I agree with Williams that in the future, digital equality will become more important as more of our world becomes digital. The withholding of funds has historically been a powerful tactic of the federal government to carry out it's directives both nationally and internationally. If a company is not compliant with the current federal laws, they should not be entitled to any federal funds.

This is also interesting since this quote bleeds into a similar field which is proposal and grant writing. We could write a brilliant proposal but if there is not enough content that is accessible to the blind, the funding could be withheld. As a proposal writer that has read this article, my mind should already be thinking about ways to include every audience, including for this example, the blind.

Even a non profit, say the Center for Civic Innovation for example, may have to comply with federal guidelines that protect people with disabilities from being left out of the current digital age. If I was a head of a non-profit, I think working towards this goal of digital inclusivity looks better when the work is pro-active and not reactive. Instead of changing because of a lawsuit, change should be brought on out of a genuine desire to help. Of course being the first to do something always helps garner a bit of positive press. In the capitalist business world, being the first always helps garner more profit.

This particular quote is noteworthy for a few reasons. One of the reasons is when Ong writes, "Technologies are artificial, but artificiality is natural to humans". Technology is artificial in that it is created by humans, but not of humans. This gets even more interesting if you begin to apply that to current advances in virtual reality. As technical writers we are making artificial and sometimes unnatural processes easier and more friendly, or natural.

Writing was not a natural form of communication for many western cultures. The Vikings for example rarely kept a written record of their histories but instead used ballads and spoken histories that were past down through the generations. In many cases, their legends grew with each passing generation. In this case, writing itself is a form of artificial technology and for many, it becomes a natural or "internalized" process requiring little thought. As technical writers we need to remain vigilant and make sure that we are not looking at our work from such an internalized viewpoint that forget who we are writing for.

Like we discussed in our last set of readings, those who write perfect prose for a manual that no one reads are not doing their jobs correctly. Our writing requires a universality that separates it from other forms such as novels. Though an argument can be made that the best selling novels have some form of universality since they obviously appeal to such large groups of people.

Coming from a world of film, many film makers may only think of subtitles as a way to make sure people who speak another language can understand the film. During my undergrad at Georgia State, I can honestly say that trying to make our movies more friendly to people that are hard of hearing was at no point a priority. Now that I'm thinking about video this way, it seems like a super simple element that can be added to a video to make it understandable to those that may be deaf.

Williams states how, "Creating captions and transcriptions makes such information subject to search and computer analysis..." This part is fascinating since anyone who makes a video for YouTube wants to get as many views as possible. By catering to the deaf and adding captions and transcriptions, a video can now be found easier than it was before. This is another benefit of thinking about universal design when creating content whether it's text or a video.

Williams also points out that by adding a transcription, people who are not hard of hearing are able to comprehend the content easier as well. So by opening up to audiences with disabilities, we may also be helping audiences without them. To me, this is exactly why we should apply elements of Universal Design to our work. Content that was narrow in it's focus before now has a broader reach and impact.

This to me is one of the best reasons to apply Universal Design. Since the goal of Universal Design is to create design that can be used by as many people as possible, creating a website that can do that would be efficient.

Since I am not in any of the tech industries quite yet, I can assume from experience with my wife and mother, designing for special needs communities doesn't seem to a common goal for a few companies. That is not to say these are bad places necessarily, but that aspect of design may not be a priority. But, what if in the near future, websites are required to be ADA compliant just like a building? In this case the website would need to be re-engineered to accommodate a new audience when that audience could have been accommodated for from the beginning.

As tech writers if we apply Universal Design to our own work than we will be doing exactly what we have read about and discussed in class, reaching as many audiences as possible. Universal Design is also another reason to apply as many modes as possible to our content so that the information can be comprehended as efficiently as possible to some one who is blind, deaf or otherwise impaired. All of this improves efficiency for not only the company or non-profit creating the product or content, but the user as well.

This section caught my attention in that it is outlining how in the academic world, many professors might balk at using a proprietary software to share their work, but may not give a second thought as to how the format or design of their content could exclude others (current professor not included...) all the same.

