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Thread: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products

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Number of posts in this thread: 17 (In chronological order)

From: John Middleton
Date: Mon, Nov 02 2009 4:40PM
Subject: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
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Anyone aware of available studies/reports on the accessibility of cross
platform Web Collaboration Solution products?
(Example products: Wimba, Adobe Connect Pro, Elluminate, etc.)

I'm looking for recent comparison reports in particular.
Just thought I'd toss this out here. All leads are appreciated.

Regards,
John Middleton
Web Administrator
Disability Research to Practice

From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Mon, Nov 02 2009 4:55PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
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I'd be happy to discuss accessibility in Connect with you.

Thanks,
AWK

Andrew Kirkpatrick

Senior Product Manager, Accessibility

Adobe Systems

= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =


From: Hadi Rangin
Date: Tue, Nov 03 2009 7:45AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
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Here at the University of Illinois we tested and evaluated several Web
Conferencing Tools namely Elluminate, Adobe Connect, Saba Centra, Talking
Communities, and soon Wimba. We would like to publish the features and
accessibility support comparison between these products at the Accessing
Higher Grounds Conference next week.

I will post the result to this list in about 10 days.
We contacted all the vendors except Saba Centra about our findings and they
all showed strong interest win working with us collaboratively to improve
the accessibility of their products. If you or anyone who is interested to
be part of this collaboration project, please drop me a note.

Thanks,
Hadi


----- Original Message -----
From: "John Middleton" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Sent: Monday, November 02, 2009 5:37 PM
Subject: [WebAIM] Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products


> Anyone aware of available studies/reports on the accessibility of cross
> platform Web Collaboration Solution products?
> (Example products: Wimba, Adobe Connect Pro, Elluminate, etc.)
>
> I'm looking for recent comparison reports in particular.
> Just thought I'd toss this out here. All leads are appreciated.
>
> Regards,
> John Middleton
> Web Administrator
> Disability Research to Practice
>
>

From: Evans, Donald (Contractor)
Date: Tue, Nov 03 2009 7:50AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
← Previous message | Next message →

Thanks Hadi, I will look forward to seeing your results.


From: John E. Brandt
Date: Tue, Nov 03 2009 9:05AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
← Previous message | Next message →

Hadi rocks!!!

John E. Brandt
Accessible Web Design, Development, Consultation
Augusta, Maine USA
www.jebswebs.com
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
207-622-7937 

From: Katherine Mancuso
Date: Tue, Nov 03 2009 12:40PM
Subject: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
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You know, it seems like it would be great for all stakeholders to have
a webinar series or an IRC meeting about options for accessibility in
web conferencing & collaboration products, and allow folks like Andrew
from Adobe to present on the features of their platform and get user
feedback from our end - especially if we could put up logs or
summaries of each conversation somewhere. We could also invite makers
of 3D virtual platforms like Second Life to participate. We are
currently using the IDEAL webinar system in our office which when we
tested was the most accessible platform available, but we are
interested in other potential options.

Any interest in such an option? Could we come up with a way to do
this that wouldn't cost anyone?

Katherine Mancuso
Center for Assistive Technology & Environmental Access

--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Katherine Mancuso: crusader of community art, social technology, & disability

Research:
Center for Assistive Technology & Environmental Access (http://www.catea.org)
Georgia Tech, Digital Media (http://dm.gatech.edu)

Community:
The Vesuvius Group: metaverse community builders
(http://www.thevesuviusgroup.com)
Gimp Girl Community Liaison/Research Fellow (http://www.gimpgirl.com)
Alternate ROOTS: arts*community*activism (http://www.alternateroots.org)
Students Working Against Negative Stereotypes of Autism, Georgia Tech.
( = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = )

Contact in the web, the metaverse, the world:
http://twitter.com/musingvirtual
http://muse.dreamwidth.org
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kathymancuso
SL: Muse Carmona
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: John E. Brandt
Date: Tue, Nov 03 2009 2:45PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
← Previous message | Next message →

Interesting idea Katherine.

If I am reading Hadi's message correctly, I understood him to state that he
was planning to report the findings of their research on this topic at the
Accessing Higher Grounds Conference http://www.colorado.edu/Atconference/
next week in Colorado. Here is the session I think he is talking about

Cotton Creek II: Usability and accessibility in Web Conferencing Tools:
Side-by-side comparison of four Web conferencing Tools, Hadi Rangin,
University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, Marc Thompson, University of
Illinois at Urbana/Champaign (from:
http://www.colorado.edu/Atconference/confsched2009.html )

I am hoping there will be a written paper coming out of this and other
presentation materials that would be of value to the folks in the distance
learning community.

