From Web Accessibility 2.0 to Web Adaptability (1.0)

From Web Accessibility 2.0 to Web Adaptability (1.0) Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath, UK UKOLN is supported by: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/ozewai-2009/ This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat) Acceptable Use Policy Recording/broadcasting of this talk, taking photographs, discussing the content using email, instant messaging, blogs, etc. is permitted providing distractions to others is minimised. Tag for del.icio.us ‘ ozewai-2009 ' Email: [email_address] Twitter: http://twitter.com/briankelly/ Blog: http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/

A Fairy Tale for the C21 st
Benevolent emperor
Wants to do good for all his subjects
Told of a secret formulae which allowed all of his edicts to be read by everyone in his domain
The justice minister was told to implement the magic formulae – he did (even if he didn’t understand it)
The head of the police force was told to ensure everyone used it
The subjects agreed that it was good (even through they too, didn’t understand it)
One little boy pointed out the truth. The magic doesn’t work. Today you will hear what the boy had to say!

About Me
Brian Kelly:
UK Web Focus: a national advisory post
Long-standing Web evangelist (since Jan 1993)
Based at UKOLN, University of Bath, with remit to advise HE/FE and cultural heritage sectors
Interests include Web 2.0, standards, accessibility and deployment strategies
Awarded the IWR Information Professional of the Year in December 2007
Winner of Best Research Paper on “ Implementing A Holistic Approach To E-Learning Accessibility ” at ALT-C 2005
Papers presented at International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility ( W4A) in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008
Introduction

About My Past – 1997-8
Attended WAI launch in April 1997 & follow-up meeting in UK.
Member of DISinHE Steering group

Member of DISinHE Steering group – promoting WAI and WCAG 1.0

Hmm – nothing much new to say, it seems.
But then I start to gather evidence (what does Bobby report?) and used findings to chastise organisations

Then questioning the assumptions: “Web accessibility too difficult?” and “Is universal Web accessibility possible?” followed by peer-reviewed papers

Developing holistic & user-focussed approaches: “Holistic Framework for Web Accessibility” “Contextual Web Accessibility” – and winning award for best research paper 

Extending holistic & user-focussed approaches to new domains (cultural resources and Web 2.0 environment) and seeking to embed in mainstream development. And now speaking in Australia 

The WAI Model
WAI has been tremendously successful in raising awareness of Web accessibility and providing guidelines to achieve this.
WAI guidelines are based on:
WCAG (Web Content …)
ATAG (Authoring Tools ..)
UAAG (User Agents …)
The model is simple to grasp. But is this model appropriate for the future? Does the model:
Reflect the diversity of users & user environments
Reflect the diversity of Web usage
Reflect real-world technical environment and developments
Reflect real-world political and cultural environments
The Magic Formulae WAI Approach

Limitations Of The Model
This model:
Requires all three components to be implemented in order for the WAI vision to be achieved
Is of limited use to end users who have no control over browser or authoring tools developments
Is confusing – as many think WCAG is WAI
How does this model address:
Delays in full conformance? (We're still waiting for " until user agents … " clause to be resolved)
Real-world reluctance to deploy new software (issues of inertia, testing, costs, …)
Real world complexities
Is there a plan B in case this model fails to ever take off? Is it desirable to base legal requirements on an unproven theoretical framework? WAI Approach

WCAG Conformance
Page authors can only follow WCAG guidelines. Several surveys carried out using automated tools (which gives upper limit on accessibility)
DRC report, 2004: 19% A, 0.6% AA conformance based on 1,000 UK Web sites
UK Museums, Libraries and Archives report, 2004: 42% A, 3% AA conformance based on 124 Web sites
UK Universities surveys (UKOLN, 2002, 2004): 43%/58% A, 2%/6% AA based on 160+ Web sites
Note that these figures aren’t of accessible Web site, only conformance with automated tests
Implications
These low conformance levels can indicate:
Organisations don't care
Guidelines are difficult to implement
Guidelines are inappropriate, misleading, wrong, …
WAI Approach

