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From: Owens, Parker
Date: Thu, Jan 31 2008 8:50AM
Subject: State-Wide Web Accessibility Symposium - KY
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If you live in Kentucky -

State-Wide Web Accessibility Symposium at Eastern Kentucky University
EKU is hosting a State-Wide Web Accessibility Symposium March 5, 2008. The symposium will include a series of demonstrations and presentations of interest to educators, librarians, Kentucky lawmakers, and web developers.

Sessions will include: Training, awareness, assistive technology, KY overview (past, present, future), resources, Internet 2 accessibility, captioning video using Camtasia, CSS accessibility techniques, PDF accessibility, Blackboard usability and accessibility, troubleshooting accessibility, usability, faculty challenges, and using Dreamweaver for accessibility.

We are seeking presenters and participants from all of Kentucky. Perhaps you or someone you know is able to speak on an accessibility topic. Preference will be given to sessions on current issues (web 2, online learning), advanced topics (AJAX, CSS), or k-12.

Proposals accepted through Feb. 11.

We look forward to hearing from you! More information http://www.accessibility.eku.edu/conference.php

From: Owens, Parker
Date: Mon, Mar 03 2008 8:50AM
Subject: Web Accessibility Symposium free ITV sessions
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As a special bonus for those who cannot attend the Web Accessibility Symposium in Richmond, KY on March 5, we will be making several sessions available via ITV connections. If you are interested in viewing any or all of these presentations, email = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > immediately to make appropriate arrangements. We need to know your local ITV connection's IP number to facilitate your connection on March 5.



Here is a list of the featured presentations:



9:40-10:30 a.m. EST, Teresa Belluscio, Director of Disability Services, EKU, Web Accessibility: January 2008 update



Case law, structured negotiations and legal strategies.



10:40-11:30 a.m. EST, Michael Providenti, Web Development Librarian and Robert Zai, Research and Instructional Services Librarian, NKU, Web Accessibility at Kentucky's Academic Libraries



Data collected in two studies, 2003 and 2007, have suggested more attention is needed to improve the accessibility of academic library websites within the Commonwealth. The legal framework and the enforcement mechanisms that can be applied to academic libraries and universities will be discussed. Common accessibility barriers identified in the data collection, as well as approaches to satisfying a selection of accessibility guidelines will be examined. A number of common tools used to evaluate pages will be presented and explained.



1-1:50 p.m. EST, Sage Cutler, Central Kentucky Project Manager ConnectKy, The Digital Divide & Closing the Gap



We will take a look at what the Digital Divide is, its significance, and the impact of what we are doing in Kentucky to help bridge this barrier. We will review some of the recent successes, and discuss current and future focus areas to ensure Kentucky remains the place to live, work, and raise a family.



2-2:50 p.m. EST, Mary Donnelly, Evantage Consulting, MN: Case Study: Findings of an accessibility study of an online resource directory geared towards people with a disabilities and seniors



In July 2005, we conducted a study as the overall accessibility of an online directory is geared towards seniors, people with disabilities, caregivers; families; and low income people. Twenty-five individual tests were conducted in users' homes. All users accessed the web using some type of assistive technology such as a screen reader. The study uncovered twenty-seven usability and accessibility barriers that prevent users from completing tasks. This presentation will cover logistics, methodology, findings, and recommendations.



3-3:50 p.m. EST, Michelle Swaney, PEPnet-South (Postsecondary Education Programs Network) Technology Specialist, Options for Accessible Webcasts & Online Media



In today's world of advancing technology, delivery of training and courses through online media has opened up many opportunities for individuals to receive needed information. However, accessibility for online delivery methods still lags well behind and is typically not addressed. Institutions and individuals need the necessary support and resources in order to make informed choices and ensure that webcasts and online media are accessible. This presentation will provide participants with options for creating webcasts and online media that are accessible and universally designed.



If you are interested in viewing any or all of these presentations, email = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > immediately to make appropriate arrangements. We need to know your local ITV connection's IP number to facilitate your connection on March 5.

For more information about the conference, please go to http://www.accessibility.eku.edu/conference.php.


