1. Social Media vs. Accessibility
PSF Buzz
Jack Pickard
07 July 2009
2. Social Media vs. Accessibility
Welcome To St James’ Park
• Yes, our new away kit
is horrible
• Yes, we got relegated
• Yes, we are a bit of a
laughing stock at the
moment
• Yes, I know our new
away kit is really, really
horrible
• Yes, this isn’t St James’
Park,
3. Social Media vs. Accessibility
Accessibility
• Legal – DDA
• Moral – Responsibility to citizens
• Financial – the disabled dollar
4. Social Media vs. Accessibility
Accessibility
• Specific Public Sector Requirements
• DED (Disability Equality Duty)
• EU Riga Declaration
• Cabinet Office Requirements
5. Social Media vs. Accessibility
The Social Media ‘Push’
• Push towards digital engagement
• They won’t come to you
• ‘I’m Not Listening’
• Like it or not, it’s happening
7. Social Media vs. Accessibility
But Is It Accessible?
• Well, not really
• What are the problems?
• CAPTCHA
• AJAX
• User Generated Content
8. Social Media vs. Accessibility
But Is It Accessible?
• Not yet, but it is improving
• Facebook to Make Site More
Accessible to Blind
http://508portal.com/?q=node/598
14. Social Media vs. Accessibility
What Can You Do?
• Which parts can you make accessible?
• What parts are your responsibility?
• What can you do?
• Ensure that information is available elsewhere
in a more accessible format
• Help people make the best of their
experience
• If people can’t use that service, they won’t
come to that service to find you
15. Social Media vs. Accessibility
Facebook Accessibility
• How do I register with Facebook using a screen
reader?
• Do you provide a HTML only version of the site?
• How can I report a problem with the assistive
technology (i.e. screen reader) I'm using?
• How do I access the Gift Shop using a screen reader?
• How do I increase/decrease the font/text sizes on
Facebook?
• How do I use Facebook Chat with a screen reader?
17. Social Media vs. Accessibility
Accessible Twitter
• @AccessibleTwitr designed by @dennisl of the
@webaxe podcast
• Features:
• All links are keyboard accessible
• Simple, consistent layout and navigation
• Headings and page titles are implemented for
optimal accessibility
• Works great with or without JavaScript
18. Social Media vs. Accessibility
Accessible Twitter
• More Features:
• Ajax actions are concluded with an alert
• Large default text size and high color contrast
• When entering tweets, audio cues indicate when the
character limit is almost reached
• Forms and data tables are marked up for optimal
accessibility
• Code is semantic, light, and adheres to best practices in
Web Standards.
• If a tweet is in response to another (and marked as such in
the data), a clearer link is provided to the that tweet
• Tested on all major browsers: IE6, IE7, IE8, Firefox, Safari,
Opera, and Chrome
19. Social Media vs. Accessibility
You Tube
• Bob’s House:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
• If a video has no sound
• Caption
• Transcript/Description
20. Social Media vs. Accessibility
You Tube
• Captioning:
• When uploading a video to YouTube now
you also have the option to upload a
closed caption file for the video
• Easy You Tube Caption Creator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tp6hgAE
• http://accessify.com/tools-and-wizards/access
21. Social Media vs. Accessibility
The fault is
…default
• Social media/networking
applications by default aren’t
very accessible
22. Social Media vs. Accessibility
The Verdict
• No Excuses
• Accessibility is not a reason not to
use social media
• It’s a reason to understand and use
social media properly and provide
support
23. Social Media vs. Accessibility
Testing
• Test your sites
• Test your usage of social media
• Disability Equality Duty
24. Social Media vs. Accessibility
You’ll Fail
• You’ll fail
• You’ll make mistakes
• But by ignoring the whole thing, you’ll
make more mistakes
• Experiment, monitor, set policy
• Won’t reach everyone
• Over 1000 over 60s renewed their travel
passes online (Nexus)
• Just Do It
25. Social Media vs. Accessibility
Resources
• WebAIM
• Accessify
• AccessifyForum
• WAI
• WebCredible
26. Social Media vs. Accessibility
…and then I walked
on down the hall…