WCAG 1.0 Difficulties
Certain Priority 2 and 3 guidelines cause concerns:
11.1 Use W3C technologies when they are available and appropriate for a task ...
Promotes own technologies
Appears to ignore major improvements in accessibility of non-W3C formats
11.1 … and use the latest versions when supported
Goes against project management guidelines
Logical absurdity: when XHTML 1 came out WAI AA HTML 4 compliant sites downgraded to A!
3.2 Create documents that validate to published formal grammars
Dodgy HTML (<br />) can be rendered by browsers – this is an interoperability issue
WAI Approach

Proprietary Formats
WCAG 1.0 P2 requires use of W3C formats
Thoughts:
Reflects the idealism of the Web community in late 1990s
The conveyor belt of great W3C formats has slowed down (anyone use SMIL, SVG, …)
Software vendors are responding to WAI’s initiatives (formats, OS developments, …)
Developments in non-Web areas (mobile phones, …) & integration with real-world (e.g. blended learning, …)
Users care about the outcomes, not the way in which the outcomes are provided
WAI Approach

Usability Issues (1)
"WCAG provides the highway code for accessibility on the information superhighway"
"Fine – but what if the accelerator and brake pedals differ on every car. I'll still crash!"
WAI Approach
DRC survey also carried out usability testing:
Exemplar accessible Web sites did not comply with WCAG guidelines (WCAG A)
WCAG compliant sites (according to tools) were not accessible or usable
DDA requires users to be able to access & use services
DDA – UK's Disability Discrimination Act The subjectivity of usability guidelines seems to be recognised " I don't claim people should do 100% of what I say " Jakob Neilson

Usability Issues (2)
What’s the relationship between usability & accessibility?
Usability Accessibility WAI Approach Whose definition counts: WAI’s, information providers’, policy makers’, legislators’, …? Usability Accessibility Accessibility Usability Usability Accessibility Usability Accessibility

Confusion
SiteMorse’s automated accessibility survey of UK disability organisations’ Web sites generated heated debate
SiteMorse: Low WCAG conformance found:
Response: doesn’t matter, manual testing gives OK results
What do such comments say about disability organisations’ views of WCAG ?
Note that the RNIB actively promote WCAG guidelines – and also promote use of accessible Flash, without flagging any inconsistencies. Organisations may publicly support WCAG whilst rejecting (parts of) it. WAI Approach

Nitpicking?
“ This is just nit-picking! WCAG is valuable – don’t knock it! ”
WCAG is valuable, but we need to:
Build a robust framework for the future
Ensure clarity and avoid ambiguities to avoid different interpretations
Reflect on experiences gained since 1999
Avoid dangers of inappropriate case law being set
Nightmare Scenario Case taken to court in UK. Defence lawyers point out ambiguities & inconsistencies. Case lost, resulting in WCAG’s relevance being diminished. WAI Approach

Holistic Approach
Kelly, Phipps & Swift 1 have argued for a holistic framework for e-learning accessibility
This framework:
Focusses on the needs of the learner
Requires accessible learning outcomes , not necessarily e-learning resources
1 Developing A Holistic Approach For E-Learning Accessibility , Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 2004, Vol. 30, Issue 3 An Alternative Approach This approach reflects an emphasis on blended learning (rather than just e-learning)

Previous Work (1)
Following on from first paper, a framework for applying WCAG in the real world (of flawed browsers, limited resources, etc) was described at W4A 2005.
Forcing Standardization or Accommodating Diversity? A Framework for Applying the WCAG in the Real World , Kelly, B., Sloan, D., Phipps, L., Petrie, H. and Hamilton, F. W4A 2005

Previous Work (2)
The need to address the context of use and the potential of AccessForAll metadata described at W4A 2006.
Tangram metaphor introduced to visualise a diversity of approaches.
Contextual Web Accessibility - Maximizing the Benefit of Accessibility Guidelines . Sloan, D, Kelly, B., Heath, A., Petrie, H., Hamilton, F & Phipps, L. W4A 2006 Edinburgh, Scotland May 2006

Previous Work (3)
Application of our work in a wider context (e.g. cultural resources) described at W4A 2007.
Paper introduced the stakeholder model and coined the term ‘ Accessibility 2.0 ’ to describe this approach
Accessibility 2.0: People, Policies and Processes . Kelly, B., Sloan, D., Brown, S., Seale, J, Petrie, H., Lauke, P. and Ball, S. W4A 2007 What do you see? Is the answer to be found in the resource or in the reader’s interpretation ?

