Dr. Simon Ball Senior Advisor, JISC TechDis and FOSS Programme Manager, EIFL, UK

Simon Ball is Senior Advisor at JISC TechDis, the UK advisory service for accessibility and technology in education. Dr. Ball works in the Higher Education field, focusing on improving the use of technology in mainstream education to make it more accessible and reduce the need for adjustments for those facing... read morebarriers. He has published on topics as diverse as Web Accessibility and the Benefits and Barriers of Virtual Worlds for Disabled Students in Higher Education. He authored the higher education briefing "12 Steps Towards Embedding Inclusive Practice with Technology as a Whole Institution Culture" and also managed the HEAT Scheme, uncovering and developing aspects of good practice using technology for inclusion in higher education, including in libraries. He is also currently seconded to EIFL as Programme Manager for their Free and Open Source Software programme, working to enhance access to knowledge in developing and transition countries by implementing and utilising FOSS tools in libraries.