[Athen] Possible changes in student email clients

[Mike Gibson]

The university migrated all student accounts to gmail about a year ago, of
course without consulting with the DRC. Students who did not want to mess
with the gmail interface I assisted in setting up mail forwarding to their
personal email client of choice.  

The other students who got tired of wading through the truck load of
information on the gmail page set it to "basic html" and our getting by with
it. It is still cumbersome and inefficient to move around. Obviously not all
of the features present on the standard view are present with the basic so
in the full meaning of the word accessible gmail is not. 

In another stroke of inspiration administration has decided to move all
employees to Google Apps. The migration is going on as we speak. I myself am
still using Outlook with the "Google calendar sync" utility but I can't have
the benefit of searching calendars and looking up colleagues email
addresses.  Once again consideration for accessibility took a backseat.
   


Regards,

Mike Gibson
AT Coordinator
Boise State University
(208) 426-1583


-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Gerry Nies
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 9:32 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network;
MikeGibson at boisestate.edu.test-google-a.com
Subject: Re: [Athen] Possible changes in student email clients

We looked at these products about a year ago. I asked both vendors about
accessibility. Microsoft response was it can be done it is not direct but
very doable. Google's response was, well, aah, um we think it can be done.

Needless to say it was interesting for the powers that be to hear that and
helped influence us choosing MS which has not been implemented yet due to
some other factors.


>>> Heidi Scher <hascherdss at gmail.com> 4/27/2009 4:17 PM >>>

Hi all,
Our IT department is currently looking at the email client we are using as
well as reviewing Microsoft's Live at edu and Google Apps to see which would
better serve our student body email needs.  Thought I'd ask the experts if
you have any tips/hints regarding accessibility issues with either of the
last two apps.
THANKS to all!!
Heidi

-- 
+++++++++++++++
Heidi Scher, M.S., CRC
Associate Director
Center for Educational Access
University of Arkansas
ARKU 104
Fayetteville, AR 72701
479.575.3104
479.575.7445 fax
479.575.3646 tdd
+++++++++++++++

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