10 votes
I disagreeRank28
Idea#45
If regulation is the "stick", then perhaps awards are the "carrot." It would not be right to give awards for mere compliance, but what about awards for innovative solutions, program excellence, fewest complaints, most improvement...?
Tags: compliance awards
Forgot to mention: Two examples come to mind. One is the Better Connected program in the UK, which rates government websites, including "league tables" of comparative rankings. When I looked at this program several years ago, they were reporting that they had to update their metrics because of overall improvement in sites. The second example is a citizen-led awards program, the ClearMarks (and WonderMarks) from the Center for Plain Language.
Whitney:
I love this idea. I've asked for this many times from agencies, and haven't gotten any traction. The reason I like this is b/c takes a positive slant, and gives the software vendor a little bit of marketing that they can use when competing with other contracts.
How about posting a report card on how agencies are doing? Perhaps create a bit of healthy competition.
Read the background materials. A publicly transparent evaluation of the agencies is being proposed. In addition, the Federal CIO Council's Accessibility Committee has forwarded suggested Metrics, but they are either incomplete or lack specificity. They also point to the Accessibility Best Practice Library that defines metrics and measures. Many of their recommendations do not follow the definition of Metrics in the Best Practice Library, so perhaps they are looking to IdeaScale to flesh out the specifics. Use the Table of Contents to better understand what is being proposed and what feedback is being sought:
http://section508.ideascale.com/a/pages/contents
Visit the Best Practice Library section on Metrics too:
This is information on how each agency is performing relative to including Section 508 language in their procurements. Over 50% of procurements government wide are non-compliant.
Awards are ok, but, to me, if I can win an industry award that isn't sponsored by the govt. and where I'm competing against Non-508 commercial sites, and I win with a govt. site--that's really a win and proves that implementing 508 need not compromise design or function.
Dee, So it sounds like you are saying that competitions are useful in showing that you can do excellent work. If there are industry awards that consider accessibility, that's great. I know that in some agencies there is a lot of interest in showcasing excellent work through awards. It's an imperfect tool (as so many are), but if there was a way to acknowledge and honor people in agencies and projects that set the bar for excellence, that might provide an added incentive.
Awards are good for public web sites, but are impractical for the many government agencies that are on closed, secure networks. There are many of these, and they can be extremely large. Accessibility is just as important as the government is a huge employer of persons with a wide range of disabilities. However, everyone seems to forget these agencies/users exist when it comes to deciding how to implement accessibility standards. Outsiders can't come in to verify compliance. The general public won't ever see these sites and file complaints. And even though there are policies in place, there's no system internal to these agencies to deal with compliance, training, or even basic awareness.
Awards may encourage more vendors to consider accessibility and usability during development. A stamp of approval from the government, like the good housekeeping approval, would encourge more vendors to think along the lines of accessibility.
Just a quick caveat: In my previous agency, I was informed by the EEO office that lack of complaints could be a negative, not a cause for celebration. The explanation for a lack of complaints was individuals did not believe the agency would act fairly on their complaint. So, in fact, a lack of complaints could hide a greater problem.
Exactly! Innovation rather than STANDARDIZATION! Standardization is not inclusive and is "exclusive." Systems have functioned by means of standardized methods for years and this is what has created challenges for those individuals that have tried to fit into those systems. Thank YOU!
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