Digital Accessibility UpdatesNews you can use to make your digital resources, classrooms, and events more inclusive and accessible to the Mason community!
| |
Spring 2021 BY THE NUMBERS...
| |
Spring 2021 Digital Accessibility ChampionS
| |
Jacquelyn Kriebehl (SEERM)
Jackie Krehbiel is an Administrative Specialist with Safety, Emergency, and Enterprise Risk Management (SEERM). In that capacity, she reached out to the ATI for an accessibilty review of SEERM's Violence Awareness and Prevention website shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began. This web resource provides the Mason community with valuable guidance on our collective role in ensuring a safe and secure campus.
Jackie was one of the first individuals to use the DubBOT Web Governance solution. Leveraging DubBOT's accessibility monitoring and collaboration tools, Jackie greatly improved the website's accessibility score, at one point achieving a rating of 100%! As many of you already know, accessibility is a moving target, oftentimes changing as the content changes. Despite this, Jackie has been able to keep the website's score well above a 90% rating. This allows more members of the Mason community to play an active role in the campus' safety and security.
Thank you, Jackie!
| |
Mason Embraces Digital Accessibility!
| |
Bb ALLY supports students with alternate format needs!Alternative formats are very popular with our students! They allow students to download instructional content in a format that supports their individual learning style.
- During Spring 2021, over 17,000 alternative formats (across 2,900 unique courses) were provided through Blackboard Ally
- Over 6,500 unique users requested alternative formats
- Most popular formats were ePUB, Tagged PDFs, and HTML
| |
Captions, Transcripts, & Audio Descriptions...Oh My!Over 4,700 instructional and front-facing web videos were made more accessible to the broader Mason community through the provision of closed captions, transcripts, and/or audio descriptions. Learn more about Accessible Media.
| |
CFA has a New Accessibility Lead!
| |
HeaTher Hicks, CFA
Heather Hicks ( hhicks2@gmu.edu) is the new Audience Services Supervisor and Accessibility Coordinator at the Center for the Arts in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Heather will be taking the lead on CFA's efforts to provide more proactive accessibility options for theater patrons. She is an alum (Theater '18), recently returning to Mason after a couple of years working at the Kennedy Center.
Want to learn more about CFA's accessibility options? Select the link below.
| |
Request Automatic Captions through Kaltura MyMedia in Blackboard
| |
Mason offers several no-cost options for captioning instructional videos that are uploaded to your Kaltura MyMedia folder:
- Machine captioning that can be ordered directly in your MyMedia Kaltura video library.
- Professional captioning and audio descriptions through Assistive Technology Initiative (ATI) Office. Visit the ATI website for more information. (PLEASE NOTE: Courses and degree programs with deaf or hard-of-hearing students enrolled should always provide professional captions.)
Keep in mind, machine captions are computer-generated and not as accurate (<80% accuracy) as professional captions (~99% accurate). Kaltura MyMedia does, however, offer you the option for correcting the machine captions. This is a good alternative when you are limited on time and resources.
To learn more about requesting machine captions for your Kaltura MyMedia videos, select the link below.
| |
|
DubBot can Help your websites Become more accessible and inclusive
| |
DubBOT
DubBOT is Mason's new web governance solution, continuously checking your website for accessibility issues, broken links, and misspelled words among other issues.
DubBOT also provides an overall score for issues related to accessibility, spelling, broken links, and flagged words. This allows you to easily track and remediate issues that may result from changes to your website.
Request your FREE DubBot account to get started!
| |
|
What are ASRB Reviews?
The Architectural Standards Review Board (ASRB) is responsible for reviewing, verifying compliance, and providing recommendations for new and upgrade software and hardware procurement projects. The purpose of the ASRB process is to communicate business needs to ITS and other stakeholders.
The university and ITS may already have supported software or hardware available that may be used. Additionally, the university and ITS may have existing contacts with various vendors that can expedite the procurement process.
Have questions about the ASRB process? Contact asrb@gmu.edu.
| |
Having trouble?
Mason is committed to ensuring individuals with disabilities are afforded equivalent access to all of the university's programs and services. Any member of the Mason community encountering digital (e.g., websites that do not work with your assistive technology) and/or physical accessibility barriers (e.g., automatic doors not working, block walkways/doorways, etc.) can report the issue to the ATI.
Select the link below to report an issue.
| |
Microsoft Accessibility Summit, May 5 - May 6
The Microsoft Ability Summit is a two-day, free digital event experience that brings together people with disabilities, allies, and accessibility professionals to Imagine, build, include, and empower the future of disability inclusion and accessibility.
- Wednesday, May 5 from 12:00 PM – 3:30 PM EST (currently underway)
- Thursday, May 6 from 12:00 PM – 3:30 PM EST
2021 Microsoft Ability Summit will feature:
- Keynotes from Microsoft executives and notable members of the disability community
- Expert panels featuring exciting projects and innovations
- Demos of the latest accessibility features in Office, Windows, Xbox, and more
PLEASE NOTE: All sessions will be recorded and available post-event, so register to access them at a time that works for you!
| |
Upcoming ATI Accessility Workshops
This summer, ATI staff will be hosting the following training workshops:
Creating Accessible Documents Series, July 6 - July 15
Accessible Web Design Series, July 22 - 23
| |
Join CDE's
Digital Accessibility and Inclusion Community
Group
CDE's Digital Accessibility and Inclusion Community Group held their kickoff meeting on Wednesday, April 14th. This initial meeting brought together 27 members of the Mason community representing Communications and Marketing, ITS, Stearns Center, CVPA, Disability Services, and CDE among others.
The DAIC's mission is to bring together community partners to share and learn about the digital solutions already in place to support access and inclusion at Mason. Sessions are open to all members of the Mason community.
The next DAIC meeting will be held in October 2021.
| |
The Digital Accessibility Updates newsletter will be published at the beginning and end of the fall and spring semesters. The next issue will be distributed on Monday, August 16th.
Enjoy your Summer!
| |
Assistive Technology Initiative
| |
| |
|