AXSChat Podcast with Joschi Kuphal. Web designer, developer and creative entrepreneur and founder of the Open Device Lab Nuremberg

Joschi Kuphal has been active as a web designer, developer and creative entrepreneur for over 25 years. Starting in the mid-90s, while studying interior design, he developed his first websites in HTML, and later Flash. With his diploma in his pocket, he founded the web and advertising agency tollwerk (https://tollwerk.de) in 2000, which he continues to shape to this day. He has shared leadership of tollwerk with his team in an equal, cooperative and self-organizing way since 2022. Accessibility has been the focus of his work for almost 10 years, and it keeps him increasingly busy as a consultant, auditor and lecturer.

In 2013, Joschi founded the Open Device Lab Nuremberg (https://odl-nbg.de), which marked a turning point in the previously quiet work environment at tollwerk. For the first time, Joschi turned his focus towards an international community – and soon found himself leaving his mark on this young, but growing network. Connecting with and being connected to this community became his new passion (obsession?). This encouraged him to found numerous community initiatives and event series, which he continues to do to this day. These include:

* the Accessibility Club (https://accessibility-club.org): a flexible, international format around web accessibility and assistive technologies (2014 – present)
* the CoderDojo Nuremberg (https://coderdojo-nbg.org): an open programming school for children and young people between the ages of 5 and 17 (2016 – present)
* the Material Conference Series (https://material.is) in Rekyjavík, Iceland (2017 – present).

Joschi’s efforts are characterized by his tireless drive to make information and knowledge as accessible as possible and to train everyone to be able to use the tools of our time sustainably and confidently. None of his initiatives are commercially oriented; rather, they all thrive on volunteerism and the unflagging efforts of passionate communities. He is convinced that things get complicated as soon as money comes into play!

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