National Association of Government Communicators conference: May 19, 2010

About the NAGC Communications School

The Communications School is the only event of its kind that provides invaluable networking opportunities and practical educational sessions to help government communicators increase their skills.

Presentation Overview

Section 508: Beyond Compliance - Universal Design for Usability and Inclusion

Arthur Murphy
This presentation will discuss the standards of Section 508 from both a conceptual and a procedural perspective. Accessibility standards are intended to support the "natural" process of Universal Design. Consequently, the intent is to make usability a broader mandate that recognizes the inclusive nature of information and communication technologies a civilized world. The presentation will reinforce best practices of information design: a separation of content from structure and style. Just as buildings can be made accessible without a loss of function and aesthetics, information architecture can create accessible knowledge systems. These basic ideas will be connected to practices for accessible information resources. References will be provided to enable participants to use web resources to assist in the design, implementation, and evaluation processes of accessibility.

Section 508 Webcast

PLEASE NOTE - BEFORE DOWNLOADING ON DEMAND WEBCASTS:

Please install the free WebEx player which can be downloaded by clicking the link below. Please be sure to install the .WRF player and not the .ARF player.

Arthur Murphy: “ Section 508: Beyond Compliance Universal Design for Usability”

Archived Webcast

Section 508 Reference Links

Law

Section 508

508 Law | 508 & You | 508 Training | 508 Coordinators | Accessibility Forum:

http://www.section508.gov/

Access Board

Update information:

http://www.access-board.gov/508.htm

http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/notice.htm

Draft Updated Standards and Guidelines PDF version

http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/draft-rule.htm

Legal Context

Global Context

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:

http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?navid=13&pid=150

G3ict, the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies:

http://g3ict.org/

Information Architecture

UCD / Design

Usability.gov is a one-stop source for government web designers

http://www.usability.gov/

User-centered design

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_centered_design#Accessibility

Classic Reference Book

Understanding Your Users: A Practical Guide to User Requirements Methods, Tools, and Techniques (Interactive Technologies) (Paperback)

Catherine Courage (Author) Kathy Baxter (Author)

Paperback: 704 pages

Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 1 edition (January 11, 2005)

ISBN-13: 978-1558609358

Access Specific References

Wikipedia - Web accessibility

"Web accessibility refers to the practice of making websites usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. When sites are correctly designed, developed and edited, all users can have equal access to information and functionality."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_accessibility

Attributes of Accessible Web Design

American Foundation for the Blind

Includes:

* the visually impaired user's technology, and how it affects your design

* important guidelines for improving your web site

* tips and tricks for web developers

* how to design accessible web forms

* how to make your blog accessible

* and other valuable resources on web accessibility

http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=57&TopicID=167

Implementation Guidance

Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

http://www.w3.org/WAI/

Evaluation

W3C Evaluating Web Sites for Accessibility: Overview

http://www.w3.org/WAI/eval/Overview.html

W3C Markup Validator

http://validator.w3.org/

WAI-ARIA Overview

WAI-ARIA, the Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite

http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria

HTML5 and the myth of WAI-ARIA redundance

http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/?p=585

IBM – Emerging Technologies:

http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/topics/accessibility

http://www-03.ibm.com/able/

IBM's accessible AJAX:

Dojo: an accessible JavaScript toolkit

http://www-03.ibm.com/able/resources/dojo.html

WebAIM:

WebAIM has provided comprehensive web accessibility solutions since 1999. These years of experience have made WebAIM one of the leading providers of web accessibility expertise internationally. WebAIM is a non-profit organization within the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University.

http://www.webaim.org/

WebAIM Checklist

http://www.webaim.org/standards/508/checklist

Interaction Approaches

Forms

American Foundation for the Blind

Podcast: Debunking the Myth of PDF Inaccessibility

http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=57&DocumentID=5223

SitePoint

Fancy [and Accessible] Form Design Using CSS

http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/fancy-form-design-css

iPhone accessibility

Voice Over:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxQ2qKShvmc&feature=player_embedded

Consulting

Humor

WCAG 2.0 YouTube:

Accessibility guidance set to rap music theme

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtuna2AWvqk