Guest post by ARSTM@NCA 2021 preconference chair, Dr. Kenneth Walker
As a virtual conference the 2021 ARSTM@NCA preconference presents new challenges and new opportunities for accessibility. These challenge and opportunities could not have been met without the guidance and leadership of our ARSTM 2021 President, Dr. Lauren Cagle, and we want to thank her for building the vast majority of the virtual structures to meet the challenges and opportunities for accessibility.
We also want to acknowledge lessons learned on meeting the challenges and opportunities of virtual conferencing from allied organizations Rhetoric of Health and Medicine and Association for the Teachers of Technical Writing.
In particular, the 2021 ARSTM@NCA virtual preconference offers opportunities to meaningfully include:
- Disabled attendees with visual, oral, cognitive, or motor impairments that affect how they interface with computers, preconference content, and digital conference platforms,
- Attendees with caregiving responsibilities,
- Attendees in different time zones, and
- Attendees without material institutional support (i.e., funding).
Accessibility Measures
To compose a maximally accessible conference, we have implemented the following measures:
Planning the virtual preconference
- We set a 9am CST start time to be somewhat manageable for attendees across time zones.
- All sessions are 75 minutes or less to help minimize continuous screentime.
- We scheduled lengthy breaks between sessions to allow attendees to take screen breaks, attend to local needs, and join or leave the preconference as they like.
- No-questions-asked free membership and registration is available to everyone, regardless of position or rank.
Before the virtual preconference
- Papers are available ahead of time (either as a written paper, a captioned and transcribed video, or both)
- Paper authors are required to follow guidance from Composing Access on creating accessible documents and presentations using formatting, alt text, visual design elements, signposting, and other strategies
- Attendees receive clear instructions in advance (via this program as well as blog posts and ARSTM listserv emails) about how to attend the preconference, how to participate, and how to manage their virtual presences
At the virtual preconference
- CART captioning will be provided by a professional captioner from TotalCaption during the live sessions on Wednesday, Nov. 17th
- Live session transcripts based on the CART captions will be made available to members after the event
- Attendees will receive clear instructions at the preconference about how to participate and how to manage their virtual presences
- We explicitly encourage multiple participatory modalities at the preconference (video on or off; audio or chat questions/comments; dressed up or dressed down; etc.).
Contact
If you have any questions, comments, or requests for accessibility accommodations, please email Kenny (kenneth.walker@utsa.edu) or web administrator Dan Card (dcard@umn.edu)