WCAG 2.3 v 3.0 - was RE: XR Subgroup Update [April 27th 2021]

Hi John, this actually moves us into trickier situations that increase the requirements on author or platforms with support for personalization.     I’m not opposed to additional requirements – I’ve tried to get them passed several times - but it’s been my experience that with the WCAG 2.x binary model it’s been extremely difficult to get them approved and we spend endless cycles trying to find someone that everyone will agree on in the current binary model and it can take years or the SC is then watered down or it’s dropped.

The requirement you mention reducing the amount of sound requiring captions would have to be an option otherwise it would reduce accessiblity for people who are visually impaired.  So these types of things very much get into requiring personalization – which I know is a separate effort but one that will be needed to ensure access by a wide range of users with varying disabilities that often have needs that contradict the needs of other groups.   There is also intersectional issues such as intersection of sensory disabilities like low vision and hard of hearing and sensory and cognitive disabilities – without personalization or a non-binary model these great recommendations likely will not get consensus in WCAG 2.x and will take up a lot of time moving the timeline of WCAG 3.0 from 3-5 to 5+ years.  Is getting 5 to 6 new A or AA criteria in WCAG 2.3 of value over pushing WCAG 3.0 additional years down the road?  Maybe, maybe not?  If folks have to choose between 2.3 and 3.0 and their employment mandates they tackle 2.3 if it exists then that pulls their expertise away from 3.0 meaning 2 years from now they have to be brought back in to the 3.0 cycle when their expertise was needed earlier.

Jonathan

From: John Foliot <john@foliot.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2021 1:21 PM
To: WCAG <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Subject: Fwd: XR Subgroup Update [April 27th 2021]

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After today's call, I wanted to share this which I suspect many have not yet seen: an example of work already happening (somewhere within our group, but how many of you knew this was happening?) - and this is just related to XR captioning!

Suzanne is already working on a "testable statement", and I'd really be concerned if we didn't have a mechanism to add a new testable requirement like this into our larger effort, for the sole reason that we've collectively been working on other aspects of WCAG 3, so updating the existing corpus of requirements is "off limits". I assert we should be publishing regular updates of these types of tests in either or both WCAG 'frameworks' - the key being "timely" updates. (I note as well that the main reason we spun up the COGA, LV and Mobile TF's was because we let too much time lapse between updates of our spec in the past. I believe we should be trying to avoid that kind of bottleneck problem too.)

This is not about NOT turning our efforts to WCAG 3 - we need to get cracking in earnest there - but it's about staying focused on all of the moving parts, of which scalable, score-able and repeatable testing methods will always exist.

JF
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Michael Crabb (Staff) <m.z.crabb@dundee.ac.uk<mailto:m.z.crabb@dundee.ac.uk>>
Date: Tue, Apr 27, 2021 at 8:28 AM
Subject: XR Subgroup Update [April 27th 2021]
To: Silver Task Force <public-silver@w3.org<mailto:public-silver@w3.org>>

The Silver XR Subgroup is currently working asynchronously and is not carrying out weekly meetings. This email is intended as a brief update on work the group is carrying out.

1) @Suzanne Taylor has begun work on a method for the “Provides customization of caption timing to support people with limited manipulation, strength, or cognition” outcome. Please find time to give feedback on this if you can
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12o2S3XVltDgsMTjbHPPi0FMTJeoUAKqOrN8jpArkfFQ/edit#heading=h.ynbi2ooffkzm


2) There are currently 9 open issues<https://github.com/w3c/silver/labels/Subgroup%3A%20XR%20-%20Captions> on the w3c/silver github repository that relate to XR/captions. Initial responses have been created to 8 of these and are available below. Please take time to review/comment on these before they are placed on GitHub on 29th April.
     *   Issue #259 - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1om7h7HE-9sIPeBRmJrBSESQWsMGH8PysiWCpAUWXBUQ/edit#heading=h.4vci8db4rzyf

     *   Issue #360 - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1om7h7HE-9sIPeBRmJrBSESQWsMGH8PysiWCpAUWXBUQ/edit#heading=h.74t0jj1f9zsv

     *   Issue #379 - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1om7h7HE-9sIPeBRmJrBSESQWsMGH8PysiWCpAUWXBUQ/edit#heading=h.md2t9liawuub

     *   Issue #415 - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1om7h7HE-9sIPeBRmJrBSESQWsMGH8PysiWCpAUWXBUQ/edit#heading=h.puvqxs9jitu6

     *   Issue #420 - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1om7h7HE-9sIPeBRmJrBSESQWsMGH8PysiWCpAUWXBUQ/edit#heading=h.owhufmt71jiw

     *   Issue #421 - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1om7h7HE-9sIPeBRmJrBSESQWsMGH8PysiWCpAUWXBUQ/edit#heading=h.f42tzcuviq8

     *   Issue #438 - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1om7h7HE-9sIPeBRmJrBSESQWsMGH8PysiWCpAUWXBUQ/edit#heading=h.99dkihi2fd7k

     *   Issue #474 - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1om7h7HE-9sIPeBRmJrBSESQWsMGH8PysiWCpAUWXBUQ/edit#heading=h.jeaggtnahirc


3)  Work is underway on organising our Working Document https://docs.google.com/document/d/1om7h7HE-9sIPeBRmJrBSESQWsMGH8PysiWCpAUWXBUQ/edit> in order to provide clarity for short/medium term subgroup plans.
     *   Our current goal is to finish initial drafts for guidelines relating to subtitling in XR
     *   We need to start thinking about caption accuracy and if this is something that should be included for WCAG3
        *   Mike to explore methods that have been used to carry this out previously
     *   If you would like to participate then please reach out or visit the working document

Kind Regards

Mike Crabb



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John Foliot | Senior Industry Specialist, Digital Accessibility
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