Meeting Minutes: November 6, 2014

Present

  • Stephen Blosser, Chair
  • Graham Pierce, Vice Chair; Webmaster
  • Al Puzzuoli, Digital Communications Coordinator
  • Liza Reynolds, Recording Secretary
  • Janice Crosswhite
  • Amanda Dassance
  • Dave Goodrich
  • Deborah Margohs
  • Dennis Seybert
  • Ginger Martz
  • James White
  • Matt Gosselin
  • Mike Ezzo
  • Paul Heberlein
  • Steve Jowett
  • Tyler Smeltekop

Minutes

  1. Blosser called meeting to order at 3:00 PM
  2. Discussion of importance of advising CIO on how to make the university more accessible by giving her recommendations to make appropriate purchases
    • Issue of departments and faculty purchasing books, software, etc. and then discovering that they are inaccessible
    • Blosser invited staff from Purchasing to discuss situation and possibilities
    • EBS was supposed to be accessible but it was never fully evaluated prior to being purchased. Many individuals on campus cannot access these resources and require special accommodations.
  3. Dassance discusses software purchases and captioning RFP
    • Purchasing staff (Dassance, Seybert, Gosselin, and Crosswhite) introduce themselves
    • Dassance discusses how specialized software purchases are made
    • Blosser inquires about the RFP process and status of the captioning RFP
    • The first step in the RFP process is to determine what is needed, and then where the materials need to be sent. Goal is to find as many companies as possible to provide quotes.
    • 42-78 hour turnaround time on captioning (if script is provided)
    • Needs to be awareness in Purchasing of accessibility, including raising the issue with departments looking for software
    • Can ask company for a demo and ask who else uses their software/service. Can ask for test systems to see if it meets needs, etc.
    • RCPD does not have the resources to make all classes that include students with disabilities accessible. Professors should be doing this ahead of time.
    • Departments are unlikely to have sufficient expertise to make decisions on accessibility. Without an evaluation, we don't know what we are getting and course-related purchases end up at the RCPD to be remediated.
    • Dassance states if there is an awareness in Purchasing that accessibility needs to be built into the software they can ask the questions, but they are not experts on it
    • Blosser suggests the ATC could help provide some expertise to Purchasing
    • Crossway suggests creating a written requirement for the product and Purchasing can apply it to every product and address the departments and professors
    • Suggestion that the CIO put up money for evaluation of accessibility
    • Create a draft that makes sure all purchases meet Section 508 and WCAG 2.0 standards
    • Purchasing staff not aware of the MSU Web Accessibility Policy
    • Some software will not go through RFP process, but education of Purchasing staff will help them ask the right questions of suppliers
    • Vote that this be something we put into our recommendations
    • What are the penalties for not meeting accessibility policies?
      • Individuals (potentially assisted by external organizations) may launch lawsuits against the university
      • Certain violations carry mandatory penaltiees (some as high as $10,000/day per incident)
    • Ezzo drafted accessibility boilerplate language for contracts, and offered to have it used as a starting place for the ATC's recommendation to Purchasing
    • Ezzo will send text to ATC listserv, Pierce will forward to Web Accessibility Working Group
  4. Jowett discussed accessible classrooms and having someone come to ATC to talk about them in future meeting
    • Discussed wireless limitations, and impact on students with disabilities that need access for accomodations
    • Discussed Listen amplification system and possibility of a demo
    • As classrooms get built they are looking for accessibility options for students
    • Blosser suggested that the ATC can recommend Listen for the classrooms
    • Martz asked if we had encoder on campus would we ever use it? Costs $8,500 but could be used at Wharton, Breslin, Auditorium, and in classrooms. Would need to be designated for the classroom and special events on the side.
  5. Blosser will email a draft letter to Joanna Young to the ATC group that some members have been working on
  6. The meeting was adjourned (Pierce) at 4:30 PM

Respectfully submitted,
Liza R. Reynolds, Recording Secretary