{"id":4683,"date":"2017-12-07T12:47:12","date_gmt":"2017-12-07T16:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/its\/?p=4683"},"modified":"2017-12-07T12:47:45","modified_gmt":"2017-12-07T16:47:45","slug":"ahg-compelling-information","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/its\/2017\/12\/07\/ahg-compelling-information\/","title":{"rendered":"AHG: Compelling Stuff We Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several people from Swarthmore attended a week long conference entitled Accessing Higher Ground<\/a> in Denver, Colorado. \u00a0This conference is open to anyone at Swarthmore and is one of the best conferences I have ever attended. \u00a0If you want to learn about accessibility, especially in relation to higher education this is the conference to attend.<\/p>\n

Here are a couple of highlights from the conference:<\/p>\n

Collaborative Procurement: Many higher ed institutions buy the same software and interact with the same vendors. \u00a0The thought is to share software reviews and negotiate with vendors for accessibility fixes as a group.<\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s Accessibility Initiatives: Microsoft is doing some very interesting stuff around access. \u00a0The big surprise was how much Microsoft touted the accessibility features of iOS devices and integrating their apps with iOS<\/p>\n

Collaborative Procurement<\/h2>\n

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Office of Civil Rights (OCR) have made it clear in numerous settlements<\/a>, that the purchaser is responsible for the level of accessibility of websites or applications it requires members of its community to interact with.<\/p>\n

Swarthmore\u2019s list might include the websites we use to choose benefits, purchase products, schedule\/register campus events, as well as websites associated with textbooks and the textbooks themselves, and other applications we require students, community members, and visitors, to interact with.<\/p>\n

Many schools are banding together to develop more effective ways of evaluating third party software. \u00a0The group hopes to work with vendors to develop roadmaps and make fixes when barriers are found.<\/p>\n

This group is in the formative stages and currently consists of large universities, small colleges like Swarthmore and community colleges located throughout the country.<\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s Accessibility Initiatives<\/h2>\n

The biggest surprise at the conference was how much Microsoft was touting the built-in accessibility features of iOS devices. \u00a0In addition, they are doing some really interesting stuff around accessibility. \u00a0Here are a few of the apps I learned about:<\/p>\n

Eye Control<\/a>:<\/p>\n