Joshua Miele

<p>Joshua A. Miele (born 1969) is an American research scientist who specializes in <a href="/facts/Accessible/hp9gz5GK">accessible</a> technology design. Miele conducted research on <a href="/facts/Tactile_graphic/5l0IqKn1">tactile graphics</a> and <a href="/facts/Auditory_display/6LY0fDJs">auditory displays</a> at the <a href="/facts/Smith-Kettlewell_Eye_Research_Institute/QJyxhzMI">Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute</a> in California for fifteen years. In 2019, he joined <a href="/facts/Amazon_Lab126/LbcPGu6m">Amazon Lab126</a>, a subsidiary of <a href="/facts/Amazon_(company)/YzUTUVE8">Amazon</a> that works on hardware products, where he is Principal Accessibility Researcher. He has been blind since early childhood.
</p><p>Miele's work at Smith-Kettlewell includes Tactile Map Automated Production (TMAP), a web application for generating tactile maps of streets printable with a <a href="/facts/Braille_embosser/xbyqaN60">braille embosser</a>, and YouDescribe, a web platform for creating and listening to <a href="/facts/Audio_description/2GafQR5l">audio descriptions</a> of YouTube videos. In 2014, he worked with the <a href="/facts/San_Francisco/cb9l7hbC">San Francisco</a>-based nonprofit <a href="/facts/LightHouse_for_the_Blind_and_Visually_Impaired/XQNd7lB0">LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired</a> to start using TMAP to produce tactile maps of the <a href="/facts/Bay_Area_Rapid_Transit/RmRtTNGn">Bay Area Rapid Transit</a> for teachers and other consumers. He was named a <a href="/facts/MacArthur_Fellow/2nF5hIJh">MacArthur Fellow</a> in 2021.
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Joshua Miele open-in-new

Joshua Miele