>> Sharron Rush: Welcome everybody to Knowbility's monthly be a digital ally webinar series.
Quick look at the agenda. First we're gonna do a quick overview of Be a digital ally or as we call it here, we've got a quick welcome and, orientation introductions and a little bit of background.
And then we'll jump into the accessibility internet rally or the AIR program. Give a little history and then I have the most wonderful guests here to tell us all about their experiences and.
And how the outcomes of the accessibility internet rally had an impact on their careers are on their lives or just on their general outlook and then we'll take your questions and comments.
And actually, any time you feel like you have a question or you have something you'd want more information about, feel free to put it in the chat.
But then when we get to the end, we're gonna open up the all the. Audio and might everybody, everybody talk.
So thank you, first of all. Thanks for joining and making all of us at Knowbility part of your accessibility journey.
I know it's always very personal. So if you have questions, as I said, please feel free to talk.
Type them in the chat and we'll have a time at the end to jump on the mic.
We have a captioning, of course, audio or auto captioning and we're happy to provide ASL by request.
We ask that you do that when you register. So when you come back next month, if you would like ASL, please do ask for that help.
And any other help that you might need.
So we call our series be a digital ally and our goal with this is to help people who are just getting their feet wet in the accessibility world.
You know, help find your way around. You hear WCAG and you think people are coughing.
We try to help people understand. What are some of these acronyms? What are the what's the background?
How do you get started in accessibility? What do people mean when they say alt text? Those kinds of really basic introductory things.
And so this month, since we're kicking off our AIR program, we thought we would include a little bit about a little bit about AIR itself and how that helps people start their accessibility journey and I've got my I've got 2 staff members here.
Ashley is our, AccessU or AccessWorks manager and she's going to talk to us about usability and then Emma Reeves is the volunteer.
Coordinator and she's going to be here to answer questions about volunteering. I'm Sharron Rush.
I'm an MC this this little meeting here. I'm the executive director at Knowbility.
And then I have, as I said, the most wonderful guests, people who have participated in AIR in the past.
And, I'm gonna let them introduce themselves when they come into the. Spotlight here, but quickly it's Sumner Davenport, Jillian Fortin, Nandita Gupta and Kelsey Ruger.
Who are going to share with all of us. What their journey was and how Air helped them. Hey, I just did that.
Oh, and you, we'd like you to introduce yourself in the chat, which I think you did.
So Knowbility is, for those of you who don't know is a 501 c 3 nonprofit organization we were founded in 1,999 and that little video that was linked in the chat as you came in the chat as you came in.
Is from that year from 1999 you can recognize the hairdos and the and certainly the big funny looking computers that they used way, way back then.
So Air was kind of our origin story. We were founded in 1999 and we served the global community of people with disabilities.
By creating an inclusive digital world for people with disabilities. You have 3 related sets of services around awareness so that people become more aware of digital equity, what it is and why it matters.
Education, skills training. Air is kind of part of that and the advisory services that we provide for institutions.
But Air, as I said, was the founding program and that led to our creation as an organization.
We believe that accessibility. You know, you can talk about standards conformance and checklists and meeting those requirements, which is all very, very.
Important and helpful as you're trying to create an accessibility. Practice but really it's the user experience.
Can a user perceive the content, use it, understand it? And use it in flexible modes.
So we always come back to that accessibility as a user experience. Okay, so that was my quick drive through.
Intro to the big picture and now. We're gonna talk about AIR, which is why we're here.
So I put some links here for, you know, for you to overview. There's press.
And testimonials and, and the registration links. But first, what I thought I'd do is ask.
Kelsey, I don't mean that you're the oldest one of our participants, but you're the one who's been involved with us the longest, right?
So I thought I'd bring Kelsey. So. Do I need to stop sharing in order for Kelsey to take the stage, Mark?
Mark Boyden: Yes.
Sharron Rush: Okay, so let's bring Kelsey to the stage and Jillian because Kelsey was in Kelsey.
Participated back when AIR was still the way you see it on that video where we were just. All in the same room at the same time doing the same thing.
And then he went to Houston. Through his work, he moved to Houston and at that time we had AIR Austin.
And he said, well, why don't we bring Air Houston and. Kelsey, will you tell us a little bit about that?
Journey and then how you. How Jillian joined you in that endeavor?
Kelsey Ruger: Actually, Jillian's older than me, but I'm just.
Yeah.
So. I was actually trying to think back to. How, so long ago trying to remember how all the pieces came together.
But my real, I'm gonna go way back to the beginning sharing my real first. Interaction with Knowbility was when I worked at prodigy.
And I was running the I'm engineering team there and we had a mandate to make all of our.
Dialers in our installers and no one on our team really knew how to do that and so we were first introduced to Knowbility back then.
