Category: Social Media

Social media are websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. Social media tools allow people to share or exchange information, ideas, and pictures / videos in virtual communities and networks.

Section 508 Best Practices Webinar: Accessible Content Shared Through Social Media, March 26

Cynthia A. Lockley on

From the United States Access Board

Logo for the Accessibility Online Web Series Logo for the U.S. Access Board

The use of social media by Federal agencies has become widespread across the Federal government. Agencies use social media to promote their mission and to engage members of the public. The next webinar in the "Section 508 Best Practices Webinar Series" will take place March 26 from 1:00 to 2:30 (ET) and cover how federal agencies can implement social media in an accessible manner. Representatives from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will share their experiences in ensuring access to various social media sites and platforms. NIH maintains over 60 Facebook pages, 40 YouTube channels, 13 Flickr pages, and numerous Twitter accounts. The presenters will provide an overview of social media techniques, address common questions, review access issues and solutions, and offer best practices and techniques for making content accessible on various social media platforms, including Facebook, Flickr, Google+, Twitter, and YouTube. They will also cover internal guidance that NIH has developed and other resources on the subject that are available.

Questions can be submitted in advance of the session or can be posed during the live webinar. For more details or to register, visit https://www.accessibilityonline.org/ao/.

The "Section 508 Best Practices Webinar Series" provides helpful information and best practices for federal agencies in meeting their obligations under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act which ensures access to information and communication technology in the federal sector. This webinar series is made available by the Accessibility Community of Practice of the CIO Council in partnership with the U.S. Access Board.

Date:

March 26, 2019 1:00p.m. to 2:30p.m. (ET)

Presenters:

  • Jennifer Dorsey Social Media Coordinator, NIH National Cancer Institute
  • Gary Morin Program Analyst, NIH Office of the Chief Information Officer

Registration:

https://www.accessibilityonline.org/ao/

Note: Registration closes 24 hours before the start of the session. Instructions for accessing the webinar on the day of the session will be sent by email to registered individuals in advance of the session. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) and Video Sign Language Interpreters are available for each session and will be broadcast through the webinar platform. A telephone option (not toll-free) for receiving audio is also available.

Flickr’s Relevant Photo Group Collections

Cynthia A Lockley on

Flickr has several groups that contain interesting images related to accessibility and technical communication. Log on to Flickr and go to the Groups tab to see a list of all groups and search for a group. You'll be sure to find something that is relevant or gives you a good laugh. Some groups we like are

  • Usability & Accessibility – Photos from the UPA.
  • This Is Broken – Photos about the brokenness (bad design) of items, places, etc. … see

    http://goodexperience.com/tib/ for more.
  • !Rock That Disability! – This is a group for anyone with a disability, physical, mental or otherwise. (But not just them!) Pictures you want to share.
  • Crutches, Wheelchairs and Canes – The beauty of people who use crutches, wheelchairs, or canes to get around. We welcome pictures of these items being used.
  • Design: Oohs & Aaughs – Photos of both praiseworthy and inadequate design. These are products, objects, and experiences (good or bad), which impact us enough to stop and take notice (and take a photo, too).
  • Public Computer Errors – Computer crashes, errors and other horrors as viewed by those of us innocently traveling along in life.
  • Accessible Travel – Photos of accessibility in tourism hot spots around the world. This includes wheelchair access, Braille signage, sound, markers for the hearing impaired, accessible and inaccessible intersections, public transportation, maps, lodging, restaurants, bathrooms, telephones and communication infrastructure, museum signage, best practices/worst practices, You (!) enjoying a public place with superb accessibility.
  • Wheelchair Accessible Trails – Photos taken on wheelchair accessible or paved hiking trails.
  • Rolling Rains – Travel with a Disability – This group gives travelers with disabilities, their travel companions, friends, and allies of the disability community a place to post about travel. Sometimes we see (or use other senses) differently; sometimes not. To publish your work here you don't need to snap a shot of every curb cut or Braille road sign – aesthetics counts – but somehow weave in insights about accessibility as you tell your story. The combination of photos, firsthand commentary, and the ability to contact the poster provides a unique and ever-changing consumer-level guide for the disability community on to where to go for a good time.
  • Old Wheelchairs, Gurneys, & Outdated Medical Equip – Photographs of outdated/decayed/found Medical Equipment/Devices. The older the better.
  • Writing Machines – Photos of typewriters, printing presses, and movable type—anything to do with the mechanical reproduction or creation of the written word.
  • Writing – Photos about writing and the life of writers. If you are a writer/journalist, you can show fragments of your writing life. Includes photos of handwritten pieces, pens, notebooks, Moleskines, and so on. Photos of people writing and artworks if the theme is "words, writing, writers".
  • Written In Stone – Photos of inscriptions (i.e., words, phrases, names) carved into stone such as on tombs, monuments, and buildings.

If you encounter another group you think we should add, please send us a note with the name of the Flickr group.