AbilityNet at PCW09: Building Perfect Accessible Local Authority Websites
AbilityNet is a registered national charity (charity no. 1067673).with over 20 years experience helping people adapt and adjust their information and communications technology (ICT). We’re unique in what we do, working across the UK and beyond.
About AbilityNet
AbilityNet is a registered national charity (charity no. 1067673).with over 20 years experience helping people adapt and adjust their information and communications technology (ICT). We’re unique in what we do, working across the UK and beyond.
Our special expertise is ensuring that whatever your age, health condition, disability or situation you find exactly the right way to adapt or adjust your ICT to make it easier to use.
So, a few weeks ago I was in Olympia attending the Building Perfect Council Websites ’09 (#pcw09) to conduct a workshop on social media (which was alot of fun by the way ! ). While I was there, I managed to interview Robin Christopherson (Head of Accessibility) and Diana Robinson (Sales and Marketing Manager) from AbilityNet . I’m hoping to gain more knowledge on accessible websites as I go along. So hopefully LGEO Research will feature more news on AbilityNet in the future to keep local authority website developers up-to-date on how to make their websites more accessible.
Questions asked in this interview:
- What is AbilityNet?
- How does AbilityNet generate its revenue?
- What sort of testing have you done on local council websites?
- Can you give an example of a local council website that could be a good example for accessibility/AbilityNet?
- Can you give specific examples on what local council websites usually don’t get right in terms of accessibility?
- What do you think is causing local council website developers to neglect the basics of accessibility?
- Can you give some examples of enterprise CMS systems/suppliers that are good at getting accessibility right?
- Do you have any tips for web managers to improve their websites accessibility?
- What does the future look like for AbilityNet? What are your plans for the future?
There is currently a problem playing this video on this website. Kindly click on the video to be directed to the video on Vimeo’s website. It is working there. Apologies for the inconvenience.
Robin Christopherson: New approaches to accessibility from Liz Azyan on Vimeo.
YouTube is not accessible???
It was quite interesting that Robin and Diana had pointed out to me that YouTube is not accessible. I didn’t quite understand how you could make YouTube more accessible than it already is but if you watch this video clip here, you’ll probably understand why they’re saying this….
So someone actually came up with a solution for this which is called Easy YouTube
Example of a screen reader using Easy YouTube
To download AbilityNet software, factsheet and skillsheet, click here.
You can follow AbilityNet on Twitter here.
Hope this is useful!
Liz
Liz Azyan is interested in the ways new kinds of social data and technology introduce challenges and opportunities to society. Get involved with Liz’s latest project here.
Comments
Twitter Comment
AbilityNet at PCW09:Building Perfect Accessible Local Authority Websites [link to post] #pcw09 #scotweb2 #localgovcamp #googlelocalgov
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Twitter Comment
AbilityNet at PCW09:Building Perfect Accessible Local Authority Websites [link to post] #pcw09 #scotweb2 #localgovcamp #googlelocalgov
– Posted using Chat Catcher
Twitter Comment
AbilityNet at PCW09:Building Perfect Accessible Local Authority Websites [link to post] #pcw09 #scotweb2 #localgovcamp #googlelocalgov
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Hi Liz,
Thanks very much for sharing all this. I feel like I have learned a lot. It’s very interesting to watch a video of someone using a screen reader – it’s such a different experience and makes you really think about how empowering / disempowering the web can be for people with disabilities depending on how accessible your site is.
It was interesting to hear Robin talk about accessibility of CMS products and to refer to the threat of litigation and the potential to mitigate the risk by creating a roadmap to an accessible website.
Hi Helen,
I’m really pleased that you’ve found this post useful. To tell you the truth, so did I! While interviewing Robin and talking to him at #pcw09, I felt there was alot of issues on usability and accessibility that I was unaware about. I certainly puts things in perspective for me and I hope to talk more about this in the future. You’re right, I also didnt realize that CMS products had any impact on accessibility. So all in all, it feels like there’s so much more to learn! Please let me know if you find out any good tips that I could possibly share with my readers 🙂 I’d really appreciate it!
Liz x
Twitter Comment
Another post u might have missed – AbilityNet at #PCW09: Building Perfect Accessible Local Authority Websites [link to post]
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Twitter Comment
Another post u might have missed – AbilityNet at #PCW09: Building Perfect Accessible Local Authority Websites [link to post]
– Posted using Chat Catcher
Twitter Comment
Another post u might have missed – AbilityNet at #PCW09: Building Perfect Accessible Local Authority Websites [link to post]
– Posted using Chat Catcher
Twitter Comment
Great Blog post from @liz_azyan incl interview with Robin Christopherson on New approaches to web accessibility – [link to post]
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Twitter Comment
RT @jaducms: Great Blog post from @liz_azyan incl i/v with Robin Christopherson on New approaches to web accessibility – [link to post]
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