And then as the years passed, I got an opportunity to participate. In the AIR program and it was really focused on us.
Learning the techniques and strategies to make Websites. Accessible and back then it was a lot harder because we had to deal with.
IE 4 and really terrible browsers and so it was a lot of I was learning those early strategies and once I learned that and I moved to Houston.
And I was working with a company that was primarily focused on building websites and made a whole lot of sense to me.
Because we not only our company, but there were several other agencies in the city. That also had big web teams that needed to understand how to build accessible websites.
And that's when Jillian Fortin. Around about that time joined our team and so Jillian was one of probably 4 teams we had from that company And then we had other teams from.
The other agencies and I will say that there's really been 2 big things that participating in AIR helped me.
Understand was first how do you sell and evangelize. Accessibility within your company and so a lot of times it's not just the technical bit you learn.
It's How do you talk about it? How do you talk about how? The things that we do don't just help people with disabilities that they.
They help the software be better overall. For all users and the second thing was really How many different things you could do and how broad the community was that we could serve.
So a lot of times when people first learn about accessibility. They think blindness or hearing. They don't think about the broad spectrum.
Of things that we can do to help make sure that people can. Utilize the technology, to its fullest.
And so it's, it's been a great ride and I think. Especially as technology has evolved.
We get to learn new things and see new ways to help people, make the most of technology.
Sharron Rush: Well, when you were at Prodigy, I think I got dragged along but that your boss there the owner he was Getting John Slatin involved, right?
Kelsey Ruger: Yep.
Sharron Rush: Yeah, John's brother Peter is here today. Hi Peter.
Peter Slatin: Hey, everyone. Good to be here.
Sharron Rush: Yeah, cause I remember when, when John John's the one who brought me out there when we were still planning AIR.
And he said, well, come with me to this. Browser company I want you to meet these guys and that was that was really cool but when you
Peter Slatin: Yeah, he's always meddling.
Sharron Rush: He was always meddling. Yeah, he well, he's one of those people who got in good trouble.
And Kelsey, when you went to Houston and decided to bring AIR to Houston.
We held it in a in a like a big auditorium or something at a university and that's where I first met Jillian.
And I don't know, so you said Jillian's the one who. Who, wanted to bring it to Houston?
Cause what you told stories about it and she said, I want to do that too.
Kelsey Ruger: Jillian was one of the first participants from our company when we put those teams together.
Sharron Rush: I see. Kelsey Ruger: And we just it just so happens we had so many developers we could, you know, bring 3 or 4 teams each year and the good thing is we covered a lot of it in house anyway.
And so we came. Not only armed with how do you build these sites really fast. But the team had some experience coming in so they could focus on.
More advanced techniques while they were at the competition as well.
Sharron Rush: I've always appreciated that about you Kelsey. You always said. Well, a minimum viable product isn't really viable if it's not accessible.
Okay.
Always you've always said that and I just think that's Pretty terrific. Jillian, what is it that brought you into AIR then?
From just hearing Kelsey. Or were you just competitive or what?
Jillian Fortin: Oh, I mean, definitely all of those things. So I remember Kelsey called me into his office.
And said, hey, you know, they're
Kelsey Ruger: And she said, am I getting fired? That's always.
Jillian Fortin: I would say. Am I getting fired or what bad thing happened? You know, just, I don't know.
I blame my mom. But you know, so he called me into his office with I think one other project manager at the time.
And said, Hey, you know, there's this hackathon competition sort of thing. It's about accessibility.
And I think I was still so new to where. You know, very, very green, right? Like fresh out of college.
And I was. I was very intrigued and I said, I don't know. Much about accessibility, but I know that I like to win things, so count me in.
And it was, it was really fun. Like Kelsey said, we had the perfect Team structure to enter this sort of you know, competition and it was almost like another day at the office except We were doing something a lot more meaningful, a lot more fulfilling and we were learning things that I personally took back into my role.
Okay, well. My eyes are now opened to the way that things should be. I now realize that the way that I've been doing them and the way that I've been leading my team to do things It's not just wrong, but it is locked.
Hey, a whole segment of society out from an experience that I up until that point have been taking pride in.
So it was a very eye opening experience. Also knowing that, hey, you know, going back to the competitive nature, knowing that, hey, I could build a product that was far superior.
To what was being built. Made me feel really, really good. So.
Sharron Rush: Did the competitive nature of the contest itself? Did you, did you want to win?
Jillian Fortin: Yeah.
Oh my god, did I? Oh, absolutely. I mean, like, I was, I don't know, I was out for blood almost like, It was.
It was great because we had that, we had that amount of time that 6 week period time.
Was it 6 back then? I don't remember. No, it was.
