Can the Web be Made Accessible? John Richards IBM T. J Watson Research Center and University of Dundee New Directions for Work in Digital Scotland, May, 2012 Digital Work, May

Reminder: 1 in 5 Have a Disability Digital Work, May

Reminder: 1 in 5 Have a Disability Digital Work, May Most workers will need to use the Web

Main Approaches to Making the Web Accessible Guidelines (WCAG , WCAG ) Government regulations In-house accessibility standards and checklists Tools (e.g., including alt tag field for images) Training Digital Work, May

So … Digital Work, May How well are these working?

Web Accessibility Improving Digital Work, May alt tags on images

Web Accessibility Improving Digital Work, May alt tags on images

But Slowly Digital Work, May skip to main content

And Unevenly Digital Work, May page titles

And Unevenly Digital Work, May All government sites had page titles Over 99% of top sites had page titles page titles

Which Raises the Question: Digital Work, May If current approaches aren’t doing enough … what might help?

Two Possibilities Digital Work, May Change the economic incentives by broadening the base of people helped by accessible technologies 2.Design future Web technologies to have useful accessibility side effects

Examples Digital Work, May Change the economic incentives by broadening the base of people helped by accessible technologies

1 in 5 People Have a Disability Digital Work, May compare

1a. Broadening the Base Digital Work, May changing colors and contrast

1b. Broadening the Base Digital Work, May smart zoom

Examples Digital Work, May Design future Web technologies to have useful accessibility side effects

2a. Accessibility Side Effects Digital Work, May headings

2a. Accessibility Side Effects Digital Work, May headings

2b. Accessibility Side Effects Digital Work, May separating style from content

2b. Accessibility Side Effects Digital Work, May separating style from content

2b. Accessibility Side Effects Digital Work, May separating style from content dyslexia

Leaving Us To Consider … Digital Work, May How can we build on these examples?

More Generally … Shape policy around empirical results Adapt the Web as found whenever possible Leverage economic incentives Treat accessibility as part of usability Simplify and operationalize guidelines Create stronger testing and generation tools Digital Work, May

Thank You Digital Work, May