Inclusive Team
Charles Silverman, Co-Director
Charles has been in the adaptive technology field for almost 30 years. For the last 10 years his main focus has been accessible media on the web, specifically captioning and descriptive video. He is also the developer of CapScribe, a popular and free captioning and video description tool. Charles is on the Faculty of Ryerson University's School for Disability Studies where he focuses on accessibility, technology, and Inclusive and Universal Design. He has worked with the ATRC at the University of Toronto, CAST in Boston, and has collaborated with the National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) at WGBH. He has served on the Access2Entertainment advisory board and is currently on the Board of Directors of the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto (CILT). He is also a member of an advisory group for a GAATES project on Information and Communication that is being developed in conjunction with the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario.
In addition to being Inclusive's co-director, he also relies on captioned media – Charles has a severe to profound hearing loss and understands all too well the need for fully accessible media.
Rob Harvie, Co-Director
Rob brings a rich background in IT and accessibility solutions. At University of Toronto for the previous 10 years, he directed Information Technology Services with the iSchool, taught on human-computer interaction and emerging technologies including augmented reality and multi-sensory interfaces at the Communications, Culture and IT (CCIT) program, and worked with the Adaptive Technology Resource Centre on various federally-funded research initiatives. Rob continues his lecturing at the University of Toronto and serves on the executive of TorCHI, the Association for Computing Machinery’s Toronto-Region Computer-Human Interaction chapter, and Centennial College's Media Engineering Design Integration (MEDI) Program Advisory Committee.
Mike Labreque, Accessibility Media Collaborator
Mike brings an enthusiastic DIY energy to Inclusive. He has worked at Carleton University for the past 15 years, and during his time at the Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities identified a crucial need to make media accessible and inclusive in the classroom. As multimedia continues to become a more prominent teaching tool, Mike has worked hard to ensure that media access is a priority in the post-secondary setting. Over the years, he has developed a close relationship with the National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS), and has used CapScribe to make their online video content accessible for deaf and hard-of-hearing stakeholders.
Antonio Gamba, Accessible Media Developer
Antonio's major interests are assistive technologies, educational technologies and e-learning environments, and in particular, the role of captioning and video description in an educational context. Antonio has been working with Inclusive to create efficient and innovative approaches to editing and playback solutions that help simplify both the workflow and user experiences.
Zoë Cliff, Accessible Media Scriber
Zoë is a Master of Information student at UofT's iSchool. During her off-hours, Zoë has been happily assisting Inclusive in its quest to make media more accessible. Zoë is responsible for transcription and captioning tasks, which she manages with both speed and accuracy.