Meeting Minutes: February 20, 2014

Present

  • Stephen Blosser, Chair
  • Graham Pierce, Vice Chair; Webmaster
  • Al Puzzuoli, Digital Communications Coordinator
  • Jiatyan Chen
  • Nate Evans
  • Paul Heberlein
  • Michael Hudson
  • James Jackson
  • Ranti Junus
  • Rajeev Krishnan
  • Raman Padmanabhan
  • Todd Ring
  • Angela Sebald

Minutes

  1. Blosser called meeting to order at 3:00 PM
  2. Brian Vernon, Vice President of Sales, and Chris Alechko, Project Manager, Discover Technologies gave a remote web/speaker phone presentation on an accessible interface to SharePoint.
    • According to Raman Padmanabhan, MSU is currently using SharePoint 2007 Enterprise Business System, and plans to implement SharePoint 2013 in May. The version currently in use has many problems, and the new version will be hosted at MSU.
    • Brian Vernon stated that a paper has been written about transitioning from SharePoint 2007 to 2013 and that he will send it to Raman.
    • Discover Technologies is a small company in Virginia with a large contract with the Food and Drug Administration to roll out SharePoint to 17,000 users. While SharePoint reportedly achieves 508 compliance, it was that that it is not usable for blind and visually-impaired individuals. The FDA, with multiple blind and visually impaired users, wanted something usable for all workers.
    • Discover 508 for SharePoint is designed to provide blind and visually impaired users with the same collaborative experience that SharePoint offers sighted users.
    • A typical SharePoint screen has a calendar, document library, testing tasks, quick launch, etc., and a screen reader has difficulty navigating through them properly and understandably. Al Puzzoli asked whether headings can be used to navigate, and Chris replied that they could not, and that there was no easy way to navigate with the out of the box version of SharePoint. Michael Hudson asked whether SharePoint must be accessed via web browser, and Chris confirmed that that was the only way to access it.
    • AFB is completing a report on all the problems with the out of the box version of SharePoint and comparing it to the Discover solution. Some of the problems in the out-of-the-box version include multiple popup windows, a confusing ribbon menu, and unintuitive calendars.
    • Discover kept all content the same and didn't touch any of the master pages in SharePoint, and provides an alternative view of the content. Everything is presented in a left-aligned column, all headings are correctly tagged, etc. The product provides WCAG 2.0 compliance, consistent navigation, navigation breadcrumbs, simplified calendars, administrative functions, and single-page search results. It also stores user preferences.
    • Demonstration
      • Discover software activated by turning on accessibility mode.
      • Headings are appropriately set up. All forms are accessible. Can easily go back and forth between accessibility mode and default UI. Breadcrumb trail allows you to know exactly where you are. Can open documents, view the document details, and perform simple file uploads. After file upload, a success screen has been added to confirm whether or not it worked. When in calendar mode, you don't even need to click on a link to know when the event occurs. Access to videos preserved, search function is easier to use, and calendar can be connected to Outlook.
    • Cost: Multiple licensing models. On-premise model: Cost based on number of web front-ends or users. Individual licensing also available.
    • Raman asked how the product would be installed. Informed that you install the Discover product as an app on top of an existing SharePoint 2013 installation.
    • James Jackson asked about data/research on users with cognitive impairments (mentioned earlier in presentation), and the types of impairments that the data applies to. Informed that Discover continues to get feedback from FDA, and that users there were satisfied with the product, including those using ZoomText.
    • Asked about the smallest possible implementation of this product, and informed that it would be a one-user license on a subscription basis at $12,000 a year. Graham Pierce asked about cost to deploy to all faculty and staff at MSU (approx. 11,500 users). Informed that a follow-up phone conversation would be needed to determine environment and potential number of users, and that there may be a discount for early adopters and educational institutions.
    • Asked whether there are other customers that MSU could speak to about their experiences with the product. Informed that there are none (other than the FDA) at this point, but that there would likely be som in the month. FDA could be contacted.
    • Discover will follow up with Raman about the complexity of the system and with Stephen regardling price. Al should be able to test product.
    • Zimbra noted as an equivalent to SharePoint.
  3. Request for auditing/reporting software
    • Jiatyan Chen presented request for TLE funds to assist MSU in becoming WCAG 2.0 compliant. Website auditing software discussed.
    • Jiatyen indicated that such software provides a list of violations that will cover a large domain. She looked up two companies, but was unable to reach sales reps.
    • Jiatyen suggested that software would be useful for web developers and webmasters to help in getting sites compliant, and could allow fast audit of large sites to determine what pages/areas need focus.
    • Deque quoted 100,000 pages per year, unlimited users, $54,000 for a one-year subscription. We would need continuous funding for three years.
    • It was noted that all software is extremely limited in ability to detect accessibility violations, and may give false impression of accessibility. Manual accessibility evaluations are the only method to determine compliance. Stephen asked whether we could research it further before asking for funds. Michael noted that MSU used to have a similar system, but that it wasn't very effective.
    • James noted that all auditing software will have a particular interpretation of accessibility rules.
    • Given the cost, it was suggested that student could be hired to check pages more thoroughly instead of using auditing software.
    • Computer scanning advantage would be quick and would get the results in a rapid manner, but would not prodive thorough assessment of accesibility.
  4. The meeting was adjourned (Pierce) at 4:45 PM

Respectfully submitted,
Angela Sebald, Recording Secretary