Re: Ways to improve findability of surveys in email

In an effort to improve the accessibility of these emails:


>> The agenda *is* the links to the survey.


That is only clear to the individual writing the email, not to recipients.

In that email is this chunk:
> Agenda
> *         WCAG 2.2 Issues https://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/35422/wcag22-misc5/ <https://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/35422/wcag22-misc5/>
> *         WCAG 2.x backlog issues https://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/35422/wcag2x-backlog1/ <https://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/35422/wcag2x-backlog1/>
Nowhere is the word “survey" evident.

Agenda does not mean survey.

If there's a survey that you want people to respond to, the link(s) should be labeled survey. Here's how this information can be conveyed in a way that is clear:
> SURVEY:  WCAG 2.2 Issues https://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/35422/wcag22-misc5/ <https://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/35422/wcag22-misc5/>
> SURVEY:  WCAG 2.x backlog issues https://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/35422/wcag2x-backlog1/ <https://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/35422/wcag2x-backlog1/>
With the number of emails that busy people get on any given day, something as basic as not using language to describe something will make something obfuscated and non-apparent that action is required.

Look at all of the links in the original email, but look at that email from the viewpoint of somebody who wasn't writing it: it's a colossal mass of links without clear, definitive calls to action. What link is a survey, when none of them is labeled as being a survey?

Think further about people who rely on text to speech and dealing with emails that are very inaccessible in this way.

Thank you for reading.


