RE: Followup on conversation on improving asynchronous communication

I can confirm (through recent discovery) Slack's iOS app with VoiceOver, at least, is quite accessible and usable. Their desktop app (at least on Windows with JAWS) isn't where it needs to be quite yet.

The advantage with Slack, if the goal in part is to engage more folks not currently involved who cannot make scheduled meetings (at least among the Engineering and Design communities) is that it is a widely used and loved (at least among Engineers) tool. There is also a thriving a11y community on Slack.

Jennison

From: Sheri Byrne Haber <sbyrnehaber@vmware.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2021 1:44 PM
To: Charles Hall <hallmediamobile@gmail.com>; Jeanne Spellman <jspellman@spellmanconsulting.com>
Cc: Silver Task Force <public-silver@w3.org>; Shawn Lauriat <lauriat@google.com>
Subject: RE: Followup on conversation on improving asynchronous communication

Slack is more usable from the keyboard side of things, but Teams has integrated ASR.

I meet with Slack quarterly on accessibility updates FWIW.  They are incredibly responsive.

Sheri

From: Charles Hall <hallmediamobile@gmail.com<mailto:hallmediamobile@gmail.com>>
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2021 1:37 PM
To: Jeanne Spellman <jspellman@spellmanconsulting.com<mailto:jspellman@spellmanconsulting.com>>
Cc: Silver Task Force <public-silver@w3.org<mailto:public-silver@w3.org>>; Shawn Lauriat <lauriat@google.com<mailto:lauriat@google.com>>
Subject: Re: Followup on conversation on improving asynchronous communication

Additional Uses

  *   Asynchronous supplemental communication (like email)
  *   Tagging members for awareness, participation, or response

The point of proposing this was that any schedule we adopt will include pain for some participants. By better supporting more flexible options for asynchronous (and synchronous) communication to supplement that schedule, those people unwilling or unable to accept that pain can still have another method to contribute.

Tools

  *   Slack (SalesForce)

     *   Is widely considered accessible
     *   Has dedicated accessibility team
     *   Features: https://slack.com/features<https://nam06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fslack.com%2Ffeatures&data=04%7C01%7Cjasuncion%40linkedin.com%7Cadcc85efdbd04076165d08d8b7434082%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C637460846762781135%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=tqxPa%2Bhj3%2BrXh5YpnFgMYWQ5uv8jyWa%2BJkfIS49o7W4%3D&reserved=0>

  *   Teams (Microsoft)

     *   Is widely considered accessible
     *   Has dedicated accessibility team
     *   Features: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software<https://nam06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.microsoft.com%2Fen-us%2Fmicrosoft-teams%2Fgroup-chat-software&data=04%7C01%7Cjasuncion%40linkedin.com%7Cadcc85efdbd04076165d08d8b7434082%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C637460846762781135%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=9yp86op9r682yxg2Iu7hEOu8gec1bW6xNUitdurO0gM%3D&reserved=0>

W3C already has a Slack Community<https://nam06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fw3ccommunity.slack.com%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cjasuncion%40linkedin.com%7Cadcc85efdbd04076165d08d8b7434082%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C637460846762791093%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=Ki2aqFHE5%2BNXtP%2BTHvdKfqDQTarFC%2BQvAub%2FWWH8skE%3D&reserved=0>, which includes a channel for Silver - #silver-wcag3, for which there are currently 21 members.

I prefer Slack to email, because I can participate from any device at any time, whereas I only have my email clients configured on 2 devices.

Charles Hall

Senior Accessibility Designer
Invited Expert, W3C AGWG & Silver TF
Chair, W3C IDIW CG
Member, Ferndale Accessibility & Inclusion Advisory Commission

On Jan 12, 2021, at 11:15 AM, Jeanne Spellman <jspellman@spellmanconsulting.com<mailto:jspellman@spellmanconsulting.com>> wrote:

In last Fridays Silver meeting (8 January 2021) when we were discussing meeting times, the topic of improved asynchronous communication tools came up, with Teams coming up as a suggestion. In our planning call, Michael noted that using tools not generally used by W3C groups might create unexpected problems, and if a tool that requires a subscription has an equivalent in use at W3C already, W3C would be unlikely to cover the subscription cost. Before making a decision to migrate to a specific tool, Michael suggested identifying the use cases that we're trying to meet, so we can either figure out how to meet them with current tools, make improvements to current tools, or make an informed decision about new tools to adopt. Some that come out of recent discussions:

  *   Live automated captioning / transcript of meetings;
  *   Archived chat tool that's easy to use;
  *   Easier minutes creation and editing.
Are there other use cases you see for our communication / participation tools? Please list them in a reply to this message, or in a Silver call. Keep in mind that we can't make specific promises at this stage, but a good set of use cases will help us decide on next steps.