Community Group August Meeting

Thank you to everyone who participated in yesterday’s group meeting.

During the meeting, the three work groups presented their accomplishments from the past year:

1. The Knowledge-Sharing group, represented by Sander Nijsingh, discussed their decision to utilize the Nordic Accessibility Community Group Space on w3c.org for hosting shared documents temporarily. Sander also introduced the Speaker’s List, where members can indicate their availability for public speaking engagements related to accessibility, such as talks and workshops. The group also explored the idea of creating a list of accessibility events, although they noted that similar resources already exist online.
2. The Networking group, presented by Pär Lannerö, highlighted their practice of featuring a speaker during each group meeting. In the previous meeting, Daniel Dersén (founder of the W3C Nordic Chapter) spoke to the group from New York City. The group warmly welcomes all members to join their future meetings and talks. The next meeting is scheduled for September 19th at 14:00 CET. Sander Nijsingh will provide insights into accessibility in the Netherlands. You can access the meeting link here: Meeting Link (Microsoft Teams)
3. The Accessibility in Education group, represented by Tobias Christian Jensen, shared their progress in arranging interviews with Danish universities. All schools have shown interest in participating in 30-minute interviews over the next month. Those wishing to be part of these interview sessions can reach out to Tobias. Tobias also presented noteworthy findings from a prior survey conducted by the group. Key findings are summarized in this PowerPoint presentation: Accessibility in Education – Survey Results (PowerPoint)

Following the presentations, the community engaged in a retrospective session. Participants shared their thoughts and concerns under categories like “What went well,” “What didn’t go so well,” “What can we improve,” and “Other thoughts or questions.” The group voted on topics for further discussion, leading to the following outcomes:

• The suggestion to transition to monthly community group meetings, promoting a lighter format resembling the retrospective. This would facilitate discussions about challenges, task assignments, and progress reviews since the last meeting, and the lighter format could foster more experimentation with the meetings and format. Members can also form work groups as needed. Additionally, efforts will be made to accommodate members to contribute in advance or after meetings for those unable to attend.
• Addressing the uncertainty around joining individual work groups and what to expect from joining a work group. The decision was made to close the work groups’ Slack Channel, centralizing communication in the general Slack channel. New work group meetings will be sent out to the entire Community Group mailing list, allowing the members to decide if they wish to participate. A “How to Get Started” guide will be created for newcomers to the Community Group.
• Expressing interest in arranging in-person gatherings for dinner or coffee. A Slack poll will be conducted to identify viable locations and suitable dates/times for such events.
• Acknowledging time constraints and time zone challenges faced by some members. The revised meeting format aims to make sporadic attendance more feasible. A poll will also be conducted to identify preferred time zones for future meetings.
• A commitment to setting clearer goals within the Community Group, providing direction for collective efforts. Clearly defined goals can also assist members in gaining support from their managers/organizations to participate in the Community Group.

For a comprehensive list of ideas generated during the retrospective, refer to this document: Retrospective Ideas Document (Microsoft Word)

Best regards,
Tobias Christian Jensen