This grabbed my attention since I'm not sure I would think that way at first as well. In my opinion, the academic world is a perfect place to begin implementing universal design elements where possible. Looking at my own blog, I'm very confident that there was no thought into how someone with a disability or someone who is unable to access a computer could process the information I have assembled. To go off the first part of this article, I have a "free" blog because I have paid my tuition. So technically it is a proprietary format as well.

One step I could begin within my own blog is to simply try to access and use it from my cell phone. Is there another theme that makes the content easier to scroll through? Could my fonts be bigger or bolder? Would it be possible to add pertinent videos that have subtitles? I think trying to add elements of universal design will be good training to get my mind rolling in that direction when thinking about my own work in the future. This will only make me more employable as well.

I find this to be a great summation of technology, "All technology is assistive, in the end". Whether it's the first wheel or the first calculator, technology in the end is advanced by the need to assist humans. The first robot I ever saw was built for the purpose of assisting humans within the home. To someone with a disability this could change their life.

When we think about technology, there is no reason why it shouldn't be used to help those who are blind read a book or a website homepage. In the end Williams mentions, "...there is no "natural" way to interact with the 1's and 0's that make up the data we are interested in creating...". This too goes back to our job as tech writers and information architects. In some cases we are making a world that is full of 1's and 0's more accessible to as many people as possible. If technology's primary goal is to assist humans, than it is our goal to assist them with their interactions with that technology. Whether that includes web design or content management, in the case of my own service learning project, we are adapting a piece of technology to a larger audience by making the website easier to use.

It would then make sense that we would use technology to assist those who need the most assistance. By adapting technology to meet the needs of the disabled, we are fulfilling the mission of technological innovation itself, to create an easier world for humans.

When different forms of media exclude approaches that could cater to those with disabilities they lose out on reaching an audience that has traditionally been marginalized in media. As Williams points out, "...using the same methods risk excluding a large percentage of people". In business, especially when that business is centered around media and it's different forms, reaching as many people as possible is imperative. Content drives viewership and viewership drives advertising. By creating content that can be used by not only those without disabilities but by those with them, the potential audience for the content can increase greatly. This is what makes the idea of Universal Design so interesting. While many seem to argue that true Universal Design may be unattainable, the effort to create content that is close, is a step in the right direction.

When we go out into the real world, we may be writing to an audience that is older, blind, deaf or even autistic. Our content needs to apply the ideals of Universal Design to make content that can reach as many of these different audiences as possible. Again, it may not be attainable. However, we need to try. Plus, 3 out of 4 from the list above isn't bad either. That number may fluctuate, but as we write we should be thinking somewhere in our brains, "what if a deaf person had to use this?" "if they wanted to, could they?". This type of thinking drives innovation in regards to how we cater to populations with disabilities.

This passage from Williams blows my mind. To think that a gif that is so small and basically invisible to me, a sighted person, is seen so clearly to a blind person is fascinating. This is a great example of how technology within in literature is changing the industry but also bringing in an audience that has been left behind. This aspect of Universal Design to me is fascinating because this is an actual application of Universal Design in a tangible way. To someone who can see, this is a normal website. But by adding small elements like a gif, someone who can't see is now able to skip ahead of content the way most of us skip immediately with our eyes. On top of that, the content can be read so quickly that even those of us who can hear, would find the content unintelligible.

In today's world of digital media and online content, writers need to write in a way that is respectful of the reader's time. As a sighted person, I can just scan a website for the information that I find pertinent. By adding this small gif, a blind person can now do the exact same thing and skip to the information they find pertinent. Many websites are not built this way, which means according to Williams, they have to sit through the content on a particular website as their screen reading software gives them a word for word description of a home page. Most people hate waiting for the different options when listening to an automated phone system, they probably haven't had to sit through a screen read of an older, text heavy website.

Technology is closing the gap between those who are disabled and those who are not. Our journey will be to continue to improve their lives by thinking of them when we are creating content and trying to reach for the largest audience bases we can.

