DDQ THU 2021-09-09

9. Guidelines

9.1. Agenda

  1. General Announcements

  2. Discussion & Activity

Table 9.1 Current Assignments for Everyone

Category

Assignment

Day

Date

Term Project

Milestone 1: Problem Proposal: Revision1

FRI

2021-09-10
1

The due date and time for Part 2 of Milestone 1 has been extended for everyone to FRI 2021-09-09 @ 11:55 PM in consideration of multiple factors. Please use the extra time to adequately address the comments provided to you by the instructor.

9.2. Activity

9.2.1. Introduction

Duration: TBD

Guidelines are low-level focused advice about good practices and cautions against dangers [M2:1]. When it comes to design-related guidelines, Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is one with a lot of impact.

Image depicting components of a mature 508 Program

Fig. 9.1 Image of the components of a mature 508 Program.

Presented as government standards, the revised 508 guidelines intent to:

  1. eliminate barriers in information and communication technology (ICT);

  2. make available new opportunities for people with disabilities; and to

  3. encourage development of technologies that will help achieve (1) and (2).

According to these guidelines, any ICT that is procured, developed, maintained, or used by agencies (i.e, any agency or department of the United States as defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502, and the United States Postal Service.) shall conform to the Revised 508 Standards.

Even if a company or other agency does not meet the definition of agency presented above, its still beneficial to conform to these guidelines as compliance increases overall usability of ICT.

9.2.2. Breakout Groups

Important

RANDOMIZE: Please move around to different tables and form a random group for this activity.

Important

EQUAL-COLUMN SEATING PREFERRED: Make every effort to have the same number of groups in each of the three columns of tables that are present in Dawson Hall 116. Today, we need NO EMPTY ROWS.

  [PROJECTOR]   [DOOR]

[=====] [=====] [=====]
[=====] [=====] [=====]
[=====] [=====] [=====]
[=====] [=====] [=====]
[=====] [=====] [=====]
[=====] [=====] [=====]

 ~n/3    ~n/3    ~n/3
groups  groups  groups

  1. Quickly introduce yourselves to each other, if you don’t already know each other.

  2. Pick a group representative. This person will be responsible for posting your breakout group’s response on Piazza before breakout group work ends for this activity.

  3. Help your group representative respond to the following in a followup discussion to Piazza @27.

    1. List the names of your breakout group members.

    2. Depending on where your group is sitting, your group will be assigned a letter (one of A, B, or C) and a number (one of 1 or 2) by the instructor. Respond the prompt below using the information in the table that corresponds to your group’s letter and number.

        [PROJECTOR]   [DOOR]

[=====] [=====] [=====] 1
[=====] [=====] [=====] 2
[=====] [=====] [=====] 1
[=====] [=====] [=====] 2
[=====] [=====] [=====] 1
[=====] [=====] [=====] 2
   B       A       C

      NUMBER

      LETTER

      1

      2

      A

      Build Awareness & Support

      Practice Universal Design

      B

      Update Agency Policies

      Procure & Develop Accessible Technology

      C

      Create Accessible Documents

      Measure & Monitor Progress

      1. For this part of your post, simply include the name of your group’s component (listed in the table above).

      2. Prompts for each component are listed below. Respond to the prompts that correspond to your group’s component.

        Build Awareness & Support (Group A1)

        After reading a little bit about this component here, respond to the following:

        1. Briefly summarize the Section 508 Access to Functionality section, then describe how the content in that section relates to your group’s Section 508 program component.

        2. If your group were to begin work on some aspect of design that is required to conform to Section 508 guidelines, then what actions might group members take to build awareness and support?

        Practice Universal Design (Group A2)

        After reading a little bit about this component here, respond to the following:

        1. Briefly summarize the term universal design, then describe how universal design might help a company do things like save money, innovate, and engage with their staff.

        2. If your group were to begin work on some aspect of design that is required to conform to Section 508 guidelines, then what actions might group members take to ensure the group is practicing universal design?

        Update Agency Policies (Group B1)

        After reading a little bit about this component here, respond to the following:

        1. Briefly summarize the best practices related to updating agency policies (beyond the short descriptions provided on the page linked above),

        2. If your group were to begin work on some aspect of design that is required to conform to Section 508 guidelines, then what actions might group members take to ensure that all stakeholders involved are up to date with the guidelines?

        Procure & Develop Accessible Technology (Group B2)

        After reading a little bit about this component here, respond to the following:

        1. Briefly summarize some of the ways you might ensure that the technology you buy and build is designed to be accessible from the start.

        2. If your group were to begin work on some aspect of design that is required to conform to Section 508 guidelines, then what actions might group members take to ensure that the group procures and develops accessible technology?

        Create Accessible Documents (Group C1)

        After reading a little bit about this component here, respond to the following:

        1. Briefly summarize some of the ways that a company or agency might help their employees create accessible documents and content. You should also comment on why this is important.

        2. If your group were to begin work on some aspect of design that is required to conform to Section 508 guidelines, then what actions might group members take to ensure that each group member can create accessible documents, as needed, while working on the project?

        Measure & Monitor Progress (Group C2)

        After reading a little bit about this component here, respond to the following:

        1. Briefly summarize some of the ways that a company or agency might keep track of they are meeting 508 compliance goals goals.

        2. If your group were to begin work on some aspect of design that is required to conform to Section 508 guidelines, then what actions might group members take to ensure that the group is prepared to measure and monitor its 508 compliance progress?

  4. Look at and reply to the posts that other groups made.

9.2.3. After Breakout Groups

Duration: TBD

  1. Look at some of the Piazza posts as a class.

9.2.4. After Class

  1. Before 11:55PM today, individually comment on another group’s post by replying to their followup discussion in Piazza @27.

    Important

    You may comment more than once, and at least one of your comments needs to be for a post that covered a different component than your own breakout group covered in class.

    Comments

    Please keep the comments polite and constructive. In addition to whatever else you want to write, please comment on one aspect of a group’s post that you like and one aspect that you think needs improvement (e.g., you find that something is unclear or you don’t understand a justification). As always, be sure to provide a brief justification for each.

  2. Finish reading the Foundations module, continue reading the Usability module, and make sure you’re aware of current assignments and their due dates.