I’m leaving this post up at the top of the page for a week. Knowbility’s AIR-Interactive registration is open. If you’re a web developer, or an artist,arts NPO, or musician in Austin, please look at registering.
I saw Kimberly’s story on how she got into Accessibility. Ian’s asking people to share their stories; here’s mine.
I learned about Knowbility from their booth at SXSW Interactive in 2004. I sat down and browsed a few sites using screen readers. Oh my God… I realized there was a whole side to web development and design I’d never considered. I competed in Knowbility’s AIR competitions that next year and two more times after that. Now I’m the newbie on the AIR Advisory Board as we ramp up for this spring’s AIR-Interactive competition.
Accessibility, to me, just makes sense. We live in an information society. Even in places without basic services, civil liberties, and Western-style democracy, information technologies flourish. Access to that information should not be restricted due to short-sighted development. And of all possible barriers to information (oppressive governments, poor economic conditions, etc.), developing with accessibility in mind is the easiest one to address.
Plug time: If you are a web developer in the Austin, Texas area, I highly encourage you to take part in AIR-Interactive. You’ll have a chance to create exciting, media rich, and imaginative web sites for area arts organizations, artists, and musicians – sites that are accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities.
As a competition participant, you will:
- Be matched with an artist or worthy arts organization.
- Create an exciting, interactive web experience that is accessible to everyone.
- Network with area artists, web professionals and other really cool people.
- Attend an incredible Kick-Off party to meet your arts partner.
- Gain free access to the SXSW Tradeshow Floor where you can check out all the great new toys.
- Get to complete your development project in a more relaxed time frame. The development cycle is 30 days this time, giving your team the opportunity to create something really special.
- Continue to develop your skills with more training.
- Basic Training Class
- Advanced Training Class
- Multimedia Training Class
- Books and training materials for each team
- And finally, attend a fabulous awards party where you will feast on fantastic food!
You get some great training. If you’ve never worked with accessibility in mind, you’ll learn something new and very exciting. If you’ve never worked with accessibility-based design and multimedia, you’ll get a chance for some great, free instruction. Finally, you’ll meet some wonderful people in both the technology community and the arts.
You can register here: http://knowbility.org/air-interactive/?content=teamRegistration through January 24, 2007.