~j

John E. Brandt
Accessible Web Design, Development, Consultation
Augusta, Maine USA
www.jebswebs.com
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
207-622-7937 


From: Moore,Michael (DARS)
Date: Tue, Nov 03 2009 3:05PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
← Previous message | Next message →

Sounds like a great idea to me, one system that we have been looking at is Accessible Event from Serotek, we have also looked at GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar, and Talking Communities. We found Accessible Event and Talking Communities provided the most accessible options.

Mike Moore

From: J. B-Vincent
Date: Wed, Nov 18 2009 9:50AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
← Previous message | Next message →

Hi Hadi:

By any chance, are the results available yet? I've already talked to the director of a local disability organization who's looking at acquiring a web conferencing system in the near future and is extremely interested in making sure it's accessible.

Many thanks.

--Jane Vincent, Center for Accessible Technology

--- On Tue, 11/3/09, Hadi Rangin < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

From: Hadi Rangin < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Date: Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 6:42 AM

Here at the University of Illinois we tested and evaluated several Web
Conferencing Tools namely Elluminate, Adobe Connect, Saba Centra, Talking
Communities, and soon Wimba. We would like to publish the features and
accessibility support comparison between these products at the Accessing
Higher Grounds Conference next week.

I will post the result to this list in about 10 days.
We contacted all the vendors except Saba Centra about our findings and they
all showed strong interest win working with us collaboratively to improve
the accessibility of their products. If you or anyone who is interested to
be part of this collaboration project, please drop me a note.

Thanks,
Hadi


----- Original Message -----
From: "John Middleton" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Sent: Monday, November 02, 2009 5:37 PM
Subject: [WebAIM] Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products


> Anyone aware of available studies/reports on the accessibility of cross
> platform Web Collaboration Solution products?
> (Example products: Wimba, Adobe Connect Pro, Elluminate, etc.)
>
> I'm looking for recent comparison reports in particular.
> Just thought I'd toss this out here. All leads are appreciated.
>
> Regards,
> John Middleton
> Web Administrator
> Disability Research to Practice
>
>

From: Hadi Rangin
Date: Sun, Nov 22 2009 11:25PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
← Previous message | Next message →

Hello,

As promised here's the result of our accessibility evaluation of four Web
Conferencing Tools: Adobe Connect, Elluninate, Saba Centra, and Talking
Communities.

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/hadi/www/conf/ahg2009/accessibility_of_web_conferencing_tools.html

As you will see in the Update section of the page, among other providers
Elluminate is also intensifying their efforts to improve the accessibility
of their product. They are inviting interested individuals to join this
effort. If you are interested in working with collaboratively with them and
contribute to accessibility of Elluminate, please drop me an e-mail at
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = (not to the list) and I will provide you the instruction
how to join the meeting.
The next meeting will be on December 2nd at 2:00 PM EST.

If you are also interested to join the Talking Communities Accessibility
Interest Group, please go to
http://collaborate.athenpro.org/group/tc/

I am positive that Adobe will soon start such initiative to bring people
with disabilities on board to help them to make their product more
accessible to their users. They are currently discussing it internally.

Thanks,
Hadi

From: J. B-Vincent
Date: Mon, Nov 23 2009 3:30AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
← Previous message | Next message →

Many thanks, Hadi. However, when I tried to click on either link listed under "Side by Side Comparison," I was prompted for a username and password. Is there another way to get to these files?

Jane Vincent, Center for Accessible Technology

--- On Sun, 11/22/09, Hadi Rangin < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

From: Hadi Rangin < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Date: Sunday, November 22, 2009, 10:22 PM

Hello,

As promised here's the result of our accessibility evaluation of four Web
Conferencing Tools: Adobe Connect, Elluninate, Saba Centra, and Talking
Communities.

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/hadi/www/conf/ahg2009/accessibility_of_web_conferencing_tools.html

As you will see in the Update section of the page, among other providers
Elluminate is also intensifying their efforts to improve the accessibility
of their product. They are inviting interested individuals to join this
effort. If you are interested in working with collaboratively with them and
contribute to accessibility of Elluminate, please drop me an e-mail at
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = (not to the list) and I will provide you the instruction
how to join the meeting.
The next meeting will be on December 2nd at 2:00 PM EST.

