Tiny business helps Federal Government comply with its own policy

Federal Government departments are required to make their websites comply with standards that make them accessible to people with disabilities. Here we introduce our new e-Accessibility training videos Part 1 and Part 2... and it's on us.

"At The Copy Collective, we've noticed that many government websites don't comply, as yet, with the guidelines in regards to copy," CEO Dominique Antarakis said. 

"We thought we'd help out by making free training available to everyone, so that the government didn't have any excuses not to comply with its own policy. We also think that accessible websites are great for all businesses, not just government."

The Copy Collective is a 5-person business based in Sydney. As part of the company's Disability Discrimination Act Action Plan, they wanted a practical way to show that small changes could help everyone. The team thought they would start by helping the Federal Government comply with its own Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy.

Today, The Copy Collective announced the release of two training videos designed to assist copywriters and government departments to comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0). Federal government agencies are encouraged to meet the guidelines for their website content by December 2014.

"We're not doing this because we want jobs rewriting Federal Government websites; although that would be nice," Ms Antarakis said. "We're doing it because we want to show that simple changes to copy can make a big difference to access."

"The training we offer is in-depth and detailed. The presenter, Monica Seeber, is one of our freelancers from Perth. She is our resident accessibility expert. Having experience with disability in her own family, Monica is very committed to access and so are we. 

"We've provided 2-hours of training, free of charge. We'd like the Government to make the videos compulsory viewing for all their comms and web teams.

"Making website copy accessible for all just makes good business sense," Ms Antarakis said.

In two hours, the online e-accessibility training takes users through the principles of WCAG 2.0, how these principles will affect websites, and how to create content that meets WCAG 2.0 standards. The YouTube videos are fully captioned and there are downloadable PowerPoint and Text versions of the presentation slides available on Scribd.

Comply by December 2014

The Copy Collective supports governments, NFPs and businesses to comply with the WCAG 2.0. While the compliance imperative is important and it is great to ensure content is available and accessible for all, the steps to make sites accessible have the side benefit of also helping organisations with their search engine optimisation (SEO).

Providing this complimentary training is part of The Copy Collective's commitment to an inclusive society under its Disability Discrimination Act Action Plan.

The Copy Collective encourages people to set aside the time to watch the training videos and understand how the WCAG 2.0 applies to organisations. Trainees will also get the resources and tools they need to make changes to their web copy .

The Copy Collective can be contacted for further support to make website copy accessible. Please note: you don't need to book any work with The Copy Collective to enjoy the complimentary training!

About the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0)

The WCAG 2.0 guidelines were released in 2008 to implement user-friendly web content for people of all abilities.

The guidelines cover the full range of Web content that a user is likely to access — from images and graphs, to videos and podcasts, to the structure and design of each page. Each guideline has three levels of accessibility: A, AA and AAA. Level AAA is the highest level of accessibility.

Compliance with WCAG 2.0 is part of the digital inclusion framework referenced in the Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy.

About The Copy Collective

The Copy Collective is a cloud-based, teleworking business with 80 freelancers, of diverse backgrounds, working in seven countries. The company's five employees are located in Sydney and Perth. 

eAccessibility webinar part1

eAccessibility webinar part2

eAccessibility slides part1

eAccessibility slides part2

Website: www.thecopycollective.com

For more details contact Maureen Shelley 0412 741 186 or mshelley@thecopycollective.com

For interviews contact Dominique Antarakis 0409 911 891 or dantarakis@thecopycollective.com

Accessibility Is Everywhere

Here at The Copy Collective, we’re big fans of accessibility – in the ‘real’ world and the virtual. In this three-part series, Perth-based contributor Monica (@thebigmeeow) will introduce you to the basics of e-accessibility and how you can make your content user-friendly for all abilities. Here we introduce our new e-Accessibility training videos Part 1 and Part 2... and it's on us.

First there was the word.

Then there was the Internet.

And when the word and the Internet got together, they made the World Wide Web.

The Internet is the physical network made up of computers and routers and phone lines and server farms and deep-sea cables. The World Wide Web is all the information that we access using the Internet. And the “word”? Well, that’s “01110111 01101111 01110010 01100100”.

W3C celebrates 20 years. Source: www.w3.org/

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is responsible for developing Web standards. Their mission “is to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure the long-term growth of the Web” (W3C Mission).

If the Web is an “information super-highway” then W3C is like the Department for Infrastructure: they write the guidelines and technical specifications for designing and building new roads and regional developments.

The Web standards cover all aspects of the Web:

1. Web design and applications
2. Web architecture
3. Semantic Web
4. XML technology
5. Web of services
6. Web of devices
7. Browsers and authoring tools.

