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Number of posts in this thread: 9 (In chronological order)

From: WL Wong
Date: Tue, Oct 23 2007 5:30AM
Subject: Accessibility statement undergoing maintenance
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Hi,

For those of you who are in colleges or universities and are using
WebCT/BB products, I wondered if you have noticed that the
accessibility statement on the BB site has been going through some
changes.

Previously there was some mention of products being 508 compliant, etc, and etc.

Of late the accessibility link on BB's sites has undergone one more
transformation - see
http://www.blackboard.com/company/accessibility.aspx

Message posted on the page:
"We're sorry, but the Accessibility page you're looking for is
currently undergoing maintenance. Please check back soon.

For additional help, please visit our site map.

Thank you."

I am interested to hear your response...

Thanks and regards
WL

From: John E. Brandt
Date: Tue, Oct 23 2007 7:50AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility statement undergoing maintenance
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I just blogged about that http://www.jebswebs.net/blog/

Backstory is the company is now working with the Blackboard Accessibility
Interest Group http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/collaborate/blackboard/ being
headed up folks at UIUC. I spoke with one of their leads last week and the
best estimate is that it will be a year before the new accessible product is
available. The problems are more in the back end/admin/course development
side.

Read my blog for some other background.

If you are interested in helping the Interest Group, they are looking for
more participation. My guess is the company may need more convincing and
numbers count.

~j

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

From: Jared Smith
Date: Tue, Oct 23 2007 9:30AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility statement undergoing maintenance
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On 10/23/07, WL Wong wrote:
> Previously there was some mention of products being 508 compliant, etc, and etc.
>
> Of late the accessibility link on BB's sites has undergone one more
> transformation - see
> http://www.blackboard.com/company/accessibility.aspx

I recently read their accessibility statement and realized that it
hadn't been updated in at least 5 years. It still listed WebAIM as a
partner and that grant and partnership concluded in 2003. It also
seemed to overstate their level of accessibility (and perhaps was a
legal liability?).

It's great to see that they are taking a (hopefully) serious look at
accessibility. I think the lack of accessibility in BB and other
course and information management systems is perhaps the #1 issue
faced by our higher education clients.

Jared Smith
WebAIM

From: WL Wong
Date: Tue, Oct 23 2007 5:50PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility statement undergoing maintenance
← Previous message | Next message →

Thanks John, great post! and count me in, send me the details. I have
been on the acessibility of elearning trail esp WebCT since 2002 but
still gnawing at crumbs... and not getting much answers either.

Cheers,
WL

On 10/23/07, John E. Brandt < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> I just blogged about that http://www.jebswebs.net/blog/
>
> Backstory is the company is now working with the Blackboard Accessibility
> Interest Group http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/collaborate/blackboard/ being
> headed up folks at UIUC. I spoke with one of their leads last week and the
> best estimate is that it will be a year before the new accessible product is
> available. The problems are more in the back end/admin/course development
> side.
>
> Read my blog for some other background.
>
> If you are interested in helping the Interest Group, they are looking for
> more participation. My guess is the company may need more convincing and
> numbers count.
>
> ~j
>
> John E. Brandt
> Augusta, Maine USA
> www.jebswebs.com
>
>
>
>

From: Jon Gunderson
Date: Tue, Oct 23 2007 10:00PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility statement undergoing maintenance
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There is a Blackboard Accessibility Interest Group that is working with the company to help them understand accessibility issues and solution strategies of Blackboard products. Please consider joining the group and lending your hand and voice to the discussions with Blackboard to improve accessibility.

More information at:
http://www.cita.uiuc.edu/collaborate/blackboard/

Jon


---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:26:46 -0600
>From: "Jared Smith" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
>Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility statement undergoing maintenance
>To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
>
>On 10/23/07, WL Wong wrote:
>> Previously there was some mention of products being 508 compliant, etc, and etc.
>>
>> Of late the accessibility link on BB's sites has undergone one more
>> transformation - see
>> http://www.blackboard.com/company/accessibility.aspx
>
>I recently read their accessibility statement and realized that it
>hadn't been updated in at least 5 years. It still listed WebAIM as a
>partner and that grant and partnership concluded in 2003. It also
>seemed to overstate their level of accessibility (and perhaps was a
>legal liability?).
>
>It's great to see that they are taking a (hopefully) serious look at
>accessibility. I think the lack of accessibility in BB and other
>course and information management systems is perhaps the #1 issue
>faced by our higher education clients.
>
>Jared Smith
>WebAIM
>

From: WL Wong
Date: Wed, Oct 24 2007 12:20AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility statement undergoing maintenance
← Previous message | Next message →

