Post-CSUN Resources

My last podcast previewed CSUN (The 26th Annual International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference), which happened last week. It was a great success. Fortunately a few folks have written great summaries of the event, listed below. Also, I've posted some CSUN11 photos on Flickr.

Here are two excellent resources for session presentations and more:

• The Great Big List from the 2011 CSUN Conference by Curb Cut.
• CSUN 2011 Web highlights by Leonie Watson.

A couple notable blog posts:

• My March Madness - John Foliot.
• Lightening Talk on Accessible Twitter updates at CSUN Tweetup - Dennis Lembree.

Suggested presentations relating to web accessibility are:

• Accessibility of HTML5 and Rich Internet Applications (WebAIM and The Paciello Group): ARIA Morning Session | ARIA Afternoon Session
• Accessible HTML5 media players, captions, audio description and search (PDF) - Terrill Thompson.
• Making rich internet applications accessible through jQuery (PDF) - Chris Blouch (AOL) and Hans Hillen (TPG)
• Using the barcamp/unconference format - Jennison Asuncion, James Timony and John F Croston.
• Improving Web Accessibility for the Elderly - Roger Hudson.
• DISTCHA: an attempt to kill CAPTCHA - Vincent François & Samuel Sirois.

Any more to add? Please comment!

Additions

• Successfully Integrating Accessibility in your Organization's Web Development Lifecycle - Denis Boudreau

Podcast #89: CSUN 2011 Preview

Dennis and special guests Jennison Asuncion (@Jennison) and Jared Smith (@jared_w_smith) discuss the upcoming CSUN conference in San Diego, California, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel, March 14-19, 2011. The official title and website is: 26th Annual International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference.
NOTE: Apologies for the poor quality. (But the content is outstanding!)
Download Web Axe Episode 89 (CSUN 2011 Preview)
Transcript of podcast 89

Sponsor:
Project:Possibility is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating open source software that benefits the disabilities community, and educating students on accessibility and universal design concepts. This is accomplished with the SS12 Code for a Cause: an opportunity for students to make a profound difference by developing innovative, empowering projects for persons with disabilities, as well as the chance to work with industry professionals.

Jennison presenting:

• Building IT Accessibility Awareness and Community Using the Barcamp/Unconference Format. Wednesday, 9:20.
• Do We Need to Change the Web Accessibility Game Plan? Panel with John Foliot, Sandi Wassmer, and Jennison. Thursday, 3:10.

Jared presenting:

• HTML5/ARIA pre-conference workshop w/ Steven Faulkner and Hans Hillen of TPG. All day Tuesday.
• Screen Reader Web Accessibility Face-off. Wednesday, 3:10.
• Do We Need to Change the Web Accessibility Game Plan? Panel with John Foliot, Sandi Wassmer, and Jennison. Thursday, 3:10.
• WebAIM's Screen Reader User Surveys: Data and Trends. Friday, 8am.
• Preview of WAVE 5 on Friday, 10:40.

More info:

• There is a (now annual) CSUN Tweet-up Thursday at 6pm. Lightning talks, food, and fun! (Contact Jared if you want to sponsor.)
• The Twitter hash tag for the event is "#CSUN11".
• Exhibit Hall-Only entry will be free once again.
• CSUN On Lanyrd
• CSUN11 on LinkedIn
• CSUN11 on Facebook
• Saturday morning: Dennis on a panel of judges (Sat morn) for the SS12 Code-A-Thon finals!
• Register for CSUN11

Podcast #88: Quick Start to 2011

Dennis and Ross discuss the goings on in the Web Axe world, a few good articles, and a few upcoming conferences.

Download Web Axe Episode 88 (Quick Start to 2011)

Transcript of podcast 88

What's New

• Happy New Year! Intro to Web Accessibility Resources
• Monthly link archives on hold; try AccessiWatch Weekly RoundUp from Denis Boudreau (@dboudreau)
• Hardboiled Web Design (brief review)
• Comments on A quick Web Accessibility Checklist
• 25 Ways To Make Your Website Accessible - and challenges of publishing.

Articles

• Play and Say on New HTML5 Logo by host Dennis Lembree.
• Testing Accessibility of Pre-populated Input Fields by Terrill Thompson.
• Is it Now Acceptable to Require Javascript? and We Haven't Forgotten About Accessibility Have We? (Monday By Noon)
• Bonus! 20 Essential Tools & Tips to an Accessible Website

Conferences

• ATIA 2011 Orlando - January 26-29, 2011, Orlando, Florida.
• Josephine L. Taylor Leadership Institute (JLTLI) 2011 - March 11-12, 2011, Marriott Renaissance Hotel, Downtown Seattle, Washington.
• South by Southwest - Interactive (SXSWi) - March 11-15, Austin, Texas.
• CSUN 2011- March 14-19, 2011 at Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel San Diego, California. Dennis on judges panel on that Saturday morning for Code-A-Thon Challenge organized by Project:Possibility.

Canceled Accessibility Event

Very disappointing news today. The AccessU West conference by Knowbility scheduled for January 10-12 in San Jose, California, has been officially cancelled due to low registration numbers.

The AccessU training conference in Austin, Texas, May 17-19, 2011, will be held as usual. This event is the original from Knowbility and continues to be very successful. You can also follow Knowbility on Twitter.

Still, it's so saddening that a web accessibility event with major speakers (such as Derek Featherstone and yours truly) has such little interest. Especially in Silicon Valley. Here are some reasons I suspect. Can you think of any other?

1. Accessibility is not "cool" in Bay area where other exciting web technology is created.
2. Bad timing; beginning of year may be not ideal for people's personal schedules and business' budgets.
3. Competition - too many other great webinars, conferences, and meetups to choose from.