Sharron Rush: No. No, at that time we only had a couple of weeks. The sites were smaller and then the build time itself was 8 h.
Jillian Fortin: Okay. Right.
Sharron Rush: You could only build in 8 h. It was just a couple of weeks after you met your team that you had to come in and do that.
Right.
Yeah.
h, 8 h thing. But you had some training in that in that time during those 2 weeks and I think that was one of the things that I wanted to talk to some about because I think that you Sumner, you joined Air after it became the one day.
Or the not no longer than one day right now we have more time we're training people We're giving them mentors and there's more of a remote.
We're not all in one room anymore.
Yeah.
Sumner Davenport: At the beginning of COVID. The first one you had during COVID.
Simple.
Sharron Rush: And so we had to do it remotely and we had to do it over, we had to give more time because there was it was a very different.
By that time, right? So what how did you get your training? Cause I know Jillian got hers in person from a real live person in the room.
Training them and I don't think we even recorded it in those days. Did we, Jillian?
Jillian Fortin: No, you had to just be there.
No, I mean, to show up and I remember, it was It was a Caroline collective.
We had to go and attend our training and then we could talk to the judges afterwards.
Kelsey Ruger: Yeah, I'm pretty sure that first year, Carolyn, I mean, Sharron, I did all the training.
First string. Yeah.
Sharron Rush: You did all the trainings. Okay, in Houston. So, Sumner, what, how did you get trained remotely?
Sumner Davenport: That year given that it was COVID everything was done remotely and so Knowbility offered training during the whole program so that when I brought my team together there were 2 that I would call 2 specific classes that were set up so that the team could attend and they could learn about what AIR was, what was expected of them, and what was accessibility.
So it went over the PO you are and the wheat tag and user experience kind of generally but gave us a lot of directions to go.
And so we got a lot of support from Knowbility. The whole team did. Any time if someone had a question, they just posed a question either and base camp or they would send an email.
In base camp.
Because we were using base camp. Or the team as far as communicating with the team itself and to communicate with Knowbility.
That's where we were putting all of our plans and notes so that it was in one common space and that's where we had our scope and our plan.
So when we had a question, it was easy for whomever we were talking with at Knowbility to look at base camp.
And see what we had posted. What we had done, where did we find we needed more help and what help were we asking for?
It was all outlined in our in our base camp postings.
Sharron Rush: So I know that.
During COVID also, then you didn't never got to meet your nonprofit client. In person. So for those of you who haven't participated in an AIR program.
What happens is these teams are trained, these tech teams are trained. But then they're task is to create a nonprofit or artist.
Okay.
Website for what we call the client and. Previous to that, we'd found it very, it was very helpful to bring these people together in person during the.
During the kickoff. So they could meet in exchange files and understand what the task was and I think Jillian, you and some could probably have a pretty great conversation about.
What's the difference between getting to be with your client in person and having to deal with that? Person or that client.
Remotely, cause Jillian by the time. We had COVID, you were on Knowbility staff and you had to help manage that interaction.
Jillian Fortin: Right. Yeah, it was really interesting because you know, we had to We had to quickly pivot for all of our programs that year.
We had to pivot for AccessU. We had to pivot for AIR. Thankfully though there was a playbook for AIR interactive.
That we could pull from. So, back on Monday, there is a segment of the competition called Air Interactive.
So every city had their own local AIR competition or Houston or Austin, Air San, San Antonio but Come south by southwest season, there was also AIR interactive, which was really, really neat.
Because You would participate in AIR interactive no matter where you were and then the awards. Was how during South by Southwest interactive.
At Scholz Garden or Scholz beer garden which is really fun. So, you know, Again, like we had to quickly pivot, but thankfully there were enough experiences that we could pull from.
And Knowbility's rich history and training and these sorts of things that it didn't it didn't really feel like we were doing it for the very first time.
Sharron Rush: Well, when we. I can't remember if you're one of COVID. We were able to bring in the usability part of.
Were you able to have users with disabilities?
Okay.
Sumner Davenport: No, that first year we did not. So things have been added to it over the years, but that first year we did not.
We had a great client though because our client was an artist. She does painting and what made her such a great client is the website she had not only did not showcase the beauty of her work, but she had the misconception that accessibility was ugly.
All right.
That she wouldn't be able to know how these beautiful colors in this work that she had done because if it was accessible that was not possible and we were able to not only smash that bad rumor and gave her a website that showcased all of the beautiful products that she was painting and creating.
And it was great for the team too because then they were able to see how to make a visually beautiful website be excessive. I'm excuse me.
Accessible at the same time and that there were no there's nothing left out. It was it was user friendly.
It was the visual aspects were beautiful. It worked with a screen reader. We learned very quickly how to describe her product so that the alt text for those images was right on point.