Thanks to everyone who has responded. :D
WL

On 10/24/07, Jon Gunderson < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> There is a Blackboard Accessibility Interest Group that is working with the company to help them understand accessibility issues and solution strategies of Blackboard products. Please consider joining the group and lending your hand and voice to the discussions with Blackboard to improve accessibility.
>
> More information at:
> http://www.cita.uiuc.edu/collaborate/blackboard/
>
> Jon
>
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:26:46 -0600
> >From: "Jared Smith" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> >Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility statement undergoing maintenance
> >To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> >
> >On 10/23/07, WL Wong wrote:
> >> Previously there was some mention of products being 508 compliant, etc, and etc.
> >>
> >> Of late the accessibility link on BB's sites has undergone one more
> >> transformation - see
> >> http://www.blackboard.com/company/accessibility.aspx
> >
> >I recently read their accessibility statement and realized that it
> >hadn't been updated in at least 5 years. It still listed WebAIM as a
> >partner and that grant and partnership concluded in 2003. It also
> >seemed to overstate their level of accessibility (and perhaps was a
> >legal liability?).
> >
> >It's great to see that they are taking a (hopefully) serious look at
> >accessibility. I think the lack of accessibility in BB and other
> >course and information management systems is perhaps the #1 issue
> >faced by our higher education clients.
> >
> >Jared Smith
> >WebAIM
> >

From: tedd
Date: Thu, Oct 25 2007 7:30AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility statement undergoing maintenance
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At 10:53 PM -0500 10/23/07, Jon Gunderson wrote:

>More information at:
>http://www.cita.uiuc.edu/collaborate/blackboard/
>
> Of late the accessibility link on BB's sites has undergone one more
> >> transformation - see
> >> http://www.blackboard.com/company/accessibility.aspx
>>

Not meaning to nit-pick, but if these links are supposed to be
Accessibility concerned sites, shouldn't they first take the time to
w3c validate and also check what their pages look like and how they
work in other browsers? Try reviewing the second link in FF for the
Mac -- even the able bodied would have difficulty with that.

What am I not getting here?

Cheers,

tedd
--
-------
http://sperling.com http://ancientstones.com http://earthstones.com

From: Jon Gunderson
Date: Thu, Oct 25 2007 8:30AM
Subject: Re: Accessibility statement undergoing maintenance
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The group has no control over the blackboard website. Our goal is to educate blackboard on accessibility issues of their technologies and services, and to provide solution strategies for them.

To support these efforts I encourage people to send accessibility comments directly to them. Too often accessibility related comments circulate on listservs and blogs but never get to the company.

I also encourage people to join and participate in the working group, as you can tell there is much work to do and few hands to address the issues. If the only thing you have the time to do is add your name and organization to the listserv, it is another indication to the company the number of people who care about accessibility.

Jon


---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 09:27:21 -0400
>From: tedd < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
>Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessibility statement undergoing maintenance
>To: WebAIM Discussion List < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
>Cc: Jon Gunderson < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
>
>At 10:53 PM -0500 10/23/07, Jon Gunderson wrote:
>
>>More information at:
>>http://www.cita.uiuc.edu/collaborate/blackboard/
>>
>> Of late the accessibility link on BB's sites has undergone one more
>> >> transformation - see
>> >> http://www.blackboard.com/company/accessibility.aspx
>>>
>
>Not meaning to nit-pick, but if these links are supposed to be
>Accessibility concerned sites, shouldn't they first take the time to
>w3c validate and also check what their pages look like and how they
>work in other browsers? Try reviewing the second link in FF for the
>Mac -- even the able bodied would have difficulty with that.
>
>What am I not getting here?
>
>Cheers,
>
>tedd
>--
>-------
>http://sperling.com http://ancientstones.com http://earthstones.com
Jon Gunderson, Ph.D.
Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology (DRES)

WWW: http://www.cita.uiuc.edu/
WWW: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jongund/www/

From: WL Wong
Date: Thu, Oct 25 2007 8:20PM
Subject: Re: Accessibility statement undergoing maintenance
← Previous message | No next message

Point taken, we'll pass on the msg ...

Cheers
WL

> >
> >Not meaning to nit-pick, but if these links are supposed to be
> >Accessibility concerned sites, shouldn't they first take the time to
> >w3c validate and also check what their pages look like and how they
> >work in other browsers? Try reviewing the second link in FF for the
> >Mac -- even the able bodied would have difficulty with that.
> >
> >What am I not getting here?
> >
> >Cheers,
> >
> >tedd
> >--
> >-------
> >http://sperling.com http://ancientstones.com http://earthstones.com
> Jon Gunderson, Ph.D.
> Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology (DRES)
>
> WWW: http://www.cita.uiuc.edu/
> WWW: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jongund/www/
>
>
>