Parker Owens
Web Accessibility Office
Eastern Kentucky University
254 Case Annex
Richmond, KY 40475

Phone: (859) 622-2743
http://www.accessibility.eku.edu

From: John E. Brandt
Date: Mon, Mar 03 2008 12:10PM
Subject: Re: Web Accessibility Symposium free ITV sessions
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Any possibility of getting these recorded for download after the session? I
am probably most interested in the presentation by Michelle Swaney on
"Options for Accessible Webcasts & Online Media"

~j

John E. Brandt
Augusta, Maine USA
www.jebswebs.com

From: Owens, Parker
Date: Thu, Mar 06 2008 8:20AM
Subject: Re: Web Accessibility Symposium free ITV sessions
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I will be in touch as soon as we get these posted. Michelle's presentation ROCKED! We had the real-time captions with the real-time captioner available for questions/comments, plus we had a teleconference and broadcast via ITV.

Parker Owens
Web Accessibility Office
Eastern Kentucky University
254 Case Annex
Richmond, KY 40475

Phone: (859) 622-2743
http://www.accessibility.eku.edu

From: Lisa Fiedor
Date: Mon, Mar 24 2008 9:30AM
Subject: web accessibility retrofitting service
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Hi all,

Do any of you provide a production retrofitting service to assist
faculty/clients with creating accessible web resources for
courses/sites? I've talked with a few people, and it doesn't seem that
there are many (any) places that provide this. Is this something you
would do on the Disability Services side, or would there be a way that
you offer development services for faculty/content creators, so that the
materials they provide are made accessible at the source?

Thanks,
Lisa

--
-- -- --
Lisa Marie Fiedor
Web Accessibility, Usability, & Design Specialist
DELTA Instructional Support Services
Campus Box 7111, NC State University, Raleigh NC 27695-7111
Rm 2133 DH Hill Library, East Wing
v 919-513-4616 f 919-513-4005
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =

From: Phil Teare
Date: Mon, Mar 24 2008 9:40AM
Subject: Re: web accessibility retrofitting service
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While most would say rewrites are better than retrofitting (and I'd agree),
if you have the resources/time... we could look at it as a project. Talklets
and V Browser offer fairly unique add-on services. They can both be bespoke
tailored to work around the shortcomings of a given legacy system.

Best,
Phil
--
Phil Teare,
CTO & Chief Architect,
http://www.talklets.com from Textic Ltd.
(44) [0] 208 4452871

From: Phil Teare
Date: Mon, Mar 24 2008 9:50AM
Subject: Re: web accessibility retrofitting service
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Looking at your site, its not so bad. Which areas are you wanting work done
on? Are they they public, for me to have a poke at?
Cheers
Phil


On 24/03/2008, Phil Teare < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> While most would say rewrites are better than retrofitting (and I'd
> agree), if you have the resources/time... we could look at it as a project.
> Talklets and V Browser offer fairly unique add-on services. They can both be
> bespoke tailored to work around the shortcomings of a given legacy system.
>
> Best,
> Phil
> --
> Phil Teare,
> CTO & Chief Architect,
> http://www.talklets.com from Textic Ltd.
> (44) [0] 208 4452871
>



--
Phil Teare,
CTO & Chief Architect,
http://www.talklets.com from Textic Ltd.
(44) [0] 208 4452871

From: Lisa Fiedor
Date: Mon, Mar 24 2008 10:10AM
Subject: Re: web accessibility retrofitting service
← Previous message | Next message →

Actually, I'm scoping out the development of an accessibility production
service for our campus, and was wondering whether anyone has done that
somewhere else. Our faculty are generally not experienced web
developers, and there is interest in providing a service that will work
with their online course materials and either redesign or retrofit them
to be accessible. The majority of our public sites are accessible, but
when it comes to course pages, there is some work that needs to be done.
By whom, is the question.

Thanks,
Lisa

Phil Teare wrote:
> Looking at your site, its not so bad. Which areas are you wanting work done
> on? Are they they public, for me to have a poke at?
> Cheers
> Phil
>
>
> On 24/03/2008, Phil Teare < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
>> While most would say rewrites are better than retrofitting (and I'd
>> agree), if you have the resources/time... we could look at it as a project.
>> Talklets and V Browser offer fairly unique add-on services. They can both be
>> bespoke tailored to work around the shortcomings of a given legacy system.
>>
>> Best,
>> Phil
>> --
>> Phil Teare,
>> CTO & Chief Architect,
>> http://www.talklets.com from Textic Ltd.
>> (44) [0] 208 4452871
>>
>>
>
>
>
>

--
-- -- --
Lisa Marie Fiedor
Web Accessibility, Usability, & Design Specialist
DELTA Instructional Support Services
Campus Box 7111, NC State University, Raleigh NC 27695-7111
Rm 2133 DH Hill Library, East Wing
v 919-513-4616 f 919-513-4005
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =

From: Phil Teare
Date: Mon, Mar 24 2008 10:20AM
Subject: Re: web accessibility retrofitting service
← Previous message | Next message →

In which case, like I say, a redesign would usually be best. And there are
dozens of excellent companies out there, to do just that.

