[Athen] Accessible webinar/video conferencing software

[Dan Comden]

My opinion:
At this time, Zoom is the best option for an accessible online meeting or
webinar. Excellent keyboard functionality, tunable settings/preferences,
and decent caption options are some of the reasons why. They also have a
skilled accessibility team actively working on fixes and improvements. I
love their settings for including or removing display of the meeting
software while screen sharing. Their shortcut key options are very nice as
well, esp being able to select global hotkeys for mute/unmute and camera
on/off. The meeting controls visibility is a bit wonky at present, but I've
been told it should be addressed soon.

Microsoft and Google can be ok for basic functionality, but still have
shortcomings. They tend to issue fixes more slowly than Zoom. Keyboard
support can be mysterious.

There is no perfectly accessible product. In my experience, Zoom comes
closest and seems to take accessibility more seriously than competitors.

As others will note, there are some that are truly bad for accessibility.
WebEx and GoToMeeting come to mind. BlueJean was awful the last time I used
it, but it's been a couple of years. I've not heard anything to lead me to
change that opinion. Any companies in the AT/accessibility space
demonstrate ignorance of accessibility if they choose these options for
interacting with customers.

ATHEN uses Zoom for meetings and webinars. That is a pretty solid
unofficial endorsement. Again, in my opinion.

-*- Dan

On Thu, Feb 10, 2022 at 12:37 PM <chagnon at pubcom.com> wrote:


> I know this has been asked before, and I’ve looked through the list

> archives, but the most recent thread I found was in 2016, and things have

> changed so much since then.

>

> We’re reviewing our own platform and software for online live video

> conferences. Any thoughts about accessibility in any of the major

> brand-named options, such as:

>

> ·       Zoom

>

> ·       Zoom Professional

>

> ·       WebEx

>

> ·       Go To Meeting (Log me In)

>

> ·       ZoHo Meeting

>

> ·       BlueJeans

>

> ·       Other?

>

> Thanks,

>

> —Bevi

>

> *— — —*

>

> Bevi Chagnon  *| *Designer, Accessibility Technician* |*

> Chagnon at PubCom.com

>

> *— — —*

>

> *PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing*

>

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>

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>

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>

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-- 
-*- Dan Comden                       danc at uw.edu <danc at washington.edu>
    Access Technology Center   www.uw.edu/itconnect/accessibility/atl/
    University of Washington      UW Information Technology
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