It was an excellent learning experience that members of my team had not had previous to that. So we really enjoyed that client.
Sharron Rush: Did you win?
Sumner Davenport: No, we did not.
Sharron Rush: Darn.
Jillian Fortin: Turn it to one way. Everyone's sharing.
Sumner Davenport: Everyone won. The client won.
Jillian Fortin: Sorry. But my team won. Yeah.
Sharron Rush: Oh, the reason I asked about usability is because, Ashley see her and I know she's gotta leave here pretty soon.
Actually, it's on our staff as she runs the AccessWorks program, which You know, we have 900 people with disabilities and a user.
And you too.
Database to do usability testing and I thought it was year one of COVID I guess it was year 2 of COVID then that We made that decision to make some users accessible to the teams.
So actually, can you tell us a little bit about how that works before you have to run off and turn into a pumpkin?
Ashley Abaragu: Yeah, of course. So yeah, so we have our data base, with all different types of participants.
And we do have, I was gonna share my screen. Well. Can I let me see?
Okay.
Sharron Rush: You can share your screen. I think Mark will make it so. Mark will let you share your screen.
Ashley Abaragu: Says disabled right now. Oh, micro sharing. Okay, cool.
Mark can Ashley share her screen?
Mark Boyden: She can now.
Ashley Abaragu: Oh, I can now. Alright, so. Here we are. Let's see.
Oops. Don't look at this.
Alright, can you all see it?
Sharron Rush: So for those of you who don't see the screen, it's a it's an AccessWorks, list of.
All the people. In the different kinds of ways that. But the different types of users, visual impairments, hearing impairments.
Cognitive impairments, mobility, and motor impairments neurological.
Ashley Abaragu: Right and we can also always search by assisted technology. Screen readers, Braille, etc.
So this is just an example of all the different types of participants. We have in a database. So after you create the website.
Done all that and then you're finally ready to test things. That's when I would send you a form.
From AccessWorks.
Right.
Sharron Rush: So you would send them, so you send the teams a form and they choose. The types of users they want to have.
Perform usability tests on their website before the end of the contest. So they get that input. Is that right?
Ashley Abaragu: Yes, yes, that is right, Sharron. So. Just so y'all are aware that is, an integral step.
In the whole process and I'll be the person you'll be communicating with for AccessWorks.
But yeah, so you guys would just fill up the form once I sent it to you. I get the participants scheduled and I get your availability and I connect you 2 together on the Google Calendar.
In flight or whatever form, whatever you need. Depending on your team's. Study.
Sharron Rush: That's pretty cool.
Well, that's pretty cool because I think each team also has a mentor. That helps them with the coding.
Aspects of the thing and, and that's really useful, but getting direct user study.
Ashley Abaragu: Right. Invaluable. So.
Sharron Rush: Input I think is is tremendously helpful. Yeah, I remember one year, one year because when we were all in one place, the judges came and sat in a conference room or something and, and the teams could come in during the day and ask questions of the judges.
And that's one of the reasons we gave each team a mentor because it was kind of to take up on that.
And one year, one of the teams came into the judging room and said, hey, I think I need to report that.
This other team is cheating and the judges said, really, how could they cheat? They've got the judging form.
It's an open book test. You're using the standards. What do you mean they're cheating?
And they said, well, They have a blind guy on their team.
Oh.
Like that was that was a cheat right So, okay, well, thanks, Ashley. That was great.
You can stop sharing now and I'm gonna ask.
Nandita, you have a great story about not just how you brought this back. To your work but also some of the training right is that did I get that right?
Nandita Gupta: Yeah, yeah, and I think it had something for me again, with Microsoft. So we had an internal TEAM and we, we had gotten together and with Microsoft.
So we had an internal team and we had gotten together and got prepared with the client.
Sharron Rush: Okay, I'm sorry to interrupt. You know, you should probably, I forgot that everybody doesn't know you the way I do, you should probably say a little bit about your background and what you do there.
Nandita Gupta: Goodness, okay, I jumped right in. I see so many familiar faces on the screen. I'm like, we already know each other.
But hi. Everyone and again hi for anyone watching this recording as well. My name is Nandita Gupta and I'm an accessory product manager with Microsoft.
My pronouns are she her and I have experienced AIR one time. So last year was my first AIR.
And we paired up with the Microsoft team. So essentially I was part of the Microsoft team and we were prepared with the client.
It was an extremely enriching experience and even speaking from the lens of how this human benefit. My own accessibility career and work internally because we built so many more connections.
Just even a donor, right? Whether it came to designers, like pulling a designers and say, Hey, can you help mock this up so we can speed this up with our developers because or a fast word in different time zones.
