the gamification of accessibility

The Gamification of Accessibility

Greg KrausUniversity IT Accessibility Coordinator

NC State University

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/accessibility-scan

Gamification

• Gamification [n]: the use of game design elements in non-game contexts


Accessibility is Not a Game

• It’s a human right• It’s should just be part of their job• People might get addicted to the game


We’re Not Talking About Wheelchairs with Lasers


I Never Set Out To Make A Game

• Guiding Principles– It takes practice to become an accessible Web

developer– I am competing in a marketplace for people's

attention


Aristotle

• “If you want to become a major league baseball player, you cannot simply wake up one day and declare your self a baseball player, capable of hitting a curve ball. You must become habituated in the ways of being a baseball player through a lifetime of practice.”


How to Learn To Be a Major League Baseball Player

1. Start easy2. Gradually build skill over time3. Learn to see patterns and know how to react4. Reactions become intuitive and natural5. Practice


Competing in a Marketplace of Demands

• Prioritizations– “Keeping the lights on”• Production services to run and maintain

– Security and Compliance• This impacts everyone, not just “those people”

• As important as you think you are, you’re not seen that way by campus


Gaming Principles

• A good game…– Lets everyone play, regardless of skill level– Lets you improve skills over time– Gives you instant feedback


Make a Game Everyone Can Play

10

11

32

1

4

6

9

57

8


Accessibility is Not Fun

• But…– Solving a problem is fun– Seeing how you have improved and grown is fun– Admit it … winning is fun


This is What WCAG 2 Looks Like


This is What They Want


Make a Game Everyone Can Play


Mario Didn’t Save the Princess in World 1-1


Prioritization

• 4 = fatal error, user cannot interact at all with the element

• 3 = significant error, user can only partially recover or it causes a significant hardship

• 2 = significant error, but user can usually mostly, if not fully recover

• 1 = minor annoyance• 0 = usually can ignore


Level 4

• Missing alternative text• Unlabeled form element• No keyboard event for an equivalent mouse

event


Level 3

• A form control has more than one label• Page auto refreshes• No skip to main content link


Level 2

• Spacer image does not have an alt attribute• Pages have unique titles and don’t say

“Untitled Document”


Level 1

• Invalid code• Heading levels are skipped• No titles for frames


Level 0

• Using absolute font sizes• No alternative content for iframes


Demonstrate System

• http://accessibility.oit.ncsu.edu/accessibility-scan/

http://accessibility.oit.ncsu.edu/accessibility-scan/




When Do People Use The System?

• Available 24/7 year round• Contests– NC State 2013 World Usability Day Website

Challenge (October-November)– NC State Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Website Challenge (April-May)


The Sales Pitch

“You have 28,000 accessibility errors across 8000 pages. Your site ranks 371 out of 385. You are in the bottom 10% of all categories. Can you fix these in the next 2 weeks? Oh, and you’ve had these problems for the past 2 years.”


The Results

• Corrected 27,500 errors• 40 out of 385• Top 5% in all categories

“I’m co-opting your employees for my own agenda”


Weighted Errors Corrected

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

450,000

500,000

642

190,311

88,029

19,641 3,111 0

431,227

138,294179,441


Weighted Errors Corrected With Contests

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

450,000

500,000

642

190,311

88,029

19,641 3,111 0

431,227

138,294179,441

16,82950,488

97,879

179,441


What We’ve Done So Far

• 413 Sites• 110,000 Pages• 1,050,000 Weighted Accessibility Errors

Corrected


Number of Sites

Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov300

320

340

360

380

400

420

316

329

382

394 398 400 401408 412 413


Being a Good Gamemaster

• You can always make your game better– More frequent scanning– Historical rankings– Graphical and contextual view (WAVE)


Tools and Resources Developed

• Web Accessibility Handbook– go.ncsu.edu/accessibility-handbook

• Readability Bookmarklet– go.ncsu.edu/readability

• Color Contrast Analyzer for Chrome– go.ncsu.edu/color-contrast-chrome


Behind the Scenes

SortSite• Runs on old Win 7 box• Scripted through

desktop scripting app• Checks for new

requests every 20 seconds

WAVE• Runs on extra

Macmini with MAMP

Server• cPanel (Apache and

MySQL)• Data storage• Assign site ownership

Google Drive• Spreadsheet lists

all sites to be scanned

User Interface• PHP/MySQL

1

1/23 4


Key Elements That Make This Work

• Anonymity, to a degree• Doing part of the work for them– Setting up the scanner?– Doing the scan for them?

• Giving guidance on what is important• Giving immediate feedback on how to fix it


The Limits of Gaming

• Automated scans only get you so far– Cannot test for everything


Automated Tests are Only So Good

alt="N.C. Sen. Daniel Blue Jr. (left) and N.C. Speaker of the House Thom Tillis were among those paying tribute to former N.C. Speaker of the House Harold Brubaker (center)."

The ALT text of this image mentions a color, which isn't useful for blind users.


Future Developments

• Receive bonus points for performing manual checks

• Get points for both– Testing if the onscreen focus is always visible– Fixing the onscreen focus problem if it exists

• Artificial intelligence techniques– Determine if you have an appropriate number of

headings

the gamification of accessibility

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