Re: uesit (or lose it?)

I've talked with Jakob on a few occasions. You're not likely to get any
response from him right now because he left Sun about 3-4 months ago and
has embarked on his own business journey with Don Nelson, another usabilty
icon.

Jakob's interest in accessibility (for disabilities) is mild at best. What
he's done, he's done based on requests at Sun from Eric Bergman and Earl
Johnson, both of whom contributed a nice chapter on accessibility in one of
Jakob's recent books.

On the other hand, Jakob has close ties to the W3C and usability in
general. I'm not sure if he's still active in the WG's...but he's been
present at all of the Web Conferences. 

The fact that there is a close time between usability and accessibility is
not new. When I was at Digital, I merged with the usability group. Earl and
Eric have close ties to the User Interface/usabilty group too. You'll find
similar efforts at IBM, Microsoft and Apple. It's a natural fit....what
hasn't been natural is including accessibility as part of the standard
usability test and design methodology. This is an area that I have been
trying to encourage over the past couple of years. Perhaps the best
stimulator may be the new NSF Grant program. I am submitting a proposal.

- Mike

At 08:31 AM 1/25/1999 -0800, William Loughborough wrote:
>"It is rare to see a web animation that has any goal besides annoying
>the user."
>
>and
>
>"Web design is impoverished because too many sites strive for the wrong
>standards of excellence that made sense in the print world but do not
>make sufficient advances in interactivity."
>
>are the "nugget bites" in a recent Jakob Nielsen item at: 
>http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990124.html
>
>The root site is tantalizing because though he is talking about
>"usability" it so often equates with our goals - hence validating the
>notion of Universal Design as well as "electronic curb cuts."
>
>I've never gotten any response from him about participating in our
>efforts - does anyone hereon ever deal with him?
>-- 
>Love.
>            ACCESSIBILITY IS RIGHT - NOT PRIVILEGE
>http://dicomp.pair.com
>

Received on Monday, 25 January 1999 11:47:34 UTC