Like we were navigating 4 different time zones within the team, which was so challenging, but it made us get really creative with, hey, how do we walk through all of this in a hybrid workspace?
And really bring in more of a design expertise. So we can relay that information correctly to the developers because we're not all in the same time zone.
So it, it for me it was a good way of, you know, not just training but even upskilling in other areas that I normally would not touch.
On a daily basis with my role and so that was really great and it also helped build connections.
So when I showed up, you know, with my company as a team, I got to work with people I didn't really have.
I mean, working relationships with the MIT today job, but those relationships actually are still intact. Like.
How many have a months later, right? Like or even I can see this being years later, there's, you always will ping each other is like, hey, you know, we met at AIR, you know, is there anything else I can help you with or chime in from time to time or we actually have an hackathon internally with Microsoft and some of us are gonna pair up with that too.
So it's been it's really built everlasting relationships and so for anyone who's looking to participate in this year, right, even if you don't show up with your team.
I hate to encourage you sign up, right? Because you'll get to meet other people that you're going to build these networks and bridges with that are going to teach you lifelong lessons.
Sharron Rush: I like the story about internally though that But it's a good sort of corporate team building. Yeah.
Nandita Gupta: So, totally.
Sharron Rush: So. Emma, I see that you've joined us. You don't have your camera on, but I see your name, I guess.
Do you want to tell us anything about the recruitment of nonprofit organizations and what the expectations are? From them.
Emma: Yes, absolutely. Sorry. I don't have my camera on. I'm helping out my grandparents this evening.
So there's kind of a lot going on in my background and stuff.
Sharron Rush: Oh, well, you don't have to. I can talk about that if you don't want if you're with family.
I'm sorry, I didn't realize that.
Emma: No, no, it's okay. I've been on it's just my background is chaotic and there's people walking through all the time and so I just figured it might be a little distracting for everyone.
Yeah, this is my first time recruiting nonprofits for an event like this or even working on event like this and it has been.
Such an interesting experience and we primarily took a focus or in our recruitment process took focus on nonprofits that would also have some type of interest in accessibility, whether that be a direct correlation or an indirect correlation.
We did a lot of phone outreach and email outreach as well, just trying to explain what AIR is and why it is such a great opportunity for people to join, you know, connected with folks with Sharron and folks like Jillian who have done it in the past.
So it's just been an interesting and great experience, but we've had quite a few people sign up.
So looking like we have a really great roster this year, so I'm very excited for it to launch finally.
Sharron Rush: I love Sumner's story about the artist, about helping an artist. Understand that. Well, people with disabilities might be interested in your art.
Okay.
To and making it accessible was really So valuable that was
Peter Slatin: No, Actually, Sharron, this is Peter. I have a I wanted to ask Sumner, a question about that, but after Emma's finished, I'll come back to Sumner.
Emma: I am absolutely finished. The floor is yours.
Peter Slatin: Alright, thanks. Nice.
Sumner I am. I'm curious. What did your client mean by Accessibility is ugly?
And then what. Was there in a moment that changed her mind? A single thing or was there a Was it just the compounding of different things.
Sumner Davenport: I'm sorry. There was some interference in the background.
Sharron Rush: That was his that was his screen reader.
Sumner Davenport: Okay, somebody else is okay.
Peter Slatin: Just asking. What was what
Sumner Davenport: Okay, I I think I heard the question as to why she thought accessibility was ugly and what changed her mind
Okay. She thought accessibility was ugly because that's what she'd been told. That's what she'd heard.
Elsewhere. Whenever the subject came up. People would give her that answer and so she accepted that as truth until we said, well, what do you want to accomplish with your website?
Well, I'd like to showcase my art, but I'm told I can't because the colors are a problem.
And so that was a challenge to us in a good way that we got to show her the colors aren't a challenge.
And, and that proper alt descriptions of images is not a challenge, especially when we have the artist right there to describe for us what that image is.
And that image supported the content that was on the page. So we had that advantage. We didn't have to research that.
And it was a very actually quick process to be able to say, look what we have here and look, it is showcasing your art.
It is beautiful visually and look, it's accessible as well. So it was working hand in hand with her and hearing her input as to what she thought it meant from wherever it was that she got that information and why she was concerned and what did she want to accomplish so that we could then answer her questions.
Erase that, that negative that. She had been told erroneously and then show her what it was that she was hoping for was even better what we gave her.
Okay.
Yeah.
She had she had hope it would be pretty but she had no she said she had no hope that it was going to be that beautiful.
Sharron Rush: It was. That beautiful and that easy to use and navigate too and to find the things that people were looking for.
I remember that site was outstanding. That's why I was so confident when I said.
Sumner Davenport: It is, it still is maintaining it well. Yeah.
