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Re: PDF remediation

for

From: Sean Keegan
Date: Oct 22, 2017 12:59PM

> We are addressing current docs and educating the folks who make them,
> but My thought is that the older files would be best addressed en masse
> and outsourced.

Yes, this is similar to an overall strategy I had considered for colleges
consisting of:
1) provide training to increase the prevalence of accessible documents and
reduce the need for remediation;
2) provide a centralized tool to assist in remediation efforts, as needed;
3) identify a 3rd-party vendor through an RFP process to support complex
documents, bulk processing of older files, etc.

Even though we identified a 3rd-party with specified price points, the
problem has been that not too many people want to take advantage of that
option. I think for many it sounds great in the moment, but when it comes
time to proceed with a financial commitment, there is no completion of the
process. Anecdotal evidence seems to point to hiring students instead to do
that bulk processing of older documents, but there also does not seem to be
a cost analysis is such decisions.

In some respects, I think the PDF accessibility and remediation effort at
an institutional level will need to happen in a way similar to that of
captioning. When you see an internal institutional policy and/or
requirements that all public-facing PDF documents must meet a specified
standard, then I believe there will be more interest in pursuing 3rd-party
options.

Take care,
Sean