Starting a Web Accessibility Program at Your Institution

Mark HaleIT Accessibility Coordinator

The University of Iowa

Sub-theme

How You Can Benefit From What We Learned At Iowa

Background, anyone?

• ICT as part of ADA• The POUR Principles of Accessibility• Necessary vocabulary– Accessibility vs accommodation vs AT– Disability (UN definition)

• Functional vs technical accessibility

Background: UN Definition

• “disability is an evolving concept and that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.”– Convention on the Rights of Persons with

Disabilities

The University of Iowa

• 30,000 students• Small by Big 10 standards for public

institutions• Comprehensive, research intensive• Medicine, no Agriculture, some Engineering

Why I’m here

• 34 years in university IT• 19 years in academic support at U Florida• 15 in CIO Office at Iowa• Some background in web, CS, access issues

• Picked by CIO to lead Web Accessibility Project(because I uncovered the need)

The UI Web Accessibility Project

• Started in late 2009• Plan in place 2010• Policy approved in 2011• Resources developed 2011 to present

• Progress has been made, progress is needed• It is gardening, not construction

Agenda

• To answer the question, what did you learn that would help an institution just starting out?

My topics

• Two elementary strategies• A project model• Pieces of the project

Strategy 1: Learn From Others

• Early followers get the best for the least– Can imitate best models– Don’t have headwind costs of leaders– There’s a lot of good information out there already

Strategy 2: Use Many Communities

• Identify and cooperate with stakeholders– Technical communities– Faculty– Staff– Adminstration– Students– People with disabilities– Disability support and library– The groups in your culture of decision

More about communities

• Many communities, many motives, many messages

• Finding colleagues in each community will help

• A three-tier system of core team, advisory group, town hall group works well

The Project Plan Parts (ADA model)

• Policy• Action Plan• Platform and technical resources• Support resources• Milestones and timelines

Policy structure

• Statement of values, vision, mission and/or goals• Technical standard, usually W3C WCAG 2.0 AA• Scope and exceptions• Initial date• Rate of progress• Method to complain and handling of complaints• Maintenance of policy• Implementation details in Action Plans

Suggested Action Plan (distributed campus)

• Assess current status• Inventory stakeholders, participants and their

skills and knowledge• Define support structures• Lay out goals and timelines• Determine progress measures and reporting

Technical Guidance

• Most documented topic– Start at WebAIM, W3C

• Four kinds of web assets to consider– Purchased or adopted from outside– Locally developed web applications– Web infrastructure such as content mgt– Web content from less technical sources

Special Issues

• Instructional materials• Audio and video media• PDFs• Institutional purchases• User-centered design

• Working with faculty

Instructional Materials

• Commercial adopted materials• Library assets• Faculty created materials• Distance Education and MOOCs

Audio and Video Media

• Transcripts and captions benefit all– Discoverability, flexibility, access

• Transcripts and captions are new work• If you don’t caption, YouTube will• Results announced here suggest that out-

sourcing is cheaper than DIY!• Exponential growth is occuring

PDFs

• The fastest-growing web content?• Full accessibility is difficult, maybe impossible• Alternatives are easy, but require skill• PDFs are mandated in many circumstances• PDFs may represent paper-based workflows,

so change is hard

Purchasing

• Purchasing policies protect the future, just like building codes

• Exploration in the RPF stage is a key process• Purchasing departments understand this sort

of issue

User-centered design

• The mainstream version of accessible design• The mainstream is a friend of accesssibility– Access technologies move into common use

• No one opposes usability• Technology change is pushing usability– Mobility, voice control, platform variety

About the Resources

• None are original• None are complete• Meant to provide a sketchy map of the

landscape• Give a starting point for exploring and creating

your own more complete may• http://itaccessibility.uiowa.edu/accessing-

higher-ground-resources

In Conclusion

• Thanks to all who contributed to my understanding

• Good luck to you on your own journey

Working with faculty

• Go to their world• Don’t offer to break their rice bowl• Faculty are accustomed to glacial processes

• “Early adopters” are the most useful cohort to bring change (not pioneers)– Everett Rodgers, “Diffusion of Innovatio=\]n”

theory

Questions?

• Ask now, or write

mark-hale@uiowa.eduitaccessibility@uiowa.edu

Homework

• Go to AHG website, download all the talks• Watch the sessions you missed• Join the listservs in Resources

People to Watch

• PSU• George Mason• Cal State System• U Washington• U Illiniois UC• NC State