Sharron Rush: Yeah, she really is. Well that was great. Good timing, Peter. Any other questions from the floor now?
You all can unmute and Ask away. Or comment.
Peter Slatin: I just knew about this so i signed up my nonprofit So.
Sharron Rush: Excellent. Ben, you've got your hand up.
Okay.
Good.
Ben: Hello. How's it going? Sorry, I was super late. so this may have already been covered.
Okay.
I if so I'll catch the replay and you can tell me to just go watch that but we are trying to figure out if we can get a team together.
Yeah.
Good problem to have. We're totally strapped with client work right now in it and we have no bench, which, you know, great, but also, my management, was skeptical of the like 3 to 5 h per week.
That, something could actually be stood up and done in 8 weeks times. So, 40 h total.
I wanted to kind of. Get feedback or input on that. That I can take back to them see if that's actually a realistic thing and Yeah.
Sharron Rush: Looks like Jillian wants to answer your question.
Jillian Fortin: Yeah.
Ben: Hey, how's it going? Good to see you.
Jillian Fortin: Oh, hello, Ben. Good to see you. Good, good, good. So I think that the 3 to 5 h estimate is a really great blanket conservative estimate for like the community at large.
But if you're working with teams that are a custom to working with one another. You have a set process.
You have your own templates. You're comfortable working within a certain CMS, then really what you your time is going to be spent.
You know, doing the project management piece of it. Gathering requirements, maybe coming up with a design.
And then the actual build, which, you know, back in, you know, back in the 2 thousands, we were building things from scratch, but now you can use content management systems and you're halfway there.
So you know, if your team is used to turning out front end or front end of websites and these types of things then you know, I feel like you could you could get it done in much less.
Ben: I mean, honestly, I was. I was our team was skeptical that it wouldn't be a lot more than that to actually get something.
I guess it's a question of scope, right? Like how large is scope?
Sharron Rush: Well, one thing too, I think that contributes to we really encourage small nonprofits and individual artists.
People who have a pretty limited, we tell them, you know, expect. 6 to 10. Maybe, 12 pages.
Yeah.
But work from templates, a lot of them are asking for Drupal or WordPress.
Work from templates, get your templates lined up, and then. Let the team do this limited amount.
And then there is another thing for nonprofits after the competition is over. Knowbility has a series of trainings after that.
Right.
Where we help them understand now it's your responsibility and how do you maintain a WordPress site or how do you maintain a Drupal site and do that kind of training.
So I think it's important for the teams to understand we're not going to ask you to build, you know, a major nonprofit website for the Red Cross or somebody.
Right. Right.
Right.
Habitat for Humanity with people all over the country. It's just small local nonprofits.
Typical, we've had like little dog rescue places maybe or a community group or a church, a church group or a small project within a K12 school.
It's more like that than it is like, okay, you're gonna have to redesign.
A whole nonprofit. Complicated website.
Ben: Got it.
Jillian Fortin: One thing to remember also is that for a lot of these nonprofits, you know, this experience is their first exposure to any sort of, you know, professional in the digital space.
Right.
So they may not know the lift of the things that they're asking for or they assume. No, like, oh yeah, you can totally make a sortable database with all of my, songs dating back to 1,980, right?
Right. Right.
Like that's easy. You know, people don't know and so it's an opportunity for you to educate but also put your foot down and say, you know, that is actually a lot.
Larger of a lift and the Knowbility team, Knowbility's advisors have your back as well like We
Sharron Rush: Yeah, we, we are pretty good at going to nonprofits and saying, no, that's out of scope.
Yeah.
And during the non-profit training, we also. You know, tell them, you have to manage your expectations.
Right.
But we also encourage them because something that's happened in the past is that a design team maybe will come in and say, well, your logo is really not very good. It's not modern.
You need a new logo and they'll change the logo and the team itself or the nonprofit itself says, wait a minute.
Yeah.
We liked our old logo. It Identifies with us and so we have to kind of manage that.
Don't let the team roll over you, but also don't expect too much from them.
I don't know, did that help in or did that just? Is the issue.
Ben: Yeah, yeah, you throws for the last like 4 s, but I, I got the idea.
Sharron Rush: Okay.
Oh.
So yeah, thank you.
Okay. That's good. What else? Any other questions?
Comments, stories, I love the story early on. I think this is maybe year 2 or 3 when we were still as Jillian said at Shultz Garden.
We had the kickoff and one of the one of the nonprofits was the Native Prairie Society.
And they showed up at the kickoff because we had told them prepare your materials for your team. I guess what we forgot to say was prepare your digital.
Materials because The Native Prairie Society showed up with a shoebox full of lovingly pressed grasses and flours and you know handed it to the to this design team and said we're so excited that you're gonna put all of this on the web for us.
