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Re: Microsoft Accessibility Collaboration Opportunities

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From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Apr 10, 2016 11:45AM

I can contribute a list of issues, but I cannot commit to 5 hours a
month on a regular basis.
But I'd be happy to help if smaller contributions in some form are acceptable.


On 4/8/16, Sean Murphy < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I am interested in the first group. Already working with MS on Outlook on
> the Mac platform.
>
> Sean
>> On 9 Apr 2016, at 1:16 am, Hadi Rangin < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>
>> Hello friends & colleagues,
>>
>> As you know, together we were able to improve the accessibility/usability
>> of many products in the past 10-12 years. We collaborate successfully with
>> many vendors for higher education including Blackboard, Desire2Learn,
>> Moodle, Instructure, Elsevier, Ebsco Publishing, Elluminate, Qualtrics,
>> Trumba, ServiceNow, and many more.
>>
>> In 2013 a couple of colleagues of mine from UIUC and I tested & evaluated
>> Microsoft Lync and Outlook. We shared the results with them and wanted to
>> engage them in similar collaboration efforts as we have with all other
>> vendors but we were unable to do it as their NDA terms and conditions were
>> not acceptable to the UIUC legal team. As the result, we never had the
>> chance to discuss our findings with the respective product development
>> teams.
>>
>> The good news is that they have used our findings about Outlook and Lync
>> to improve their accessibility in their latest versions. I don't know at
>> this time how much of our recommendations have been utilized in the latest
>> version but I am glad that they have at least considered them.
>>
>> Last week a couple of my UW-IT colleagues and I had a productive meeting
>> with JJ Cadiz, the head of program management for Desktop Outlook and
>> principal owner of accessibility for all the Outlook clients and a few
>> colleagues of his team. We discussed how we could collaborate and
>> contribute to the accessibility of Microsoft products.
>>
>> To be honest with you, I have never seen Microsoft so motivated to work
>> with the accessibility community toward improving the accessibility of
>> their products, and I would like to use this opportunity to establish a
>> constructive and productive collaboration with them.
>>
>> We are working to establish two parallel groups that will be working with
>> Microsoft on accessibility of their products. This is a rare opportunity
>> for us to get involved and shape the accessibility of the products that we
>> all have been using in hopes of changing the culture of accessibility at
>> Microsoft.
>> 1. Microsoft Collaboration Group
>> Microsoft Collaboration Group is a long-term project to extensively
>> improve Microsoft Office family products. Some of the products in question
>> are Outlook client, OWA, SharePoint, Office 365, etc.
>>
>>
>> * Purpose:
>>
>> o Establish a long-lasting, sleek, and energetic collaboration group
>> with Microsoft.
>>
>> o Select one product at a time, identify accessibility/usability issues,
>> and discuss the findings with the respective Microsoft development team.
>>
>> * Commitment:
>>
>> o Have knowledge and experience in accessibility and accessible design.
>>
>> o Are interested in collaborating on accessibility of MS products.
>>
>> o Can dedicate minimum of 5 hours in a month.
>>
>> This collaboration involves accessibility/usability testing and evaluation
>> and reporting on the products that we choose. We will finalize the
>> logistics once we have the 10 members.
>>
>> 2. Mac Outlook Project
>> Mac Outlook Project is a project focusing specifically on Mac Outlook. We
>> want five folks use it as their everyday, primary mail client. We expect
>> to have Mac Outlook insider builds available for a long time.
>>
>> * Purpose:
>>
>> o Provide direct feedback to Mac Outlook Engineering Team about the
>> accessibility and design of the product.
>>
>> * Commitment:
>>
>> o Be an everyday user of Mac Outlook who's living on the insider builds.
>>
>> o Provide ten to fifteen minute feedback on rare (maybe one per month)
>> design changes.
>>
>> o Available for the occasional (once every 3 months) 1-hour call.
>>
>> Time commitment would be for as long as folks are willing to participate.
>>
>> If you are interested to join either of these collaboration groups, please
>> let me know.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Hadi
>>
>>
>>
>> Hadi Rangin
>> IT Accessibility Specialist
>> Mary Gates Hall 064C
>> University of Washington
>> Phone: (206) 685-4144
>>
>> >> >> >> >
> > > > >


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