[liberationtech] an event to address digital inclusion / design accessibility

[Jayne Cravens]

Through February, I'll be working with Knowbility, an international
nonprofit based in Austin, Texas, as its nonprofit liaison for OpenAIR
(Accessibility Internet Rally). I'm recruiting nonprofits,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), charities, and schools to
participate, and I'll be their support during the competition. And I'm
based outside of Portland, Oregon - yes, this is an online event! 

OpenAIR provides mission-based organizations - nonprofits,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), charities, schools and others -
with both a new, professionally-designed, accessible website that
accommodates all visitors, and with expanded awareness about
accessibility issues. An organization gets more than a new web site; the
organization becomes a more-welcoming organization online - and maybe
offline as well. 

And these web sites are developed by teams of web designers who, as
volunteers, work for five weeks to rapidly develop accessible web sites.
Most of the development takes place in February, and judging is done and
awards given in March. Teams receive training in accessible web site
development from Knowbility, and receive support regarding accessibility
questions from volunteer mentors - experts in the field of
accessibility. Most teams are from companies, but web design classes and
independent volunteers are welcomed as well. 

People with disabilities want to donate, volunteer and otherwise support
causes they care about. Like all people, they love the arts, animals,
and the environment, they enjoy beautiful parks and fun outdoor
activities, and they support these and a variety of other causes. But if
a nonprofit's web site isn't accessible to them, they are left out - and
that means leaving out potential donors, volunteers, clients, ideas,
talent and more. All of that changes when the organization participates
in OpenAIR.

The OpenAIR web site has complete information about this event, for both
nonprofits and for design teams:
https://air-rallies.org/
This web site has detailed information on the benefits of participation,
why every organization should make accessibility a priority, and exactly
what participation looks like. 

I would so appreciate it if you could let nonprofits, NGOS, etc. that
you work with know about this opportunity. They can be ANYWHERE in the
world - they just will have to make sure they can talk to the design
team they end up with if that team is in a substantially different time
zone. 

And, of course, if you could let any IT departments, web designers, web
design classes, and others know about the event, in case they want to
enter the competition as a team, that would be terrific as well.  

Thanks for reading! And if you have any questions that you can't find an
answer to on the web site, give me a shout.  

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Ms. Jayne Cravens MSc
Portland, Oregon, USA

The web site - http://www.coyotecommunications.com
The email - jc at coyotecommunications.com
Me on Twitter, other social networks, & my blog: 
http://www.coyotecommunications.com/me/jayneonline.shtml

Author: The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook
More about the book, and how to buy it 
(as a paperback or as an e-book):
http://www.energizeinc.com/store/1-222-E-1
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