Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.
How can I possibly explain the magic of SXSWi? Imagine you are high in the sky with Willy Wonka in the great glass elevator. Anything is possible. Magic is probable. (Sigh) That is how SX feels. What moments took my breath away in 2008? Let me share a few.
Is your web site accessible to people with disabilities? Does it meet federal standards of accessibility? The John Slatin Access U is a two day training institute designed to provide needed accessibility skills to IT professionals. Classes offered at John Slatin Access U will help developers and policy makers create electronic information technology that is accessible to everyone – including people with disabilities. Registration is now open for the 2008 conference, held May 6 and 7 at St. Edwards University in Austin, TX.
The training institute, produced annually by Austin non-profit Knowbility is for anyone with IT responsibilities who believes that the Web should empower all people. World-renowned accessibility experts lead the classes, many of them hands-on, to help promote a better understanding of both the need and the techniques for inclusive IT design. From the basics to the bleeding edge, Access U will provide the resources needed to reach as many people as possible. On May 8th , Derek Featherstone will offer a post-conference session Real World Accessibility for AJAX and Web Apps. You can’t ask for anything better than this!
Today is CSS Naked Day! How can I resist? I’m gettin’ naked by shedding my css and showing nothin’ but deliciously semantic mark-up. Reminds me of when I look in the mirror with no make-up on and love the bare bones me.
Thanks Dustin for this creative way to strip down, while emphasizing the importance of separating content from presentation.
Come on, it doesn’t hurt one bit. Let your design down, just for 24 hours!
Live your life with courage and though you are often afraid, never fail to take that next step forward.
As many of you know, John Slatin passed away last week, and in celebration of how his life has touched so many of us in the accessibility arena a project is being launched that will both honor his memory and assist his family with significant expenses that remain from his long illness. There is a new project designed to help.
The basic idea is this:
Imagine that all of your media devices suddenly and permanently went mute. Would you have access to the information you need? For some, this situation is already a reality. And the current state of captioning is…well…let’s be honest, “Captioning Sucks!”
People with disabilities deserve full access to rich media content. I think captioning is one of the biggest challenges in making content accessible. Oh, don’t get me wrong; captioning is technically easy to do. So, what is the problem? Captioning is time consuming and does not happen auto-magically. How do we fix it? A wonderful starting point is the Open and Closed Project. What is the Open and Closed Project?
My dear friend, John Slatin, will soon pass from this earth. The selfish part of me wants to stop all the clocks right now, so I can race down to Houston and hold his hand one more time. But the wiser part of me, weeps, and knows that my life has been forever changed by knowing this dear, sweet, brilliant man.
How blessed I am to be his colleague and friend. I love you, John Slatin and I won’t let you down. I will continue to be the self-appointed goddess of accessibility for as long as I am on this planet.
Time to go and cry and listen to my Wicked CD cranked all the way up:
I’m counting the moments until SXSWi 2008 begins. Every year holds new adventures like the Bike Hugger Beer & BBQ on Saturday, March 8.
Imagine…free beer, bikers, bbq and the latest buzz on the IE8 Browser…does that sounds like geek heaven, or what?
And, for the true biker, don’t miss the first ever Bike Hugger Urban Ride with stops at REI and the Blanton Museum of Art, with the Bike Hugger Beer BBQ as the final destination.
See you there!
Have you ever stood in front of a work of art and thought, “What is that? I don’t get it.” Then you wander about looking for the label only to discover that it says “Untitled”. Looking at art I sometimes feel as though I’m standing outside an invitation only party and I can’t find my invite. To be fair, my chance to personally connect with the art can often be quite obvious, if only (sigh) if only, I would remember to drop my “don’t make me think” attitude in the trash can.
In my dreams, all the vast amounts of valuable information about each work of art would be easily accessible and (gasp) open to tagging and comments from you. Many museums and artists are already exploring how to make this fantasy a reality.