The two day symposium began in 2016 with the goal of providing a conference event to bring together accessibility professionals to present, discuss, and debate their ideas. The symposium has become the largest annual gathering of people who are interested in the practice and advancement of accessibility testing of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The annual event attracts both newcomers to the field of accessibility testing, as well as seasoned professionals who have made a career in testing. The conference is attended by test process developers, conformance testing practitioners, usability testers, accessibility testing program managers, and researchers. Our audience is comprised of representatives of small and large accessibility consulting firms, academia, government, nonprofits and industry.
The symposium features peer reviewed paper presentations that are published in the proceedings, as well as in-depth panel discussions, preconference workshops, and social events.
As we move beyond the global pandemic, we are operating in a “new normal” when it comes to the way we work. Almost all us working in the technology sector have now dealt with some form of full time virtual work environment, and many are now transitioning to hybrid environments that incorporate both in-office and remote work. Many of the tools we use to communicate and collaborate in our hybrid work environments have changed. The providers of such tools have increased their pace of development to adjust to changing needs, preferences, and increasingly diverse marketplaces. With new developments come new accessibility challenges, and the numbers of inaccessible websites (approximately 97%, according to the WebAIM Million) is an issue that we need to urgently tackle and collectively begin to resolve.
Recently, the potential and impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly become a dominant part of any conversation around accessibility testing. The velocity of social and technological change is being shaped by factors outside of our field, and we will all need to keep up with this sector as it affects digital content and technology products. We will need to factor in AI developments in accessibility and usability testing of ICT.
It is becoming abundantly clear that some of the biggest problems facing the accessibility testing field are beyond the mechanics of the test tools. Instead, they are rooted in management, executive oversight, governance, legal and other program-related issues. Thus, for the first time this year, we are offering an additional cross-over track focused on accessibility program management and legal risk mitigation. This combines themes from the formerly separate annual Digital Accessibility Legal Summit with presentations and talks that will be of interest to our interrelated audiences: those who are accessibility testing focused, and those who are accessibility program focused.
We invite you to share your innovations and insights, to help our field explore the means to sustain our testing discipline when we are faced with new accessibility challenges in our “normal” world of (seemingly) constant change.
Sincerely, Sam Kanta, Program Chair
& Dr. Chris M. Law, Chair,
2023 Symposium Committee