Statement for the International Tactile Reading Conference©

Statement, purpose of the conference

• Tactile Reading is an International conference.
• The name of the conference is “Tactile Reading Conference”.
  • Subtitle: “Braille and graphics for children and youth”, or “Braille and graphics”.
    • Examples:
      • The 1st Tactile Reading Conference was held in Stockholm.
      • The 2nd Tactile Reading Conference will be held in Norway.
• The conference is a recurrent event arranged with the purpose to:
  • Share experiences and research in the field of tactile reading.
  • Promote best practices and inspire to new ideas for research.
  • Bring people together within the tactile reading field, academics and practicians, for future collaboration.
  • Give a learning opportunity by attracting participation from various areas in the field of tactile reading:
    • academics in various research areas
    • teachers
    • specialists
    • tactile readers
    • people interested in tactile reading, e.g. relatives, peers etc.
    • commercial companies
    • evelopers and innovators.

Organization and effectuation of the conference

• The conference shall have invited keynote speakers.
• All other presenters shall be invited through a general “Call for abstracts” (note: not “Call for papers”).
• Presenters shall apply for participation by sending in abstracts.
• The selection of presenters shall be made by a program committee judging/evaluating all abstracts.
• The program committee shall consist of academics and practitioners alike.
• The ambition is that the Tactile Reading Conference shall be triennial, arranged every third year, in various European countries alternating over time.
• The ambition is to offer multiple ways of presentations, such as:
  • Shorter oral presentations, e.g. 20 minutes.
  • Longer oral presentations, e.g. 40 minutes.
  • Poster presentations
  • Exhibition
  • Demo presentations
  • Longer workshops, e.g. organized as a preconference.

The international advisory/support/steering committee

• The international advisory/support/steering committee is intended to:
  • Help the current conference organizers to perform.
  • Give knowledge support and transition.
  • Supply personnel for the program committee.
• Previous conference organizers are expected to participate in the coming international advisory/support/steering committee.

When organizing a Tactile Reading Conference©

• When organizing a Tactile Reading Conference, organizers agree to follow the statement and will benefit from the following:
  • Active help in the arrangement of the conference, e.g. by:
    • An international advisory/support/steering committee.
    • Contact information to presenters, participants etc. from previous conferences.
    • The Tactile Reading Conference© logo type and all sorts of communication material from previous conferences.

Agreement

• The conference organizers for each conference shall agree to:
  • Setting up an accessible conference web site and to host it for longer period after the conference.
  • Making all information and documentation accessible (for the relevant target groups).
  • Publishing documentation on the conference web site such as abstracts, presentation files, videos and still pictures from the presentations.
  • Making contact and collaborate closely with previous conference organizers within an international advisory/support/steering committee.
  • Actively helping the next arrangement of the conference, e.g. by:
    • Participating in the work of an international advisory/support/steering committee.
    • Sharing contact information: presenters, participants etc.
    • Handing over logo types and all sorts of communication material.

Economy

• Tactile Reading conferences are nonprofit. The organizers of each conference shall not be making a profit nor a loss from the arrangement.
• The fees for attending the conference shall be held as low as possible.
• The organizers of each conference are encouraged to contracting sponsors, in order to increase incomes.

Conference Topics

The conference topics during the 1st conference in Stockholm:

1. Development of tactual understanding
   1. How does tactile conception work in theory and practice?
   2. Profiling/testing the tactual development of the child
   3. Pre-braille activities and reading
   4. Developing tactual reading skills
2. Tactile reading and the brain
   1. Cognitive skills
   2. Haptics
   3. Fine motor abilities
3. Braille and literacy
   1. Getting access to a written language by using braille
   2. Development of tactile text reading/braille reading
   3. Multimodal reading
   4. Going from print to braille
   5. Learning braille in a second language
4. Tactile graphics
   1. Possibilities for the child to develop a pictorial language
   2. Accessing tactile graphics
   3. Accessible design
   4. Image descriptions
   5. Style in tactile images
5. Universal design and tactile reading

Conference topics may subject for change over time when agreed by the international advisory/support/steering committee.