So we have learned through the years to how to better prepare. Everybody for each others. You know, it's like too little, subcultures having to.
Have a find and share a common language. Susan, you participated when we were all in one room, didn't you?
Susan: Yeah, that was back when I worked with Cathy Keller at Parks and Wildlife, 2004 and 2008 ish.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, we, worked on the website right in the room, you know, after the trainings and stuff.
So that was cool. I was wondering how are you doing the training now that we're remote? Cause I live in Fort Worth now and I'm trying to get my group together at my business.
Sharron Rush: Oh, well, we're pretty proud of the training now. Because, Our local hero Becky Gibson.
Does 2 trainings, and they're recorded. They're all through Zoom and we have and you could actually go look at last year's training if you wanted to but she does it in 2 parts.
And she just takes the judging form and she goes through the judging form and she says here's what you're gonna hear the points because one thing I think it's good to remember is that Knowbility, I mean, love WICAG, of course, and we all we all do, but you're not.
It's not the same thing as being judged. On pure code conformance to WICE standards.
We have this judging form that refers back, but it's really much, much more about the user experience.
And so the Becky goes through the judging form and she kind of ties. Some of the some of the judging criteria.
Back to the standards and then gives you code samples of here's how you would this this is what you would have to do to meet the standard and get lots of points.
And she always talks about the fact that, y'all, this is an open book test. This is you know right here what you're going to be judged on.
And, and so you can kind of plan out to, really rake in the points.
And all of that stuff is available right now on the website. The last year's training. This year's judging form.
Susan: On the Knowbility website.
Sharron Rush: All of those materials. On the Knowbility website. Well, there's a link to the training.
Okay.
I think it's in the learning center. Let me see. I think If I can share my screen again, Mark, I'm gonna.
Go back through. Let's see, so let's talk about AIR. I think I did some.
So.
Some resource a resource page. Yes, so there's the overview. Press and testimonials, that's where that goofy video is.
And then there's the registration link, but they're on their overview page. There's a little column like a table of contents.
And you can get to all the all the resources and there's a guide for. Developers, there's a guide for nonprofits.
Okay.
And, and there's a link if you all wouldn't mind to take a survey and say, how was this bottom?
And then.
Stay in touch, see you in September. There's all that. Here's us, a long time ago, but that was pre COVID.
And then, and then of course our thanks. I don't mean that for that to be the end.
I just wanted to make sure I got a shared those things with you. Those links before I got away and if you want I can put them in the.
In the chat, would that be helpful?
Susan: Sure.
Sharron Rush: Okay, I'm done sharing and, who else?
We haven't heard from James or Claire. Or Fung. Anybody else have questions or comments or?
Just I want to share what part of the country you're in and what your weather is like since we're here in hell in central Texas.
Okay.
Oh, there's the survey link. Thank you, Mark, for putting that in there.
And there's a link to the judging form and then how do we? Mark, I'm.
They don't have access to the AIR training. Just by going to the learning center, right? You'd have to get a link from us.
But once you're registered. Once you're registered in AIR. You can get into the learning center and see past AIR trainings and all those resources.
As well as once Becky does her training this year. Each year the judges tinker with the with the, judging form a little bit.
And I think this year, they're going to try to incorporate some of the WCAG 2.2.
Some of the ones that they think are really useful and make for a better user experience. So. Once we have that.
We'll, we'll incorporate that into the training. Claire, you raised your hand.
What's up?
Claire: Hey, hi everyone. So I am in Portland, Oregon and I originally am from Barry, Vermont and which you might have heard about in the news.
Sharron Rush: Oh yeah, that's where all the floods were, right?
Claire: Correct, yes and I also have a very, beloved friend who, is in Austin who works at the community college and is an instructional designer there.
Yeah, but not in July, I hope. Okay.
And so I've had the opportunity to go down to that part of Texas before. Hey, Not as July.
No, she does not she discourages July visits. But I'm really happy to be here.
Thanks, everyone for, for holding this event and for being an nonprofit. I worked in nonprofits for 10 years.
I just wanted to ask a few clarifying questions. Only because I, I and myself live with TEPAN diabetes and rely on assistive technology, but I also have a little bit long COVID now so sometimes Now, a little bit of long COVID.
I have long COVID and so just following information for me from an audio perspective is a little bit more, it's just been a change, a little more challenging for me.
Is there is, is, will we receive a sort of like a step by step list that has like, okay, here's what first you're going to sign up.
For this, here's the link I know is provided in the chat here next step. You're gonna watch this video.
Is there something that's sort of like a instructional guide of just like making sure that we're, you know, we have a checklist or, or that we are following, you know, crossing our T's and dotting our eyes.
