Raffling off Digital Outcasts at STC Summit 2013

Some of you may remember hearing Kel Smith speak in 2011 at the STC Summit in Sacramento. Since then, one of Kel’s projects has been writing a book.

Well, that book is available now, and you may win a copy of it! All you have to do is leave your business card at the AccessAbility SIG table during the Communities Reception on Monday evening.

You can read about the book, “Digital Outcasts: Moving Technology Forward Without Leaving People Behind“, on the book’s dedicated website.

An excerpt from the website says,

[the book] will address key trends in technology and their relevance to forgotten populations. Example case studies include: iPad apps for cognitive therapy, increased utility of virtual worlds, the use of video games to improve patient adherence, support programs through mobile platforms, the rise of Web accessibility, and the impact of federal regulations on the digital marketplace.

Technical communicators who are involved in usability and user experience, accessibility, business analysis, and design will definitely benefit from reading Kel Smith’s thoughts on “the importance of embracing universal design principles throughout innovation cycles”.

Catch up with Kel Smith on Twitter at @KelSmith. Get more information about the book via the book twitter handle: @digitaloutcasts or the Digital Outcast Facebook Page.

We thank the publishers Morgan Kaufmann for their very generous donation of “Digital Outcasts” to our raffle. You can follow @morgan_kaufmann on Twitter or on the Morgan Kaufmann Facebook Page. You might catch some discount codes there!

Stay tuned for more raffle news. We have more surprises coming up!

AccessAbility SIG Roadmap to the STC Summit 2013

Here’s the roadmap for the accessibility and usability sessions at the STC Summit 2013 in Atlanta! This is a follow-up to Karen Bachmann’s article on “User Experience and Accessibility Information at the Summit” on the STC Notebook. We put together Summit highlights from the AccessAbility SIG perspective.

SIG business meeting

We will have an informal SIG business meeting on Monday, May 6 from 12.00 PM – 1.00 PM in Hanover AB. Grab some lunch somewhere in the hotel and come along to meet other SIG members. Non-SIG members are most welcome, too. Cynthia Lockley, the SIG’s Web Diva and official SIG representative at the Summit, will be there, along with SIG manager, Karen Mardahl.

Communities Reception

Monday, May 6, from 6.30 PM – 8.00 PM, join the SIG at the Communities Reception in the Centennial Ballroom where you can chat about the SIG and participate in a raffle for some nice prizes! Cynthia and Karen will be there, along with other SIG members who will stop by during the evening.

Session highlights

We always point out relevant sessions on accessibility and usability in our roadmaps. Note that all links here are to the Lanyrd page for that particular session. That is a useful reference as more people indicate their attendance and as updates are made.

Monday, May 6

10.00 AM – 11.00 AM Lightning Talks, Session 1, includes “All You Need Is … Accessibility” with SIG manager, Karen Mardahl in Hannover CD

10.00 AM – 11.00 AM Storytelling the results of Heuristic Evaluation with Carol Barnum in Hannover AB

2.00 PM – 3.00 PM Accessibility in Documentation, Media, and Web Design with Mike Paciello in Hannover AB

3.30 PM – 4.30 PM Formalizing the Technical Communication and User Experience Relationship with Lori Fisher in Hannover FG

Tuesday, May 7

8.30 AM – 9.30 PM Content for Everyone: Making Information and Multimedia Accessible with Whitney Quesenbery in Grand Hall D

10.00 AM – 11.00 AM Communication and Translation Progression – one of the progression topics is plain language with Whitney Quesenbery in Regency V

10.00 AM – 11.00 AM Usability Testing to Evaluate Web and Mobile Content with Cory Lebson in Hannover E

1.00 PM – 2.00 PM Purposes, Personas, Conversations with Ginny Redish in Grand Hall D

4.00 PM – 5.00 PM Addicted to Meaning: Mental Models for Technical Communicators with Kai Weber in Hannover AB

4.00 PM – 5.00 PM Effectively Communicating UI and Interaction Design with Karen Bachmann in Grand Hall D

Wednesday, May 8

11.30 AM – 12.30 PM Writing for Everyone: SEO, ESL, Translation, and Accessibility with Char James-Tanny in Grand Hall D

Practical information

You’ll have programs on paper and in electronic form to help guide you through the Summit. The Lanyrd Summit page is an excellent online reference for all sessions and events.

We updated our practical page about Atlanta to help you with non-Summit issues like where can I get photocopies made or where can I buy some aspirin. Unfortunately, we cannot provide advice about cloning yourself so you can attend multiple sessions at the same time.

Last comment: have fun!

April 10 Webinar “Universal Accessibility: Creating E-Books Anyone Can Read”

Annette Reilly, STC Fellow and STC Standards Council Chair, sent us news about an interesting NISO webinar to be held April 10 at 1 PM to 2.30 PM ET. STC is a member organization of NISO and our members can participate in the webinar at NISO member rates.

You can go straight to the webinar registration details or read this introduction first.

One of the exciting aspects of e-books and the newer standards for them is the ability content creators have to create a format that provides for accessibility for everyone. From individuals who are visually impaired to those that have cognitive or learning disabilities, all can all be accommodated with the latest dizzying array of devices that support a variety of functionality and multimedia. In this webinar you will learn about new and emerging technologies to provide universal accessibility, including built-in accessibility for textbooks and an open source platform.

Join NISO for the April 10 webinar to learn about e-book design and readers that contain accessibility features.

The three topics and speakers listed for the webinar are:

  • Emerging Technologies for the Visually Impaired – Anne Taylor, Director of Access Technology, National Federation for the Blind
  • Built-in Access for Digital Textbooks – Michele Bruno, Program Manager, Accessibility, Cengage Learning
  • An Introduction to the Readium-based accessible Bookshare Web Reader – Ginny Grant, Product Manager, Benetech

Complete registration details are available via the link at the beginning of this blog post.

Oops! The Twitter Feeds Disappeared–Now What?

Many websites used RSS feeds to include tweets in their site. These RSS feeds are no longer available and in their place, Twitter is providing embeddable timelines that are interactive. Instead of reading tweets in a Twitter widget on a site and then going to Twitter to reply, retweet, or view tweeted photos, we can now interact with a tweet without having to leave the website.

I am replacing our old RSS feeds on this site and in the Jobs Board with the new code. Create your own embedded timeline right now using the new timeline settings page on twitter.com, or read more about how embedded timelines work on your website in the developer documentation.