BS 8878: article and Oxford Geek Night talk
Last night I went to the Oxford Geek Night, which was fab and really well attended.
I gave a five minute micro talk called BS 8878 the new British Standard for accessibility (accessible PDF, 155K) to encourage people to read and comment on the draft before the 1 February deadline.
It seemed to go well although I exceeded my time; thanks for listening, everyone. A 7 minute video was made.
What the slides don’t show (but the video does) is the reason why you might volunteer to comment on the draft in your own time, without acknowledgment, so the BSI can sell the end result. It’s the same reason as I participated in the drafting committee; it’s right to help make sure that the standard guarantees a good experience for disabled people, and it’s better to be in the process to ensure a useful end-result than not get involved and then have clients ask you to adhere to a standard which is bonkers.
I also discuss BS 8878 in my monthly column that I wrote for ZDnet called 2009: The year websites become accessible to all.
4 Responses to “ BS 8878: article and Oxford Geek Night talk ”
You can find more information on the final version of BS 8878 by Jonathan Hassell its lead-author at http://www.hassellinclusion.com/bs8878/
The page includes a powerpoint summary of the Standard, the latest news on the experiences of organisations which are implementing it, links to the BS 8878 community where you can ask questions about the standard, and links to tools and training.
Really interested in BS 8878! Enjoyed your talk last night!