Accessibility

Reading

Colleges Lock Out Blind Students Online, Chronicle of Higher Education

Resources

Lecture

Exercise

Your goal in this exercise is to turn on the accessibility functionality that comes with your computer and try to complete this task:

Start at http://www.umd.edu and from there, try to find how many credits the thesis/capstone project for the HCI Masters program is worth.

Do not do this task first and then try it with the accessibility features! Try to do it directly.

To make this realistic, cover your monitor or turn the brightness all the way down so you cannot rely on seeing the screen.

To turn on the accessibility on the Mac, go to System Preferences, then Accessibility (this may be called Universal Access, depending on your version), and turn on VoiceOver. On a windows computer, turn on Narrator in the Ease of Access center.

Record yourself navigating the page. It's fine to make a video with your smartphone, go pro, or some external technology. I want to see that the screen is covered, hear what the screen reader is reading, and track how you are moving through the process.

Write a half page to a page that details your experience. What was good or bad? Do you think the technology is sufficient to support someone who needs that kind of assistance? And is the University's website (and the iSchool's) set up to support accessibility? Upload your video into BOX (please try to make a relatively small version - I don't need 1GB videos!) along with your essay. If the video is too large, post it on YouTube or another video sharing site and give me a link.

Discussion

After reading the article above and doing the exercise, go to the discussion board on ELMS and discuss where you think the line is between creating accessible content and the cost associated with it. Should everything be accessible to everyone with every need? Does that extend to, say, making an academic article accessible to people with a 2nd grade reading level? Where do we draw the line?

Write your own comment and respond to at least 2 other posts.