Dec 14
User accessibility is crucial for social media sites that want to stay successful. Now Twitter is risking its future by not taking accessibility seriously. Read more.
This article was first published in newmatilda.com on the 1 Dec 2009.
New Matilda provides coverage of Australian politics, business, consumerism, civil society, international affairs, media and culture.
7 July 2005 – The day of the London Bombings. Tragedy struck that day. A city thrown into chaos. Systems shut down, media isolation and communication blackouts. Sky News and The BBC were racing to the scene for the first picture, the first interview, but they were held back. Roads were closed and access restricted. First-hand news was therefore limited at best, dangerous at worst. But this is where the magic of the web came into play. At the time of the first bomb, almost within a minute of the first detonation, somebody, somewhere created a new Wikipedia entry. Others came to the table. Office workers sat at their desk, people working on laptops outside of coffee shops and folk simply walking by on their mobile phones. People were contributing. Many people were contributing. They all brought a piece of information to the puzzle. Communication was no longer controlled by the media gatekeepers but by all of us. Sky News and The BBC were referring to Wikipedia for up to one hour after the attack had happened.
And then this. A creative light somewhere put together a time lapse of the pages history from the time of the first bomb to some days and weeks later. The result is quite phenomenal. The day I came across this clip was the day I woke to the real magic of the web. I suddenly realised that the Internet was no longer a mysterious place reserved for the geeks in the computer lab. Everyone was contributing, and how! The level of detail now found on the 7 July wiki page is a testament to the creative ability and diligence of us all.
But then we start to ask the big questions like what motivates people? Why do people give up their evenings and weekends to do something that never pays back? Quite simply, why bother? Initially I was thinking about those folk who point a camera at every Simpson’s episode (or similar) and upload the content to YouTube. What is their reward? Perhaps these are the real revolutionaries – leading the charge against the media oligarchs. The other contributors motivations are perhaps more understandable – the creatives. The producers of film, photos, writing and systems code. If I open up flickr (a popular photo sharing website) I can see that 3,773 photographs have been uploaded in the last minute. We are moving towards the era of ‘Gift‘ in which the exchange of objects between groups builds relationships between them or ‘The Gift‘ economy – the obligation to give, the obligation to accept, and the obligation to reciprocate.
It also likely that any online effort is about building reputation capital, to coin a phrase. I found it quite interesting to read that twitter paid $6 to the designer of the bird graphic – Simon Oxley. It was simply sourced from the web using iStock Photo. An unfair exchange some might say given the success of the global tweet, but I wouldn’t bet against Simon offered a whole host of lucrative design projects. His reputation enhanced, the riches and work will follow.
Building reputation capital takes time and effort. It is not necessarily the contribution, but the contextual detail that sits around it. The title, the tags, the location, and the submission to groups and search engines. This aspect is important to the creator. Their content needs to be found and it is their responsibility to make that happen. It is only when the content gets some traction, an audience, do others want to contribute. People will add comments, new tags and possibly even improve the original media object. They will be sufficiently motivated to do so. They associate themselves to the successful entity.
I think we can take two things from this whirlwind tour of the web:
At Media Access Australia we would promote 1 over 2, but if 2 helps deliver 1 then all the better. Our ambition is to make all media accessible to all audiences at the point of delivery.
More on 1 – Owner Responsibility …
Translating audio and video files into text transcriptions is a resource intensive and time-consuming task. This is the challenge but one we can overcome. Firstly, it is in the interest of the organisation to transcribe their content. Outside of the accessibility agenda, text is easier to scan. We can learn more and we can learn quicker. Audio and video is a powerful source but it is a slow medium to consume. Transcripts improve the user experience. Text can also be read by spiders and search engines. As we mentioned before, the contextual detail is complete and searchable. Traffic is increased. The content has more influence.
‘Doing it for ourselves’ is one option, but invariably technology is often coming up alongside us offering a helping hand. I came across SpinVox – a company that can take spoken words and feed them into a Voice Message Conversion System. This technology has initially been adopted to translate voicemail messages into simple text messages, but there are rumblings that the technology will be adopted elsewhere. More here.
We can also look to mass media and the technologies adopted by the BBC and the ABC. Perfect voice recognition is some way off, possibly 40 years or more, possibly? By perfect, we mean taking multiple audio channels and picking out the spoken word. For example, a travel show where the presenter is driving in a jeep through the Serengeti. There is the sound of the engine, passengers, and even the sound of a distant elephant. This confuses the voice recognition software. Having said that, organisations like the ABC have adopted speech recognition for single voice broadcasting like news bulletins, sports events and live entertainment shows. Occasionally the subtitling feed is delayed by a few seconds as someone respeaks or corrects what is being broadcast. A trick that could be employed on the web in particular podcasts where the audio is often single track or single voice.