Universal Accessibility? Normal Cancer The Great Masturbator by Salvador Dali (1929) The Duck-Rabbit CRAFT BREWERY

Where Are We Today?
Our work:
Acknowledges limitations in WAI’s model and guidelines
Complements WAI’s developments to WCAG 2.0
Provides a realistic framework for development activities
Seeks to avoid stifling of innovation by the ‘accessibility fundamentalist’ barrier
An Alternative Approach

WAI Limitations
Limitations of WAI guidelines have been acknowledged:
“ However, we recognize that standards are slow, and technology evolves quickly in the commercial marketplace. Innovation brings new customers and solidifies relationships with existing customers; Web 2.0 innovations also bring new types of professionals to the field, ones who care about the new dynamic medium. As technologies prove themselves, standardizing brings in the universality of the benefit, but necessarily follows this innovation. Therefore, this paper acknowledges and respects Web 2.0, discussing the issues and real world solutions.” Accessibility of Emerging Rich Web Technologies: Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web . Cooper, M. W4A 2007 An Alternative Approach

What’s Missing
Further work is needed:
In understanding how WCAG guidelines can be used in a Web 2.0 context
In developing approaches for migrating from WCAG 1.0 to WCAG 2.0
In developing a more flexible and user-centred approach to Web accessibility
In addressing more challenging areas of accessibility, such as learning disabilities
These areas are addressed in W4A 2008 paper

WCAG In Context
WCAG 2.0 states that Web resources must be:
Perceivable • Operable
Understandable • Robust
But this should apply after we’ve decided what our purposes our, rather than constraining what we can or can’t do:
“ Super Cally Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious ”: Not universally understandable , now universally accessible, culturally-specific … but witty
Legislation: “take reasonable measure ..” Is bankrupting your company reasonable? Is failing to satisfy your user community reasonable? Is dumbing down the English language reasonable?
And the relevance of ATAG to authors is questionable:
Flash, PDF, MS Word, … Are these formats essential to your corporate infrastructure and workflow? What does a ATAG-conformant PDF authoring tool mean?

Accessibility and Web 2.0
Reactions to Web 2.0 from “accessibility fundamentalists” (‘the truth is to be found in WCAG 1.0’) and Web 2.0 sceptics:
It uses AJAX, and we know that a bad thing
You shouldn’t use Facebook, MySpace, … as it breaks WCAG guidelines
Second Life is a no-no – it’s inherently inaccessible
But:
AJAX can provide accessibility benefits
People with disabilities are using social networks – should we stop them if they find this useful?
Judith finds Second Life a liberating experience
An Alternative Approach Accessibility 2.0

Second Life
A video clip shows Judith, a user with cerebral palsy, using Second Life with a headwand.
“ Do you think that this will be a really useful tool for people who are unable to get around, who have problems of mobility in real life? ” “ Yes, because you can have friends without having to go out and physically find them ”. The danger is that organisations will ban SL as they feel if fails to comply with accessibility guidelines. Accessibility 2.0

Social Networks (1)
Social networks (e.g. Facebook):
Are being used by people with disabilities
Evaluation of PWDs’ experiences (rather than evaluation of the resource) is beginning
CAPCHA seems to be a barrier:
RNIB admit that solutions are not easy
Removal of CAPCHA would provide a worse environment for PWDs (more spam)
Blended solutions may have a role (“ring this number”)
Need for:
More evidence gathering
More advocacy & pressure
But to facilitate access to SNs not to undermine them

