Agenda and slides to download

Chair: Dan Jellinek, Founder, Headstar

09.15 - 10.00 - Registration, Refreshments and Exhibition

 

10.00 - 11.00Plenary 1 - ‘The Paralympics effect’: making the most of London 2012

In our keynote session one of the world’s leading Paralympic athletes, Hannah Cockroft, will recapture the magic of London 2012 and explain how the Games acted to inspire and support a powerful social message. With support from our other leading speakers she will examine the legacy of the games – has it lasted? And how can we maximise its value to support equal access for all in the digital age?

11.00 - 11.30Plenary 2 - View from the government - accessibility takes centre stage

  • Adrian Goodall, senior eAccessibility policy advisor, Department for Culture, Media and Sport
  • Ed Mylles, Director of Business Development, Disabled Living Foundation

An overview of the latest thinking on how ministers intend to develop their support for accessibility across government, including the launch of a new government-backed web resource for disabled people by the Disabled Living Foundation.

11.30 - 12.15WORKSHOP: Connecting care - helping social care providers make the most of technology

Connecting Care is a new project from Lasa, funded by the Department of Health. In this session, Miles Maier will look at how adult social care providers can make the most of new technology to support their organisation, carers and service users.

12.15 - 13.30 - Lunch & Exhibition

13.30 - 14.30 - Parallel Workshops A, B & C and Discussion group Sessions

Details of the workshops and discussion groups can be found below. Skip down

14.30 - 15.30 - Parallel Workshops D & E and Discussion group Sessions

Details of the workshops and discussion group can be found below. Skip down

15.30 - 16.00 - Tea and Exhibition

16.00 - 16.45Plenary 3: Brainstorm live: key messages to take away and implement.

Our final session of the day will be a quickfire round in which a series of speakers will have just three minutes each to inspire, inform and engage. Experts from across the field will take the challenge of capturing your attention and delivering some memorable and practical tips to take home with you.

Speakers: Jonathan Hassell, Hassell Inclusion; E.A. Draffan, Research Fellow, Web and Internet Science, University of Southampton; Raj Kher, Business Manager, TextHelp Systems; Gill Whitney, Head, Design for All Research Group, Middlesex University; Grant Broome, Director, Hanona International; Christian Perera, Technical Research and Development Analyst, Digital Accessibility Centre; Ted Page, Director, DIG Inclusion; and Mel Findlater, Director, The You Can Hub.

  • Download EA Draffan's slide in Powerpoint
  • Download Raj Kher's slides in Powerpoint
  • Download Gill Whitney's slides in Powerpoint

    • Parallel Workshops and Discussion groups 13.30 - 14.30

    Workshop AHitting a moving target: achieving mobile inclusion

    Mobile interaction and use is narrowing the digital divide, providing new opportunities for digital inclusion around the world. Mobile platforms such as iOS, Android, and Windows are rapidly evolving with richer and more robust accessibility features and support, giving developers more ways to create accessible mobile web applications. This workshop will:

    • give an overview of the accessibility features available on the major mobile platforms;
    • demonstrate how people with disabilities interact with technologies such as touch screens;
    • introduce some of the accessibility guidelines, specifications, and resources for mobile;
    • suggest strategies and techniques for integrating accessibility into projects on the mobile web and mobile platforms;
    • invite delegate questions in a Q&A session.

    Workshop B - Accessibility as Innovation

    Speaker: Dr Jonathan Hassell, Hassell Inclusion

    View Dr Jonathan Hassell's slides on slideshare

    Many organisations seem to fear that making their products accessible means dumbing them down: they might then work for everyone, but they will lose a lot of their pizzazz in the process.

    Jonathan Hassell will present the contrary view - that organisations that really look into the different needs of their disabled audiences often find this breaks them out of fixed positions, allowing them to take innovative leaps in product design.

    Using examples from the typewriter to the iPhone classic ‘Zombies, Run!’ and his own recent projects involving the Microsoft Kinect games controller, Jonathan will guide you through a way of thinking about product development which is inclusive, creative and potentially very lucrative.

    Discussion group - ebook accessibility: are we there yet?

    Chair: Ted Page, Director, DIG Inclusion

    ebook accessibility in iOS devices has for some time now been of a high standard. And with recent significant improvements in the accessibility features in Kindles, together with developments in other ebook readers such as Adobe’s Digital Editions, things are certainly heading in the right direction.

    This session will look at the current state of play, what’s good and what’s not quite there yet, and suggests specific situations when an accessible ebook can certainly enhance your publication strategy (for example, when published alongside, and as a complement to, an accessible PDF).

    Discussion group - Free and Open source software - can it really support our assistive technology needs?