If there are clear reasons for this being impractical, a retrofit is going
to have many problems to overcome. Adding a self voiceing system and/or
templated patch (a little like T.V Raman's AxsJax) is a way to work around
these issues. This is something I'd be more than happy to investigate for
you, and is something we've done before.

I'd list other design companies for a redesign, but there are so many and
I'd hate to leave anyone out.

Best
Phil


On 24/03/2008, Lisa Fiedor < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> Actually, I'm scoping out the development of an accessibility production
> service for our campus, and was wondering whether anyone has done that
> somewhere else. Our faculty are generally not experienced web
> developers, and there is interest in providing a service that will work
> with their online course materials and either redesign or retrofit them
> to be accessible. The majority of our public sites are accessible, but
> when it comes to course pages, there is some work that needs to be done.
> By whom, is the question.
>
> Thanks,
> Lisa
>
> Phil Teare wrote:
> > Looking at your site, its not so bad. Which areas are you wanting work
> done
> > on? Are they they public, for me to have a poke at?
> > Cheers
> > Phil
> >
> >
> > On 24/03/2008, Phil Teare < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> >
> >> While most would say rewrites are better than retrofitting (and I'd
> >> agree), if you have the resources/time... we could look at it as a
> project.
> >> Talklets and V Browser offer fairly unique add-on services. They can
> both be
> >> bespoke tailored to work around the shortcomings of a given legacy
> system.
> >>
> >> Best,
> >> Phil
> >> --
> >> Phil Teare,
> >> CTO & Chief Architect,
> >> http://www.talklets.com from Textic Ltd.
> >> (44) [0] 208 4452871
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> --
> -- -- --
> Lisa Marie Fiedor
> Web Accessibility, Usability, & Design Specialist
> DELTA Instructional Support Services
> Campus Box 7111, NC State University, Raleigh NC 27695-7111
> Rm 2133 DH Hill Library, East Wing
> v 919-513-4616 f 919-513-4005
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>
>

From: Lisa Fiedor
Date: Mon, Mar 24 2008 10:40AM
Subject: Re: web accessibility retrofitting service
← Previous message | Next message →

Hi Phil,

I'm not sure what you mean by adding a self voicing system and a
templated patch. I'd definitely have to figure out how to work with
something like AxsJax.

Since there are potentially a lot of sites that faculty are developing,
I'm not sure about how outsourcing the work to a company would work, or
if it would scale. I'd need to get some idea of an hourly (?) cost or
some sort of cost schedule for how that would work. There is such
variability that would need to be accommodated, I'm just not sure how
cost effective it would be. Also, I forsee that there would need to be a
lot of participation of our faculty subject matter experts for accurate
alt text, for example, that I'm not sure how that would work with a 3rd
party.

Thanks for your ideas!
Lisa

Phil Teare wrote:
> In which case, like I say, a redesign would usually be best. And there are
> dozens of excellent companies out there, to do just that.
>
> If there are clear reasons for this being impractical, a retrofit is going
> to have many problems to overcome. Adding a self voiceing system and/or
> templated patch (a little like T.V Raman's AxsJax) is a way to work around
> these issues. This is something I'd be more than happy to investigate for
> you, and is something we've done before.
>
> I'd list other design companies for a redesign, but there are so many and
> I'd hate to leave anyone out.
>
> Best
> Phil
>
>
> On 24/03/2008, Lisa Fiedor < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
>> Actually, I'm scoping out the development of an accessibility production
>> service for our campus, and was wondering whether anyone has done that
>> somewhere else. Our faculty are generally not experienced web
>> developers, and there is interest in providing a service that will work
>> with their online course materials and either redesign or retrofit them
>> to be accessible. The majority of our public sites are accessible, but
>> when it comes to course pages, there is some work that needs to be done.
>> By whom, is the question.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Lisa
>>
>> Phil Teare wrote:
>>
>>> Looking at your site, its not so bad. Which areas are you wanting work
>>>
>> done
>>
>>> on? Are they they public, for me to have a poke at?
>>> Cheers
>>> Phil
>>>
>>>
>>> On 24/03/2008, Phil Teare < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> While most would say rewrites are better than retrofitting (and I'd
>>>> agree), if you have the resources/time... we could look at it as a
>>>>
>> project.
>>
>>>> Talklets and V Browser offer fairly unique add-on services. They can
>>>>
>> both be
>>
>>>> bespoke tailored to work around the shortcomings of a given legacy
>>>>
>> system.
>>
>>>> Best,
>>>> Phil
>>>> --
>>>> Phil Teare,
>>>> CTO & Chief Architect,
>>>> http://www.talklets.com from Textic Ltd.
>>>> (44) [0] 208 4452871
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> --
>> -- -- --
>> Lisa Marie Fiedor
>> Web Accessibility, Usability, & Design Specialist
>> DELTA Instructional Support Services
>> Campus Box 7111, NC State University, Raleigh NC 27695-7111
>> Rm 2133 DH Hill Library, East Wing
>> v 919-513-4616 f 919-513-4005
>> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>>
>>

