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Re: Microsoft Accessibility Collaboration Opportunities

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From: L Snider
Date: Apr 11, 2016 12:21PM

Hi Hadi,

Not sure if my other email got through, so I am resending here. I am also
interested in Group 1 and 2.

Cheers

Lisa

On Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 1:11 PM, Kelly Lupo < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> If this is still open, I am also interested in joining group 1. :)
>
> Thank you,
> Kelly
>
> On Fri, Apr 8, 2016 at 11:16 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
> >
> > > > > > > > > >
> > > > >