WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.760 I think it's great that you  did bring that up. Also,   00:00:02.760 --> 00:00:06.600 a lot of people are just saying also  excellent presentation to you, Andy.   00:00:07.260 --> 00:00:14.820 Um, it looks like Mr. Tim Green want to say  hello to you again. Him is a person with a   00:00:14.820 --> 00:00:20.940 hearing disability. Yes, it is one of the people  who educated me about accessibility for people   00:00:20.940 --> 00:00:26.520 with hearing loss. Okay, yep, I know him very  well. He's a great, great guy, great guy for sure. 00:00:26.520 --> 00:00:28.380 Well, it doesn't look like we have,   00:00:28.380 --> 00:00:33.060 uh, so barely do you think mine hasn't been  required. I'm trying to look to see if we can   00:00:33.060 --> 00:00:36.960 find a, and most people are saying excellent  discussion, excellent discussion. So again,   00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:40.620 guys, you have about two minutes left if  you have any questions. I would like to   00:00:40.620 --> 00:00:46.560 have a question directed to Mr. Imparato, but  if not, uh, we will close out here in a moment. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:51.600 But again, I think this was a great presentation.  Um, again, I think these type of presentations   00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:58.500 really need to be, um, interactive,  conversational, allowing people to speak,   00:00:59.400 --> 00:01:04.440 um, and to just kind of relay whatever questions  they may have and talk about things that are   00:01:04.440 --> 00:01:10.260 important to them. Other people, one more  person that says, uh, looks like the green,   00:01:10.260 --> 00:01:18.600 yellow, red badges use both color, text, and icon  as indicators. There you go, very good, very good. 00:01:18.600 --> 00:01:22.080 All right, well, Mr. Imparato,  thank you again very much. Uh,   00:01:22.080 --> 00:01:25.440 this is my first time meeting you, and I just  want to say this was a great presentation.   00:01:26.520 --> 00:01:30.960 Um, full disclosure, I also have been with  the Department of Homeland Security, uh,   00:01:30.960 --> 00:01:36.360 for a long time. Um, I was around during the  early stages that you talked about with Mr.   00:01:36.360 --> 00:01:42.000 Secretary Tom Ridge. So I do remember that time,  uh, and also with Steve Cooper was the original,   00:01:43.080 --> 00:01:49.800 um, CIO, or for this, the first Department of  Homeland Security's Chief Information officer. 00:01:49.800 --> 00:01:53.460 So, I remember, I've been around  for a while. So thank you again,   00:01:53.460 --> 00:01:57.240 we really appreciate it. I  hope to have you present again,   00:01:58.380 --> 00:02:02.100 if not next year, the year after that. And  definitely look forward to speaking to you   00:02:02.100 --> 00:02:07.440 later. Sounds good, I hope you have a great rest  of your event. Take care, thank you so much. 00:02:08.900 --> 00:02:13.020 >> All right, see you later, bye-bye, thank you. 00:02:13.020 --> 00:02:18.420 >> All right, next up, um,  we are going to have remarks   00:02:19.020 --> 00:02:26.700 by Mr. Nicshan Floyd, again, the Executive  Director for Accessibility & Usability. 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:32.100 >> Uh, acting director, but  I'll take the promotion. 00:02:32.100 --> 00:02:41.520 >> Well, you know, Nic, I'm a type of guy who likes  to give kudos when I can, so, you know, and it did   00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:47.100 say that, or somewhere, I think I saw "executive,"  but again, the Director of Accessibility &   00:02:47.100 --> 00:02:52.440 Usability, aka Office of Accessibility and  Systems and Technology, which we no longer OAST,   00:02:52.440 --> 00:02:59.460 but we are AU, so again, we have now ready  to do this presentation, Mr. Nicshan Floyd. 00:03:00.600 --> 00:03:05.580 >> Alright, thank you once again, Vince. I  want everyone to think about how to start out,   00:03:05.580 --> 00:03:10.200 maybe not just their morning, but  maybe their week. Maybe you woke up   00:03:10.200 --> 00:03:16.260 this morning and you had a routine set up on  your special device that told you the weather,   00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:21.900 uh, what things are in your calendar.  Maybe it adjusts the blinds in your room,   00:03:21.900 --> 00:03:26.400 maybe it turned your television to your  favorite station as you prepared for the day.   00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:32.820 Then maybe you drove to work or  you teleworked, but regardless,   00:03:32.820 --> 00:03:38.520 you may have had your phone nearby, and you may  have it set up to where if you get a text message,   00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:43.260 it reads it out loud to you, and that you can  respond to that text message within your voice.   00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:49.440 A lot of us are into reading, um, so  maybe we're listening to an audiobook,   00:03:50.580 --> 00:03:56.580 um, and enjoying that and taking notes  verbally or using some type of highlight   00:03:56.580 --> 00:03:59.580 to highlight those notes so that we can  quickly get that information later on. 00:04:02.100 --> 00:04:07.740 What I'm getting at is that all of these  types of technologies that we see as a part   00:04:07.740 --> 00:04:14.160 of everyday life, I also have an accessible  component. That routine that you set up in   00:04:14.160 --> 00:04:21.060 the morning allows someone who may have a  mobility impairment or can't reach high,   00:04:21.060 --> 00:04:27.540 they have now the ability to control their  lights, their blinds, switch their televisions,   00:04:27.540 --> 00:04:32.340 and interact in various other ways with  various appliances within their home, right? 