Deborah Fels

Deborah Fels has a PhD (1994) in Human Factors from Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto, and a Masters of Health Science (1987) in Clinical Engineering from the University of Toronto. She is currently employed as an associate professor in the Ted Rogers School of Information Technology Management, and the Director of the Centre for Learning
Technologies at Ryerson University..

Her research interests include access to multi-media computer applications for people with disabilities, inclusive media, web-based applications, entertainment and religious interfaces. Current research projects include:
1) emotive captioning and music visualization including software application, EnACT for adding animation to text;
2) descriptive audio (live and post production) including software tool, LiveDescribe, and associated description wiki for amateur describers;
3) SignLink Studio co-creator for creating online sign language web pages see www.signlinkstudio.ca; and
4) sensory substitution techniques for access to sound and visual information contained in film and television content for people with disabilities – including creation of a vibrotactile system called the Emoti-chair. She received one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 awards for the year 2001. She is also a professional engineer.