Unlocking Accessible Education: Interpreting Accessibility Metadata for Inclusive Learning

Scheduled at 1:45 pm in Denver 4-6 on Thursday, November 14.

#39593

Speaker(s)

  • Charles LaPierre, Principal, Accessibility and Content Quality Architect, Benetech
  • Rick Johnson, Co-Founder and Vice President of Solutions Engineering and Accessibility, Vital Source

Session Details

  • Length of Session: 1-hr
  • Format: Lecture
  • Expertise Level: Beginner
  • Type of session: General Conference

Summary

Accessibility has become a priority for publishers, leading to the inclusion of accessibility metadata. New guidelines for retailers help educators find this data to determine if the book accommodates all students. This essential metadata provides insights into the accessibility features and accommodations offered by a given work, empowering educators to make informed decisions and ensure an inclusive learning experience. Discover where to locate this metadata and how to interpret it effectively

Abstract

A recently updated version of the “User Experience Guide for Accessibility Metadata” is a best practice report by the W3C Publishing Community Group. Today, distributors of digital publications such as Vital Source are displaying the accessibility metadata in their catalogues. More and more publishers are providing the accessibility information for their publications. It is essential in Higher Education for professors and for DSO professionals to look for the accessibility metadata and to effectively use this accessibility information. This session will take a comprehensive look at how publishers can include the EPUB Schema.org and ONIX accessibility metadata. The European Accessibility Act requires that publishers disclose the accessibility of their products, and this is now a best practice for all publishers around the world. We will then review the published recommendations for the interpretation and presentation of the accessibility metadata by content distributors such as Vital Source.

We will dive into specific metadata fields to show how this can be used to determine if a publication will meet the needs of students with a wide range of disabilities. Finally, we will review best practices in the selection of content, and how a DSO office can easily use the accessibility metadata to determine if a publication will require mediation or if it should be appropriate for the students without additional work.

Keypoints

  1. How to find and understand accessibility metadata in publications for higher ed.
  2. Evaluating if a publication's metadata meets needs of students with disabilities.
  3. Selecting accessible content using metadata for an inclusive learning experience.

Disability Areas

All Areas

Topic Areas

Uncategorized, Web/Media/App Access

Speaker Bio(s)

Charles LaPierre

Charles LaPierre, Benetech: Principal, Accessibility Standards, and Technical Lead, Global Certified Accessible. Charles has over 25 years’ accessibility development experience and has been a pioneer in accessible product development since 1993. Charles currently a member of the following W3C Working Groups: Publishing Working Group, MathML Refresh, ARIA, APA / Personalization Task Force, as well as a member of the EPUB3 W3C Community Group, and co-chair of the Accessibility Metadata W3C Community Group. Charles is the technical architect of the new Global Certified Accessible initiative at Benetech to certify publisher content as conforming to the new EPUB 1.0 Accessibility Specification. Charles has a bachelor's and master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.

Rick Johnson