00:04:33.660 --> 00:04:38.880 Um, it used to be books on tape that  would get mailed to people, and now you   00:04:38.880 --> 00:04:43.380 have an endless library of audiobooks  that people who have equal access to.   00:04:44.040 --> 00:04:46.200 So, individuals who are blind or low vision   00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:52.860 are no longer disproportionately treated wrongly  due to not having access to that information. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:05:02.460 As we can see, as time passes by, technology  becomes more and more a part of our life. I kind   00:05:02.460 --> 00:05:06.120 of feel like I'm reading hieroglyphics  sometimes when I get a text message,   00:05:06.120 --> 00:05:12.180 and it's all emojis or stickers or some type  of action, and then I have to turn on my   00:05:12.180 --> 00:05:16.200 text-to-speech thing and click on it just to see  exactly what that emoji was supposed to be, right? 00:05:16.200 --> 00:05:21.480 So, we can also see that in the way that  we communicate, it's also being highly   00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:25.980 impacted through the technology that  we use. And as it was stated before,   00:05:25.980 --> 00:05:31.500 technology can be good or can be bad;  it's all in how we treat that technology. 00:05:32.280 --> 00:05:38.220 So, with that in mind, I want people to  take a more personal responsibility when   00:05:38.220 --> 00:05:42.960 we're looking at developing products  and services and making it available.   00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:48.900 Are we being responsible over that mindset?  Are we thinking about the various ways that   00:05:48.900 --> 00:05:53.160 technology could possibly be utilized, and then  making sure we're building in the functionality   00:05:53.160 --> 00:06:01.140 and feasibility that it can be used in the most  personable manner and not become a barrier but   00:06:01.140 --> 00:06:06.000 become a way that it exposes individuals to  a greater world that's available to them. 00:06:06.540 --> 00:06:10.140 So, let me, um, share my screen briefly. 00:06:24.060 --> 00:06:29.880 So, here we have on the screen, a graphic,  and the first graphic has a whiteboard. It   00:06:29.880 --> 00:06:35.520 has an individual of normal regular height,  an individual who utilizes a wheelchair,   00:06:35.520 --> 00:06:41.040 and another person who is slightly shorter  in stature. They all have, quote-unquote,   00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:47.880 equal access to this whiteboard, the same writing  utensils. However, it's difficult for the person   00:06:47.880 --> 00:06:52.740 who is of shorter stature and utilizes the  wheelchair to interact with the whiteboard.   00:06:54.360 --> 00:07:01.200 So we can see that you give someone equal,  but they don't have an equal experience. 00:07:02.100 --> 00:07:07.140 Here at DHS, we're trying to move away  from the idea of equality to equity,   00:07:07.140 --> 00:07:09.600 and we're hoping that all private industry   00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:16.200 and all other state agencies and federal  agencies also move from equal to equity. 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:22.380 So, now let's look at our second image,  where now we've provided an accommodation.   00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:27.780 We've given a pedestal to the person who's shorter  in stature, and we've provided a ramp for the   00:07:27.780 --> 00:07:34.800 wheelchair user, and now they can all equally  access the chalkboard and write on it. But we   00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:40.560 can see this is not the most ideal situation,  and a lot of times in the work environment,   00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:46.860 we look at Section 5 conformance and we look  at our products, and we will work hard to   00:07:46.860 --> 00:07:53.520 validate the code and then remediate the code to  assure that regardless of what type of assistive   00:07:53.520 --> 00:08:00.600 technology a person is using, they can then be  able to interact with that product effectively.   00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:06.660 And whenever that falls short, we will then  provide a reasonable accommodation. It could   00:08:06.660 --> 00:08:12.660 be a screen reader, it could be text-to-speech  input, it could be a special type of keyboard,   00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:19.200 it could be a mouth stick, it could be a tracking  device, but we will provide various types of   00:08:19.200 --> 00:08:23.880 accommodations to help the person be able to  take advantage of that product or service.   00:08:25.080 --> 00:08:28.320 And some of the things could even be  low-tech, right? Just large print.   00:08:29.280 --> 00:08:37.440 However, that's still not the optimum way. It's  what I like to call maybe a Band-Aid on a scratch. 00:08:39.060 --> 00:08:43.380 So, let's look at the last situation.  Now we have a larger whiteboard,   00:08:44.460 --> 00:08:50.340 everyone has equal access to that whiteboard,  but they also have the ability to freely interact   00:08:50.340 --> 00:08:56.580 with that whiteboard in a more effective  manner. Right? They're all comfortable in   00:08:56.580 --> 00:09:02.220 their way of working with that whiteboard.  