1. Department of Internal Affairs New Zealand Government Web Accessibility Self-Assessments Jason Kiss Senior Advisor - Digital Engagement Dept. of Internal Affairs Jason.kiss@dia.govt.nz Twitter: @jkiss

2. Department of Internal Affairs Overview Background and context Goals Methodology Analysis Results Conclusions Future plans

3. Department of Internal Affairs Background and Context New Zealand ~4.5 million people Earthquakes (15K/yr) New flag?

4. Department of Internal Affairs Background and Context New Zealand Relatively small government ~500 central government websites User-centred consolidation underway Few accessibility experts and consultants

5. Department of Internal Affairs Background and Context 2003 NZ Government Web Guidelines Cabinet mandate All core government agencies ( currently ~33) WCAG 1.0

6. Department of Internal Affairs Background and Context December 2008

7. Department of Internal Affairs Background and Context March 2009 NZ Government Web Standards 2.0 WCAG 2.0 AA + “New Zealand Layer”

8. Department of Internal Affairs Background and Context 2011 Self-Assessments Very simple Results not very useful But, indicated significant variability in govt and vendor knowledge and skill

9. Department of Internal Affairs Background and Context 2012-13 Consultation on new Web Standards: – Govt agencies – Disability communities – Web design/development firms Web Standards Working Group (WSWG)

10. Department of Internal Affairs Background and Context July 2013 NZ Govt Web Accessibility Standard WCAG 2.0 AA + some exceptions 4 year implementation schedule “High-stakes” vs. “core” content

11. Department of Internal Affairs Background and Context WCAG 2.0 Exceptions Complex visual maps Full text alternatives over audio description Captions: 10 day grace period except for “high-stakes” content Live captions: only for “high-stakes” content

12. Department of Internal Affairs GOALS: 2014 Self-Assessments Not a compliance exercise! Report on agency progress after 1 yr Baseline for continual improvement Raise awareness, knowledge and skill

13. Department of Internal Affairs GOALS: 2014 Self-Assessments How Identify most common Web Standards issues Assess risks and identify plans to address Self-assessment workshops Inform training and education for agencies and vendors

14. Department of Internal Affairs METHODOLOGY: 2014 Self-Assessments Fit for purpose Each agency… From across all its websites… Up to 5 home pages Up to 5 contact us pages 68 (max) random pages ++

15. Department of Internal Affairs METHODOLOGY : 2014 Self-Assessments Fit for purpose Simple results spreadsheet Easy-to-understand guides for in-house assessment

16. Department of Internal Affairs METHODOLOGY : 2014 Self-Assessments Page selection Weighted toward the most visited pages from the agency's most visited websites. Suggested procedures for selecting pages, e.g. Google Analytics

17. Department of Internal Affairs METHODOLOGY: 2014 Self-Assessments Page assessment In-house, external vendor, or combination? Assessment guides for practical help Incorrect/inaccurate assessment expected

18. Department of Internal Affairs METHODOLOGY: 2014 Self-Assessments Risk register Group, rate, and prioritise associated risks: – Where is the biggest bang for the buck? – Immediate fix or wait for redesign? – How to respond if the risk occurs?

19. Department of Internal Affairs ANALYSIS: 2014 Self-Assessments Auditing the results Web Standards Working Group (WSWG) 5 pages from each assessment: – 1 home page – 1 contact us page – 3 random pages

20. Department of Internal Affairs ANALYSIS: 2014 Self-Assessments Risk register review Best effort to: Check rated impact severity of identified risks Find risks that were overlooked

21. Department of Internal Affairs

22. RESULTS: 2014 Self-Assessments Risk register analysis – rating severity Severity of most risks was overrated Cause of a risk is not the same thing as its occurrence Cost of removing a risk is not the cost of dealing with its occurrence More guidance on risk assessment needed!

23. Department of Internal Affairs RESULTS: 2014 Self-Assessments Risk register analysis – missing risks Compared agencies’ results w/ WSWG audits 79% missing at least one risk +50% missing at least four or more risks More guidance on risk assessment needed!