More on 2 – Crowdsourcing …
OhNoRobot.com is designed especially for web comics. Like audio and video, there is no textual information around comic books so search engines are unable to find this creative work. The comic book writer looses their audience. To overcome this problem OhNoRobot allowed readers, as well as the comic book writers themselves to transcribe the text and make it searchable. They offer a button that says ‘help transcribe’ or ‘improve transcription’. Like the Wikipedia example cited before OhNoRobot is inviting contributions from those who have their own motivations for doing so.
OhNoRobot is one example, but perhaps a better one is TED. TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. A stage where leaders in their respective field of thought can promote their unique ideas for the future. The site maintains over 500 talks that are available through video, and new content is always being added. Producing interactive transcripts for the deaf community and also transcripts for all nationalities is a monster task for a not-for-profit organistion like TED. The costs associated to such an endeavor would be too high. In true TED style, they have not allowed cost to be an excuse for open and accessible content. TED allows for any talk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. The most active translator Anton Hikov has translated over 68 talks. Anton is not alone. There are thousands of volunteers. In the words of TED – “translators donate their time, energy and expertise to share TED Talks with the world. Their generosity and talent allow these ideas to spread”. The process is not difficult as TED provides a simple online interface to translate or review a talk. They also promote the individual behind the translation. They cite the most prolific contributors and they list translators next to each media piece. Reputation Capital is increased for the translator.
I hope to be making contact with TED over the forthcoming weeks and I also hope to learn more about the online translation tool. If this is a simple plug-in then perhaps it can be shared across other media sites including Government 2.0? I will also do some research on the big media players and the voice recognition software they have adopted. Again, hopefully open source!? Another great gift from the magic of the web.
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Article prepared in my role as New Media Coordinator at Media Access Australia.
Originally listed under Gov2, in particular ‘The Vox Pop 2.0 Learning Journey‘. The Government 2.0 Taskforce is being formed against a backdrop of increased interest by governments worldwide in the potential uses of public sector information and online engagement.
Today marked the launch of three months of research into the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme at Leeds City Council.
The project, although still in its infancy, is innovative and potentially transformational. It means that Leeds is engaged in doing more for the same. It is using its corporate resources in more innovative ways to bring about more public good.
The research sought to better understand how CSR (a term commonly associated with the private-sector) was being translated and adopted within a large local authority. In so doing the research concerned itself with two primary themes:
The outputs of the research which include a blog, twitter feed, a series of video interviews and written reports can be accessed here or if you prefer the mashups below will give you a flavour of the activity being undertaking at Leeds City Council.
I recently met with Tom Reynolds at a TALK hosted event in London – Innovation and Transformation
Tom Reynolds is an Emergency Medical Technician for the London Ambulance Service. Most people call him an ‘ambulance driver’. Based in East London he has been writing the blog Random Acts of Reality about his experiences for the past five years.
In this exclusive interview I talk to Tom on a variety of subjects including Generation Y, The Importance of blogging in the Public Sector, Patient Privacy, and what is next for Tom Reynolds himself. Or is it really Tom?
During May 2008 qualitative research was undertaken to better understand why some people who are eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) are not currently claiming the benefit. This involved ethnographic studies in three separate schools in the North-West of England.
If you would like to read the full report then please click here (or left-click and select download).
In broad-terms, cost was the key factor when determining why children were given a packed lunch over school dinners. The meals are £8 per week… “But over a month that equates to £32, and what, if like many parents, you have two, three, or even four children. That equates to £32, £64, £96, or £128 per month. These numbers just aren’t workable” one parent stated. However, such financial considerations must be compared against those on packed lunches where increasing food costs have added an average of £15 onto a family’s weekly supermarket shop.
The broad consensus towards costs also underlines the validity of asking why more parents are not claiming FSM. Alongside other benefits it is estimated that, based on a 40-week school year, a family with a child attending a primary school could be better off by £625 per year. It therefore appears puzzling that whilst financial concerns are paramount there remain a significant number of parents not claiming FSM.
Why are eligible parents or guardians not claiming Free School Meals?
Control: There is a perception that packed lunches enable parents to retain control over their child’s diet. For example, a number of parents stated that they prefer to know what their child eats at school. Such views were reflected in the accounts of school staff that linked the lack of FSM take-up to “new age parenting” and a perception that families have becoming increasingly “fussy eaters”.