So this is where we're trying to get to. As   00:09:02.220 --> 00:09:09.180 I stated in my opening remarks, being Section  5 conformant is the low bar. Looking at how we   00:09:09.180 --> 00:09:14.760 design our products and building smarter, more  capable products, that's where we want to be. 00:09:18.060 --> 00:09:26.580 So, here at Accessibility Usability, we offer  numerous services, and I'm not really going   00:09:26.580 --> 00:09:29.880 to touch on all the key services, but  I do want to talk about a few of them. 00:09:30.420 --> 00:09:35.940 The first one being our Accessibility Help  Desk, because this is the conduit anytime   00:09:35.940 --> 00:09:41.940 anyone needs to understand not just what  the law is, but how they can build better,   00:09:41.940 --> 00:09:46.500 smaller products. They can leverage our  Accessibility Help Desk. From there,   00:09:46.500 --> 00:09:50.940 they can be connected to a subject matter  expert. They can either direct them to   00:09:50.940 --> 00:09:58.500 the appropriate resources, direct them to  training that we provide, or open a discussion. 00:09:58.500 --> 00:10:01.740 There's a lot of times where  someone is running into a problem,   00:10:02.520 --> 00:10:08.220 and that problem could be caused by various  reasons. I'll give you an example. A person   00:10:08.220 --> 00:10:14.400 was really frustrated one day, and they're like,  "I think I want to file a complaint against DHS   00:10:15.060 --> 00:10:22.320 because I have to use this human resource system,  and it's just not accessible. It used to take me   00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:27.840 two to three minutes to go through it, now it  takes me 45 minutes to interact with it." So, I   00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:35.520 said, "Okay, that's a huge difference. So, we know  we've updated our HR System, and I have reports   00:10:35.520 --> 00:10:40.920 saying that our HR System is Section 508  conformant. So let me understand what's going on." 00:10:41.700 --> 00:10:46.440 So, I call the person up, I said,  "What's your situation like? Are   00:10:46.440 --> 00:10:50.640 you using assistive technology?" So, they  say, "Yes, I'm using Jaws, but for 12 years,   00:10:50.640 --> 00:10:55.080 I used to have an assistant that worked with me,  and they kind of walked me through the system,   00:10:55.080 --> 00:11:01.740 and now I have to use it all by myself." Okay,  how long have you been using Jaws, and they told   00:11:01.740 --> 00:11:08.340 me that they've had it for a long time, but they  weren't the most proficient with Jaws itself. So,   00:11:08.340 --> 00:11:13.320 for people who don't know Jaws, it's just a  text-to-speech tool, so anything that's on the   00:11:13.320 --> 00:11:19.140 screen, it will actually read it out loud to the  user. It also provides support, so whatever person   00:11:19.140 --> 00:11:23.640 needs to navigate through the site, um, it kind of  helps them understand what they're navigating to,   00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:28.800 so it gives them verbal cues to match what  the visual cues might be on the screen. 00:11:29.580 --> 00:11:33.060 So, from that situation, I  understood a few things. Number one,   00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:39.060 the product itself is Section 508 conformant.  The person's situation changed because they   00:11:39.060 --> 00:11:44.460 no longer have that assistant working with  them. So, my recommendation was, how about   00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:50.520 we take training to improve your ability  to use your assistive technology? 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:56.100 The other thing I want to do is  go back and look at the process   00:11:56.760 --> 00:12:02.340 from a user perspective. Are there ways  that we can enhance this user interface? So,   00:12:02.340 --> 00:12:08.700 instead of tabbing 15 times to get to a  place, you're tapping two to three times. And,   00:12:08.700 --> 00:12:13.320 is there a life cycle behind that product?  So, as you begin using it or even actually   00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:17.400 take you to the next spot that you need to be, are  there more hoops that you need to drive through? 00:12:17.400 --> 00:12:21.480 So, there's a larger vision  when we're looking at products,   00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:25.560 in the right perspective that we need  to consider, right? It's how is the user   00:12:25.560 --> 00:12:29.640 going to interact with it? What are the tools  that your user may use to interact with it?   00:12:30.420 --> 00:12:35.100 Does it have the proper layout? Does it have a  good design? Because a lot of times, people say,   00:12:35.100 --> 00:12:39.000 "I need it to look pretty. If it doesn't  look pretty, people aren't going to use it."   00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:46.740 And then it's often designed with the person who  has good dexterity and good vision in mind, right?   00:12:48.300 --> 00:12:52.740 But are we also thinking about people who may  have various types of cognitive disorders? 00:12:53.640 --> 00:13:00.060 So, these are things that we want to think about,  not just those that are blind, low vision, deaf,   00:13:00.060 --> 00:13:03.780 hard of hearing, but those who may have those  hidden disabilities, because if you have a   00:13:03.780 --> 00:13:08.820 cognitive disability and let's say that you're  using justified text where everything's justified,   00:13:08.820 --> 00:13:13.620 now you have the text kind of stretched out  because you want things in clean little blocks.   00:13:14.340 --> 00:13:19.980 When all the clean little blocks look very pretty,  it also makes it a lot more challenging to read.   00:13:20.580 --> 00:13:24.900 So the person who's using a screen reader will  be able to read the content with no issue,   00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:31.620 but the person who may have various  types of Dyslexia will now struggle.   00:13:32.760 --> 00:13:37.980 So, these are things that we often want to  consider so we're building our products. 