[Accessibleweb] AccessibleWeb@U Meeting Minutes - September 25, 2008

[Jennifer Ward]

In terms of resources for the UW Web meeting, what about discussing  
(or having one of the creators) discuss WebAnywhere (http://webanywhere.cs.washington.edu/wa.php 
) since it's a locally-crafted product?

--Jennifer

On Sep 25, 2008, at 4:46 PM, Richard B. Ells wrote:


>

>                            AccessibleWeb at U Meeting

>

>   September 25, 2008

>   UW Tower, 22nd Floor, Glass-Walled Room

>

> Sharing about what is happening

>

>     * Extension is exploring learning management systems (LMS)  

> including

>       Moodle (http://moodle.org/)

>     * Marketing's UW rebranding design contracts include  

> accessibility,

>       pointing to DO-IT sites

>     * MyUW is included in discussions of a UW intranet. The MyUW

>       Teaching channel has been reviewed for accessibility

>     * Libraries is working on including videos with transcripts in  

> their

>       Web site

>     * Hall Health is working on an intranet and a parents newsletter

>     * Public Health is working on rebranding to a new shorter name.  

> The

>       site currently rates at AA accessibility score. Everyone wants

>       drop down menu

>     * Alumni is using external email service and Web site that does  

> not

>       generate standard code

>     * A guerilla accessibility tactic to try: steal mice from Website

>       developers

>     * Significant number of people on campus are keyboard oriented, do

>       not use the mouse, or are using speech input. Voice browser  

> users

>       are less common.

>

> Discussions

>

>    1. Visioning

>          + Opportunities

>

>            Marketing's Rebranding project is an opportunity to give  

> people

>            templates that are accessible from the start

>               o Marketing is going around campus talking to people  

> about

>                 project, asking people to play

>               o Almost every leader on campus have bought in to  

> project,

>                 some just want the wordmark

>               o Medicine has to respect business relationships,

>                 marketing identities, needs of doctors

>               o Accessibility should be component of new guides we put

>                 out, include statement that that UW expects accessible

>                 design, point to quality resources

>               o UW Marketing is available to review designs

>               o Good guides and goals take over some of the load of

>                 doing sites, people clamor for templates

>

>            When Marketing gets to the build part, will work with the

>            Accessibility Working Group to articulate message and  

> provide

>            resources

>

>            Target website case

>            (http://www.webaim.org/blog/target-lawsuit-settled/); how

>            relevant is it to persuading people of the importance of

>            accessible design?

>               o Some developers feel that it is an example

>                 of government pressuring people to not do

>                 what they need to do.

>

>          + Current needs

>

>            Web design contractors and their subcontractors often know

>            little about accessibility

>               o By the time they deliver their product it is very

>                 difficult to retroactively make it accessible

>               o It would be good to develop a statement of good design

>                 specifically written for contractors

>               o A statement of criteria for a finished, properly done

>                 product would be useful

>               o Information should be presented in a UW official

>                 context, such as in the Purchasing site of at some  

> high

>                 level in UW Web sites

>

>            We need more clear language that can go into contracts,

>               o Getting Purchasing involved (which has had some  

> staffing

>                 changes)

>               o High level affirmation and support of the language  

> would

>                 help people pay attention

>

>          + Emerging needs

>

>            Sharepoint use is growing on campus. How accessible is

>            SharePoint?

>

>            People are increasingly using external services which are

>            often developed and managed with little consideration of

>            accessibility

>

>            Cloud computing resources, how will people be using them in

>            the future, what will their role be in the world of higher

>            education

>               o Interactivity in blogs, wikis, and other cloud  

> services

>                 is becoming popular.

>               o Funding models for IT are changing, the services  

> people

>                 are choosing to use are changing

>               o People want to use social media, Web2.0 stuff with

>                 interconnectivity.

