[Athen] Product evaluation database

[Alexa Schriempf]

I don't know how to answer the issue of liability/keeping things locked
down/paying someone to maintain the database (ie, Susan Kelmer's points). I
do know that Ron is right -- I'm constantly struggling to "knowledge hunt"
on this issue, and so are my colleagues. In fact, one colleague at Penn
State is trying to come up with a way to keep track of all her usability
and accessibility testing of various Educational Technology Tools (like
VoiceThread, etc).

And I personally am trying to track exactly what Ron asks for: got a
student who uses x, y, and z assistive technologies (ie, JAWS), what apps
will be accessible, what documents will be accessible, etc.

Seems to me that Josh Hori's trello database is an excellent, crowd source
managed start. Right now he has tags for ios, mac, pc, android
compatibility. WHile I don't recommend adding tags for JAWS, NVDA, Voice
Eye accessibility, for example, because that would require maintenance as
opposed to mere compilation, we could create Boards for typical AT and alt
media and app configurations.

For example, a board for "blind student JAWS user in math who prefers
tactile and braille". Then a series of cards on that board for a variety of
tools AND methods (because you just know that you have to get faculty to
teach a little more flexibly, as well as maybe hijink your alt media
process a little).

Like a wiki -- but easier in the sense that you can copy cards from other
boards in trello, to do a mix and match selection of tools and processes,
and those cards will have already been built (mostly by Josh).

Your thoughts? Just suggesting this as a tool for now -- until the kinks
can be worked out for a full time AT tester/database manager position at
ATHEN :)

-Alexa

On Thu, Mar 26, 2015 at 3:32 PM, Ron <ronrstewart at gmail.com> wrote:


> For the most part the demand is for Applications and their functionality

> with common AT. For most LTI is geek speach.

>

> Ron

>

> On Thursday, March 26, 2015, Joshua Hori <jhori at ucdavis.edu> wrote:

>

>>  Are we talking about application accessibility, LTI accessibility, or

>> available assistive technology?

>>

>>

>>

>> I’ve started an AT database

>> <https://trello.com/b/rirGA3kZ/accessible-technology-software> and I’ve

>> been asking around about LTI information, but there’s nothing being done at

>> the moment. I had documented some applications such as R, MatLab, and

>> Stata, but lost it during a computer crash. Sure wish I had my cloud

>> services available back then…

>>

>>

>>

>> Yes, the AT database is accessible. A little wonky with screenreaders but

>> it’s navigable.

>>

>>

>>

>> Best,

>>

>>

>>

>> Joshua Hori

>>

>> Accessible Technology Analyst

>>

>> Student Disability Center

>>

>> 54 Cowell Building

>>

>> Davis, CA 95616

>>

>>

>>

>> 530-752-3184

>>

>>

>>

>> *From:* athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu]

>> *On Behalf Of *Ron Stewart

>> *Sent:* Thursday, March 26, 2015 9:06 AM

>> *To:* 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'

>> *Subject:* Re: [Athen] Product evaluation database

>>

>>

>>

>> and that is something that we have talked about for years within ATHEN.

>> Talk is cheap how about some action?

>>

>>

>>

>> *From:* athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu]

>> *On Behalf Of *Humbert, Joseph A

>> *Sent:* Thursday, March 26, 2015 9:54 AM

>> *To:* 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'

>> *Subject:* Re: [Athen] Product evaluation database

>>

>>

>>

>> Sounds like a valuable ATHEN membership benefit if it was created and

>> maintained by ATHEN ;-) ;-)

>>

>>

>>

>> Thankx,

>>

>>   Joe

>>

>>

>>

>> *From:* athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] *On

>> Behalf Of *Susan Kelmer

>> *Sent:* Thursday, March 26, 2015 10:46 AM

>> *To:* Access Technology Higher Education Network

>> *Subject:* Re: [Athen] Product evaluation database

>>

>>

>>

>> I agree.  It would be really great to have this available to all of us.

>> We get the same questions over and over about products, and if there were a

>> database to access, those questions would certainly lessen.

>>

>>

>>

>> Two concerns:

>>

>>

>>

>> 1.       Who is going to make the database and keep it maintained?

>> Should this be a paid position, or at least something of a stipend given

>> for keeping it going?

>>

>> 2.       I am actually uncomfortable with keeping this locked away –

>> yes, I understand liability, but we are asking basic questions here about

>> accessibility of software/apps/programs/websites, and that information

>> should be available to anyone looking for it.  I am making the assumption

>> that people would be looking at the information as part of their planning

>> and investigation of a product that is being recommended for use by

>> administration, etc., so any and all information is going to be useful as

>> part of that investigation.  I think keeping us liability-free is more a

>> matter of writing effective content that is not filled with opinion, but

>> instead informative and descriptive.  VPATs could be included as part of

>> the entry on a product, but should not be the only content.

>>

>>

>>

>> *Susan Kelmer*

>>

>> *Alternate Format Access Coordinator*

>>

>> *Disability Services*

>>

>> *University of Colorado Boulder*

>>

>> *303-735-4836 <303-735-4836>*

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>> *From:* athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu]

>> *On Behalf Of *Ron Stewart

>> *Sent:* Thursday, March 26, 2015 8:39 AM

>> *To:* 'Access Technology Higher Education Network';

>> aheadmembers at listserve.com

>> *Subject:* [Athen] Product evaluation database

>>

>>

>>

>> Good morning all,

>>

>>

>>

>> Once again an extreme need has surfaced and that is a need for a database

>> of educational product accessibility evaluations that are readily

>> available.  This does not need to be a totally open resource, due to

>> liability issues a subscription or closed membership system would be find.

>>

>>

>>

>> I am not talking about VPATS, in most instances they have shown to be not

>> worth the time it took to write them. What I am looking for are real

>> evaluations, that also include what was used for the evaluation.  We have

>> talked about this a lot but nothing ever seems to come of it. Any insights

>> would be greatly appreciated.

>>

>>

>>

>> Ron Stewart

>>

>

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>



-- 
Alexa Schriempf, PhD
Access Tech Consultant
https://sites.psu.edu/aschriempf/
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