word Prediction team. His experience as a member of USC ACM provides a bridge between the two organizations and allows P:P to continue its strong roots at USC. Each of the new executive directors brings different skills and experiences, but most of all they share the same passion for software, accessibility, and helping people. The three of them will take on the challenge of running the day-to-day business and will provide management and leadership for guiding P:P forward in accomplishing its mission. Outgoing executive director Christopher Leung will remain an integral part of the management team as Chairman of the Board of Directors. We thank Chris for all his hard work and look forward to his continued leadership in this new role.Project:Possibility Showcases Breakthrough Open-Source Software for Disabled Communities
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 -
Project Possibility, a non-profit organization striving to create free and accessible software for people with disabilities, has unveiled what happens when altruism and expertise unite.
Project:Possibility held its Semester Project on April 30 at the University of Southern California to showcase the open source software aimed at making a beneficial impact on the disabled community. Software projects premiered Wednesday included: Universal closed-captioning for the Internet, a search engine specifically geared toward finding software for people with disabilities, word prediction software for people with limited mobility, gesture-recognition software for those who have difficulty using keyboard and mouse, and a mobile currency reader for the visually impaired.
Because Project: Possibility is an open-source organization, the finished software products will be made available on online at www.projectpossibility.org so other programmers worldwide can improve the software.
Twelve weeks ago, twenty-five USC students split into five teams, each led by a professional engineer from Google, Amgen, or NASA. The teams sought to expand on their achievements from last years competition, "SS12, Code for a Cause," during which the participating students had 24 hours to create useful technologies for the disabled community.
With Project: Possibility, software engineers, programmers and system designers can use their unique skills in a philanthropic and challenging way to make an impact on the world for disabled people, said Ely Lerner, a software developer at Amgen. Lerner helped to create the online closed-captioner for people with hearing impairments. He said it was a wonderful experience for both the programmer and the community served.
Said Christopher Leung, the executive director and founder of Project:Possibility, "We were astounded by the positive feedback, and industry interest in SS12. We knew we had hit on something significant, and we had to see what would result if students were given a longer period of time to work on the software."
"This program was a complete success," Leung added. "We set out with high goals in mind, and though we didn't always hit them, we identified what stopped us."
During the Semester Project, participants had to overcome the pressures of university midterms and finals. Now that the race to complete the projects is over, they said they feel honored to have been involved in such an unparalleled venture. In general, team members said they were grateful for the ability to "code for a cause" while refining their technical skills, and will continue to do so in the future.
"The vision and passion of those involved with Project: Possibility really affected me," said Stanley Lam, a volunteer for the Semester Project. "I saw the excitement that Chris and his team had for this cause and I that everything that he had envisioned might actually come to pass. I wanted to become a part of that."
Leung said Project:Possibility will be repeating both SS12:Code for a Cause and the Semester Project annually.
"Hopefully we did our job of raising awareness around the disabled community while also helping USC students learn more about different technologies," said Jacquelyn Leong, General Manager of the Semester Project. "I hope Project:Possibility will soon expand to other universities and beyond so more people will continue to give back to the community with their engineering skills."
If you would like to contribute to this noble endeavor, please go to www.projectpossibility.org for more information.
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About Project: Possibility
Project:Possibility is a nonprofit, community service project committed to creating groundbreaking open source software for the disabled community. The software that is created through this project is open source--made available in entirety to the world, free of charge. Our mission is to inspire a community of disabled persons and software developers to work together and make a difference by inventing software that will unlock new areas of life for persons with disabilities, giving them access to experiences previously impossible to achieve.
Media Contact:
Jean Guerrero
media@projectpossibility.org
(619) 992-1988
Join the Project:Possibility Team!
Thursday, April 10, 2008 -
Are you interested in making a positive difference in people's lives? Are you interested in an empowering experience you won't soon forget? Project:Possibility is a cutting-edge non-profit organization that is approaching the problem of empowering humanity in an entirely new way—beginning with you.
Our team is looking for enthusiastic, talented individuals to take leadership in a variety of volunteer positions, including:
- Corporate Relations
- Public Relations
- University Relations
- Marketing
- Web Development
- Technology/Innovation Development
- Accessible Software Engineering
For many of these positions, no technical experience is necessary. For technical roles, training and guidance will be provided. The only requirement is enthusiasm and belief in Project:Possibility's mission!
We are committed to providing empowering opportunities for everyone involved. If you are interested in joining our team, please contact us at info@projectpossibility.org. We look forward to hearing from you!
Open invitation to the Semester Project: Final Review, April 30th
Wednesday, April 9, 2008 -
The Semester Project continues; professional-led student teams have been making incredible progress on their projects, and the final review which occurs on April 30th of this month on the University of Southern California campus is shaping up to be an exciting event!
The Final Review is the third of three major reviews of students' work throughout this 12-week program, in which each team of students, led by a software engineer from Google, Amgen, or NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is given feedback and guidance by a panel of guest reviewers from academia and industry.
We invite you to support everyone's hard work this semester and join us for the Final Review! This is an open event; food will be served and sponsored by the USC Engineering Graduate Student Association and the USC International Students' Assembly. An awards ceremony will follow the presentations. Be sure to download the flier for all the details.
You can also check out the latest pictures from the Semester Project on our web album. For the latest news and details about the Semester Project, visit the Semester Project home page.
Mozilla and Project:Possibility Team Up at CSUN Disabilities Conference
Thursday, March 13, 2008 -
Project:Possibility and the Mozilla Foundation teamed up to promote Firefox 3 at the 2008 CSUN Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference this past week. Firefox 3's array of new and improved accessibility features maintains its status as the most cutting edge browser, particularly in the accessibility arena, not to mention, exactly the type of technology that Project:Possibility is committed to supporting.
Supporting the Firefox effort was Frank Hecker (Mozilla Foundation), Marco Zehe (Firefox Accessibility), Eitan Issacson (Ascender Technologies), Steve Lee (Full Measure), James Teh and Michael Curran of the NVDA project, Joanie Diggs (Carroll Tech), and Christopher Leung (Project:Possibility).
We look forward to the 2009 Conference!
Project:Possibility Announces "The Semester Project"
Friday, February 1, 2008 -
Project:Possibility has opened applications for the Spring 2008 Semester Project Pilot Program at the University of Southern California. The Semester Project is a team-based software development challenge in which professional software engineers lead teams of university students in tackling state of the art assistive technology projects over the course of a semester. Teams who demonstrate significant effort and progress are recognized and awarded prizes at monthly meetings.
The intention of this program is to give working professionals experience in leading a team of software developers in an innovate software project, to give university students a powerful experience in being part of a software development team, and to create innovative software that will make a difference.
Please visit the Semester Project home page for more information about the program. For working professionals interested in participating as team lead, please visit the Semester Project for Leads page.