[Chapter-delegates] on the importance of accessibility was: Map of Chapters

[Michael Burks]

Klaus,

Thank you. I could not agree more.
Accessibility is essential. In this case it should not be optional.

We need to do better.

Sincerely,

Mike Burks

On Fri, Feb 15, 2013 at 6:50 AM, Klaus Birkenbihl
<Klaus.Birkenbihl at isoc.de>wrote:

> Narelle,
>
> I'm copying a few people from staff with whom I discussed the issue
> before. I think the problem deserves much more attention from the
> organization. It is pending now for more than a year and there is
> not much hope of improvement without an escalation. So if you and
> Rudi please could bring it to the attention of the board? Topic
> is accessibility of ISOC's Web page - here illustrated at the example
> of http://www.internetsociety.org/find-chapter.
>
> Narelle Clark wrote on 2013-02-15 03:58:
> > My memory of this is that the map was thought to be the most attractive
> > way of showing the strength of our chapters - the number and spread
> across
> > the world.
>
> Nothing against a map. But it should be implemented *accessible*. ISOC
> tries to educate the world on the importance of accessibility while
> obviously not providing it when it comes to its own side. E.g. we are
> hiding the information on this page completely from blind people!
> 39 Million in the world don't get any information from this page:
> We give them  无, nothing, rien, ничего, nada! Not a single name!
> This is probably not "the most attractive way of showing the strength
> of our chapters". (Other ISOC pages hide part of their content.)
>
> Nearly nothing happened for more than a year now. The "find a
> chapter" page was updated btw. Shininess improved (tons of code,
> playing with fancy technologies, open layers, jquery extensions,
> ... you name it). But no progress wrt accessibility. It would be
> so easy to make the information accessible. You simply would have
> to provide a text version. Every student could do it. Shiny+accessible
> might require a bit more effort and knowledge depending on
> what you'd like to have - but a reasonable design will never
> conflict with accessibility.
>
> Which leads to the question "why?". From many discussions with Dan
> Graham about this I learned: "we would like to increase accessibility
> but the agency ..." , "we have a new agency now which will care ...",
> ...
>
> A quote from
>
>
> http://www.internetsociety.org/doc/internet-accessibility-internet-use-persons-disabilities-moving-forward
> :
> "This paper offers policymakers guidance on both why and how to
> increase use of the Internet by persons with disabilities." Do
> we read what we write? Did ISOC provide the info to their Web
> agency? Is it part of the contract?
>
> Call it "lip prayers", "preaching water and drinking wine" ... at
> the bottom line it affects our credibility. (You might remember
> that we had the credibility discussion also in the context of
> bylaws.)
>
> I'm boring you? I said it before? There are more important (urgent,
> promising ...) topics on the agenda?
>
> Did anybody notice that our Website advertises 3 "Internet
> Issues Spotlights"? One of them "Online Accessibility". Are we
> rather part of the problem than part of the solution?
>
> ISOC being financially healthy is in a good position to promote
> the message of an Internet for all. ISOC gets attention when it
> speaks-up on an issue. But -beside money and human resources-
> credibility is one of our most important assets. So we should
> take care to maintain it. A very basic thing like providing an
> accessible Website is (also according to our own teaching the
> world) important, easy to do and affordable. It is not a matter
> of money, or resources. It is matter of priorities, management
> attention and the way of thinking.
>
> Best, Klaus
>
> --
> Klaus Birkenbihl
> Treasurer and Board member
> Internet Society German Chapter e.V. (ISOC.DE)
> c/o ict-Media GmbH
> http://www.isoc.de/
>
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