00:13:37.980 --> 00:13:44.880 So, that's our accessibility help desk,  that's the conduit. Next, we provide about   00:13:44.880 --> 00:13:52.500 21 trainings currently, and that catalog is always  expanding, but we want to empower each and every   00:13:52.500 --> 00:13:58.920 person to be able to take ownership of building  accessible products. So, these online trainings   00:13:58.920 --> 00:14:06.780 are self-guided and they are free to industry  people, the public, and federal government. You   00:14:06.780 --> 00:14:14.040 simply just need to log into the platform, select  the litany of courses that you can take, and a   00:14:14.040 --> 00:14:18.060 few of those key courses that we'd like to focus  on is the Trusted Tester Certification Course. 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:25.980 So, this course allows individuals, who may  be developers or testers, to go in and learn,   00:14:25.980 --> 00:14:31.140 how do you effectively evaluate web  applications for Section 508 conformance?   00:14:31.680 --> 00:14:37.680 And at the end of the course, you're given a test,  and if you pass the final exam with 90 or above,   00:14:37.680 --> 00:14:44.280 you're now granted the privilege of being  a certified Trusted Tester. This piece has   00:14:44.280 --> 00:14:50.100 become so important that, oftentimes, you looked  on LinkedIn and Glassdoor and some of these other   00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:55.380 places that are advertising for jobs, they're  often looking for certified Trusted Testers.   00:14:55.380 --> 00:15:02.460 And just this week, I met with OMB, and they were  looking for improving their policies to encourage   00:15:02.460 --> 00:15:10.380 individuals to follow the trust tester Pro program  guidance when testing and evaluating products for   00:15:10.380 --> 00:15:16.440 Section 508 conformance. Along with that, we  find that electronic content is also critical. 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:22.680 So, how do we make sure that email communications,  our forms, our PowerPoint presentations,   00:15:22.680 --> 00:15:29.220 Word documents, etc, are also accessible? So, we  offer those self-guided courses online as well,   00:15:29.220 --> 00:15:34.980 and then once a month, we provide in-person  courses for those that are internal to DHS   00:15:34.980 --> 00:15:40.680 to be able to attend, and occasionally, we  let some of our sister agencies participate   00:15:40.680 --> 00:15:48.120 in those in-person classes. They're virtual,  but they're delivered by a speaking person,   00:15:49.020 --> 00:15:54.720 so we feel like a combination between the  Trusted Tester and the electronic documents   00:15:54.720 --> 00:16:00.000 courses helps people get a very strong  foundation. And then, from that foundation,   00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:06.060 we're looking to introduce people to the  usability services. So, that's something   00:16:06.060 --> 00:16:11.460 that we recently had last year that we've  been working diligently to expand because we   00:16:11.460 --> 00:16:16.800 want people to understand how their products  will have a greater impact on the end user. 00:16:17.400 --> 00:16:23.340 So, by taking advantage of usability  studies, looking at those various groups   00:16:23.340 --> 00:16:28.140 that have typically had challenges when  working with various products and services,   00:16:28.140 --> 00:16:33.720 calling them in, having their voice,  having a usability study done so that   00:16:33.720 --> 00:16:37.860 we can account for those challenges, now  we can build smarter, better products.   00:16:38.580 --> 00:16:44.520 A long time ago, I learned that I was no longer  teaching Section 508 conformance, I was teaching   00:16:44.520 --> 00:16:50.460 people how to utilize the tools to create smarter  and better products, and now we want to expand   00:16:50.460 --> 00:16:55.800 that vision. So, no matter if it's an application  that's going to sit on a mobile device, or it's   00:16:55.800 --> 00:17:00.240 a web application that you'll access through  a browser, or if it's going to be something   00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:06.120 physical like a kiosk, if you will interact with  at the airport, we want to make sure that everyone   00:17:06.120 --> 00:17:12.720 has a seamless, interactive experience that is  not limiting just because of their disability. 00:17:16.980 --> 00:17:23.460 So, here at DHS, we've been looking at our  life cycle. There's tons and tons of life   00:17:23.460 --> 00:17:29.100 cycles out there, but this is the one that I've  started sharing with a lot of different agencies   00:17:29.760 --> 00:17:35.820 because it changes the way that we think. I  remember working with one development group,   00:17:35.820 --> 00:17:41.220 and they were releasing products out, and  we would find problems with those products,   00:17:41.220 --> 00:17:44.340 and they would just tell us, tell  us what's wrong and we'll fix it,   00:17:45.300 --> 00:17:50.100 and each time they built a new product,  there was always something that was wrong,   00:17:50.100 --> 00:17:53.880 and we would tell them what was wrong, and they  would go out and fix it. I said, wait a minute,   00:17:54.960 --> 00:18:01.920 you're using a tool that someone can drag and  drop various widgets and form fields and things   00:18:02.520 --> 00:18:07.620 for in the studio tool to build their  products, correct? I'm like, yes. I said, so   00:18:08.340 --> 00:18:15.000 how about we look at the studio tool that  people are using, so that the elements that   00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:21.900 they're dragging and dropping to build their own  product, consequently, is accessible because the   00:18:21.900 --> 00:18:28.260 widgets and the form fills and the other little  tools they are going to be dragging and utilizing,   00:18:28.260 --> 00:18:33.000 or already made accessible? So, it's  a different way of thinking, right?   