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Re: Screen reader accessibility to Uncertain Character Format

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From: Murphy, Sean
Date: Jul 5, 2020 6:28PM

My suggestion is to undertake a UX PWD Testing with Screen reader users with a range of screen readers on different platforms. As this will give you the best insights into if there is truly any changes required.

When I had a look at the search and I am a screen reader user. I wouldn't change anything. As the user can read by char to announce the characters. This is my point of view and others who use this AT will have a different view. As this is very specialise information. You really need users of screen readers to give you their feedback outside of this group.





Sean Murphy | Accessibility expert/lead
Digital Accessibility manager
Telstra Digital Channels | Digital Systems
Mobile: 0405 129 739 | Desk: (02) 9866-7917

www.telstra.com

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-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Pat Reynolds
Sent: Monday, 6 July 2020 1:19 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: [WebAIM] Screen reader accessibility to Uncertain Character Format

[External Email] This email was sent from outside the organisation – be cautious, particularly with links and attachments.

Hello all,

I work for FreeUKGenealogy, a UK charity that is transcribing, and making freely available to all, historic documents of interest to family historians.

One of the problems our volunteer transcribers have is that handwriting in the past can be a bit dodgy, and the documents can be affected by damp, rodents, etc, all making for some characters and words to become illegible.

To give our users the best chance of understanding what the transcriber is seeing, we use something called 'uncertain character format' (UCF) - the following link will take you to the instructions for transcribers - https://www.freereg.org.uk/cms/information-for-transcribers/dealing-with-uncertainty#ucf
The method uses square brackets, underscores, and asterisks to convey what might be there. And the following link will take you to the help page for users https://www.freereg.org.uk/cms/help#ucf.

Here is an example of a search result where the record found which has the UCF displayed:
https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_queries/5f01ef1cf493fdd3707c113e?locale=en

I'm assuming that those who use screen readers will find this difficult to use, and wonder how we can make this as accessible as possible for you. Since these users are dependent on the transcriptions, which are sometimes less complete or of poorer quality on sites that allow the user to see the original, it is important to us that we get this right.

With thanks for any help you can give, and best wishes,

Pat



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Dr Pat Reynolds
Executive Director


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