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Thread: Research on mixed teams
Number of posts in this thread: 6 (In chronological order)
From: Ayelet Abraham
Date: Sun, Mar 11 2018 10:42AM
Subject: Research on mixed teams
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Hello,
First Id like to thank those who wrote me solutions to the issue of track
changes. It worked partialy. Some instances of changes where read acurately
but on others the screen reader just ignored them. I think its this way
because Im working with hebrew.
And now something entirely different- we are developing a Digital
accessibility examiner course intended for people with and without a
disability. The idea is to teach those who can conduct only some of the
audit to lead a team that would complete them in their capabilities. I
wonder if theres research about such cooperative teams? For example - the
examiner Im working with who is with blindness, instructs the seeing
technician and customer service providors how to help him conduct the audit
- he leads the audit. I wonder if there is research on this kind of team
work.
Thanks,
Ayelet
Ayelet Abraham, PhD
Digital accessibility specialist
MigdalOr - Multi service Association for people with blindness and sight
impairement
Israel
From: JP Jamous
Date: Mon, Mar 12 2018 1:43AM
Subject: Re: Research on mixed teams
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I don't think there is but industry standards recommend that there are 2 testers per team. The first is sighted and the second is totally blind.
Having both extremes allows each to be an expert in his or her area. Also, the team builds synergy that way by being very efficient. All success criteria get covered.
The team can work alone or together when testing. The most important part is that they both assemble the report or share their notes. That way, all that apply to WCAG Level AA are accounted for.
Some sighted testers like to turn off their machines and run screen readers. I am not against that, but they won't be as keen as totally blind users for various reasons. It would be best to give each tester the success criteria he or she is an expert at.
One last part to keep in mind. While it takes a while for the team members to learn how to work with each other, the psychological part that plays a huge role amongst team members applies to those teams. For example, if the 2 individuals are not comfortable working with each other, you will have team issues. That is more from a management prospective. I witnessed that first-hand. I had some sighted folks that I was able to work with them very comfortably and quickly. We got so much done in a short period of time while having fun and joking around. Whereas, others I had to slow down to their own speeds and be cautious of their feelings etc.
I hope that helps.
From: Steve Green
Date: Mon, Mar 12 2018 2:26AM
Subject: Re: Research on mixed teams
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What industry standards are you referring to? My view is that one skilled person is perfectly capable of conducting a comprehensive WCAG audit. As long as they are proficient in the use of screen readers and have substantial experience of user testing with screen reader users (and ideally people with a wide range of other disabilities an access needs) there is no need to involve anyone else in the audit.
That said, user testing with screen reader users and people with other disabilities an access needs always raises other issues, but these generally do not correspond to WCAG success criteria. This assumes that a WCAG audit has already been done and all the issues have been fixed before the user testing.
Unfortunately, my experience from interviewing numerous candidates and working with contractors, is that most are not proficient in the use of screen readers and few have any substantial experience of user testing. In the short term they clearly need support from a second person but the real fix is to get the training and user testing experience they need.
Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd
From: JP Jamous
Date: Mon, Mar 12 2018 3:45AM
Subject: Re: Research on mixed teams
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What I meant by Industry Standards is that generally speaking. For the most part, it is always good to have 2 individuals conducting the evaluation rather than one alone.
I have had situations where sighted screen reader users missed out on some minor things that my ears were in-tuned to.
I do agree that most sighted testers don't have a good grasp on how to use a screen reader, but I know some that are pretty darn good.
From: glen walker
Date: Mon, Mar 12 2018 9:05AM
Subject: Re: Research on mixed teams
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@Steve, "one skilled person is perfectly capable of conducting a
comprehensive WCAG audit". Do you mean one skilled "sighted" person?
Color contrast issues and focus indicators are difficult to test for
without some sight.
@JP, I like having the combination you listed, but I prefer to have overlap
between the two individuals and not have them wholly segregated on what
they're testing. A sighted person can code inspect while testing with AT.
As I'm sure you're aware, you can have properly written HTML that some
browser/AT combinations don't honor. It's nice to let the client know that
while they have their code written properly, they might have to work around
some issues. (Listening to the browser's inspector via AT is not very
enjoyable, which is why it might be easier for a sighted tester to do
that. If you inspect the code by exporting it to an editor, it might be
doable with AT.)
Glen
On Mon, Mar 12, 2018 at 3:45 AM, JP Jamous < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> What I meant by Industry Standards is that generally speaking. For the
> most part, it is always good to have 2 individuals conducting the
> evaluation rather than one alone.
>
> I have had situations where sighted screen reader users missed out on some
> minor things that my ears were in-tuned to.
>
> I do agree that most sighted testers don't have a good grasp on how to use
> a screen reader, but I know some that are pretty darn good.
>
>
From: JP Jamous
Date: Mon, Mar 12 2018 10:20AM
Subject: Re: Research on mixed teams
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I agree Glen. I prefer to have someone with me to cover situations as the ones you stated. However, this may be problematic to some teams especially if the team members are working remotely or one has an important meeting.
At work, we have created a nice list of success criteria and whom should handle each. We ended up with "SR User", "VA - Visual Assistant", "Both" and lastly "Either". This allowed us to accommodate team members that worked on different time zones or had important meetings to attend. It made the process more flexible which was what our large team needed.
If someone is working alone or in a small group, he or she can accomplish the whole evaluation without the need for a teammate. Yet, in a diverse team that has members with various disabilities, it would be better to have more of a flexible team approach. Bottom line, the business model dictates how the process should be handled best.