00:18:34.440 --> 00:18:40.440 Um, because the reality is, you're not going to  teach everybody how to build accessible products,   00:18:41.400 --> 00:18:49.080 but if you can build the products that are  then utilized to create other products,   00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:55.860 and you can make that product accessible, then  the developer or designer, without even thinking   00:18:55.860 --> 00:19:00.960 about it, will inherit the ability to create  accessible products. So, we want to remove   00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:06.300 those barriers. So, when you're looking at  your studio tools, think about that. So,   00:19:06.300 --> 00:19:11.580 this brings me back to this image. Step one in  your planning phase, you want to think about,   00:19:11.580 --> 00:19:19.440 what am I building, what are the capabilities that  I'm building, and what are the usability concerns   00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:24.540 I should have, and what are the accessibility  concerns that I had? Think about your customer. 00:19:24.540 --> 00:19:27.480 Your customer could be the person  who's utilizing the product   00:19:28.320 --> 00:19:34.200 by physically holding and entering data  information, or your customer could be the person   00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:39.360 who's providing information to be entered into the  tool. So, you can have various types of customers,   00:19:39.360 --> 00:19:44.220 and they could be utilizing a tool from two  different perspectives. So, think about those   00:19:44.220 --> 00:19:48.840 things, and then do your research. What is  it that I need to build, and how can I assure   00:19:48.840 --> 00:19:53.040 that it's going to be accessible and usable?  The next goes down to the procurement phase.   00:19:54.060 --> 00:20:00.060 We want to make sure that the vendors take on some  of the responsibility of delivering accessible and   00:20:00.060 --> 00:20:05.280 usable products. So, within your statement of  works or within your contracts, you establish,   00:20:05.280 --> 00:20:10.320 make sure that you have language in there to  say that whatever you're going to deliver to us,   00:20:10.320 --> 00:20:16.080 you're going to guarantee that it is as  accessible as possible, and that it's going to be   00:20:16.080 --> 00:20:24.300 usable. Now, we know that we have the Section 508  standards, W3C, A and AA, that we can hold people   00:20:24.300 --> 00:20:29.940 and say that you must comply to these standards.  Usability is a little bit different, right,   00:20:30.540 --> 00:20:34.440 but we could still start investigating  how do we write contract language   00:20:35.100 --> 00:20:40.920 that we can at least show that someone puts  some thought and some effort into usability.   00:20:42.540 --> 00:20:47.220 Then we move away from the procurement  phase, and we go into the design. Ideally,   00:20:47.220 --> 00:20:53.880 you just want to make sure that those tools  can be designed in such a manner that they   00:20:53.880 --> 00:20:59.580 can be fully accessible. There's a lot of times  when we say, oh wow, that's an amazing feature,   00:20:59.580 --> 00:21:04.500 if I just had this killer feature, everyone's  going to want to use my product, so you implement   00:21:04.500 --> 00:21:11.400 it. But in implementing that killer feature,  you may alienate a particular group of people. 00:21:12.120 --> 00:21:20.580 Give you an idea, uh, virtual meeting rooms.  I was looking at a product that was developed   00:21:20.580 --> 00:21:27.180 a while back, and it was an amazing product.  Ideally, it was a virtual Convention Center,   00:21:28.140 --> 00:21:34.200 and you could walk within the convention center,  walk up to a booth, and then virtually, you could   00:21:34.200 --> 00:21:37.740 interact with an avatar, and they would provide  you information. When you're done, you would just   00:21:37.740 --> 00:21:46.500 walk to the next booth. Great idea! However, when  the product was first thought about, it was not   00:21:46.500 --> 00:21:52.440 the most accessible product. But the vendor that  was developing that knew accessibility was a key   00:21:52.440 --> 00:22:00.120 focal point, so they diligently worked to make  that virtual event accessible. So now, if someone   00:22:00.120 --> 00:22:06.120 wants to be able to hold a virtual convention,  now there's a tool out there that supports that.   00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:12.300 It wouldn't have happened if they were not  thinking about accessibility in the design phase.   00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:18.180 Now that you move away from the design phase,  you want to start thinking about the development   00:22:18.180 --> 00:22:28.800 piece. And in the development piece, we are now  away from the waterfall process, and now we are   00:22:28.800 --> 00:22:35.340 within the agile process. A lot of times, one of  the biggest barriers to accessibility is the fact   00:22:35.340 --> 00:22:40.980 that it's bolted on at the end, and it becomes  a barrier because now you have to invest more   00:22:40.980 --> 00:22:46.740 money to fix the product, or the product is being  delayed, and then people are frustrated. However,   00:22:46.740 --> 00:22:55.080 if we look at building accessibility and usability  into the design process, utilizing agile,   00:22:55.800 --> 00:23:01.140 whenever the product is ready to release, it's  already vetted for security, it's already vetted   00:23:01.140 --> 00:23:06.060 for accessibility, it's already evaluated for  usability, it's already gone through any other   00:23:06.060 --> 00:23:10.200 boards it needs to go through. Therefore, your  products can be ready to go to market right,   00:23:10.980 --> 00:23:19.020 internal market or external market. So, take your  Trusted Tester, have them embedded as various   00:23:19.020 --> 00:23:24.180 elements of their tools are being built out, have  them evaluate them for Section 508 conformance.   