From: Phil Teare
Date: Mon, Mar 24 2008 10:50AM
Subject: Re: web accessibility retrofitting service
← Previous message | Next message →

It keeps looking more and more like you need a rewrite and not a retrofit
then.

By self voicing I mean like this (literally no work done here, just dumped
it into our test system):
https://www.talklets-secure.com/vbrowser2/browse.php?u=%3A%2F%2Fncsu.edu%2Fcurrent-students%2Findex.php&b=188

(the voice can of course be US)

Simply put, the benefits of self voicing through something like V Browser
are that you can make something that is not accessible, accessible, without
rewriting the actual base system. Effectively making the Assistive
Technology (which would be web based) do the hard work of presenting an
accessible interface. Rather than making the legacy system itself accessible
to any and every Assistive Technology (like JAWS etc).

Pros:
little to no work your end
Accessible from most online machines, even if AT not installed on them (this
is pretty cool, especially for educational establishments and public
services)

Cons:
latency (you'll need a good connection, or it'll be jittery), but hosting on
your servers greatly reduces this issue.
some users are used to their AT and won't want to change to a web based
system

Thinking about it, it sounds like you want something you just buy in a
box that fixes what you have. There have been attempts at this, but most,
sadly have been fairly disappointing, and for fairly unavoidable reasons.

Does that make sense?

Best
Phil

--
Phil Teare,
CTO & Chief Architect,
http://www.talklets.com from Textic Ltd.
(44) [0] 208 4452871

From: Lisa Fiedor
Date: Mon, Mar 24 2008 1:10PM
Subject: Re: web accessibility retrofitting service
← Previous message | No next message

Hi Sean,

Sean Keegan wrote:
> > Actually, I'm scoping out the development of an accessibility production
> > service for our campus, and was wondering whether anyone has done
> that somewhere else.
>
> I am not quite sure what you are looking for when you specify an
> "accessibility production service", but if you are looking for an
> example of such a service on a campus, there is the Badger
> Accessibility Services at Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison
> (http://www.bas.wisc.edu/). I believe they do a lot of alternate
> media production, but may serve as just one example (there are others,
> I just cannot think of them right now).
By accessibility production service, I'm talking about a place (most
likely on campus) that faculty can "bring" their online course
materials, and a person/people will make those materials accessible
(e.g., add appropriate alt text, fix tables, caption media (or farm that
out), etc.)

Thanks for the reference to UW-Madison, I'll try to find someone to talk
to there.
>
> > Our faculty are generally not experienced web developers, and there
> is interest in
> > providing a service that will work with their online course materials
> and either redesign
> > or retrofit them to be accessible.
>
> In some respects, it sounds like you are looking at an entity to
> support faculty in the creation of online materials (that are also
> accessible). Instructional designers that also have training in
> aspects of accessibility/content usability would be ideal as the
> designers could direct faculty during the content creation process.
> Additionally, such designers would be versed in using the various
> campus technologies in such a way that retrofitting (where possible)
> would be a simple process.
>
> If possible, I would put this entity outside of a Disabled Student
> Services program. You could certainly have dialogue between such
> program groups, but I would suggest keeping them separate.
As it stands now, that's what I do in my current role. I work with
faculty to design and develop online course materials, and, of course,
make them accessible. Also, I teach workshops, answer questions in our
help desk queue, and do individual consultations. The problem is that we
do not have staff to provide a "drop-off" service, and I need some
justification for getting that staff and establishing that service.
>
> take care,
> Sean
I appreciate your help in this endeavor.
Thanks,
Lisa
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>