Türkiye’deki Üniversite Kütüphane Web Sitelerinin Web İçeriği Erişebilirlik Kılavuzu Kapsamında Değerlendirilmesi

İçinde bulunduğumuz bilgi çağında gelişen bilişim teknolojilerinin sunduğu imkânlar ile birlikte bilgi kaynaklarının büyük bir çoğunluğu elektronik ortama taşınmakta ve kütüphaneler de dijital kütüphanelere dönüşerek kullanıcılarına web ortamında hizmet sunmaktadır. Bu kapsamda kütüphane web siteleri bilgiye ve kütüphane hizmetlerine erişimde kullanıcılar için birincil iletişim noktası olmaktadır. Bu noktada, kaynaklara ve hizmetlere erişimde bir geçit görevi üstlenen web sitelerinin erişilebilirlik standartları doğrultusunda tasarlanmasının önemi ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, Türkiye’deki üniversite kütüphane web sitelerinin Web İçeriği Erişilebilirlik Kılavuzu (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines [WCAG]) ilkeleri doğrultusunda incelenmesi ve erişilebilirliklerine ilişkin mevcut durumun ortaya konulması amaçlanmaktadır. Betimleme modeli kullanılarak gerçekleştirilen çalışmada Türkiye’de 2020-2021 eğitim-öğretim yılında aktif olarak eğitim ve öğretim faaliyetlerine devam eden 183 üniversitenin kütüphane web sitesi WAVE otomatik değerlendirme aracı kullanılarak incelenmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular; üniversite kütüphane web sitelerinin tamamında en az bir erişilebilirlik hatasının bulunduğunu (maksimum=123), en sık karşılaşılan erişebilirlik hatasının “boş bağlantı” hatası olduğunu (n=160) ve web sitelerinin büyük bir çoğunluğunda (%93) en az bir öğede kontrast hatası olduğunu göstermektedir. Bununla birlikte web sitelerinin %97’sinde, doğrudan hata olarak değerlendirilmeyen ancak erişilebilirliği olumsuz etkileyebilecek unsurların da bulunduğu belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca, web sitelerinin erişilebilirliklerini olumsuz yönde etkileyen bir diğer unsurun da mobil uyumluluğa ilişkin tespit edilen hatalar olduğu görülmektedir. Bu çalışmanın ülkemizde kütüphane web sitelerinin erişilebilirliklerinin iyileştirilmesi amacıyla yapılacak planlamalara ve düzenlemelere katkı sağlayacağı ve aynı zamanda gelecekte konuya ilişkin yapılacak diğer çalışmalar için de örnek bir çalışma olacağı düşünülmektedir.

Accessibility Evaluation of Turkish E-Commerce Websites

Disabled people encounter many barriers while attempting to access the services on the web. E-commerce websites have been also intensively and widely used. The e-commerce market in Turkey will hit TL 400 billion by 2021. It also evaluates the accessibility of 10 popular Turkish e-commerce websites using five accessibility testing tools, namely Achecker, TAW, Eval Access, MAUVE, and FAE. This research has found that most accessibility guidelines are covered by A checker tool. Navigation, readability, input assistance, and timing are the common found accessibility problems while assessing the accessibility of the targeted websites.

Strategies for Effective Online Teaching and Learning

This chapter provides readers with a comprehensive review of strategies for effective design in online instruction. The authors explore the traditional debate between advocates and critics of online education and discuss effectiveness in retention, engagement, and overall academic performance. The chapter differentiates between “online-first” course design and emergency remote delivery, as experienced in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Key factors include identifying engagement and communication strategies such as “ask me anything” sessions and tailored selection of resources. Open educational resources (OER), pre-recorded lectures, podcasts, and “online-first” textbooks are presented as appropriate and cost-conscious content options. Also included are alternative assessment ideas and universal design for learning (UDL) and accessibility guidelines. The chapter provides a continuum model for the transition of in-person courses to online instruction while conscious of both instructor workload/instructional support and expected level of learner workload and engagement.

Inclusive Education Through Accessible Mobile Serious Games

Accessibility has been defined as the ability of an object to be used despite the condition or disability of a person. However, it is a feature that often has not been taken into account in the design of products or services, and the mobile serious game market is no exception. Accessibility guidelines were defined through the consolidation of different initiatives and good practices of video game developers as well as groups interested in providing accessibility to video games. Once the guidelines were defined, a method for evaluating the accessibility of mobile serious games was developed and applied in a mobile serious game. The purpose of this document is to propose an evaluation tool for those who wish to develop accessible mobile serious games for people with impairments and improve inclusive education.

Evaluating the Accessibility of Computer Laboratories, Libraries, and Websites in Jordanian Universities and Colleges

This article evaluates the accessibility computer laboratories, libraries, and web sites of five different institutions of higher education in Jordan. The evaluation is performed using a questionnaire and by expert visiting these institutions of higher education to check their accessibility according to a set of universal standard collected from the literature. The analysis of the results revealed a serious weakness in understanding, adopting and implementing web accessibility guidelines throughout nearly all evaluated Jordanian universities and colleges. On the other hand, the accessibility of computer laboratories and libraries the questionnaire answers show that there is environmental barrier and technological barrier for persons with disabilities to access such services. The article points out the importance of improving awareness, training staff and developers, and developing formal guidelines to improve the accessibility of universities and colleges services.

