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On demand asset accessibility

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From: Jordan Wilson
Date: Apr 28, 2016 9:21AM

I'm looking for community input on ‘on-demand' accessibility implementations for digital assets.

First, I'd ask you to assume that this is part of an already accessible solution. An accessible HTML site with a majority of accessible content and an ongoing process to make the most important/most used assets accessible without needing a request. There is also a training program in place to teach document creators how to make content accessible.

The on-demand feature would only be used for large numbers of low-use PDF and Video assets. The feature would come in the form of accessible messaging on the page that the document is hosted on. The user would fill out an accessible request form which would provide the ability to request a specific document be made accessible. Once a request is made, that document would be prioritized for remediation, whether that be making a PDF accessible or providing captions and a transcript for a video. Within a set period of time, the remediated document would be uploaded and the user notified. That document would then be accessible at the original location in an accessible format.

The main use-case for this is a social environment where users can upload their own content and that content is often not widely used or distributed. In some cases there are thousands of documents whose value is limited, and the cost and time to remediate all of them is significant. The current policy is to prevent publishing of those documents until captioning and transcripts are provided, but the result of the policy has been a decrease in published materials and individuals publishing content to other sites to avoid the requirement. In some cases the content is for temporary distribution to as few as 5 people.

If anyone has any recommendations for successfully implementing an on-demand process I'd appreciate any insights.
Have you had success implementing on-demand?
Were there any major learnings?
How long did you allow for remediation?
How did you handle anonymity and following up?

Did you use a third party tool?

Thanks,
Jordan