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Re: FTP site opinion

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From: John E Brandt
Date: Mar 3, 2014 9:35AM

I've been beating the "accessible digital documents" (ADD) drum for some
time. But my experience is that most folks are *never trained at all* on any
office suite product. It's all OTJ training. It is just assumed that
everyone today knows how to use these applications.

Kids used to take "typing" when I was in high school (I didn't). Are they
teaching "Word" now? I don't think so. Many of today's young adults start
using keyboards before they were out of diapers. The next generation are
swiping, flicking and spinning content on virtual keyboards and desktops...

I've tried to tackle the ADD with training articles and webinars. Not sure
how successful it has been as I see some of my former "students" doing the
same old things (old dogs?).

Here is what I developed: http://mainecite.org/add/

Be aware these have not been updated for close to two years; some things may
be out of date.

I've had better luck pushing the "Cheat Sheets" from the GOALS Project which
are probably more up to date and easier to disseminate:
http://ncdae.org/resources/cheatsheets/

~j


John E. Brandt
jebswebs: accessible and universal web design,
development and consultation
<EMAIL REMOVED>
207-622-7937
Augusta, Maine, USA

@jebswebs

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Bourne, Sarah
(ITD)
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2014 9:30 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] FTP site opinion

Bevi said: "The accessibility problems start with the very first word that's
written in MS Word. Fix the problem there by training the document creators.
Basic training in how to use MS Word correctly solves more than 50% of the
problems and makes accessibility nearly cost-free."

The problem goes back even further than that. Everybody I know (including
myself) was taught wrong, and then had to re-learn how to use Office
software. I look forward to the day that introductory courses start with
styles and not the bold and color buttons!

Sarah E. Bourne
Director of Assistive Technology
Information Technology Division
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
1 Ashburton Pl. rm 1601 Boston MA 02108
617-626-4502
<EMAIL REMOVED>
http://www.mass.gov/itd

messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>