If you are also interested to join the Talking Communities Accessibility
Interest Group, please go to
http://collaborate.athenpro.org/group/tc/

I am positive that Adobe will soon start such initiative to bring people
with disabilities on board to help them to make their product more
accessible to their users. They are currently discussing it internally.

Thanks,
Hadi

From: John E. Brandt
Date: Mon, Nov 23 2009 7:30AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
← Previous message | Next message →

Ditto. The initial overview also required that I download the HTML file and
view it offline.

~j

John E. Brandt
jebswebs.com
Augusta, ME USA
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
www.jebswebs.com

From: Hadi Rangin
Date: Mon, Nov 23 2009 9:15AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
← Previous message | Next message →

Sorry. Please use this one:

http://netfiles.uiuc.edu/hadi/www/conf/ahg2009/accessibility_of_web_conferencing_tools.html

Thanks,
Hadi


----- Original Message -----
From: "John E. Brandt" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: "'WebAIM Discussion List'" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 8:26 AM
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products


> Ditto. The initial overview also required that I download the HTML file
> and
> view it offline.
>
> ~j
>
> John E. Brandt
> jebswebs.com
> Augusta, ME USA
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> www.jebswebs.com
>
>

From: Ranti Junus
Date: Mon, Nov 23 2009 9:25AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
← Previous message | Next message →

Hadi,

Thank you!
The links to the both HTML and PowerPoint version of the presentation
prompted me to enter a username and password, unfortunately.


thanks,
ranti.

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 11:11 AM, Hadi Rangin < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Sorry. Please use this one:
>
> http://netfiles.uiuc.edu/hadi/www/conf/ahg2009/accessibility_of_web_conferencing_tools.html
>
> Thanks,
> Hadi


--
Bulk mail. Postage paid.

From: Hadi Rangin
Date: Mon, Nov 23 2009 9:45PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
← Previous message | Next message →

I was not able to fix the problem with our local netfile system. Apparently
all the http pages are redirected to https port for out of U of I network
for which usernames/passwords are required. I posted the report at my
personal server at:

http://bargirangin.com/conf/ahg2009/

Hope we can post it in near future at the ICITA site.

Sorry for the inconvenience.
Hadi

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ranti Junus" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 10:24 AM
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products


> Hadi,
>
> Thank you!
> The links to the both HTML and PowerPoint version of the presentation
> prompted me to enter a username and password, unfortunately.
>
>
> thanks,
> ranti.
>
> On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 11:11 AM, Hadi Rangin < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>> Sorry. Please use this one:
>>
>> http://netfiles.uiuc.edu/hadi/www/conf/ahg2009/accessibility_of_web_conferencing_tools.html
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Hadi
>
>
> --
> Bulk mail. Postage paid.
>

From: Moore,Michael (DARS)
Date: Tue, Nov 24 2009 7:15AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
← Previous message | Next message →

Thanks Hadi,

Your results confirm testing that we have done on Adobe Connect and Talking Communities. A couple of others that we have looked at: Go To Meeting, which has severe accessibility problems for keyboard users and screen reader users and Accessible Event by Serotek which looks very promising and can be run parallel to inaccessible services. When we looked at Accessible Event they had not yet implemented a voice chat feature but they had a really cool delivery mechanism for Microsoft Office Word, PPT and Excel documents. They were transmitted as accessible html. Our demo was driven from their location so I do not know what is required on the set up to support that feature.

Mike Moore

From: J. B-Vincent
Date: Tue, Nov 24 2009 7:55AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
← Previous message | No next message

Mike (and anyone else): do you have more information written up about the tests you did that you'd be willing to share? Thanks--Jane

--- On Tue, 11/24/09, Moore,Michael (DARS) < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

From: Moore,Michael (DARS) < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility reports of Web Conferencing products
To: "Hadi Rangin" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >, "WebAIM Discussion List" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Date: Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 6:14 AM

Thanks Hadi,

Your results confirm testing that we have done on Adobe Connect and Talking Communities. A couple of others that we have looked at: Go To Meeting, which has severe accessibility problems for keyboard users and screen reader users and Accessible Event by Serotek which looks very promising and can be run parallel to inaccessible services. When we looked at Accessible Event they had not yet implemented a voice chat feature but they had a really cool delivery mechanism for Microsoft Office Word, PPT and Excel documents. They were transmitted as accessible html. Our demo was driven from their location so I do not know what is required on the set up to support that feature.

Mike Moore