This passage in the article details the benefits of Universal Design with a great, but simple example. Williams explains how the creation of a simple "curb cut" in a side walk that was created to assist people in wheel chairs could also have unintended benefits unknown to the creator.

Williams writes that curb cuts could also be used when, "making a delivery with a dolly...pulling luggage on wheels...pushing a child in a stroller". By trying to solve one problem, the curb cut actually solved numerous problems. Another example would be using captions and an accompanying transcription for a video. While the captions and transcriptions help the deaf watch the video, they also increase search optimization as well as helping non-disabled users understand the content even better.

So while we can solve one problem by applying universal design, we may also be able solve problems we didn't even think about just by being open to trying something new and different. As technical writers we should keep this open minded approach and try to see what we do from the point of view of the user.

I find this passage intriguing on a few levels. The first is that the improvements in how those with disabilities interact with different forms of media has come from the business world. That shouldn't be too surprising since they are in the business of making money and in this specific case, helping to improve the lives of those who may not be able to hear or see. Making "significant progress in meeting the needs of such users" is in their best interest. This opens up their companies' products to new audiences that had not been catered to previously. This connects with the article by Goddard and Hsy as they seem to be making a connection between the advancement in technology and the advancement Universal Design. By making an article (this one is a great example) interactive and as user friendly to as many audiences as possible, they are creating a path for more profit.

The second is the notion that scholars involved in the humanities are lagging behind in the creation of or application of digital products that could help those affected by a disability. To me, I would expect this group to be leading the charge of advancement. Of course, there could be many reasons for this. One is funding. A University is not quite a business (that line is blurred) and does not operate necessarily like a business. Departments have budgets and the professors do what they can with what they have. I would assume many tech forward (rich) universities have made an effort to cater to groups with disabilities. However, there other universities that may not have the same budget and are thus forced to use the technology they have handy, which may be a textbook and a power point presentation.

For both groups, their work needs to reach as many people and audiences as possible for it have the best possible results. Whether that is research about the hearing impaired or a physical product to help the blind read the same article, the more audiences they can include, especially with disabilities, the better.

As technology advances further, I believe we will see content being shared on more devices than ever. I believe that Williams is right in his assertion that "...applying universal design principles to digital resources will make those resources more compatible..." I found this interesting since much of my own writing on the subject thus far has been focused on how universal design can help different special needs communities. However, what I have been missing all together is how universal design can help make content more accessible to other groups as well.

Smith points out later that, "...those more likely to use a mobile device for online access include African Americans, Hispanics, and individuals from lower income households." When we are applying universal design to our content and strategy we need to be thinking about other devices than just a laptop or desktop computer. A cellphone may be someones only connection to the internet and the content needs to be accessible to them as well.

In our own service learning project, we saw that the functionality and design of Center Civic Innovation's website was a bit clunky. However, just for fun we decided to see what the site looked like on a cell phone. To our surprise, the functionality was better! So after reading this article, that makes sense and in our work for the Center for Civic Innovation in the future we will need to be cognizant as to how our content functions on other devices.

Universal Design as mentioned in the article is a concept centered around the idea of designing all products and environments to be usable to as many people as possible. Universal Design is also a theme that runs through the Goddard and Hsy article as well. From these two articles, when finding ways to improve access to technology for people with disabilities, Universal Design has to be a part of the discussion.

Audiences are the most important aspect of creating content. We need to know who we are writing for and make sure our content can be easily accessed by that audience. As we have learned, we want to reach as many different audiences as possible so that our writing can be as effective as possible. We have also discussed how adding as many modes as possible to our work can increase the effectiveness of our work. All of these elements lend perfectly to assisting those with disabilities.

If we are increasing accessibility we should be planning on how we could potentially help those with special needs. They are a part of "all people" as mentioned in the article. I would think being able to reach special needs audiences could make a writer very marketable since many writers may think of audience in terms of race, age, sex and education.