Independently and then meeting times and follow up for that scheduling work time or is it really like the team meets like how, what does that look like?
Sort of in a more granular level.
Sharron Rush: First I'm gonna say buy to Sumner because she said in chat she's gotta go. Thank you so much, Sumner.
For coming and sharing your time and experience. I really appreciate it.
And Claire, I think you just gave me a very good idea of something that we've got it.
We've got a what we call a developers guide and an NPO guide that's linked from the website.
But they're more like, frequently asked questions. It's not that step by step thing that you said.
So I think that'll be my homework tonight and I'll hopefully put it up on the website tomorrow because I don't think we have anything like that, do we, Jillian?
Like here's the, here's the first thing you're going to do once you're registered then you do this then you do this then you do this then you do this but one of the I think that's also one of the reasons.
What it was one of the challenges for doing this remotely. Because when we were all in person we could just say here's the next thing or there's somebody right there next to you that you could ask about what's the next thing.
But that
But I think having this I'm sorry what?
Peter Slatin: Okay, that would be most welcome. Mac.
Sharron Rush: Yeah, I think that's a really good idea to have that. First you register, then you get We do have a calendar on the website. There's a calendar of events which kind of walks you through. Registration and then training and the and then the kickoff the kickoff event this year is on September eleventh.
And that's where you meet, if you're signed on as an individual developer, you can be connected to a team.
That's much more challenging, I think, than. Bringing your team already assembled and then you're also assigned a mentor.
And I think we've relied on that mentor to be the one who says, here are your next steps.
And here's what you need to do. But I think that's a great idea. I'm gonna, I am, I'm gonna make a step by step guide tonight and I'm going to put it up tomorrow.
So look for tomorrow. Great. I, great suggestion. Thank you.
Claire: Oh yeah, sorry, I just, yeah, the only reason is I used to work in a museum and, and we, I trained our volunteers on our POS system and we have many different learners of many different ages.
And so just kind of walking through people onboarding them and introducing them. So I just want to make sure I'm not.
Missing things and that's just the way my brain automatically is like, what do I need to do?
Where do I need to go? And I don't want to miss anything and I'm a little bit more, prone these days to, to, having that happen.
So I just want to try to make sure that I'm not dropping the ball and also just knowing where things live.
So you're saying essentially that the mentor, the mentor is really there to also help and keep the team moving forward.
Sharron Rush: Absolutely and when we assemble the teams from all the independents. We always try to make sure there's a project manager on every team.
And we advise if you're going to bring a group. As already form team. Don't just have a bunch of developers, make sure you have a project manager on there too because it's really helpful, especially as Ben noticed it's a pretty short amount of time to make a whole website 8 weeks so
So yeah, that's a that's I'm gonna do that tonight. I think that's a really good, helpful thing.
So thank you.
Claire: Well, thank you.
You bet and you know, condolences about long COVID. That's gotta be a lot to.
To deal with.
Claire: Yeah, actually, and looking at the list that you have there, I kind of wanted to add on for the neurological just because I am now taking medication that's halting.
So I think I'm about 70%. Better than where I was, but, for people who are experiencing long COVID migrants and brain fog and some of those things some people still are there's still a lot of learning that's happening around that but it definitely is the science.
Has shown that there's definitely cognitive effects that people have been experiencing in MRIs.
So that science is definitely real and it would be great to have that, added onto that list of, I guess.
Sharron Rush: All the usability study list that. Actually shared with us.
Claire: Sorry, I'm just, I'm not, I'm like adding more work for.
Sharron Rush: No, no, that's right. That's a good point too. Well, we are in the process of.
Building a new database for the AccessWorks program because after these 10 years of doing usability studies, we found that our categories weren't really fine enough.
As they need to be, so.
So that's good to know. Okay, well, what else? Anybody have any other questions, comments?
Yeah.
I get so excited when we talk about AIR. I just love it. I just love it and it's AIR season and Juliet's oh.
Okay. Like the
James, do you want to talk? Did you want to say anything or were you just? Saying goodbye.
Okay.
Also in Portland, it was great. Okay. It was great having you here. Thanks.
Peter Slatin: Thank you, Sharron, and everyone. Let's say.
Sharron Rush: Thanks, Peter. Thanks for being here. Thanks, everybody.
Yeah.
We'll be in here. Hello. Give me a second.
I wanna thank my guest Kelsey, Jillian, Nandita, Sumner already left.
I really appreciate the fact that you came here and reminisced with us all.
It was, it was great reliving that with, with you. So. Thank you.
Jillian Fortin: Thanks for having us, Sharron. I can't speak for everyone, but I'm probably right as in many things.
But you know, we owe a lot to the AIR program. So the fact that we can talk to others about our experience is just so meaningful.
So thanks for having us.