Over the past few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to be interviewed by the WaSP’s Education Task Force. It was a delightful experience, and I’m humbled to have been considered for this process.
I, and my group at Notre Dame, are proud of what we have accomplished in our short tenure, but are more excited about the limitless work that is to come. We understand that there is a long way to go. A University as broad as Notre Dame is an endless supply of content. It’s our mission to take that content to the web in the most usable, accessible, and marketable solutions.
I am the Web designer/maintainer for a small university which is affiliated with a larger one and I appreciate reading your interview. I do have a question though: what arguments did you make for the use of Web standards and accessibility? I know the standard arguments but did you use any new ones?
The larger university in my case is in control of our Web servers and the Web policies. The new(ish) manager of the Web site knows nothing about Web standards and in the last couple of years, purchased an MS CMS system and has hired programmers with little to no knowledge of Web standards and Accessibility and they are rebuilding the Web site. The Web master (mistress, actually) (not the manager who is her boss) is an advocate of Web standards and accessibility and she was removed from her position and demoted to a computer lab technician because she fought for Web standards and Accessibility but, obviously, this message was not accepted or appreciated.
I am trying to turn the smaller affiliated university away from the direction that the bigger one is taking but I would like to hear your answer to my questions above for more ammunition for Web standards and accessibility.
Jules: Fortunately we have administrators who support our decisions and don’t micromanage. That’s a big piece of the puzzle. But even so, several real-world cases can be made for standards and accessibility, especially as the government catches on to their benefits.
If nothing else, Jules, we’re hoping that Notre Dame’s choice to move toward Web Standards can be ammunition in itself. Universities are almost never early adopters, and often wait to see where the industry goes, and make their moves long after technology has progressed. We’re hoping to help influence those institutions.
Above all, it takes patience and persistance. Too much aggression by a standards advocate will often cause an equal and opposite reaction. Push slowly and consitantly, and change will come. It just takes time.
Right on Steve. This is definitely ammunition in and of itself. If an organization such as Notre Dame can be this progressive then what’s to stop equal size/status universities/schools from doing the same — they certainly don’t want to be one-upped by Notre Dame I’m sure.
There are a growing number of large institutions, educational or otherwise, adopting standards. As their stories are shared, it will be easier to justify the change. For instance, there was the 2GB/day bandwidth savings for ESPN.com when they switched to a standards-based build. Stories like this are excellent fuel for the fire. Good job, Steve.
2TB/day, rather… 2000GB/day.
Thanks Steve! I have tried not to be too agressive but I have always wanted to be certain that the listener hears my message and understands my enthusiasm. I don’t want the conversation to be:
The site should follow Web Standards
I don’t think it’s necessary.
Oh, ok.
I would rather the conversation be a bit stronger than that but not over the top.
Thanks for the encouragement, both in words and by your example.
It’s really great what WaSP is doing. Good work here from what I can tell and I think there’s a lot of future in the WaSP. Nice interview!
It’s great to see other universities making web standards and accessibility requirements for their sites. Even better when those sites look good too. Very nice work.
great team great work!