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What Does Accessibility Mean To The Blogging Community?

Brian Kelly

UKOLN

University of Bath

Bath

UK

B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk

Emma Duke-Williams

School of Computing University of Portsmouth

Portsmouth

UK

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/blogs-ac-uk-2006-06/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/blogs-ac-uk-2006-06/

This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat)

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Contents

• Introductions:• The Facilitators• The Participants

• What We Aim To Do• Technological Challenges• Pedagogical Challenges• Addressing The Challenges

Note this aims to be a Web 2.0 session – user-focused and always beta Note this aims to be a Web 2.0 session – user-focused and always beta

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About The Facilitators (1)

Brian Kelly:• UK Web Focus – a JISC/MLA-funded post to advise

UK HE/FE and cultural heritage sectors on Web issues (standards, emerging technologies, ..)

• Based at UKOLN, a national centre of expertise in digital information management

• Current areas of interest:• Potential of Web 2.0 in learning & teaching, research, ...• Maximising interoperability through use of open standards • Addressing barriers to the deployment of new technologies• Maximising access to resources, services and learning

Note that as a national adviser, the advice needs to be pragmatic and achievable across the sectors.

Note that as a national adviser, the advice needs to be pragmatic and achievable across the sectors.

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About The Facilitators (2)

Emma Duke-Williams • Lecturer in the School of Computing at

Portsmouth University• Came into Higher Education after having taught in

Special Education the UK, and teacher training/ teaching in Papua New Guinea - through Voluntary Services Overseas

• Currently teach undergradudate & postgraduate units on educational uses of computers (including community development), Multimedia & Web development

• Current research includes the role of Computers in supporting learning, teaching & assessment - with emphasis on access for all

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About You

Please tell us:• Who you are• What you do• The aspects of Blogs and accessibility of

interest to you

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Note that we will try to keep a record of your interests in a Wiki in order to (a) remind ourselves of your interests (b) review this towards the end and (c) help in subsequent reports.Please let us know if the notes breach confidentiality, are inaccurate, etc. (or update Wiki yourself!)

Note that we will try to keep a record of your interests in a Wiki in order to (a) remind ourselves of your interests (b) review this towards the end and (c) help in subsequent reports.Please let us know if the notes breach confidentiality, are inaccurate, etc. (or update Wiki yourself!)

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Learning Objectives

By the end of this session participants will:• Have a better understanding of what accessibility

means in the context of Blogging. • Have a better understanding of the strengths and

weaknesses of the WAI approach to accessibility. • Be aware of a holistic/contextual approach to e-

learning accessibility. • Have explored the reasons for use of Blogs from a

pedagogical approach and how this relates to accessibility.

• Be aware of possible barriers to the use of a holistic approach & ways of addressing such barriers.

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This workshop session will feed into the conference aims of producing a white paper on educational blogging

This workshop session will feed into the conference aims of producing a white paper on educational blogging

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Scope of the Session

In order to provide a framework for managing this session we propose that we focus discussions on:

• Blogs and related Web 2.0 technologies (e.g. include Wikis and Podcasting)

• Access to the technologies by students with disabilities for reading/listening and for publishing

• Pedagogical aspects

Additional relevant areas include:• Use of / availability of specialist devices • Social inclusion

Important, but out-of-scope areas include:• Access control management• Mainstream Blog issues (addressed in other sessions)

Are you happy with this scope? Are you happy with this scope?

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Issues Which Need to be Addressed

Issues:• What is meant by 'universal accessibility'?• Is the approach taken to making an online

bus timetable accessible likely to be the same as making e-learning accessible?

• Does the law (SENDA) or e-government guidelines require us to comply with WAI guidelines?

• If we have flexibility, how do we address the issue of accessibility for e-learning (in general) and Blogs in particular?

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The WAI Perspective

How many of you are familiar with:• WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative)• WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)

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How many of you are familiar with:• UAAG (User Agent Accessibility Guidelines)• ATAG (Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines)

How many of you:• Have policies based on WAI/WCAG?• Make use of WCAG guidelines in your Web

development work, e-learning, …?

Note that your institution may have policies which mandate conformance with WAI guidelines, and potentially could ban use of applications on these grounds (e.g. Podcasting)

Note that your institution may have policies which mandate conformance with WAI guidelines, and potentially could ban use of applications on these grounds (e.g. Podcasting)

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The WAI Model

WAI has been tremendously successful in raising awareness of Web accessibility and providing guidelines to achieve this.