Upcoming Accessibility Events

Here are some great events relating to web accessibility that are occurring soon.

• Free 2-day Section 508 conference in Washington DC, Dec 13-14.
• Meetup with Sydney Web Accessibility & Inclusive Design, Tues, Dec 14, Sydney, Australia.
• Perth (Australia) Web Accessibility and Inclusive Design meetup, Wed, Dec 15, 7:30 AM.
• Workshop on Principles of Web Accessibility in Mumbai, India, 16 December.
• CANCELLED! AccessU West 2011, Knowbility’s West Coast web accessibility institute (previously CalWAC) January 10-12. CANCELLED!
• ATIA 2011 Orlando - Assistive Technology Industry Association conference, Orlando, Florida, January 26-29.

Any missing in the next month? If so, please add in the comments.

AccessU West Keynote by Web Axe Host

Web Axe host and founder Dennis Lembree is giving one of three keynote speeches at the AccessU West conference (previously CalWAC) in San Jose, California, January 10-12, 2011. The accessibility event is three full days and is held at San Jose State University. Dennis is also the author of Accessible Twitter.

A superb lineup of experts are providing sessions including Derek Featherstone, Jim Thatcher, Lainey Feingold, and Deque Systems. Topics include HTML5/CSS3/ARIA, testing accessibility, Drupal, and legal issues (U.S.). If you're more interested in a particular topic, tracks are offered in Usability, Policy/Admin, and Design Development.

Fees are relatively low, about $235 to $820 depending on the package you select. Register here and say hi to Dennis at the conference. We hope to see you there!

Podcast #86: EDUCAUSE Review, AHG Preview, HTML5 Audio with Terrill Thompson

Dennis speaks with Terrill Thompson about a variety of topics including a summary of the EDUCAUSE conference; a preview of the Accessing Higher Ground (AHG) conference; community efforts to fix the web; HTML5 audio, video, and controls; and captioning.

Download Web Axe Episode 86 (Educause review, AHG preview, HTML5 audio with Terrill Thompson)

[Transcript of podcast 86]

Mentioned links

• Creating Your Own Accessible HTML5 Media Player
• The Quest for an Accessible Flash MP3 Player
• Accessible University 2.0 (test exercise page)
• EDUCAUSE IT Accessibility Constituent Group
• Mozilla Audio Data API
• DO-IT Video Search - even searches captions!

More on the EDUCAUSE Twitter backchannel

• View the E10 backchannel tweets on EDUCAUSE site
• #EDUCAUSE10 backchannel blog by Eric Stoller

News

• WebAIM: Using VoiceOver to Evaluate Web Accessibility (and also Using NVDA to Evaluate Web Accessibility)
• Topsy, a great app for searching tweets
• Tips for Designing For Colorblind Users
• Integrating Accessibility Through Design

About the 2010 Accessing Higher Ground Conference

So I'm starting to regret not attending the AHG conference this year (Accessing Higher Ground: Accessible Media, Web and Technology Conference). I attended (and presented) at the previous two events. This year looks just as good, if not better.

AHG 2010 will be November 15-19 at the Westin Hotel in Westminster, Colorado, located about 13 miles from downtown Denver. It's a really nice venue with nice restaurants nearby.



Over 60 presentations and hands-on sessions and 35 hours of hands-on workshops are scheduled. You can read the session descriptions here. Maybe you'll see me on the list next year!

The fees are affordable, and an early registration discount is available until October 1. Groups of 5 who register together are eligible for a 10% discount. You may register for AHG here.

I think something new this year are special session tracks from which to choose. The tracks are:

• ADA Track
• ATACP FastTrax
• ATHEN Track
• Dolphin Track
• EASI Track
• WebAIM Track

Link Roundup - June 2010

• Simple Free Online Caption Creator for YouTube Videos
• Australian Government releases Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy
• Open Web Camp 2010 at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, July 17 (Free)
• Assistive Technology Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, July 29-30 (Free)
• Online version of book Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design
• 50+ Reasons to Use VoiceOver (from Apple)
• AJAX and the Problem of Web Accessibility by @JoeDolson
• HTML5: Techniques for providing useful text alternatives (W3C)
• How NOT to use the HTML title attribute by @ianpouncey (from January)
• Forthcoming Updates on Federal Section 508 Rules by @JoeDolson
• Chrome explains its partial screen reader support
• Princeton University and learning disabled student settle suit
• Blind students sue four California law schools over inaccessible online applications
• What AT devices announce when encountering ARIA roles
• AViewer beta - new accessibility checker tool from The Paciello Group
• Making JavaScript Accessible slides presented by @dennisl at Bayjax meetup
• How to get started on Twitter with JAWS - CNIB blog by @mcourcel
• Examples of Inaccessible Web Design
• Sign petition for Google to make Chrome screen reader accessible
• Features of a Cognitively Accessible Web Site
• How to Use HTML, CSS and JavaScript in an Accessible Manner
• Web Accessibility and WAI-ARIA Primer by @emilylewis
• Writing text alternatives for maps
• Future Web Accessibility: SVG from WebAIM
• List of Twitter clients for persons with disabilities
• U.S. Departments of Justice and Education tell college/university presidents that required electronic book readers must be accessible

Podcast #79: CSUN 2010 Preview

Dennis and guest Jennison Asuncion discuss the upcoming CSUN conference, formally titled The 25th Annual International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference. Discussion includes helpful hints about the conference, session previews, and special events. The event is March 22-27 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown San Diego, California.

Download Web Axe Episode 79 (CSUN 2010 Preview)

[transcript of podcast 79]

Related Links:

• WebAIM's 2010 CSUN Session Lineup
• Adobe at CSUN 2010
• Twitter list: Speakers at CSUN 2010
• CSUN Tweetup