Meeting minutes
<Lisa> > regrets+ Jan
regrets Jan
<Lisa> next item
<Julie> Lisa: Next week is Yom Kippur. I cannot attend.
<Julie> Lisa: Who can attend?
<Julie> Charlie can attend
<LenB> I can be there as well.
<Julie> Julie: I cannot attend
<LenB> Having a mic issue - but, can hear.
<Julie> Lisa: We likely will not have quorum.
Lisa: We won't have quorum but you're welcome to have a "Coffee and COGA" chat.
LenB: I can be here and see what conversations come up. We can play it by ear.
LenB will chair next Monday's meeting.
<Lisa> next item
LenB will send an agenda. No pressure to come, but it will be a nice, useful call.
<Lisa> next item
Lisa: There are two new AG subgroups but before we assign them, we should talk about the next item.
Rachael: There are two different groups that work in AG: there are subgroups. Some last 8 weeks, some last years. They work on the provisions for WCAG 3, including requirements and assertions. The other kind of group is a task force. COGA is a task force. They are more long-term and have an expectation that they will last several years.
Rachael: We are standing up two task forces that are related to AG.
<Rachael> Link to survey https://
Rachael: The first task force is about assertions. It will do a deep dive into assertions and come up with a standardized approach to them.
Rachael: As an example, assertions about user testing--what should be included?
Rachael: We need a coordinated strategy now that we have a few examples of draft assertions in WCAG 3.
Rachael: The second task force is currently called Guidance Documents task force. That name will likely change.
Rachael: Right now we are asking who is interested in joining and what your time availaibility is.
Rachael: The survey has one question about both task forces. It also has a question about weekly meeting times. Whether you do or don't want to participate, please let us know in the survey.
<Lisa> https://
Rachael: The deadline is tomorrow, September 15th.
Lisa suggested that Julie resend the email from last week about the survey deadline.
Jennifer: Is there a minimum time requirement?
Rachael: It's about 2-4 hours per week.
Rachael: It's more than just showing up at the meeting. There is some work outside of the weekly meetings.
Lisa: If you have a busy schedule, like if you're getting married and you may not have a lot of time in the next month, but if you have time after that to participate and in general have 2-4 hours a week, is it OK to join?
Rachael: That is correct. We acknowledge that not everyone can participate at all times. Now is a good time to express your interest.
<Rachael> +1
Julie noted that having assertions in WCAG 3 is really important to COGA. It's a way to get more COGA concerns in WCAG 3 if they can't be covered as testable requirements.
LenB: I am really interested in these new task forces but am concerned about my capacity.
LenB: I don't think I have time.
Julie: I wonder if Jennie or John might have capacity?
Lisa: Let's discuss at our planning meeting tomorrow.
Rachael: John has signed up for both task forces.
<Lisa> next item
Lisa: Reminder to present+ so we have a record of who attends.
Lisa: I want us to re-orient ourselves to what COGA wants to achieve in the rest of 2026.
Lisa: We probably won't have a call the last week or two of December.
Lisa reviewed the diagram that shows COGA does research and also advice for things like WCAG.
Lisa: Our main advice is in Making Content Usable. We were working on an update, but we paused that because it was taking a long time and also because we wanted to review WCAG's latest working draft.
Lisa: We haven't finished that review yet of WCAG.
Lisa: We are also working on new research.
Lisa: The research is mainly literary reviews but we also do wide reviews of topics.
Lisa shared the link to the research modules we published earlier this year.
Lisa: The research we do also affects the advice we give.
Lisa: What do we want to do in the rest of 2026?
Lisa: One thing I think we want to do is finish reviewing WCAG 3.
Lisa: Those reviews happen in our Thursday calls.
<Lisa> 1. Finish our review of wcag
Lisa: In the research space, we have a Tuesday call and are working on some new drafts: the one on user testing is close to sharing with the group. Another is on AI and safety.
Lisa: We can get those two published as working drafts.
Lisa: The process of getting ready to publish takes a month or so.
Lisa: We also have feedback to work through on the research modules we already published.
Julie: Is trigger warnings another research module we want to publish this year?
Lisa: Yes
Lisa: Another thing is updating the COGA wiki.