Social Networks (2)
Should we regard Facebook (for example):
As a stand-alone service?
As one of a range of access points and allow users to chose their preferred environment?
Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) and Personal Research Environments (PREs)
Of increasing interest in education
A focus on:
Supporting personal choice
Providing data which can be surfaced in different environment (via RSS and other technologies)
New media literacy skills
Learning resources available via RSS. Users may choose to access via VLE, RSS reader, social network, … An Alternative Approach Accessibility 2.0

Learning Disabilities
“ WCAG 2.0 [does] not address all of the needs of people with disabilities, particularly cognitive, language, and learning disabilities ”
How to address learning disability issues?
Research work at UWE
System aimed at health trainers who have learning disabilities
Group will be trained to support health promotion in learning disabilities community
Approaches:
Engagement with the users at initial design phase
Pragmatic approach based on ‘what works’
Experiences will be shared at later date

Accessibility 2.0
Need to build on WAI’s successes, whilst articulating a more sophisticated approach. Accessibility 2.0:
User-focussed : It’s about satisfying user’s needs
Rich set of stakeholders : More than the author and the user
Always beta : Accessibility is hard, so we’re continually learning
Flexibility : There’s not a single solution
Diversity : There’s also diversity in society’s views on accessibility (e.g. widening participation, not universal accessibility)
Blended solutions : Focus on ‘accessibility’ and not just ‘Web accessibility’
Accessibility 2.0 But how will this work in an environment of global uses of Web 2.0? An Alternative Approach

The Web is Agreement

Where Are We In This View? Web WCAG Web IT
WCAG+ATAG+UAAG=universal accessibility
Motherhood and apple pie?
Demonstrably flawed after 10 years e.g. Lilley: “ 99.99999% of the Web was invalid HTML. W3C pretended that didn’t exist. ”
So 99.9999% of Web isn’t WCAG AA conformant!
WCAG+other guidelines+user focus+blended accessibility = widening participation
Not yet proven wrong, but ignores scale of Web
The Pixel of Perfection The Holistic Hamlet WAI

Kevin Kelly

Accessibility 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0
Accessibility 1.0:
Handcrafted resources made accessible
Accessibility 2.0:
Institutional approaches to accessibility
Accessibility 3.0
Accessibility 3.0:
Global approaches to accessibility
Work on accessibility metadata is underway, but is still at an early stage.

Web Accessibility 3.0
We’re already seeing computer software giving hints on resources which may be of interest to us
Note how improvements can be made:
By system gathering more data
By user providing preferences and other hints clues
By others providing data
By author metadata
Accessibility 3.0 Challenge: Can such developments be applied to provide benefits to people with disabilities? “ Web Accessibility 3.0 ” coined in “ Web Accessibility 3.0: Learning From The Past, Planning For The Future ”, Neville, L. & Kelly, B. ADDW08, Sep 2008

Semantic Web Principles
Principles which may be required:
Persistent URIs for resources
Metadata in RDF
Accessibility metadata schema published on Web
Accessibility terms published in public ontologies
Applications:
To provide user tagging and links to equivalent resources
To support personalisation
Openness of software, content and metadata
Vendors support
Accessibility 3.0

Learning From The Past
We’re starting to explore an Accessibility 3.0 vision
But what lessons must we learn from Accessibility 1.0:
We don’t want a theoretical solution
The dangers of standardising too soon
The dangers of legislating too soon
The dangers of ignoring diversity
The need to get market acceptance for tools
The difficulties of getting market acceptance
Standards-based solutions may not deliver
…
Accessibility 3.0 Note that the Accessibility 3.0 vision is based on W3C Semantic Web principles. A challenge for W3C and user community is reconciling WAI and SW visions and how they are interpreted.