Satisfaction of visually disabled users with California educational websites

BACKGROUND: College and university websites in the United States are legally required to meet accessibility standards to promote equal opportunity in education for blind and visually disabled students. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are the recognized standard for website accessibility. OBJECTIVE: Determine how satisfied blind and visually disabled college and university students are with college and university websites in California, and whether compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is a good predictor of that satisfaction. METHODS: A random sample of websites from California colleges and universities was evaluated for accessibility compliance. A stratified sample of six websites was taken from the initial sample. Thirty blind or visually disabled students performed a prescribed series of tasks on each of the six websites, then answered a Likert-format survey regarding their satisfaction with each website. RESULTS: Sixty-three percent of websites did not meet the first priority accessibility criteria. Participant responses showed a majority were satisfied with websites, both compliant and non-compliant, and a strong correlation between satisfaction and accessibility compliance. CONCLUSIONS: Despite legal requirements, a majority or large minority of college and university websites in California do not meet accessibility guidelines, indicating a significant opportunity to improve the accessibility of those websites.

Examination of the electronic educational resources accessibility on the university Moodle platform

The purpose of the article is to assess the accessibility of electronic educational resources (EER) published in the university Moodle Learning Management System (LMS). The analysis involved 22 EERs in mathematical and information technology disciplines, located in the Moodle LMS of the V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University. The examination algorithm included analysis using the Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool (WAVE) and expert analysis of web accessibility using visual, auditory and manual methods based on 89 checklist attributes. In the result of the analysis, multiple accessibility errors of the Moodle platform and the EERs hosted on it were found. The most serious platform problems include: lack of compatibility with text browsers; errors of reproduction by screen readers; errors of content reproduction on mobile devices. The list of accessibility errors made by the authors of EERs includes: incorrect design of hyperlinks (22.7 % of the EERs); lack of subtitles (13.6 %), transcripts (22.7 %), synopses of video lectures (27.3 %); lack of alternative descriptions for figures (68.2 %); time limit for tests (9.1 %); lack of special markup for mathematical notation (36.4 %) and program code (13.6 %), etc. Results of the survey show need in training of EERs’ authors in technologies for developing accessible educational web content. It is advisable to familiarize web developers deploying an LMS at universities with the basics of web accessibility, LMS accessibility functions and modules in order to select the most suitable platform, determine and install the required set of accessibility tools. Before launching all EERs should be subject to mandatory examination for compliance with the web accessibility guidelines.

Subjective and Objective User Behavior Disparity: Towards Balanced Visual Design and Color Adjustment

Interactive environments create endless possibilities for the design of websites, games, online platforms, and mobile applications. Their visual aspects and functional characteristics influence the user experience. Depending on the project, the purpose of the environment can be oriented toward marketing targets, user experience, or accessibility. Often, these conflicting aspects should be integrated within a single project, and a search for trade-offs is needed. One of these conflicts involves a disparity in user behavior concerning declared preferences and real observed activity in terms of visual attention. Taking into account accessibility guidelines (WCAG) further complicates the problem. In our study, we focused on the analysis of color combinations and their contrast in terms of user-friendliness; visual intensity, which is important for attracting user attention; and recommendations from the Web Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). We took up the challenge to reduce the disparity between user preferences and WCAG contrast, on one hand, and user natural behavior registered with an eye-tracker, on the other. However, we left the choice of what is more important—human conscious reaction or objective user behavior results—to the designer. The former corresponds to user-friendliness, while the latter, visual intensity, is consistent with marketing expectations. The results show that the ranking of visual objects characterized by different levels of contrast differs when considering the perspectives of user experience, commercial goals, and objective recording. We also propose an interactive tool with the possibility of assigning weights to each criterion to generate a ranking of objects.

Evaluating Inclusive Transparency in Spanish Local Government

This article defines and analyzes a new concept: inclusive transparency. Specifically, it conducts a comparative study of transparency portals in twenty-five Spanish local councils, all of which occupy prime positions in Transparency International’s Index of Municipalities. The evaluation aims to establish their degree of compliance with Spanish and European regulations, ensuring website accessibility for people with disabilities. To this end, an evaluation model (composed of 4 criteria, 11 variables and 45 indicators) has been generated, taking inspiration from electronic accessibility guidelines, which have been applied using automatic techniques and transparency portal revision manuals. The results of the research allow verification of a positive correlation between the levels of active and inclusive transparency. In other words, whether in terms of active advertising benchmark municipalities design and manage their portals in ways which also guarantee, alongside all other citizens, the right of access for people with limited capacities (hearing, visual, mobile and cognitive) thereby enahancing the exercise of their political citizenship and their social integration.