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John Rochford MS

TitleInstructor
InstitutionUMass Chan Medical School
DepartmentFamily Medicine and Community Health
AddressEunice Kennedy Shriver Center
55 Lake Avenue North, S3-301
Worcester MA 01655
Phone774-455-6536
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    Other Positions
    InstitutionT.H. Chan School of Medicine
    DepartmentEunice Kennedy Shriver Center

    InstitutionT.H. Chan School of Medicine
    DepartmentFamily Medicine and Community Health


    Collapse Biography 
    Collapse education and training
    Bradford College, Bradford, MA, United StatesBAHuman Studies & Psychology
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MAInnovation Corps
    Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United StatesMSApplied Behavior Analysis

    Collapse Overview 
    Collapse overview

    Academic Background......

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    • Innovation Corps Program
    Northeastern University: Master of Science
    • Major: Applied Behavior Analysis
    • Minor: Transition & Systems Change
    Bradford College, Bachelor of Arts
    • Major: Human Studies/Psychology
    • Concentrations: Philosophy, Literature, & Spanish Language
    Center for International Studies, Toledo, Spain
    • Spanish Studies Program of the Ortega y Gasset Foundation

    Current Appointments

    Director
    INDEX Program, Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center
    • INDEX Technical Services, Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center
    Disabilities Interstitial (Co-Director), University of Massachusetts Medical School              

    Director of Technology (Assistive Technology, Information/Dissemination, Online Learning)
    Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD)
    Interdisciplinary Technical Assistance Center (ITAC) on Autism and Developmental Disabilities
    University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD)

    Faculty
    Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental & Related Disabilities (LEND) Graduate Program
    Department of Family Medicine & Community Health
    Suffolk University Moakley Center for Public Management
    • 
    Academic Accommodations Committee

    Invited Expert, World Wide Web Consortium

     

    UMMS Representative
    • UMass 5-Campus Accessibility Effort, UMass President's Office

    Technical Advisor

     

    Member

    Licensure

    Licensed Applied Behavior Analyst

    Professional and Research Interests

    • Artificial Intelligence empowerment and fairness for people with disabilities
    • Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven Web text simplification on a mass scale
    • Methodology for humans to easily and reliably create simplified Web text
    • Information and communications technology (ICT) accessibility for people with disabilities
    • ICT accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities, e.g., autism & intellectual disability
    • Instructional design of online courses and learning-management systems
    • Improving the use of digital technology by people with autism & intellectual disability
    • Application of information technology in human services

    Provider of Technology Services for Medical-School Managed Projects

    INDEX Program
    Information & Referral for People with Disabilities in Massachusetts
    • Massachusetts Network of Information Providers (MNIP)
    • Application Development (Web, Database, Mobile) for People with Disabilities
    • E-learning Development Accessible to People with Disabilities
    Mass Health Accessibility and Universal Readability
    MassHealth Web Site
    Massachusetts Child & Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS)
    CANS Training & Certification
    Massachusetts Aging and Disabilities Information Locator
    MADIL Web Site
    Massachusetts Patient-Centered Medical Home Initiative (PCMHI)
    Online Courses for Primary-Care Physician Practices
    Massachusetts Balancing Incentive Program (Long-Term Services & Supports)
    Mass Options Web Site
    One Care: MassHealth plus Medicare (Long-Term Services & Supports)
    Online Courses and Webinars for Primary-Care Professional Staff

    Projects Outside Massachusetts

    Pennsylvania Office of Developmental Programs
    My ODP Learning Management System

    Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities

    Presentations or Panelist Participations

    International

    • Web Accessibility Expert: Ask Me Anything (AMA) Webinar
      • Tenon.io, Burnie, Maryland, 2019.
    • Accessibility guidelines for web developers: WCAG (A, AA, AAA), WAI-ARIA Webinar
      • IPSUM Technologies, Tacarigua, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 2019.
    • AXSChat with John Rochford (Web Accessibility; AI Fairness & Empowerment)
      • AXS Chat: Building Bridges Because Accessibility Matters, 2019.
    • Creating Simple Web Text for People with Intellectual Disabilities to Train Artificial Intelligence
      • 34th CSUN Assistive Technology Conference, Anaheim, CA 2019.
    • Silver Task Force Work on Next Generation of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
      • Cognitive Accessibility Task Force, Worldwide Web Consortium, University of Southampton, Southhampton, England, 2019.
    • Cognitive Web Accessibility & Artificial Intelligence, Webinar
      • International Association of Accessibility Professionals, Atlanta, GA 2018.
    • How to Make Learning More Accessible and Inclusive Webinar
      • Worldwide Lambda Solutions Headquarters: Vancouver, BC Canada 2018.
    • Text Simplification and User Experience
      • 18th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, The Westin Harbour Castle Hotel, Toronto, Canada, 2016.
    • Automated Web Text Simplification: Pilot Study & IBM Watson Supercomputer
      • Cognitive & Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force, Worldwide Web Consortium, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), London, England, 2015.