00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:32.460 As you are building elements, do usability  testing. Make sure that the user stories that   00:23:32.460 --> 00:23:37.680 you created, that you're building your product  on, are inclusive user stories, that you had   00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:42.720 a wider swatch of individuals who have various  different backgrounds, various different needs. 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:49.980 So, that you could say, is this meeting DC, these  key individuals' needs, okay? And you want to make   00:23:49.980 --> 00:23:54.420 sure that you have representation from various  groups that can participate in those usability   00:23:54.420 --> 00:24:00.240 studies and testing. That way, you can tweak the  tools necessary, and then when you're done, now   00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:07.080 you have a product that's usable and accessible.  But now, wait, we get to the deployment phase,   00:24:07.620 --> 00:24:14.760 and this is where the wheels can quickly fall off  the car. We want to make sure that when we are   00:24:14.760 --> 00:24:21.420 building our products and we've carefully designed  them properly, that we deploy them in a format   00:24:21.420 --> 00:24:27.840 that's going to also be accessible. Think about  if you were to develop this incredible interactive   00:24:27.840 --> 00:24:34.440 training, the painstakingly made sure that it  met the needs of all of your possible users,   00:24:36.360 --> 00:24:41.640 and in there is a player that your training is  going to run on. But the player itself is not   00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:47.340 accessible. It doesn't matter how wonderful  your training product was developed if the   00:24:47.340 --> 00:24:52.380 player is not accessible, then your training is  not accessible. Or think about if you were to   00:24:52.380 --> 00:25:00.900 build a kiosk, and now you place the kiosk in a  location where individuals can easily access it.   00:25:01.860 --> 00:25:06.180 Are you building cameras into your kiosk so  it can moderate other person, help guide them   00:25:06.180 --> 00:25:11.040 through certain phases based upon eye gaze or  take pictures, etc? But now the camera itself   00:25:11.040 --> 00:25:18.480 is not adjustable, so if someone is shorter of  stature, their light and frame. So, we want to   00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:27.300 think about every aspect of that product, not just  building it, but where we also deploy it. So, this   00:25:27.300 --> 00:25:34.020 is where my program and the customer experience  program is going to become in handy because we're   00:25:34.020 --> 00:25:39.060 going to be tag-teaming together to help address  these types of concerns that we need to consider.   00:25:40.020 --> 00:25:45.600 When we look here, we have pretty much like a  Venn diagram, and it talks about accessibility   00:25:45.600 --> 00:25:51.180 and usability and then the user's experience  or otherwise, the customer's experience.   00:25:51.720 --> 00:25:58.860 In times of emergency, it's very critical that we  get out information in a reasonable manner, right?   00:25:58.860 --> 00:26:04.500 And that that information is provided in a way  that's easily accessed by those who need it most.   00:26:05.460 --> 00:26:12.060 So, how do we go about doing this? Well, we put  the user first, and that's the human-centric   00:26:12.060 --> 00:26:17.340 approach. We think about in that time,  what is that customer going to need,   00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:24.180 and then we begin looking at how do we best  deliver that product or that service to that   00:26:24.180 --> 00:26:31.620 customer. So, we look at usability best practices,  we look at accessibility best practices,   00:26:31.620 --> 00:26:40.140 we look at who our customer is, and how do we  build a support service for those customers.   00:26:41.100 --> 00:26:47.460 Also, what is often missed is the feedback  loop, right? Because that's how we learn,   00:26:47.460 --> 00:26:52.860 that's how we grow, that's how we enhance  what we do. So, in that feedback loop,   00:26:52.860 --> 00:26:57.480 if someone had a negative experience, we take  that negative experience, we don't personalize it,   00:26:57.480 --> 00:27:02.220 we say okay, what could we've done differently? We  get a positive experience, okay, we see that we're   00:27:02.220 --> 00:27:08.640 on the right trail, how do we build upon this  sort of thing? So these are, and then we reach   00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:13.680 back out to the customer, say, we hear you, we  understand your concerns, this is what we can do,   00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:19.020 and let's be honest about our limitations,  because honestly, no product will ever be perfect.   00:27:19.980 --> 00:27:24.180 The products were perfect, we wouldn't have  version one, two, three, four, etc., right?   00:27:24.180 --> 00:27:32.820 But everything is an evolution, and as technology  evolves, this creates new opportunity for failures   00:27:32.820 --> 00:27:44.580 but also greater opportunities for success. So,  let's leverage what we can to improve what we do,   00:27:46.200 --> 00:27:51.180 and now I'd like to yield and  open this up for discussion. 00:28:01.238 --> 00:28:02.710 Well  presentation, Nic. 00:28:06.060 --> 00:28:13.680 All right, guys, it's your opportunity to ask  questions. Let's not be shy. I'm sure there are   00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:19.560 things that you heard in Nic's presentation  that you may not have known before. Um,   00:28:19.560 --> 00:28:24.840 so we would definitely like for you guys to, uh,  present us with any questions, um, as possible. 