For most of us, we don’t know what any of that means – and we don’t really need to (if you would like to know more, the W3C Standards page covers each topic in greater detail). Web developers and graphic designers mediate most of our interaction with the Web; and all we have to worry about is the speed of our Internet connection. 

"The power of the Web is in its universality.
Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect".
Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

Unfortunately, not all Web content is created equal – and not all content is available to everybody. For some people (especially people with a disability) they’re not just worrying about the speed of their Internet connection, they’re also thinking:

“Will this webpage trigger a seizure?”
“Can my screen-reader make sense of the text?”
“Does this video have captions or a transcript?”
"Is this information written in a language I can read?" 

Within the Standards for Web design and applications, the W3C created the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG10) were released in 1999, and were then revised and succeeded by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) in 2008.

There’s a lot of information in those guidelines. If you print them out, there’s about 34 pages of information. You can access the full WCAG 2.0 for free on the W3C webpage.

WCAG 2.0 covers the full range of Web content that a user is likely to access on Web pages, from images and graphs, to videos and podcasts, to the structure and design of the pages themselves. 

WCAG 2.0 structure

WCAG 2.0 is structured around four broad principles (also known as pillars):

1. Perceivable: Web pages and content must be presented to users in ways they can perceive.
2. Operable: Web pages and navigation must be operable.
3. Understandable: Web content and the operation of Web pages much be understandable.
4. Robust: Web content and pages much be interpreted reliably by a range of users, hardware, and software – including assistive technologies.

These four principles are then broken down into 12 guidelines: 

1. Perceivable
1. Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language.
2. Provide alternatives for time-based media.
3. Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.
4. Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background.
2. Operable
1. Make all functionality available from a keyboard.
2. Provide users enough time to read and use content.
3. Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures.
4. Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.
3. Understandable
1. Make text content readable and understandable.
2. Make Web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.
3. Help users avoid and correct mistakes.
4. Robust
1. Maximise compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies.

Those 12 guidelines are broken down further into 61 “success criteria”. That’s a lot of criteria!

Now before you all panic…

Luckily for you, we’ve already done the hard work of figuring out which guidelines are relevant to copywriters. We’ve even put together a couple of videos — so we can talk you though them when you’re ready:
eAccessibility webinar Part1
eAccessibility webinar Part2

You can even download the Powerpoint presentation from the videos.

You can use my videos and powerpoint for free – because you’re worth it.
source: www.funnyjunk.com/

  

Join me for my next Blog - Part 2 of Accessibility is Everywhere - where I introduce the Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy and share useful things for making your web content accessible.

About The Copy Collective

The Copy Collective is a cloud-based, teleworking business with 80 freelancers, of diverse backgrounds, working in seven countries. The company's five employees are located in Sydney and Perth.

Website: http://www.thecopycollective.com/  

For more details contact Maureen Shelley 0412 741186 or mshelley@thecopycollective.com

For interviews contact Dominique Antarakis 0409 911 891 or dantarakis@thecopycollective.com

 

Five surefire tips for your Christmas Appeal

The science of storytelling.
Source: onespot.com

 

 

 1. Find a great story

You help people (or animals, or the environment) every day, and you’ve got some great stories to share. Your Christmas appeal is the time to bring out your most heartwarming story of need. Children and families work well at this time of year, as do genuine stories that relate to Christmastime – for example, a child who will spend the day in hospital this year; a puppy who was abandoned but found his forever family on Christmas Day.

2. Keep it personal

Ideally, your signatory will have met the subject of your letter, or at least spoken to them. If not, try to arrange at least a thank you call so they can say they’ve spoken to them directly. Then use this in your letter to add the personal touch and the authenticity that will help your donors connect with the cause they are helping.

3. Avoid jargon and internal language

Your donors don’t need to know the gory detail of how you go about your work – just the bare bones. Avoid language which you’d use in a government grant application and cut right to the heart of the matter: ‘we keep families together at Christmas’ rather than ‘our complex programs work to ensure that families have the support they need to stay together’.

4. Get out of the way

As fundraisers, we need to get out of the way and let our donors feel like they are directly helping the beneficiary. So your donors are funding research, not helping you to fund research. They are saving lives, not helping you to run a program to provide medical care to save lives.

5. Start a conversation 

Source: royalmarsden.org

 

Donors love to have a direct connection with your cause, and letting them send a message of hope or encouragement at Christmastime is a great way to do this. Give them the opportunity to write directly to the people they are helping through a bauble or card they can return along with their donation.



We hope these tips help you with planning your Christmas Appeal. Contact us for information about working with The Copy Collective on your Christmas campaign.

Dreamforce 2014: Day 4

Dreamforce 2014: Day 3

Dreamforce 2014: Day 2

Dreamforce 2014: Day 1