24. Department of Internal Affairs Number of risks identified (% of total) WCAG 2.0 GuidelineSpecific risk causes 60 (15%) Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are. Lack of visible focus; incorrectly assessed bypass blocks; ambiguous link purpose, often incorrectly assessed. 57 (14%) Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background. Insufficient colour contrast; information communicated solely through colour (esp. links); text delivered in images instead of as text. 56 (14%) Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure. Form labels not programmatically associated with form fields; headings not marked up as headings; general semantic relationships not provided in HTML mark- up.

25. Department of Internal Affairs RESULTS: 2014 Self-Assessments Risk register analysis – mitigation Few risk registers: Identified remedial actions w/ start/end dates Integrated remedial actions with websites’ design or development plans Considered responses if a risk manifested More guidance on risk assessment needed!

26. Department of Internal Affairs RESULTS: 2014 Self-Assessments Agencies’ self-assessed scores

27. Department of Internal Affairs Requirement Average compliance rate (%) WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible56% WCAG 4.1.1 Parsing57% WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)62% WCAG 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks63% WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships67% WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content70% WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value72%

28. Department of Internal Affairs RESULTS: 2014 Self-Assessments WSWG audit scores

29. Department of Internal Affairs Requirement Average compliance rate (%) WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships25% WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content34% WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)36% WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value36% WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible38% WCAG 4.1.1 Parsing54% WCAG 1.4.1 Use of Color64%

30. Department of Internal Affairs RESULTS: 2014 Self-Assessments Self-assessed vs. audit scores

31. Department of Internal Affairs Self-assessmentsWSWG audits WCAG 2.4.7 Focus VisibleWCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships WCAG 4.1.1 ParsingWCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) WCAG 2.4.1 Bypass BlocksWCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value WCAG 1.3.1 Info and RelationshipsWCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text ContentWCAG 4.1.1 Parsing WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, ValueWCAG 1.4.1 Use of Color

32. Department of Internal Affairs RESULTS: 2014 Self-Assessments Audit variances Difference between the two scores Indication of accuracy or understanding Some passing marks the WSWG audits considered failures, and vice versa Greater the variance, the less the reqt was understood or accurately assessed

33. Department of Internal Affairs

34. RESULTS: 2014 Self-Assessments Audit variances – Interesting bits Top 5 reqts with highest variance are in the top 7 with the lowest compliance These top 5 reqts are: – common failures across agency web pages – the most often incorrectly assessed or understood

35. Department of Internal Affairs RESULTS: 2014 Self-Assessments Audit variances – Interesting bits Top 5 reqts arguably 5 of the most important: – WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content – WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships – WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) – WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible – WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value

36. Department of Internal Affairs CONCLUSIONS: 2014 Self-Assessments A worthwhile effort Improved understanding of accessibility Opportunity to discuss, learn, and ask Confirm, with evidence, most common issues Better understand current state Identify what needs improvemement Inform training and education

37. Department of Internal Affairs FUTURE PLANS

38. Department of Internal Affairs FUTURE PLANS: 2014 Self-Assessments Workshops – govt and vendors Shift focus from compliance to risk mgmt Integrate with govt ICT maturity model Focus on most common and least understood requirements Help agencies understand the ‘why’ Embed accessibility in day-to-day processes

39. Department of Internal Affairs FUTURE PLANS: 2014 Self-Assessments More practical guidance Web Accessibility Standard Assessment Guide will be published Direct people to and help them navigate existing guidance and resources

40. Department of Internal Affairs FUTURE PLANS: 2014 Self-Assessments Virtual community of expertise Stop relying on one working group or team Take a coaching role and deliver hands-on training to lift capability Build community of advocates and experts across agencies, vendors, jurisdictions Openly share our experiences, good and bad

41. Department of Internal Affairs …like here at OZeWAI! Thanks.