Time for digital inclusion at scale

A response and my resilience and determination to educate and share knowledge after my work being described as ‘the Helen Wilson accessibility show’. My hard work has been described as a conflict of interest with my job, accessibility isn’t my job as a web designer and developer, presenting described as self promotion, and me wanting to learn outside work time by joining communities of practice and making contacts on LinkedIn described as against my workplace code of conduct.  None of which are true having checked with HR, but my line manager thinks so. So, if they don’t want my knowledge and dedication I will focus my energy, efforts and passion elsewhere.  Creating a model for education and the curriculum, back to my happy place within the educational community: Infographic poster or website info: CreateABLE 360??? is a starting point for digital inclusion that everyone can refer to and adopt.   1 Anyone who creates anything on a computer can follow these simple tips to...

 So we went to the MJ Awards and in both categories that SCULPT was in it won a ‘highly commended’ award (e.g. runner up/second place). The categories were Innovation in diversity and inclusion and Workforce transformation. What a fantastic day and more to come with the LGC awards coming in January where again the SCULPT model is a finalists. The other interesting thing is I presented to a colleague  my new SCULPT model that’s developing to include some basic awareness and principles beyond document accessibility, exciting times.

 This is a great set of questions or expectations for a submission for research funding from: https://ufi.co.uk/grant-funding/voctech-seed/ I can’t apply for that funding and I know my workplace definitely wouldn’t, but what a great structure for an article or paper. Thanks to Alistair McNaught for this information. “We’re looking for projects that have the potential to transform how vocational learning happens; projects that are rooted in a real world understanding of the needs of the workforce.”   “Have you got evidence to show that your proposed project addresses a real-world, proven problem faced by learners or their teachers/trainers?” “We want you to tell us how you know that this is a problem. What evidence have you got from  learners, employers or teachers/trainers? Show us how you know. Are there recent surveys or statistics that strengthen your case?”

 Interesting week so far but at last some clarity that has enabled me to focus on what I need to do.  Without clear communications, expectations and boundaries it’s never clear how far you can go, what needs to be a priority and clear vision for the longer term future and plans. It’s not changed my ambition but has made me realise what I can do, what order I can do it in and what little projects I can organise for myself. The first thing is to think about my IAAP qualification, where I can publish about the need for basic digital accessibility skills and then plan longer term, maybe for a PHD (subject to health). Things to do: I have developed the model of SCULPT further in my own time that I will ask if I can explore with others in my personal reset community for feedback in my own time. I will put it on my site for review and development but ‘ask permission’ to do that. Make my website somewhere I’m allowed to publish on. I will plan for the IAAP qualification, get content t...

  https://sketchplanations.com/blooms-taxonomy This website has a great sketch to explain Blooms Taxonomy. Knowledge  Understanding  Application  Analyse  Evaluate  Create It’s a great model to demonstrate what’s happening in digital accessibility at the moment. People come to digital accessibility often at the higher level of blooms and are overwhelmed by it. Google is littered with information to analyse, strategise and create accessible content often then driven by compliance.  The real learning happens at the start to understand why, and I don’t mean the big why, I mean the user experience. Understanding where it fits with your existing knowledge or skills, understanding the impact of new ones helps you apply it properly. These are the basics to embed. Only then is it about applying digital inclusion in the right way to understand the impact. There is a great video by Dax Castro that demonstrates a document that is ‘compliant’ but is actually poor ...

 So yesterday I travelled to London to do a presentation for the LGC Awards. I went with my colleague who I always enjoy bouncing ideas off. We talked about both the EAST framework and how the SCULPT model aligns to it https://claremontcomms.com/2019/09/east-the-four-things-you-need-to-know-about-behavioural-insights/ We also went through the implementation model of bridging the chasm, the technology adoption lifecycle, again very relevant to our journey. https://www.parkersoftware.com/blog/in-a-nutshell-the-technology-adoption-lifecycle-and-crossing-the-chasm/ Although SCULPT isn’t a technology it certainly is a new set of technological skills and way of working. We spent so much time travelling for such a short presentation with questions at the end, a whole total of 25 minutes. It did make us chuckle that in the age of technology, and our award being for ‘digital impact’ it was a strange irony that we had to travel that far.  But actually we did feel very positive and accom...

  In 2017 I had a vision of educating a workforce to make inclusive documents so my colleague and others like her could do their job without barriers. After research outside as well as inside work I came up with SCULPT for Accessibility. This was a set of basic principles to underpin awareness and skills for the application of basic accessibility features in documents. These basics can make the fundamental difference between people being able to use your content or not, and by this I mean not just websites, I mean everyday materials. Because of the impact the basics can have SCULPT has become popular and recognised nationally as a great introductory way to train and make people aware of the underlying principles of accessibility.  It was adopted first by Worcestershire County Council in early 2020 and was later made a mandatory skills model in April 2021 for the entire workforce. It was also shared as a good practice model with the wider community. Due to its welcomed simplici...

  AIM:  To inform and develop a national awareness and digital skills update for digital inclusion   OBJECTIVES: 1, Review the success and limitations of the current SCULPT model and develop it to cover the wider remit of all main basic accessibility principles (to ensure it is a model that can underpin early basic awareness at scale with no limitations) (collaborate with major peers and end users/ input from other research - eg Southampton /JISC/workshops/ Socitm/events/feedback) 2, Pilot and review a newly developed/refined skills framework in a range of different settings to cover the main basic principles for awareness of digital accessibility and inclusion (action research cycle to evaluate, improve  and refine ideas and delivery) - gov/business/teacher education/students  3, Evidence any impact it can have on awareness and the application of skills  4, Make recommendations on the introduction of these skills as a national framework or mandatory need...

 So it’s Thursday bank holiday for the jubilee and I’m sat out in the sunshine with a coffee. It’s going to be a scorcher today (hopefully) but what I do know is that my brain is fried, it’s been a heavy week of working things out and working things through. I’ve pretty much got my aims, objectives and methods planned for my next phase of SCULPT research and development. I also have some very esteemed professionals on board for the ride watching and waiting to get fully involved, very exciting times. Some of the conversations I’ve had this week with those I admire in their field have been so useful and inspiring. So I’m going to switch off for the weekend (we’ll as best as my whirring mind can) and enjoy a long bank holiday.