00:28:26.280 --> 00:28:30.780 You think it was great, Nic, when you touched  upon like the software development life cycle.   00:28:30.780 --> 00:28:36.300 I'm sure everybody does not know about those  five major points of planning, procurement,   00:28:36.300 --> 00:28:43.260 design, development, and implementation. I think  that was great to be able to point that out to   00:28:43.260 --> 00:28:49.440 folks and know how usability and accessibility  will fit into those different kind of areas.   00:28:50.520 --> 00:28:56.520 Um, the other thing I thought was really great  was when you went over CX because I think it is   00:28:56.520 --> 00:29:02.160 one of those new terms for some folks. So a lot  of people don't really know what CX really is,   00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:08.640 the kind of the buzzword knowing that his  user experience, accessibility, and usability. 00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:13.740 I don't know, can you touch on that a little  bit more? Um, just making it more, I guess,   00:29:13.740 --> 00:29:18.900 easier for people to kind of understand  how all those pieces will work together in   00:29:18.900 --> 00:29:23.640 Tangent? I know you did already, but just  for those who may not understand fully. 00:29:23.640 --> 00:29:28.440 So here's the thing. Uh, what we take  for granted is that when people go off   00:29:28.440 --> 00:29:32.040 to college or trade schools or  whatnot, they learn how to code,   00:29:32.940 --> 00:29:40.020 but a lot of times, they don't learn what  good design is. And when you go off to take   00:29:40.560 --> 00:29:48.240 usability, sorry, um, user interface design  training, UI, and you're looking at that sort   00:29:48.240 --> 00:29:53.940 of stuff, you're taught: how do I make this  to be a beautiful interface because I want to   00:29:53.940 --> 00:30:00.180 get the eyeballs on my product? And some of those  things that you're taught are counter-intuitive to   00:30:00.180 --> 00:30:05.100 accessibility and also to counter-intuitive  to overall good customer experience. 00:30:05.880 --> 00:30:10.200 So when we think about a customer's  experience, we are thinking about the   00:30:10.200 --> 00:30:15.240 human being themselves. We're looking at: how  do you build a product that allows someone to   00:30:15.240 --> 00:30:20.460 quickly get the information they want, ignore  the information that they don't want, and   00:30:21.240 --> 00:30:27.000 get eyeballs onto the product and then off  of the product, right? Some of these groups   00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:31.860 out there make a lot of money by holding  your attention for a long period of time,   00:30:31.860 --> 00:30:39.360 so they may have purposely a bad user interface or  bad way of of getting you on and off the product. 00:30:39.360 --> 00:30:44.580 Here at DHS, we're very mindful  because, as they say, time is money,   00:30:44.580 --> 00:30:48.360 and I don't want to be broke, right? So,  we want to make sure that we put a good   00:30:48.360 --> 00:30:52.800 focus that allows people to quickly get  what they want and then move on with the   00:30:52.800 --> 00:30:56.820 rest of their day. And that's what the  entire customer experience approach is. 00:30:58.020 --> 00:31:01.140 Excellent, thank you very much for that response. 00:31:01.140 --> 00:31:04.680 I do have a question from Patty, um, and I'm  not sure if you're going to be able to answer   00:31:04.680 --> 00:31:12.300 this one or not. What is the starting point for  human resources creating or accessing funding of   00:31:12.300 --> 00:31:16.500 reasonable accommodations? I guess for reasonable  accommodations, which of course we provide,   00:31:16.500 --> 00:31:23.700 so that really often depends on what component  you're with or with agency you're with. Some of   00:31:23.700 --> 00:31:29.220 them will start with, you go to your supervisor,  you explain to them that you are requesting a   00:31:29.220 --> 00:31:33.900 reasonable accommodation. At that point in time, a  reasonable accommodation request can be completed   00:31:33.900 --> 00:31:39.720 on your behalf or created on your behalf, and then  depending on what you need, right? It could be a   00:31:39.720 --> 00:31:44.280 high-tech or low-tech solution, or maybe it's  an accommodation of being work from home. That   00:31:44.280 --> 00:31:49.800 information of what that accessibility is going to  be will then be made with you in mind. How it gets   00:31:49.800 --> 00:31:54.660 covered, sometimes it could be within a global  fund depending on the agency, sometimes it's   00:31:54.660 --> 00:32:00.060 paid for directly by the office, but a lot of that  you need to really rely on whoever is the person   00:32:00.060 --> 00:32:04.260 who's supporting your reasonable accommodations  because they all have the best answer for that. 00:32:05.220 --> 00:32:11.820 Excellent, we have another question from Eric  Smith, um. Hi, Nicshan, thank you for outlining   00:32:11.820 --> 00:32:17.340 the course availability. Other courses you  listed, which would apply to SharePoint? 00:32:17.340 --> 00:32:24.060 Thank you, Eric. So at this point in time, we  don't have anything just directly for SharePoint,   00:32:24.060 --> 00:32:28.140 but what I will say is that if you go through  the electronic content document courses,   00:32:28.140 --> 00:32:32.520 you'll see that a lot of the techniques  that you would apply, for instance,   00:32:32.520 --> 00:32:37.980 understanding what good alternative text is and  how to create good alternative text directly,   00:32:37.980 --> 00:32:43.560 plus to any kind of platform. We know that people  are utilizing SharePoint, but they're also using   00:32:43.560 --> 00:32:49.560 Google Docs and various other platforms as well.  