Process for designing the Process
Background
This page is a consolidation of brainstorming ideas on creating a process to design Silver. This page answers the question:
How might we design a process for creating the next version of accessibility guidelines—one that will lead to a successful outcome?
This document is the list of options. From here, we will assemble three proposals to share with the WCAG WG.
Design Methods
- Design thinking: An approach to making that uses design methods and designer sensibilities to explore options that match up what people need with what is feasible and sustainable.
- Participatory design: A design approach that involves active user and stakeholder participation in research and design activities, and in decision-making.
- User-centered design: A design approach where user needs and preferences drive decision-making, as identified through research and inquiry.
Considerations
- Funding ($, $$, $$$)
- Keeping the process moving
- Transparency
- Follows W3C Process
- How to communicate work without causing concern
- How to keep people engaged and responding along the way
- How to address diversity in communication — e.g., language
- Time — How much time do we have to publish Silver
- Evolution — How can we support more frequent changes
Project Phases
Each phase has Objectives and Methods. The Methods are a variety of actions that will eventually be grouped into the thematically-organized option choices for the WCAG WG. Under the Methods section, there are sub-phases. Each option presented to the WCAG WG will have at least one Method for each phase and sub-phase. These phases directly feed into the subsequent phase, regardless of the methods used within:
- Discovery (research)
- Interpretation (analysis)
- Ideation (creating ideas)
- Experimentation (producing and testing prototypes)
- Production (creating Silver)
Phase 1: Discovery
Understand needs, identify opportunities
Objectives
- Learn from people who use WCAG currently
- As a design spec
- As a technical standard
- To measure compliance
- To document compliance
- To support laws and regulations
- To teach accessibility
- Learn from people impacted directly or indirectly by WCAG currently
- Web visitors
- Web/mobile application users
- Web/mobile content creators
- Web/mobile application creators
- IT Implementors/Support
- People who create adaptations of WCAG
- Others?
Various Methods that could be used to achieve the objectives
User research
Stakeholder map
- What: Consolidate and communicate constituents and relationships
- Why: Learn about stakeholders for Silver user research
- How: Brainstorming session (phone or in person)
Survey
- What: Administer a survey
- Why: Learn about experiences, perceptions of using WCAG
- How: Online survey
Stakeholder interviews
- What: Interview thought leaders, others on their use of WCAG
- Why: Learn about experiences, perceptions of using WCAG
- How: Could be done via phone
Self-reporting
- What: Combination of interviews and survey/reporting on use of WCAG
- Why: Learn about experiences, perceptions of using of WCAG
- How: Observe how people report using WCAG
- Could be done via phone and with self-reporting vehicle
Contextual inquiry interviews
- What: Combination of interviews and observation of use of WCAG
- Why: Learn about experiences, perceptions of using of WCAG
- How: Observe how people use WCAG
- Best done in person
Research
Secondary research
- Collect and synthesize existing information and data
- Learn about standards evolution from comparable efforts with more data/evidence (look at HTML5)
- Done through literature/article reviews and interviews
WCAG analysis
- Systematic examination of WCAG and its component parts, including the guidelines and the process of creating/maintaining WCAG
- Learn about the technical, cultural, and practical aspects of WCAG
- Done through inventory and analysis
Analysis of adaptations
- Systematic examination of secondary adaptations/interpretations/resources
- Learn about…
- Done through inventory and analysis
Literature/article review
- Systematic examination of articles about WCAG
- Learn about the technical, cultural, and practical aspects of WCAG
- Done through literature/article reviews and analysis
Phase 2: Interpretation
Transform data into insights
Objectives
- Synthesize data from discovery phase into actionable insights, considerations, recommendations, etc.
- Communicate insights via reports, blog articles, presentations
Methods
Synthesis
Case studies
- Articles that capture details about how people use WCAG
Personas
- Composite descriptions of people who use WCAG
User stories
- Short stories describing how personas use WCAG
Analysis
Analysis/inventory
- Identify themes/insights
- Choose key themes/insights to pursue
Grouping
- Affinity diagram
- Note individual observations on post-its, create clusters and describe them
- Card sorting
- Participatory design method for creating groupings
Communication
- Report of conclusions of the research and interpretations
- List of topics for the ideation workshop (10 weeks before workshop date)
- Key themes/insights
- Diagrams
Phase 3: Ideation
Build insights and opportunities into possibilities
Objectives
- Identify viable options for structure and substance of Silver
- Choose a subset of viable options to use for experimentation
Methods
Concept Generation
Design studio workshop (face-to-face meeting)
- Brainstorming: Take what we’ve learned about what’s needed and brainstorm a way forward for Silver
- Generate ideas
- Group ideas
- Vote for ideas
- Discuss results
- Sketch and refine: Take ideas and sketch/workshop them, refine them based on feedback
- Describe core values of approach
- Describe constraints
- Define approach
W3C Workshop
- Need 10 weeks between announcing workshop and workshop date
- Participants would need to write a paper on a specific topic to attend
- Could be Ideation on first day and Experimentation phase on 2nd day
- Workshops take a lot of preparation which can take at least a month
- need funding for travel for stakeholders who don't have corporate sponsors so that we do not filter out non-corporate input.
Online design workshop
- E.g., OpenIDEO: https://openideo.com/
- Needs sponsor
Hybrid F2F and online
- could be Meet-up workshops or track in a conference (like A11yTO or A11yBos)
Surveys/questionnaires
- Structured activity on IG mailing list, WebAIM mailing list
Choosing
- Voting (as part of F2F meetings or workshop)
- Consensus decision by subgroup
Phase 4: Experimentation
Make possibilities tangible and testable and choose an approach
Objectives
- Build out options and test their viability
- Adjust options based on insights from feedback
- Choose an approach
Methods
Prototyping
- Create prototypes
- Starting from sketches from the Workshop or Ideation
- From minimal framework or components to in-depth experience
- could be Day2 of a W3C Workshop where the ideas from Day1 are taken by teams and built into prototypes for Day 2. Workshop report includes prototypes and the pros and cons of each prototype.
- broad dissemination to WCAG users for comments
- follow-up with interviewees and survey participants with proposal
User research
- A/B testing
- Compare two versions to see which works better for a given task
User journeys
- Put personas in motion and create user stories
Focus groups
- Presentations at conferences
Desirability Testing
- Positive, negative, neutral responses to different options
Refinement
- Refine prototypes
- Incorporate feedback
Choosing
- Voting
- Consensus decision by sub group
Phase 5: Production and Evolution
Create Silver
Objectives
- Mandatory step 1: Come up with a requirements document
- Structure of Silver
- Substance of Silver
- Create Silver
Methods
Resourcing
- Establish resources
- Creating
- Establish partnerships with key W3C Members donating Fellow time to WCAG
- Hiring an editor for the spec
Project Management
- Identify specific milestones for creation of Silver, based on requirements document
- Clarify and communicate the process of creating Silver
- Identify key positions and people who will fill them
Production
- Find a way to broadly crowdsource creation of the spec
- Hold workshop for people to work in small groups to craft the spec
- Each small group would take a chunk, write it, reconvene
- Give individuals in the WG responsibilities for each section of the spec, managing them and holding them to writing it on a given timeline.
Design Process Resources
Design methods
- Participatory design: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/discovering-unmet-needs-new-solutions-through-participatory-design-tickets-26331199326
- Design thinking: https://challenges.openideo.com/challenge
- User-centered design: http://creativegood.com/experience-strategy/