WAI guidelines are based on:

• WCAG (Web Content …)• ATAG (Authoring Tools ..)• UAAG (User Agents …)

The model is simple to grasp. But is this model appropriate for the future? Does the model:

• Reflect the diversity of users & user environments• Reflect the diversity of Web usage• Reflect real-world technical environment and developments• Reflect real-world political and cultural environments

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Limitations Of The Model

This model:• Requires all three components to be implemented

in order for the WAI vision to be achieved • Is of limited use to end users who have no control

over browser or authoring tools developments• Is confusing – as many think WCAG is WAI

How does this model address:• Delays in full conformance? (We're still waiting for

"until user agents …" clause to be resolved)• Real-world reluctance to deploy new software

(issues of inertia, testing, costs, …)• Real world complexities

Is there a plan B in case this model fails to ever take off?Is it desirable to base legal requirements on an unproven theoretical framework?

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Usability Issues

What is the relationship between usability & accessibility?

Usability

Usability Accessibility

Accessibility

Accessibility

Usability

Usability

Accessibility

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Holistic Approach

1 Developing A Holistic Approach For E-Learning Accessibility, Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 2004, Vol. 30, Issue 3

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This approach reflects current UK emphasis on blended learning (rather than e-learning)

Kelly, Phipps & Swift1 developed a holistic framework for e-learning accessibility

This framework:• Focusses on the needs

of the learner• Requires accessible

learning outcomes, not necessarily e-learning resources

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Widening The Scope

Paper on "Contextual Web Accessibility - Maximizing the Benefit of Accessibility Guideline" by Sloan, Kelly et al presented at W4A workshop, Edinburgh, May 2006:

• Argued the need to know and design for your target audience

• Extended the user-focussed approach to accessibility: From a top-down approach (e.g. use in national

development programmes) based on a 3-layered contextual model

From a bottom-up approach for developers based on the tangram metaphor

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Top-Down ApproachExternal factors: Institutional issues (funds, expertise, policies, security…)

External factors: Legal issues; cultural factors; …

Purpose Sector Funding Resources

Context

Accessibility/Usability Privacy

Policies

…

Finance

External Self-assessment Penalties Learning

Compliance

Digital Library Programme

Broken

Standards

Research

…

This approach embraces relativism and context

rather than the current absolutist approach

Accessibility guidelines should be usable in wider context

Accessibility guidelines should be usable in wider context

A framework has been developed which places accessibility & usability within a wider context:

• The context• A range of

policies• A compliance

regime

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Bottom-Up Approach

The "Tangram Metaphor" developed to avoid checklist / automated approach:

• W3C model has limitations• Jigsaw model implies

single solution• Tangram model seeks to

avoid such problems

This approach:• Encourages developers

to think about a diversity of solutions

• Focus on 'pleasure' it provides to user

This approach:• Encourages developers

to think about a diversity of solutions

• Focus on 'pleasure' it provides to user

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Tangram ModelModel allows us to:

• Focuses on end solution rather than individual components

• Provided solutions tailored for end user

• Doesn't limit scope (can you do better than WAI AAA?)

• Make use of automated checking – but ensures emphasis is on user satisfaction

Guidelines/standards for/from:

• WAI• Usability• Pedagogy• Learning styles• Dyslexic • Learning difficulties• Organisations• Legal• Management

(resources, …)• Interoperability• Accessibility metadata• …

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The Legal Framework

This approach is well-suited for the UK legal framework:

SENDA/DDA legislation requires organisations to take "reasonable measures to ensure people with disabilities are not discriminated against unfairly"

Note that the legislation is:• Technologically neutral• Backwards and forwards compatible• Avoids version control complexities• …

The legislation also covers usability, as well as accessibility

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Questions / Exercises

Any questions / comments?

We will now have group exercises which explore some of the challenges of Blogging and accessibility

Note resources cited in the talk are bookmarked indel.icio.us using tag ''blogs-ac-uk-2006-kelly"

Note resources cited in the talk are bookmarked indel.icio.us using tag ''blogs-ac-uk-2006-kelly"

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Further InformationContextual Web Accessibility - Maximizing the Benefit of Accessibility Guidelines

W4A 2006 Proceedings, May 2006, (CD ROM) Sloan, D. Kelly, B., Heath, A., Petrie, H., Hamilton, F and Phipps, L. <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/papers/w4a-2006/>

A Contextual Framework For StandardsWWW 2006 E-Government Proceedings, May 2006, (CD ROM) Kelly, B., Dunning, A., Rahtz, S., Hollins, P and Phipps, L. <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/papers/e-gov-workshop-2006/>

Forcing Standardization or Accommodating Diversity? A Framework for Applying the WCAG in the Real World

Proceedings of the 2005 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A). ISBN: 1-59593-036-1. Kelly, B., Sloan, D., Phipps, L., Petrie, H. and Hamilton, F.<http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/papers/w4a-2005/>

Holistic Approaches to E-Learning AccessibilityALT-J Research in Learning Technology, Vol. 14, No. 1, March 2006, pp. 69-78. Phipps, L. and Kelly, B.<http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/papers/alt-j-2006/>

Developing A Holistic Approach For E-Learning AccessibilityCanadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 2004, Vol. 30, Issue 3, Kelly, B., Phipps, L. and Swift, E.<http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/papers/cjtl-2004/>