New software enables blind and low-vision users to create interactive, accessible charts

Screen-reader users can upload a dataset and create customized data representations that combine visualization, textual description, and sonification.

Adam Zewe | MIT News • mit
March 27, 2024 ~8 min

Spreadsheet errors can have disastrous consequences – yet we keep making the same mistakes

Spreadsheet-related errors can have serious consequences in the private and public sector. But what can we do to overcome them?

Simon Thorne, Senior Lecturer in Computing and ​Information Systems, Cardiff Metropolitan University • conversation
Jan. 25, 2024 ~7 min


Digital inaccessibility: Blind and low-vision people have powerful technology but still face barriers to the digital world

Assistive technology like screen readers for the blind help people with disabilities use computers and smartphones, but they can be tripped up if webpages or documents are improperly formatted.

Michele McDonnall, Research Professor of Rehabilitation Education and Research, Mississippi State University • conversation
Dec. 19, 2023 ~8 min

Boosting faith in the authenticity of open source software

Speranza system brings hope to users that the package they download is functional software, not malware.

Steve Nadis | MIT CSAIL • mit
Dec. 11, 2023 ~9 min

What are APIs? A computer scientist explains the data sockets that make digital life possible

How do all the different pieces of digital technology you use every day – weather apps, online banking, games and so on – talk to each other? Via application programming interfaces, or APIs.

Tam Nguyen, Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Dayton • conversation
Sept. 26, 2023 ~4 min

Fast-tracking fusion energy’s arrival with AI and accessibility

MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center will receive DoE support to improve access to fusion data and increase workforce diversity.

Julianna Mullen | Plasma Science and Fusion Center • mit
Sept. 1, 2023 ~6 min

System tracks movement of food through global humanitarian supply chain

Unique barcodes scannable in a mobile application will enable food-aid stakeholders to follow individual items from production through delivery.

Ariana Tantillo | MIT Lincoln Laboratory • mit
July 17, 2023 ~13 min

What is a black box? A computer scientist explains what it means when the inner workings of AIs are hidden

Metaphorical black boxes shield the inner workings of AIs, which protect software developers’ intellectual property. They also make it hard to understand how the AIs work – and why things go wrong.

Saurabh Bagchi, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University • conversation
May 22, 2023 ~5 min


Lessons from 'Star Trek: Picard' – a cybersecurity expert explains how a sci-fi series illuminates today's threats

‘Star Trek: Picard’ is set 400 years in the future, but, like most science fiction, it deals with issues in the here and now. The show’s third and final season provides a lens on cybersecurity.

Richard Forno, Principal Lecturer in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County • conversation
May 12, 2023 ~9 min

Python-based compiler achieves orders-of-magnitude speedups

Codon compiles Python code to run more efficiently and effectively while allowing for customization and adaptation to various domains.

Rachel Gordon | MIT CSAIL • mit
March 14, 2023 ~8 min

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