    National

    • Artificial Intelligence Tools for Students with Learning Disabilities
      • Aims Community College, Greeley, CO, 2023.
    • Usable and Accessible User Interfaces: Parts 1 & 2: Know your Customer
      •  Microsoft Common Data Service, Redmond, Washington, 2021.
    • Future Directions of Inclusive Technologies
      • Federal Annual Interagency Accessibility Forum (NASA, GSA, 508 Access Board), Washington, DC, 2019.
    • A New Peer Support Network Workshop, Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities
      • Texas Advocates Viva La Fiesta Annual Conference, San Antonio, TX 2019
    • Higher Education | Staff and Faculty Training Resources 
      • M-Enabling Summit: Promoting Accessible Technologies and Environments, Washington DC, 2019.
    • Workshop on Diversity, Accessibility, and Inclusion in Library Systems
      • National Forum on Principles of Accessibility and Inclusion for the Design of Library Systems, Center for Research on Equitable and Open Scholarship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 2019.
    • Wikipedia Edit Session
      • Knowbility John Slatin AccessU Conference, Austin, Texas, 2019.
    • Cognitive Web Accessibility and Automated Text Simplification
      • Tech Supports for Cognition and Learning: Everyday Apps and Emerging Trends
        Mercy College Campus, Dobbs Ferry, NY, 2017.
    • Cognitive Web Accessibility: W3C Task Force & Future Research
      • 30th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference
        California State University, Northridge, San Diego, CA, 2015.
    • Work to Establish Cognitive Web Accessibility Guidelines by the World Wide Web
      Consortium & by the University of Massachusetts Medical School
      • Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 2014.
    • Using Technology to Enhance Teaching, Learning, and Building a Community
      • Using Technology to Meet Special Needs at College and Beyond Special Interest
        Group, University Business Technology / Vanishing Boundaries-Emerging
        Opportunities Conference, Orlando, FL, 2013.

    Regional

    • Complex Mental Health Needs and People with IDD project
      • Central Texas African American Family Support Conference group's Together We Will Heal Forum, San Antonio, TX
    • Autonomous Vehicles Fireside Chat, Third Annual User Experience Symposium - UX & IOT: Connecting the Digital and Physical Realms
      • Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, 2019.
    • Creating Simple Web Text for People with Intellectual Disabilities and to Train Artificial Intelligence
      • Boston Accessibility Conference, Fidelity Investments Corporate Headquarters, Boston, MA 2018.
    • Accessibility Guidelines for the Web and Other Digital Technologies
      • UMass Second Annual 5-University Accessibility Retreat, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 2018.
    • Cognitive Web Accessibility: Eye Tracking, Machine Learning, and App Development
      • Boston Accessibility Conference, IBM Watson Health Global Headquarters, Cambridge, MA, 2017.
    • Web Accessibility Roundtable
      • Second Annual User Experience Innovation Symposium, Worcester Polytechnic University, Worcester, MA 2018.
    • First Interdisciplinary Workshop on Robot-Mediated Behavior Intervention
      • UMASS Lowell, New England Robotics Experimentation and Validation Center
        Lowell, MA, 2017.
    • Automated ICT Text Simplification for People with Cognitive Disabilities
      • Boston Accessibility Group, IBM Innovation Center, Cambridge, MA, 2015.
    • Task Force on Higher Education for Students with Intellectual Disability and
      Autism Spectrum Disorder
      • Massachusetts Joint Committee on Higher Education, Worcester, MA, 2014.
    • Developing Online Courses and a Delivery Platform for People with Cognitive Disabilities
      • Boston Accessibility Group, Microsoft New England Research and Development Center, Cambridge, MA, 2012.
    • Technology Development & Information and Referral for People with Disabilities
      • University of Massachusetts Medical School, Waltham, MA, 2012.


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    Collapse Bibliographic 
    Collapse selected publications
    Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
    Newest   |   Oldest   |   Most Cited   |   Most Discussed   |   Timeline   |   Field Summary   |   Plain Text
    PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
    1. Rochford, J. Accessibility and IoT / Smart and Connected Communities. AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction. 2019; 4(11):253-263. View Publication.
    2. Shojaeizadeh, M., Djamasbi, S., Chen, P., & Rochford, J. Springer International Publishing. Text Simplification and Pupillometry: An Exploratory Study. 23rd Americas Conference on Information Systems. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 2017.
    3. Djamasbi, S., Shojaeizadeh, M., Chen, P., and Rochford J. Text Simplification and Generation Y: An Eye Tracking Study. Fifteenth Annual International Conference on Information Systems; Human-Computer Interaction; Management of Information Systems. Dublin, Ireland. 2016.
    4. Djamasbi, S., Rochford, J., DaBoll-Lavoie, A., Greff, T., Lally, J., & McAvoy, K. Text Simplification and User Experience. 18th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 2016.
    5. Shojaeizadeh, M., Djamasbi, S., Rochford, J. Text Simplification and Eye Tracking. Technology Research, Education, and Opinion (TREO) Talk; Proceedings of the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS). San Diego, California, USA. 2016.
    6. Rochford, J., Chen, P., Wu, F., Djamasbi, S., Shojaeizadeh, M., Fay, P. . Automatic Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Text Simplification for People with Cognitive Disabilities: Update. Eighth Annual Boston Accessibility Conference. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. 2016. View Publication.
    7. Djamasbi, S., Rochford, J., DaBoll-Lavoie, A., Greff, T., Lally, J., & McAvoy, K. Text Simplification and User Experience. Foundations of Augmented Cognition: Neuroergonomics and Operational Neuroscience. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 2016. View Publication.
    8. Ping, C., Rochford, J., Kennedy, D., Djamasbi, S., Fay, P., Scott, W. Automatic Text Simplification for People with Intellectual Disabilities. International Conference on Artificial Intelligence Science and Technology (AIST). Shanghai, China. 2016. View Publication.
    9. Wang, T., Chen, P., Rochford, J., & Qiang, J. Text Simplification Using Neural Machine Translation: Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI); Thirtieth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Phoenix, Arizona, USA. 2016. View Publication.
    10. Rochford, J., Chen, P., & Wang, T. Automatic Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Text Simplification for People with Cognitive Disabilities. Eighth Annual Boston Accessibility Conference. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. 2015. View Publication.
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