Lisa: The wiki creates space for people outside of COGA to make a research request.
Lisa: I propose we get the new working drafts ready to publish: trigger warnings, AI/safety, and user testing.
Lisa: We also have a proposal to make a new version of Making Content Usable. We could get the proposal ready.
Lisa: All of these things need people to say "I want to do this."
Lisa: LenB is now heading the WCAG 3 review on Thursdays.
LenB: We'll get oriented on Thursday.
Lisa: Do you think we can finish by the end of the year?
LenB: I think we can, but we'll still exist in 2027. We need to make sure that COGA user needs are being considered in the assertion work and elsewhere. We need the new task force to do its work so we can review it.
Julie: In addition to flagging missing user needs, COGA will likely have feedback on how the WCAG subgroups word the user needs for each guideline. (These user needs have not been published yet.)
Lisa: So user needs might continue a month or two into 2027. If we can finish the provision-by-provision review this year, that would be great.
Lisa: In terms of research, we could focus on getting 3 new draft modules ready to go through the final edit process.
Lisa: Does that sound reasonable?
<Eric> +1
Julie asked a capacity question as Len puts more time into leading Thursday calls. What does that mean for Tuesday's research efforts?
Lisa: That's why I'm suggesting we focus on the 3 papers that are already in the works.
Lisa: Where Len can help the most is with prompts to help with citations.
Lisa: If we're focusing on those three modules and a new cover paper, I can take the lead on that.
LenB: I can support that.
LenB: Is supported decision making in that bucket?
Lisa: No, we already have a draft of that. Updating those modules will be next year.
kirkwood: Let me know when we do any work on supported decision-making.
Julie: Does "new cover paper" mean a revised introduction to all of the research modules?
Lisa: Yes
Lisa: The other thing is the next version of Making Content Usable.
Lisa: Can we make a next version to include our next stuff even if it doesn't include Rain's design proposal.
<kirkwood> Jenny as well on supported decision making btw
Lisa: I think everyone is stretched thin with the WCAG 3 review and getting three new research modules ready for pre-publication. Do people agree we should wait to start on new version of Making Content Usable?
<kirkwood> yes
<LenB> yes
<Julie> +1 to waiting on next version of Making Content Usable
<Eric> +1
<tiffanyburtin> Yes
<Lisa> next item
Lisa: At tomorrow's research call, we'll see how soon the user testing paper can be shared with COGA to review.
Lisa: Three priorities: triggers, user testing, and AI and safety. Is there anything urgent needs to be added now?
<kirkwood> potentially ai?
Julie noted that part of our WCAG 3 review is to determine which exploratory provisions in WCAG 3 are important enough to COGA that we will agree to help do the research to keep them in WCAG 3.
LenB: Yes, we can talk about that on Thursday.
Lisa: On Thursday's call, we can do some scheduling.
Lisa: LenB, are there any questions or pre-reads you have for Thursday's call?
LenB: I took the last two weeks off so I need to get back into it.
<Lisa> next item
<Lisa> close item 5
Lisa: Tomorrow's research call: we will do a review of the user testing module to see if it is ready to send to the COGA task force to review.
Lisa: We will also discuss some issues that affect all of the research modules.
<Lisa> next item
<Lisa> close item 6
Lisa: Thursday's WCAG 3 review will include looking at exploratory provisions that need more support.
Lisa: We need more people reviewing provisions.
<Lisa> close item 7
Lisa: It's really useful if you can attend Thursday's calls.
Lisa: We used to go over action items on the first COGA call of the month. I don't know if that's helpful because most of the actions happen in the subgroup calls.
Lisa: Would it help if the task force did that kind of monthly review?
Julie: Would be it be monthly updates on how we're doing in terms of reaching end-of-year goals?
Lisa: It would also include things like updating the wiki and the <amounts> tag work that Len is working on.
Julie: Sounds like a good idea since some things don't fit into the subgroups, like the wiki and the <amounts> tag.
Lisa: Or TPAC. All of these kinds of things.
Lisa: It sounds like people would like that kind of orientation once a month.
Lisa recapped that the next Monday call will be casual. No pressure to come if it's a holiday for you.