    Chair: E.A. Draffan, Research Fellow, Web and Internet Science, University of Southampton

    Download EA Draffan's slides in Powerpoint

    This discussion will cover the exciting expansion in the number of strategies involving free and open source software that can support access to technology. We will examine the robustness of this type of software; ongoing support and maintenance issues and whether this is a feasible route for government and other organisations to take in the long term.

    Discussion Group - Digital inclusion: How to get management ‘buy-in’

    Chair: Grant Broome, Director, Hanona International

    You know that your company can do more to be inclusive but how do you achieve management ‘buy-in’?

    This interactive session will explore ways that you and your organisation can move towards a more digitally inclusive future using  video demonstration and workshop discussion. See for yourself the impact of real user testing in order to get the message across.

    We will discuss:

    • How to achieve a more strategic approach to digital inclusion
    • Promotion of the overall understanding of user needs
    • How to work with disabled people for the overall benefit of your organisation.

    Discussion Group - Accessible Content - Writing for Everyone

    Chair: Joe Chidzik, Senior Accessibility & Usability Consultant, AbilityNet

    Technical accessibility is rightly a key requirement for software and websites, ensuring that all users, regardless of disability, can access these resources.

    Less often discussed is how to write with accessibility in mind. If you are producing content for a blog, e-newsletter or any other type of resource, there is much you can do to make your content as widely accessible as possible.

    This session will look at some of the topics that can help you write more accessible content, including:

    • Users for whom English is a second language
    • Issues affecting colour blind users
    • Avoiding instructions based on sensory characteristics

    This is really a basic accessibility session, looking at good practice and simple tips for producing accessible content.

    Back to agenda

    Afternoon Workshops and Discussion groups 14.30 - 15.30

     

    Workshop C - Accessibility– bringing the theory to life

    An interactive session with three assistive technology users demonstrating the issues they face using the internet. We will also discuss the business case, share recent case studies and explore effective accessibility testing.

    Take away 10 Top Tips on making your website more accessible and usable from our three guests by the end of the session.

    Workshop D - Integrating accessibility with web governance

    Helene Nørgaard Bech, Senior E-Accessibility Consultant, Siteimprove

    Websites have become so large and complex that it's a specialist field in itself to be concerned with strategies, goals and standards for your site. Handling and controlling your website becomes a complex task, especially with web accessibility and many stakeholders involved.

    This session will highlight the important aspects and goals of web accessibility within a web governance strategy, from compliance, responsibility and user expectations to business objectives. We will discuss:

    • Web governance and accessibility
    • Education: making those responsible for your website responsible
    • Planning your strategy

    Discussion group - Access to education: games and social networking

    Chair: Gill Whitney, Head, Design for All Research Group, Middlesex University

    The aim of this discussion group will be to discuss non-standard ways of meeting the needs of end users of technology. With the advent of the Universal Credit there is a lot of focus on serious use of technology, but to support people’s quality of life we should also consider fun.

    It is also likely that the use of games and social networking can enable people who have previously been digitally excluded to gain the skills and the confidence to use computing devices.

    Discussion group - PDF accessibility: another year of improvements

    Chair:Ted Page, Director, DIG Inclusion

    Over the past year there have been many significant developments in the world of PDF accessibility. Not least of these is the publication of the first ever International Standard for PDF accessibility — ISO 14289-1, better known as PDF/UA. In short, PDF/UA provides a means to assist you in making your PDFs WCAG 2.0 compliant.

    Also of significance, the year has seen an upgrade to the free screen reader NVDA which finally makes it a viable alternative to (and in some cases an improvement on) JAWS for checking PDFs for accessibility.

    Discussion group - Tablets and Smartphones - Gadgets for Good?

    Chair: Mel Findlater, Director and Geek For Social Good at The You Can Hub

    Mel invites you to explore how everyday apps can create social change when put into the hands of older people or those with disabilities. How can skype help your grandfather feel less isolated? Or pictures help a young person who doesn’t speak verbally tell their mother about their day?

    Mobile technology is changing the way that we work and think. Mel will help you visualise a world where this is true for everyone. Where technology increases independence, enables social inclusion, and aids communication for all. Together, we will look at case studies, explore out of the box solutions to everyday challenges, and how all of us can help change at least one life upon leaving this room.

    Discussion group - Responsive web design

    Chair: Richard Hirst, Head of Web, Queen Mary University of London

    Responsive web design is everywhere and is certainly a robust solution to the increase in mobile traffic and rising demands of our users. But the transition from fixed-width designs to a fully responsive site is not a trivial exercise, especially with a large scale multi-domain web presence. There are may factors to consider from an accessibility and usability point of view.

    We will discuss:

    • Delivering content effectively across all devices
    • Mobile navigation patterns
    • Visual hierarchy and HTML structure
    • Workflow - how to handle numerous content contributors with varying skill levels/experience
    • Typography - size, characters per line, line height, golden ratio
    • Page speed - maximise performance on mobile networks and see the benefits everywhere