Wireless RERC - Social Media

House Passes Social Media Emergency Response Bill

mz22 — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 13:45:43 +0000

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Social Media Working Group Act of 2014

Social Media, Public Emergencies & Disability

July 2014 – With the continuous growth of emergency response on social media, the House passed the Social Media Working Group Act of 2014 [HR 4263] allowing the Department of Homeland Security to establish social media use standards in the event of terrorist attacks. The bill encourages the federal government to communicate with citizens by establishing a social media working group to report emergency preparedness support technologies, social media response activity, and social media use recommendations to DHS and Congress. Bill sponsor, Rep. Susan Brooks (R-Indiana) stated, “Social media is transforming the way the nation responds before, during, and after a terrorist attack.” Recent research by the Wireless RERC indicates that people with disabilities are active user of social media, generally, and their use of social media platforms for receipt and sharing of emergency information is on the upswing.

Virtual Town Hall on Accessibility and Universal Design

mz22 — Mon, 19 May 2014 12:39:50 +0000

Social Media

Universal Design (UD)

ODEP and NCD’s Virtual Town Hall

May 2014 – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy and the National Council on Disability (NCD) is holding a virtual town hall online to open dialogue regarding the importance of accessibility/usability as it relates to technology and universal design in newer “workplace technology products.” The virtual town hall, "Advancing Accessibility and Inclusion in Social Media — The Tech Industry Perspective," will take place from May 15^th through May 30^th. The topic for this discussion centers on ways that universal design can be utilized in social media development. Participants are asked to share their ideas and personal experiences regarding the topic. The below link contains information on how to register to participate.

Disability and the Media: A Community Dialogue

mz22 — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 17:49:13 +0000

The Disability, Education, and Advocacy Network of WNY will host “Disability and the Media: A Community Dialogue,” a conference to discuss representation and empowerment of people with disabilities in traditional and social media. The conference will be held on October 24, 2013 at the University of Buffalo and the Museum of disability History in Buffalo, New York. The conference will feature many speakers including Dr. Beth Haller of Towson University, who will discuss “Disability Advocacy in the New Media Environment,” and Dr. Ezra B. Zubrow of the University of Buffalo, who will highlight global media representation of people with disabilities.

Start Date:

Thursday, October 24, 2013 - 8:30am to 4:00pm

Additional Information:

DEAN of WNY Press Release

Media

Social Media

Subscriptions:

Social Media

A Toolkit to Improve the Accessibility of Social Media in Government

mz22 — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:18:05 +0000

Toolkit launch Posting

Evolving Accessibility Tips Document

February 28, 2013— The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy launched the new Federal Social Media Accessibility Working Group whose initiative is to evaluate and provide solutions for overcoming the challenges of accessibility of social media platforms and the content posted on same. The first resource developed and released by the working group is an evolving toolkit that provides guidance and baseline standards for agencies and companies to ensure their social content is accessible to all individuals, including those with disabilities. An initial list of accessibility and usability tips has been developed but this is an evolving document. Therefore, the Social Media Accessibility Working Group encourages agencies, organizations and citizens to provide feedback and comments in order to “collectively advance towards better accessibility to public services and programs for citizens.”

YouTube Captioning in Six More Languages

mz22 — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 19:56:34 +0000

November 28, 2012—YouTube announced that automatic captioning will be available for YouTube videos in six languages: German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Dutch. This is in addition to the closed captioning already provided for English, Japanese, Korean and Spanish videos. YouTube acknowledges that there will be some errors with automatic captioning but that there are tools the content creators can use to improve the quality of their captions. YouTube noted that there are approximately “200 million videos with automatic and human-created captions on YouTube, and [we] continue to add more each day to make YouTube accessible for all.”

Wireless RERC Presents at CSUN 2013

mz22 — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:23:29 +0000

CSUN 2013

Social Media

Emergency Communications

Apps

Conference Details

Publication Type:

Presentations

Four Wireless RERC papers will be featured at the 2013 International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference (CSUN) in San Diego, February 25-March 2, 2013. The papers include: App Factory: Assistive and Accessibility App, which will be a demo session; Wireless Technology Use and Disability based on the Survey of User Needs; Social Media, Public Emergencies & Disability, which is related to the Survey on Emergency Communications; and Survey Says! National EAS Test Accessibility Study that discusses the on-line survey and focus groups conducted in November 2011. Come meet us in San Diego!