Goals for Designing the Silver Process

[last updated 1 October 2016]

Proposed Goals for Silver Process

• Include as many perspectives as possible in the process, to make Silver as effective as possible to each perspective
• Broadly communicate our efforts, to keep the community informed and supportive of the Silver activities
• Have easy and open communication channels, to be as inclusive as possible of different perspectives
• Use evidence and data to make decisions, to ensure the outcome addresses real needs
• Attend to the lifecycle of Silver, so the outcome is effective over time
• Broaden the scope of applicability, so Silver is inclusive of more disabilities and technologies
• Define and engage stakeholders, so people are committed to the success of the effort
• Establish clear milestones, so we can track progress throughout the effort

Goals with Explanation

The above goals are repeated here with a more detailed explanation:

1. Goal 1: *Perspectives*. Include as many perspectives as possible in the process, to make Silver as effective as possible to each perspective.
   • Explanation: The perspectives goal will focus on methods for looking for a broader range of stakeholders -- going beyond the usual policy makers, accessibility consultants and consultancies. This option would focus on outreach to smaller disability groups that are overlooked, more non-accessibility developers, QA testers, designers, and other individuals or groups that are not usually involved in standards development.
2. Goal 2: *Broad communication*. Broadly communicate our efforts, to keep the community informed and supportive of the Silver activities.
   • Explanation: While this is important in any W3C project, this goal would go beyond the usual "post to a W3C email list", and focus on methods to broaden our outreach.
3. Goal 3: *Open Communication*. Have easy and open communication channels, to be as inclusive as possible of different perspectives.
   • Explanation: While this is related to Goal #2 Broad Communication, Open communication is a two-way process where there would be easier channels for input into Silver.
4. Goal 4: *Evidence & Data.* Use evidence and data to make decisions, to ensure the outcome addresses real needs.
   • Explanation: This goal means that Silver subteam will do more research and collect more data, especially user research, in determining both the Silver structure and the content of Silver.
5. Goal 5. *Lifecycle*. Attend to the lifecycle of Silver, so the outcome is effective over time.
   • Explanation: This Lifecycle goal puts an emphasis on a design of Silver that will be easier to maintain and update over time. This goal came from a discussion about our desire to avoid repeating the situation where it took 8 years before an update to WCAG 2 was started. An emphasis on this goal will result in a Silver that has a structure for continuous maintenance, whatever that will look like.
6. Goal 6: *Scope*. Broaden the scope of applicability, so Silver is inclusive of more disabilities and technologies.
   • Explanation: This Scope goal is related to Perspectives goal, but is specifically related toward identifying more groups of people with disabilities which have not be directly included by WCAG in the past, and insuring that their needs are served.
7. Goal 7: *Define & Engage*. Define and engage stakeholders, so people are committed to the success of the effort.
   • Explanation: In this goal, we are considering involving more stakeholders in the process of creating Silver than the active participants in WCAG WG.
8. Goal 8. *Milestones*. Establish clear milestones, so we can track progress throughout the effort.
   • Explanation: While milestones are important for all aspects of the Silver project, this goal is really concerned with accomplishing the Silver update with the best possible speed (that also meets the requirements of W3C Process and the requirements of the WCAG WG).

from email to WCAG WG.

Original brainstorms of Goals (older discussion)

1. Perspectives of people who use WCAG are considered
   • How to gather feedback from users, authors, user agent vendors, industry
   • Establish communication channels
     • Timely
     • Continuous
     • Afterward
     • Diverse
2. Informed decision-making drives process and content of Silver
   • Include feedback from communication channels
   • Comparative analysis: Look at other standards
3. Think about WCAG over the long term
   • How do we get from WCAG 2 to Silver
   • How will WCAG be updated
   • Establish a viable update channel
4. User community and stakeholders are committed to success
   • Keep communicating
5. Should we combine WCAG, ATAG, UAAG

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