Thursday Threads: Website Accessibility Reporting Service and Remixes in Film

This week's DLTJ Thursday Threads has just two pointers. First, a new volunteer web service to report problems with websites, which may be useful for not only our own sites but for the sites our patrons visit. Second, a nine-minute video that illustrates the reuse of themes and ideas in motion pictures across time.

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Addressing Accessibility, from Fix the Web

Web accessibility is not improving very quickly despite the efforts of many experts. The scale of the problem is huge and there is a need for culture change amongst web developers and website owners.

Our solution is to make it super easy for disabled and older people to report problems with websites. Volunteers do the work of contacting the website owners and signposting them to support. In doing this work, volunteers will understand more about e-accessibility for themselves, as well as giving crucial information to website owners. Everybody wins!

Details of how the process works are explained for the different roles (volunteering and issue reporter) and in the FAQs.

You can get involved in three different ways:

1. Report issues you are having with websites.
2. Volunteer to help liaise with website owners.
3. Support the development of the project: contact the coordinator.

This project intersects with libraries in two ways. First, we must make sure our websites are available to all populations -- including users browsing the web with alternate (large screen, color neutral, and/or audio-driven) browsers. (If this intersection is of interest to you, then check out the 1-hour webinar from Infopeople on an ADA Update: Revised Regulations for Disability Accommodations for the Public.) The second place it might intersect with libraries is assisting patrons browsing the web. Although reporting a site won't fix it for that patron, if it is a common site for your patrons then reporting the issue will engage a group of volunteers that can help site owners fix the accessibility problems.

Everything is a Remix Part 2

An exploration of the remix techniques involved in producing films. Part Two of a four-part series.

Where did George Lucas get ideas for Star Wars? Watch this 9 minute video that shows side-by-side comparisons of Star Wars with movies that the creator of this video says were Lucas' sources. The creator also describes other examples of ideas and images are drawn through film. This video is the second part (and latest available) of an eventual four-part series. [Via Ron Murray]

The text was modified to remove a link to http://www.fixtheweb.net/more-about-being-volunteer on June 9th, 2011.