Andrew Somers
Senior Color Science Researcher 
Address redacted for list

> On May 18, 2023, at 4:24 AM, Bradley Montgomery, Rachael L <rmontgomery@loc.gov> wrote:
> 
> Helps if I spell the subject correctly. Please respond to this email instead.
>  
> Hello,
>  
> A few points:
>  
> I have changed the subject line on this email and all participants doing this would also help.
>  
> We could flip the order and say SURVEYS and AGENDA.
> Would that help?
> Would that confuse others?
>  
> We can survey this for discussion at a future meeting. (sorry for the irony of that statement) If others have ideas on how to approach this problem, please let the list or chairs know and we can include them.
>  
> Kind regards,
>  
> Rachael
>  
> From: Alastair Campbell <acampbell@nomensa.com <mailto:acampbell@nomensa.com>>
> Date: Thursday, May 18, 2023 at 6:00 AM
> To: WCAG <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>>
> Subject: Re: [External] : Re: AGENDA and Surveys - AGWG Meeting May 16th 2023
> Resent-From: WCAG <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>>
> Resent-Date: Thursday, May 18, 2023 at 5:59 AM
>  
> CAUTION: This email message has been received from an external source. Please use caution when opening attachments, or clicking on links.
> 
> Hi folks,
>  
> The original email of the thread was this one:
> https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2023AprJun/0145.html <https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2023AprJun/0145.html>
>  
> The agenda *is* the links to the survey.
>  
> In 95% of meetings[1] we are reviewing one or more surveys. Could you take the term “Agenda” as a trigger for checking the surveys contained in it?
>  
> The alternative is duplication and more emails.
>  
> -Alastair
>  
> 1] I made that stat up, but it’s a lot.
>  
>  
>  
> From: Andrew Somers <andy@generaltitles.com <mailto:andy@generaltitles.com>>
> Date: Thursday, 18 May 2023 at 06:45
> To: Lori Oakley <lori.oakley@oracle.com <mailto:lori.oakley@oracle.com>>
> Cc: Jennifer Strickland <jstrickland@mitre.org <mailto:jstrickland@mitre.org>>, Bruce Bailey <Bailey@access-board.gov <mailto:Bailey@access-board.gov>>, WCAG list (w3c-wai-gl@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>) <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>>, Silver TF <public-silver@w3.org <mailto:public-silver@w3.org>>
> Subject: Re: [External] : Re: AGENDA and Surveys - AGWG Meeting May 16th 2023
> 
> Hi Lori,
>  
> 1) those of us with low vision frequently need to increase the size of the text to the degree that many things are commonly truncated.
>  
> 2) this particular thread has the subject "agenda and surveys", and yet there are no surveys anywhere that I can find anywhere in this thread.
>  
> 3) what I was trying to say is it would be helpful if there was a separate email that had the word SURVEY as the first word in the subject, and had nothing in it but links to the surveys.
>  
> Andrew Somers
> Senior Color Science Researcher 
> Address redacted for list
>  
> 
> On May 17, 2023, at 2:29 PM, Lori Oakley <lori.oakley@oracle.com <mailto:lori.oakley@oracle.com>> wrote:
>  
> I wasn't aware that subjects were getting truncated, in that case, I agree with Andrew.
>  
> From: Jennifer Strickland <jstrickland@mitre.org <mailto:jstrickland@mitre.org>> 
> Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2023 10:08 AM
> To: Lori Oakley <lori.oakley@oracle.com <mailto:lori.oakley@oracle.com>>; Andrew Somers <andy@generaltitles.com <mailto:andy@generaltitles.com>>; Bruce Bailey <Bailey@access-board.gov <mailto:Bailey@access-board.gov>>
> Cc: WCAG list (w3c-wai-gl@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>) <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>>; Silver TF <public-silver@w3.org <mailto:public-silver@w3.org>>
> Subject: Re: [External] : Re: AGENDA and Surveys - AGWG Meeting May 16th 2023
>  
> I agree with Andrew. If there’s a survey, it would help me if the subject line starts with SURVEYs. In my Outlook email app subject lines are truncated and I often don’t see more than the first few letters, especially for [EXT] email. 
>  
>  
>  
> From: Lori Oakley <lori.oakley@oracle.com <mailto:lori.oakley@oracle.com>>
> Date: Wednesday, May 17, 2023 at 11:58 AM
> To: Andrew Somers <andy@generaltitles.com <mailto:andy@generaltitles.com>>, Bruce Bailey <Bailey@access-board.gov <mailto:Bailey@access-board.gov>>
> Cc: WCAG list (w3c-wai-gl@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>) <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>>, Silver TF <public-silver@w3.org <mailto:public-silver@w3.org>>
> Subject: RE: [External] : Re: AGENDA and Surveys - AGWG Meeting May 16th 2023
> 
> Hi Andrew,
>  
> The email that is sent has the following Subject: AGENDA and Surveys. In it are links to the surveys, which in turn have the PR numbers with links. Here's the last email from Chuck to the group:  AGENDA and Surveys - AGWG Meeting May 16th 2023. 
>  
> Are you not getting these emails?
>  
> Lori
> Lori Oakley
> CX Service Accessibility Lead
> Accessibility Guidelines WCAG
> <image001.png>
>  
>  
>  
> From: Andrew Somers <andy@generaltitles.com <mailto:andy@generaltitles.com>> 
> Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2023 5:43 PM
> To: Bruce Bailey <Bailey@access-board.gov <mailto:Bailey@access-board.gov>>
> Cc: WCAG list (w3c-wai-gl@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>) <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org <mailto:w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>>; Silver TF <public-silver@w3.org <mailto:public-silver@w3.org>>
> Subject: [External] : Re: AGENDA and Surveys - AGWG Meeting May 16th 2023
>  
> Just to comment on one thing:
>  
> > … but relatively few people filling in surveys…..
> 
> I don’t know about others, but I am frequently not receiving notices of surveys.
>  
> It would be most helpful if:
>  
> 1) each survey had an email specific to there being that survey, and the survey notice was not just buried in some other email.
>  
> 2) the first word of the subject line was “SURVEY: …”
>  
>  
>  
> Thank you,
>  
> Andy
> 
> Sent from Andy’s iPhone
>  
> 
> On May 16, 2023, at 9:55 AM, Bruce Bailey <Bailey@access-board.gov <mailto:Bailey@access-board.gov>> wrote:
> 
> but relatively few people filling in surveys.