>               o Cloud services are evolving without consideration of

>                 accessibility

>               o How can we assert pressure on which services are used,

>                 or how services are evolved by vendors

>

>          + Actions

>

>            Move http://www.washington.edu/accessibility/ site into the

>            purple bar look to make it clearly official

>               o Marketing working on information page templates that

>                 could be used for the Accessibility site

>

>            Accessibility design quick response teams (Accessibility

>            Seals, Ninjas) like the WASP (Web Applications Security

>            Project), preferably without direct charge, WASP does  

> reviews

>            of code for security.

>

>            Accessible design blog, regularly posting succinct

>            descriptions of problems and solutions might address the  

> same

>            goal as the quick response teams

>

>    2. Web Council Presentation

>

>          + Resources

>              1. Information Technology Accessibility -

>                 http://www.washington.edu/accessibility/

>              2. AccessIT -

>                 http://www.washington.edu/accessit/webcourse.php

>              3. Web2 for E-Learning -

>                 http://www.webel.ecs.soton.ac.uk/index.php

>              4. WebAIM

>              5. IT Accessibility Capacity Building Institute, came  

> away

>                 with action items that could provide guidance on  

> topics

>                 that need covering -

>                 http://www.washington.edu/accessibility/cbi2008.html

>

>          + Topics to cover

>               o Web Council audience

>                    # Web content people,

>                    # designers,

>                    # small department,

>                    # larger departments,

>                    # real people doing real Web,

>                    # not highly technical,

>                    # representatives from all over campus,

>                    # mid-level people, many common needs

>

>                 Want to know what accessibility is.

>

>                 Want to know how to test the pages they have for

>                 accessibility.

>

>               o Clear initial definition of what accessibility is,

>                 demonstration, how to, here is why it matters, many

>                 people do not understand why it is an issue

>

>                 Can we have a demo by a handicapped person? Not just a

>                 blind person. Low vision. Dexterity issues.

>

>                 People view sites with many different kinds of devices

>

>                 Universal design, everyone of us is disabled  

> somehow, or

>                 will be

>

>                 Cognitive disabilities

>

>               o Cloud services

>

>                 Accessibility considerations in selecting a service.  

> How

>                 can you tell?

>

>               o CMS and other packages

>

>                 Evaluating how it works

>

>                 How it can be optimized for accessibility

>

>                 How to avoid impairing accessibility features that  

> come

>                 with the product

>

>          + Methods that could be used in preparing for and giving the

>            presentation

>

>            Common problems: Terry has set of slides showing different

>            pages. The challenge is to "spot the barrier", the design

>            feature of the page that will be a problem for someone  

> with a

>            disability

>

>            Could evaluate a site everyone is familiar with, critique  

> it

>            and try to use it assuming a given disability.

>

>            Could use Google Moderator (http:// 

> moderator.appspot.com/) to

>            collect questions and have people rate them as to their

>            relevance

>

>            Google Moderator could also be used during the talk an

>            example of a cloud product that people might want to use -

>            how accessible is it?

>

>            Could also do a survey with WebQ

>

>            Could host the discussion on the AccessWebU Blog at

>            http://accesswebu.blogspot.com/

>

>          + Development team

>               o Heather Larson, hmlarson

>               o Nancy Weiner, nweiner at extn.washington.edu

>               o Rick Ells, rells at u.washington.edu

>               o Dylan Wilbanks, wilbanks at u.washington.edu

>               o Dan Comden, danc at u.washington.edu

>               o Terry Thompson, tft at u.washington.edu

>

>          + Timeline

>               o Draft outline - On blog (http://accesswebu.blogspot.com/ 

> ) by October 1

>               o Detailed outline - On blog by October 10

>               o Walkthrough - At AccessibleWeb at U meeting October 16

>               o Event Day timeline - On blog by November 14

>               o Post Event Review - On blog by November 21

>

>   -----------------------------------

>     Rick Ells

>     Senior Webmaster

>     UW Technology

>     206.543.2875

>     rells at u.washington.edu

>     http://staff.washington.edu/rells

>

>

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