So some of these things you take in generality,   00:32:49.560 --> 00:32:56.400 in generality, and then you figure out, okay,  what does my particular tool that I'm using   00:32:56.400 --> 00:33:02.160 support, and then how do I build in that  accessibility using my tool's functionality? 00:33:04.020 --> 00:33:06.840 Very good, very good. Let me see,  we're starting to get the question   00:33:06.840 --> 00:33:10.560 starting to come in here, and  we have like one minute left,   00:33:11.340 --> 00:33:16.920 um. Will there be modifications to  the Trusted Tester certification? Um. 00:33:16.920 --> 00:33:21.540 So, great question. We are actually in the  process of revamping the entire Trusted   00:33:21.540 --> 00:33:27.840 Tester certification course now. We wanted to  make it more user friendly and make it where   00:33:27.840 --> 00:33:33.060 it's less time to go through it and it's more  comprehensible. So my team tells me that we're   00:33:33.060 --> 00:33:37.980 going to be doing a soft launch in about two  months, two to three months, and have it fully   00:33:37.980 --> 00:33:43.800 available to everyone, I believe by February  is our targeted goal. And what, what we mean by   00:33:43.800 --> 00:33:49.980 soft launch is that we restrict it to two to three  hundred people per month and then we spanned out.   00:33:49.980 --> 00:33:57.540 I think at this time we have almost 4,500,  uh, certified level 5.0 Trusted Testers,   00:33:57.540 --> 00:34:03.900 and the course that's being revamped is going to  be considered Trusted Tester 5.1.1 because it's   00:34:03.900 --> 00:34:10.080 going to be predicated on new guidance from the  access board or clarifications of those standards. 00:34:10.080 --> 00:34:15.120 Very good. I have one last question for you,  um, because we're running out of time here,   00:34:15.120 --> 00:34:22.500 but this comes from Sandra McMurray. I have read  and heard over and over the websites must meet   00:34:22.500 --> 00:34:31.620 all A and AA WCAG requirements. It is "all or  nothing", if one thing fails testing then this   00:34:31.620 --> 00:34:38.580 site is not compliant. As someone who has been in  the I.T. field since 1982, I know there simply is   00:34:38.580 --> 00:34:48.300 not a way possible to be 100% bug free. I'm a 508  tester with my DHS Trusted Tester certification. I   00:34:48.300 --> 00:34:54.300 love to be able to test a website and have it to  be 100% compliant, but I know that is impossible   00:34:55.320 --> 00:35:02.040 with the level of complication in websites in  this day and age. What are your thoughts on this? 00:35:03.060 --> 00:35:09.000 So, I don't like the words impossible. What I  like to say is that things can be challenging   00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:14.400 because where there's a well, there's a way.  If I created a web page that was just text,   00:35:14.400 --> 00:35:19.320 block text or white background, I just created  something that's 100% accessible. Now, what I like   00:35:19.320 --> 00:35:25.140 to look at that? Absolutely not. So what you want  to be able to do as a Trusted Testers, first off,   00:35:25.140 --> 00:35:31.080 make sure they, you have a full understanding of  the test conditions and you're testing accurately   00:35:31.080 --> 00:35:37.500 because sometimes there's interpretations, right?  Also, look at your tool that you're utilizing. So   00:35:37.500 --> 00:35:41.640 when we do automated testing, that's going to  capture about 20% or 30%, but there's still   00:35:41.640 --> 00:35:46.200 that visual verification that has to happen.  So you want to confirm like, is this truly a   00:35:46.200 --> 00:35:51.180 failure or not? And then if it's something  is a failure, what is the overall impact?   00:35:51.840 --> 00:35:57.300 Sometimes it's like, you fall, fell, fell because  you may have tiny little ellipsis in the bottom of   00:35:57.300 --> 00:36:01.980 the screen, and it's gonna say the color contrast  is not great. Now, are those tiny little ellipses   00:36:01.980 --> 00:36:06.420 that convey absolutely no information, it  may not even have full functionality for you?   00:36:07.020 --> 00:36:10.560 Gonna keep someone for me to get  the main information off your site?   00:36:10.560 --> 00:36:15.480 Absolutely not. But should that sort of thing  be addressed, it could, it easily be addressed,   00:36:15.480 --> 00:36:20.460 absolutely. So you want to make sure that you have  a full understanding of what those failures are,   00:36:20.460 --> 00:36:26.580 focus on fixing those critical failures that will  prevent someone from being fully interact with   00:36:26.580 --> 00:36:31.440 that site, and then look at some of those more  minor things, and then make a note on the site,   00:36:32.340 --> 00:36:36.480 um, so if someone does run into a challenge, they  have someone they can reach out to and get help. 00:36:37.080 --> 00:36:42.000 Excellent, excellent. Well, thank you, thank you  again, Nic. We really appreciate your presentation   00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:46.500 and answering those questions. I know that  those questions were coming in hot and heavy   00:36:46.500 --> 00:36:53.640 towards the end. We definitely will do our best to  provide you guys with all love with your responses   00:36:53.640 --> 00:36:58.560 to your questions. At this time, we are going to  take a break, um, so we're going to take about a   00:36:58.560 --> 00:37:04.740 15-minute break, and then we're going to come back  with our next presentation, um. Please continue   00:37:04.740 --> 00:37:11.640 to put your questions or comments or concerns in  the chat with any technical issues, and we'll try   00:37:11.640 --> 00:37:17.160 to get back and fix those as soon as possible.  All right, guys, we'll be back soon. Thank you.