Preconceptions: Interestingly, the majority of children on packed lunches would rather eat a school dinner. At one primary school five children who are currently on packed lunches stated that they would prefer to be on school dinners. The study suggests that preconceptions are often strongest amongst parents, and these preconceptions are often negative. “Parents still believe that school meals are about two-heads in the hatch serving up lumpy custard” noted an area supervisor. This was evident as parents often expressed concern over the frequency with which children are given a dessert. However, this particularly preconception could be misplaced. One Head Teacher suggested that there are a lot of good things about the deserts on offer. Many deserts include Apple, Raspberry, or similar, and sugar is part of a balanced diet and children need an element of that also.
Cultural Norms and The Internet: Communication to and from a school tends to revolve around a weekly newsletter, the school office, and direct phone contact. One School Administrator stated “Parents, guardians, and families understand such channels. They are part of the culture”. This does not mean to suggest that the Internet has no role to play, but even for those parents with an awareness of the web, such cultural norms would have to be challenged and possibly used as an introduction to new forms of contact. The research also shed light on an important potential barrier to FSM take-up – Internet accessibility. Parents often explained how they lacked access to the Internet, a dynamic that was stressed in particular by members of the school staff – “I am not sure everyone have access to the Internet, and would they all do it?” and “Parents now have the option to pay online. Up until two months ago we only had one parent who actually paid for school meals online. We now only have two parents paying online”.
Change: The anomaly surrounding the large number of parents not claiming FSM could be accounted for by the fact that a number of parents circumstances change very quickly, and often. For example, one parent went from being unemployed to employed and they believed, rightly or wrongly, that they could no longer claim for a FSM. They did the right thing by sending their child to school with a packed lunch, but then failed to contact the local council and register the change of circumstance. There is a belief that once contacted is made with the school office then the authority is automatically notified. This, however, is not the case.
Peer Influence: The benefit of packed lunches was often associated with the quality and style of the packed lunch boxes themselves. Evidence indicated that children influence one another in terms of the products they bring into the canteen.
Jamie Oliver: Findings also highlighted the impact of campaigns centred on the promotion of healthy eating in schools and, in particular, the role of Jamie Oliver. Amongst a number of comments towards this effect, one food supply manager stated, “The Jamie Oliver did not help our cause in promoting school meals. Jamie’s research team called our offices, but they were looking for the worst of the worst, and they got the worst of the worst”.
Social stigma is often cited as the primary reason for parents and children alike not taking up FSM. Findings in this particular study suggest that in general terms stigma is not an important factor. For example, school staff explained how stigma associated with FSM has diminished greatly in recent years due largely to the number of different payment options that are now available. The system has been reinvented and, in theory, the classroom has no way of knowing who is claiming a FSM and who is not.
How have schools and caterers reacted to the trends put forward?
Each of the three schools showed exemplary thought leadership and innovations towards food in schools.
New Systems: Following on from a new system that promotes choice through a school menu, one school is now looking to tackle the financial pressures that many parents are under. The school aims to establish a system that allows any child to benefit from one, two, or even three school meals per week, with the remaining days spent on packed lunch.
Communication and take-up campaigns: Each school has sought to promote school meals through their weekly newsletter, organising special events, and running cooking and food awareness events, and even offering tasting sessions at parent evenings. Some schools encourage a new intake with offers, for example, buy one school dinner and you will get one free.
Visioning: One school was particularly keen to develop a more innovative approach to the supply of school meals. Dissatisfied with an ‘all time low’ in the numbers of children taking school meals, one Head Teacher has outlined stellar plans to improve quality and ‘achieve 100% school meal take-up’.
Today marks the launch of a year long investigation into what a local authority might look like in the year 2020.
The full report can now be accessed here.
The report presents a collection of challenging ideas and contemporary developments across UK Local Government. Ideas are sourced from within a range of local government projects and from elsewhere too. There is a long list of people who have either directly or indirectly provided inspiration for some of the pieces in this report. These people include Ian Kendrick, Professor Tudor Rickards, David Howard, Tim Hedger and Jack O’Herlihy.
The report first asks how we might think about the future in a meaningful and constructive way, whilst painting a picture of what a local authority may actually look like in the year 2020. Thereafter the report is made up of four sections that pose a number of difficult questions, discussed with creative thinking and bold propositions, and supported from empirical evidence within the TALK community.
The four sections include:
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