FOSSA 101, Session 8

We have one more problem to discuss. One more reason why people sometimes give up on your Learning Thing. And this one - well, there are many ways to get this wrong, but also many ways to get this right. This time, we’re talking about digital accessibility.

In a way, everything we talked about before is part of this big idea called “being accessible” - because every time you try to fix a problem with your Thing, more people get to access and use it. But this time, when I say “digital accessibility”, I mean making your Learning Thing work for people with disabilities.

Let me tell you something that not everyone knows about me. I cannot watch anything that has flashing lights. Often, when I’m at a concert or watching a music video, I need to close my eyes. And sometimes, if a sci-fi movie or a gig uses a lot of these flashing lights, I need to leave. Otherwise - 99.9% of the time - I am just a normal guy. But if you decided to use a stroboscope effect in each one of your videos - or on each of your websites - then I’d have to look for somewhere else to learn.

This is just one example of “digital accessibility”, and many of them you will be more familiar with. Today, the internet is a wonderful thing for many people who cannot see, or hear, or use their keyboard or mouse the way I do. From your operating system to your websites, and video games - things are so much better these days than they used to be.

At the same time, though, everyone who builds Things online is still learning. We discover new ways in which people use stuff on the internet, and we learn more about how some parts of our Things are broken for them. This is a process, and it never stops. You don’t get to say, “that’s it - everything we made is now 100% accessible for everyone!”, because you will discover a new problem pretty soon.

That is partly because internet users with disabilities found their confidence. They know there are parts of the internet that are still broken, but they have also explored the non-broken parts. More and more people get online each day - that also means people with disabilities.

And partly, that is because good Learning Things will try to be accessible for as many learners as they can, in as many moments as possible. Here’s what I mean by that. Some learners live with their disabilities for a long time (for example, if you haven’t been able to use one arm since kindergarten). Some others are living with a disability now, but not for long (for example, if you broke your arm and can’t use it). And some of them are maybe only finding that this disability depends on a situation (for example, if you are a new parent and are holding a baby in one arm for two hours while you learn on your laptop). Trying to make your Learning Thing accessible for each type of user means you’re never really “done”.

So - when your learners pass on your Learning Thing because they cannot access it, they may mean a lot of things. Doesn’t this make that problem the hardest to fix?

Don’t be worried - this one is something the internet has been working on for a while. Onwards - to our last experiment!

Experiment 5: A stands for "Accessible"

Internet looks pretty much the same around the world. And if you’re living with a disability, often you share similar internet problems and difficulties with others in different countries. This means that everyone who tried to fix internet problems for people with disabilities was quickly able to come up with a set of good ideas. This is what the last FOSSA experiment is about:

Accessible: You will publish a fully functional version of your Learning Thing which meets the AA level of WCAG web accessibility requirements.

Let’s unpack some of this. “WCAG” stands for “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines”. It’s a set of rules (“requirements”) for people who make things on the web. These come in levels, and the levels are marked by “A” letters. There are three levels, and “AA” is the middle level (“AAA” is the top level).

There are many ways in which you could measure how accessible your Learning Thing is. But the WCAG is what almost everyone on the internet follows already. In several countries, official websites need to meet these requirements already. So I was in no doubt that this is the most useful test to recommend for our last experiment.

The next reason for WCAG is that it comes with its own set of good techniques. In other words, the people who developed the rules can also show you some good tools you can use to build a Learning Thing which follows the rules. It’s always more useful to work with something that offers solutions alongside questions, right?

Finally - I like that WCAG offers some flexibility thanks to its three levels. I picked the “AA” level for FOSSA, because I know that there are several fixes in the “AA” level which learners will definitely like to see. But if you look at the “AA” level and feel daunted, then you don’t have to give up. Instead, you can start by aiming to meet the “A” level rules. It can already be a big improvement on how accessible your Learning Thing is. The next levels build on the previous ones, so you won’t be doing the work all over again, if you decide to work on higher levels next.

---

A quick note on integrating FOSSA experiments into your main work

When we talked about the problems and experiments for FOSSA, I always made sure to remind you of one idea. Your “fully functional version” didn’t need to be the only version of your Learning Thing. So you could have a “Free” version and a paid one - remember? Or a “Small” version and a full-sized download. As long as they were fully functional, that was OK by me.

But at some point, I think it would be great to think about building the FOSSA experiments into your “main” Learning Things. To build just one thing, that happens to also solve as many FOSSA problems as you can.

I’m saying this now, because this last experiment really is the one I’d like you to consider for your “main” Learning Thing. If we were brainstorming this in a room or in a call, I would probably understand your concerns if you told me, “Vic - we can’t make this one Free just yet.” Or - “It’s tempting to make the main product this Small - but we still need the video”. But I would always insist on making your “main” Learning Thing accessible from the start.

There are hundreds of reasons. Lack of accessibility is a problem for your legal team in some markets. It’s always a bad look, and can make you lose your good name. And (this one is most important for me) trying to get accessibility right puts you on a great path. It makes everyone who builds your Learning Things more open to what your learners need.

So if you decide to build just one FOSSA experiment into your “main” Learning Thing from the start, make it this one.

---

Making "Accessible" work - ten FOSSA ideas

1. Get everyone on board. Accessibility is everyone’s job. Each person in your company is very likely to be old and frail one day, and maybe will care for others who live with disabilities. Their interest in making things accessible is for themselves, and their loved ones.
2. Understand your legal requirements. Maybe you already need to be passing some accessibility checks because of where in the world your Learning Things work. Make sure you know what these are, to avoid extra effort (or last-minute panic).
3. Build accessible things from the start. Which do you think is easier: creating 100 accessible graphics each year, for 10 years in a row - or fixing 1000 inaccessible graphics at the end of Year 10, when everyone realizes you’ve got a problem?
4. Read the rules and techniques, together as a team. This means that people can suggest their ideas for fixing your Learning Things, or for checking which parts already work in an accessible way.
5. Have accessibility champions. If anyone is trained in helping others build accessibility into your Learning Things, make sure they have the power to help out.
6. Start with the little things. A quick read of the WCAG rules makes it clear: some things take five minutes to fix, and solve a huge chunk of people’s problems. These are a nice team win to get everyone excited about accessibility.
7. Bust some myths. This is not just a “box-tick” exercise. It’s not a soulless paperwork job. In every team, there can be someone who believes accessibility is a waste of time. Learn to work with them to change their minds.
8. Could your teammates or learners help? Perhaps you have learners who left good (or bad) feedback on your Learning Thing. Or maybe someone on your team would have problems using what you built, because of accessibility. Can you ask them to share their stories?
9. Aim for “always in progress”, instead of “perfect”. Everyone is always building new things on the internet. This means you will build new Learning Things, and they will not be 100% accessible. That’s OK. This is a journey, and you don’t have to be perfect - but you should definitely keep doing the work.
10. Cut out inaccessible gadgets. If something looks flashy, but can’t be fixed to be accessible - think about how badly you need it. Using this in the future could mean that you lose business - because your Learning Thing can’t sell in some countries, or because people will prefer someone whose Thing they can access. Maybe it’s better to fire the inaccessible gadget today, and start building something that works?

---