On November 8, 2024, the AutARK research project held its second advisory board meeting at the Faculty of Computer Science. The all-day event was attended by participants from the advisory board as well as Dr. Prof. Weber and the AutARK team. The invited persons represent various areas of interest and institutions throughout Germany, such as autistic self-representations, representatives of the vocational training center, science, and the employment agency. The advisory board meeting was held in hybrid mode with a total of 6 people invited on-site and 2 people took part virtually. Unfortunately, another person was unable to attend at short notice.
In the morning, the AutARK project team introduced the current project status, presented the results of the requirements analysis, and five personas created, and gave a brief overview of the so far developed prototypes. The participants seemed consistently interested, asked questions, and also discussed new ideas for support systems for autistic people in the workplace. The prototypes developed address a variety of challenges, such as working without interruption with ANC headphones without being completely isolated from the environment; support in writing and understanding e-mails; support for live communication in hybrid video conferences, or time and task management with an innovative tangible and a spiral time visualization. The advisory board members were very enthusiastic about all the concepts and prototypes on show. The lunch break was also used for more than just eating the catering: Lively conversations could be heard all over the room during the break!
In the afternoon, the program included demonstrations and discussions of the demos and possible technical solutions. A particular highlight was experiencing what it feels like to wear an Apple Vision Pro – VR glasses that seamlessly combine the real environment with digital content. Many Advisory Board members were very impressed – not only by this experience, but also by the scope and depth of the work in the project. They also discussed possible studies, interested participants, and various points of contact for future collaboration, such as the initiation of workshops or on-site evaluations.
The advisory board meeting was a very exciting experience for everyone involved. The feedback from the participants was very positive and made it clear that the developments and research in the project reflect the needs of the target group, which was possible not least due to a very diverse examination of the target group and a comprehensive requirements analysis. The well-founded and interesting discussions during the advisory board meeting also offered new input and suggestions for improvement, from which the developments in the final year of research will benefit greatly. The third and final advisory board meeting will also take place in November next year.