A Fresh Look At Accessibility
We acknowledge that:
Not everything on the Web will ever be accessible
Accessibility may not cross cultural, linguistic, national and discipline boundaries
An individual does not need a universally accessible resource; rather s/he wants a resource which is accessible to them
Different communities may have different needs
Same person may have different needs at different times and places
Let’s not talk about the accessibility of a resource
We find the term ‘ inclusive ’ more useful than ‘ accessible to people with disabilities ’

Critique
Web accessibility 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, … implies:
Technical solutions
Universality
What we need:
A flexible framework
Acknowledgement of need to address:
Diversity of (& tensions between) different user group and user needs
Ever increasing diversity of uses of the Web
Resource implications
Context of use
…

Adaptability (1.0)
Term which acknowledges such diversity:
Solutions
Policies
Stakeholders and their (yesterday
Change: policies, learning, evidence, …
…
Question : Shouldn’t we be talking about Web Adaptability rather than Web Adaptability 1.0?
Need for adaptability :
Policy makers, trainers, authors : Yesterday JavaScript and proprietary formats were banned, Today they’re permitted.
Legislators : Yesterday all Government Web site had to comply with WCAG 1.0. Today the same is true, as it takes years to change legislation.
Web Adaptability

Putting The User First
The way we were
The rules The solution The user Example “ UK Government requires all government Web sites to comply with WCAG AA” Web Adaptability The context The user The solution The guidelines Where we should be
Example
Involve user in design process
Recognise the context
Then seek to apply guidelines

Web Adaptability Framework
The framework embraces:
The intended use of the service
The intended audience
The available resources
Technical innovations
Organisational policies
Definitions of accessibility
…
Alternative to a one-size-fit-all approach To avoid adaptability meaning doing whatever you fancy (e.g. IE-only sites) the adaptation needs to be implemented with context of a legal framework, reasonable measures, … Reasonable Measures

Who’s Using These Approaches? (1)
Public library example:
Presentation at national Public Library event
“ And here’s a Flash-based game we’ve developed. Easy to do, and the kids love it”
“ What about accessibility?”
“ Oh, er. We’ll remove it before the new legislation becomes into force”
Blended approach:
“ What’s the purpose of the game?”
“ To keep kids amused for 10 mins, while parents get books”
“ How about building blocks or a bouncy castle as an alternative? This is an alternative approach to problem, which doesn’t focus on disabilities”
Web Adaptability

Who’s Using These Approaches? (2a)
Tate’s i-Map project: early example of an award-winning approach to providing access to paintings for visual impaired users
Note this work was described in an award-winning paper on “ Implementing A Holistic Approach To E-Learning Accessibility ” paper by Kelly, Phipps and Howell
It used Flash ..!
… to allow users to ‘participate’ in the creation of the painting

Who’s Using These Approaches? (2b)
I-Map project also used a blended approach, through provision of access to raised images

Wolverhampton Art Gallery are using a user-focused development approach to providing access to information about Bantcock House
Yes, it uses YouTube
Deaf users involved in design processes (e.g. benefits of signers in context of museum)

How might a user-centred approach to learning disabilities work?
3 year project based at UWE has a focus is on accessibility of outcomes of a service rather than the resources
Emphasis moves from the creator of the Web resources to the end user
End user will be involved in content creation and also the design & creation of the system from the beginning of the development cycle through to its conclusion
Purpose of this approach is not to try to create a system & content that is universally accessible but to try to maximise usefulness & usability for a targeted audience of learning disability users
Goal aims to be achievable & be more relevant to the specific user group than an approach aimed at creating content by application of international guidelines.
Described in “ One World, One Web … But Great Diversity ”
Web Adaptability

A Challenge For You!
You have:
An institutional repository
An open access policy, which encourages take-up by others of your research reports and data & teaching & learning resources
But:
Research papers are in non-conformant PDFs & learning resources are mostly PowerPoints & other proprietary formats.
What do you do:
Mandate use of HTML in repositories?
Switch off services until workflow issues resolved?
Or something else?
Web Adaptability

Conclusions
There’s a need:
For accessibility researchers to gather evidence on proposed solutions to accessibility
To explore ways in which changes in our understandings can be adopted and deployed
This talk:
Explores limitations of current approaches
Suggests alternative approaches
Future work:
Need to critique the critique
Need to develop better models for change control
Need to learn from the past
Thanks to the little boys who helped point out the truth that the emperor was naked!

Questions
Questions are welcome

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From Web Accessibility 2.0 to Web Adaptability (1.0)

by Brian Kelly on Dec 30, 2008

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