WCAG 2 is Done! Woo-hoo! Shawn asked for initial reactions.
Henny shared that what she's heard has been quite positive, although she has seen a few comments on Twitter about the need to read the documentation.
Shawn described plans to promote WCAG 2 through multiple channels, such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. and asked the group for other ideas.
Lisa shared that the Society for Technical Communication has been promoting it through the User Experience SIG and AccessAbility SIG discussion lists and blogs.
Andrew said that the Web Standards Group sent out an announcement shortly after ours as well.
With the previous WCAG announcement, W3C used a simple WAI-IG email. With 2.0 this was mostly a press release. How do others think that worked? What else should we do to spread the word?
Liam suggest that we put a link on the WCAG 1.0 conformance logo landing pages that link through to 2.0
<scribe> ACTION: Shawn: Update WCAG logo click throughs for 2.0 [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2008/12/12-eo-minutes.html#action01]
<shawn> ACTION: Shawn consider adding note on the WCAG 1.0 logo pages about 2.0 and link to WCAG Overview (good for Google, too) [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2008/12/12-eo-minutes.html#action02]
Shawn announced that we are about 10% complete updating pages pointing to WCAG 1 to now point to WCAG 2. When that's completed, EO members should expect a request to poke around and look for places we've missed.
Liam recommends posting on A List Apart to reach the design community. Shawn had spoken with Jeffrey Zeldman earlier in the week. We need to publish something while this is still fresh. Liam offers to write the article, and shawn will check for publication guidelines, because ALA has high level of acceptance.
<shawn> ACTION: shawn and liam to work on getting article(s) published, e.g. on A List Apart [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2008/12/12-eo-minutes.html#action03]
Lisa is working on an article for Usability Professionals Association publication, a special issue on Web Forms. She will include information on WCAG 2 advantages (such as error handling).
Henny is working on an article on error handling in WCAG 2 for publication on DevOpera. She is gathering information on how people need to think about not only following the guidelines, but also about the end user's experience as well. Sometimes there is compliance but with loss of usability (overuse of Title text, very long alt text).
Shawn counters that we need to dispel the myths that the Guidelines aren't sufficient to ensure accessibility, that it is possible to design a site that implement the guidelines without delivering accessibility. The issue is that if the web author truly understands the Guidelines (and the spirit of the guidelines), the they will indeed be sufficient. This is not foolproof.
Liam questioned whether we could promote through channels such as radio, television, or broadsheet (newspapers like The Guardian).
Shawn shared that W3C has worked with a US-based PR firm who is very good, but weaker internationally.We have some articles out, but timing for getting articles published has been suboptimal.
Liam asked whether we members should try to push articles / info to folks we know who are standards-aware.
Shawn answered definitely, and we should direct them to the press release and let them know Shawn and Judy are available for interviews. In fact, Judy did interview with BBC, but no word on use yet.
<shawn> ACTION: Shawn connect Liam & PR firm for promotion [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2008/12/12-eo-minutes.html#action04]
Liam asked whether we have a list of influential bloggers that we want to approach.
Shawn answers that we do but that we are not making it public. If members have suggestions, send them to Shawn or contact the bloggers yourself.
Shawn announced plans for more promotions in January, to get another news day, possibly a WCAG 2 day. Shawn asked what would a WCAG 2 day look like -- What's the hook?
The Blue Beanie Day on Twitter was successful, with lots of photos and interest. Andrew suggested a 'mouse free' day. Liam referred to a Greenpeace campaign of videos on YouTube that was successful in getting attention.
Liam recommended not waiting for January. With the holidays, writers may be looking for material. Maybe a
"Tim Berners Lee gives Web a Christmas Gift"
... Does W3C have footage of someone using JAWS? Would be
compelling. Does Henny have any?
<shawn> ACTION: shawn share liam's ideas for promotion over holidays. people will take easy articles. tie into holidays... [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2008/12/12-eo-minutes.html#action05]
Henny said that AbilityNet and ScriptingEnabled.org may have blog posts with video of people using a screen reader. The quality of the video is good, and Henny expects they would be enthusiastic about inclusion. She will contact AbilityNet.
<scribe> ACTION: henny contact abilitynet on JAWS footage [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2008/12/12-eo-minutes.html#action06]
There is a WCAG 2 theme song at http://www.eramp.com/wcag_theme_song.htm.
<shawn> ACTION: shawn contact David about theme song and video [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2008/12/12-eo-minutes.html#action07]
After searching Google for wcag 2, Liam reported that the first two hits are excellent, but the third is "To he!! with WCAG 2", and then you get the old stuff. The group discussed various strategies for moving the unpreferred content "down" in the search, and getting more positive information higher.
<LiamMcGee> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=wcag2&btnG=Search
<LiamMcGee> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=wcag+2&btnG=Search
<shawn> ACTION: shawn consider google results, e.g., linking from FAQ to good, updated articles to get them higher [recorded in http://www.w3.org/2008/12/12-eo-minutes.html#action08]
<LiamMcGee> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=wcag2.0&btnG=Search
Liam asked about good / positive WCAG 2 articles folks have seen. Andrew recommended one by Roger Hudson. If others find good ones, send to WAI-IG list with recommendation and pointer (collect but also communicating quickly and for discussion).
The Webcredible article shows up many places. Andrew explains that this is in part because it is linked from a number of blogs. Jack advocates including others' positive reactions to WCAG2. By linking to them, we can improve the Google results. Shawn refers group to the testimonials and takes a survey of whose read them -- very few of us.
<andrew> Testimonials: http://www.w3.org/2008/12/wcag20-testimonial.html
Shawn asks whether asking people to actively comment on the blog posts is worthwhile.
<andrew> W3C Q&A blog: http://www.w3.org/QA/
Shawn has received a few comments on the FAQ, in particular from Anna.
<shawn> http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/wcag2faq
Anna says the FAQ is very high level and that we need to expand it.
Shawn shared that there has been debate about how many questions is enough or too many. The conclusion was to include as many as needed based on questions we receive. If the numbers get cumbersome, we can group them.
Shawn directs group to the FAQ intro paragraph and asks whether its useful. Keep the paragraph.
Shawn invites Song to comment on plans for WCAG 2 in Korea.
Song prefers to send plans to the group in email.
[Editors Note: Early in IRC chat, Song shared that Korea will update National Standards KWCAG 1.0 into 2.0, referencing WCAG 2.0. Korea National standards were established in 2005 is subset of WCAG 1.0 and draft WCAG 2.0. Song's group is responsible for the update, and they have a schedule to do it in 2009.]
Shawn reminds the group that Andrew is finishing up the business case.
Shawn also reminds us that we do have a meeting next week before having 2 weeks off.