[WG: Accessibility] FW: Sakai is being recognized as "taking accessibility seriously" on the WebAIM e-mail list

Fri Jan 7 03:54:55 PST 2011

There is also the RNIB, Royal National Institute for the Blind, in the UK as well who offers accreditation as well on accessibility

edd


On 6 Jan 2011, at 18:53, Mary Stores wrote:

> Hi Mike,
> 
> I totally wondered how to become NFB-certified. Thanks for sending 
> this, I wonder who pays the thousands of dollars for this?
> 
> Still, very nifty..,
> 
> Mary
> 
> Quoting Michael S Elledge <elledge at msu.edu>:
> 
>> Hi All--
>> 
>> Several LMS products have received certification from NFB, including
>> Desire2Learn and Blackboard:
>> 
>> http://secure.nfb.org/nfbnva/public/certifiedsites.aspx
>> 
>> It seems like this something Sakai should look into, since not having
>> certification will put it at a competitive disadvantage; NFB will do a
>> free review btw.
>> 
>> More information about testing can be found at this address:
>> http://www.nfb.org/nfb/certification_criteria.asp?SnID=2043227788
>> 
>> Mike
>> 
>> On 12/11/2010 12:25 PM, Nate Angell wrote:
>>> Brian/Mary:
>>> 
>>> I agree with Eli: thanks for sharing!
>>> 
>>> My takeaway from this is that whatever Sakai's actual accessibility,
>>> our approach to accessibility is correct: to be open and thorough.
>>> Just putting a stamp on software certifying a complex characteristic
>>> like accessibility is not the same thing as having an ongoing, open
>>> and deep engagement with it.
>>> 
>>> - Nate
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 9:21 AM, Eli Cochran<eli at media.berkeley.edu>  wrote:
>>>> Brian,
>>>> Thanks for sharing that. I'm spreading a little wider.
>>>> 
>>>> - Eli
>>>> 
>>>> On Dec 9, 2010, at 9:10 AM, Richwine, Brian L wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Mary found this encouraging take on the Sakai Community on a
>>>>> WebAIM e-mail list:
>>>>> 
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: Stores, Mary A.
>>>>> Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2010 11:55 AM
>>>>> To: Richwine, Brian L; Londergan, M D; Humbert, Joseph A
>>>>> Subject: Sakai is being recognized as "taking accessibility
>>>>> seriously" on the WebAIM e-mail list
>>>>> 
>>>>> Is there anything I should say to them? I'm happy to do something.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Mary
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> ----- Forwarded message from deborah.kaplan at suberic.net -----
>>>>>  Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2010 11:47:14 -0500 (EST)
>>>>>  From: deborah.kaplan at suberic.net
>>>>> Reply-To: WebAIM Discussion List<webaim-forum at list.webaim.org>
>>>>> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessible SCORM Compliant E-Learning Software
>>>>>    To: WebAIM Discussion List<webaim-forum at list.webaim.org>
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sam asked:
>>>>> 
>>>>> "I am looking for a SCORM compliant e-learning software and
>>>>> authoring tool that is accessible. Ideally, both the authoring
>>>>> tools and the courses they produce should be accessible."
>>>>> 
>>>>> And Michael Langum responded:
>>>>> 
>>>>> "Don't forget that an accessible course is only half the issue.
>>>>> You (or you client) will also need to ensure that your Learning
>>>>> Management System (LMS) is also accessible."
>>>>> 
>>>>> I will also add, the classes are only accessible as the course
>>>>> designers make them. No matter how much accessibility is built
>>>>> into the learning management system, if the professor/course
>>>>> designer puts up videos without captions, flash without
>>>>> accessibility, and images without alternative text. Training your
>>>>> faculty/course designers is a huge part of making sure your
>>>>> classes are accessible.
>>>>> 
>>>>> (Also, kudos for making sure that both the authoring tools and the
>>>>> courses be accessible -- many course designers have accessibility
>>>>> needs as well! As do the LMS administrators, so make sure that the
>>>>> administration tools are also accessible.)
>>>>> 
>>>>> In any case, I've been very impressed with both Moodle and Sakai,
>>>>> fairly unimpressed with Blackboard, and exceedingly unimpressed
>>>>> with Angel. The latter two obfuscate what they mean by
>>>>> accessibility and what their accessibility efforts are. Moodle and
>>>>> Sakai, on the other hand, both take accessibility very seriously
>>>>> and are very open about what they mean by accessibility and what
>>>>> their efforts are:
>>>>> 
>>>>> http://docs.moodle.org/en/Moodle_Accessibility_Specification
>>>>> http://confluence.sakaiproject.org/display/2ACC/Sakai's+Current+Accessibility
>>>>> 
>>>>> My favorite part of the Moodle accessibility specification is at
>>>>> <http://docs.moodle.org/en/Moodle_Accessibility_Specification#Rationale_for_Moodle_accessibility>:
>>>>> the legal, moral, and market argument for taking accessibility seriously.
>>>>> 
>>>>> -Deborah
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> To manage your subscription, visit http://list.webaim.org/ Address
>>>>> list messages to webaim-forum at list.webaim.org
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> ----- End forwarded message -----
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> accessibility mailing list
>>>>> accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org
>>>>> http://collab.sakaiproject.org/mailman/listinfo/accessibility
>>>>> 
>>>>> TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send email to
>>>>> accessibility-unsubscribe at collab.sakaiproject.org with a subject
>>>>> of "unsubscribe"
>>>> . . . . . . . . . . .  .  .   .    .      .         .
>>>> .                     .
>>>> 
>>>> Eli Cochran
>>>> manager of user experience design
>>>> user interaction developer
>>>> Educational Technology Services, UC Berkeley
>>>> 
>>>> "A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is
>>>> nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
>>>>  - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> accessibility mailing list
>>>> accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org
>>>> http://collab.sakaiproject.org/mailman/listinfo/accessibility
>>>> 
>>>> TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send email to
>>>> accessibility-unsubscribe at collab.sakaiproject.org with a subject of
>>>> "unsubscribe"
>>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> accessibility mailing list
>>> accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org
>>> http://collab.sakaiproject.org/mailman/listinfo/accessibility
>>> 
>>> TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send email to
>>> accessibility-unsubscribe at collab.sakaiproject.org with a subject of
>>> "unsubscribe"
>>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> accessibility mailing list
>> accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org
>> http://collab.sakaiproject.org/mailman/listinfo/accessibility
>> 
>> TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send email to
>> accessibility-unsubscribe at collab.sakaiproject.org with a subject of
>> "unsubscribe"
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> accessibility mailing list
> accessibility at collab.sakaiproject.org
> http://collab.sakaiproject.org/mailman/listinfo/accessibility
> 
> TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send email to accessibility-unsubscribe at collab.sakaiproject.org with a subject of "unsubscribe"