Social media

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Easy Chirp seeks funding for update

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Update 12 June: Easy Chirp's Kickstarter campaign successfully raised over $5000. The platform is going down temporarily from today while the new Easy Chirp is being built.

The accessible Twitter alternative, Easy Chirp, is seeking donations to continue. Easy Chirp replicates Twitter, the social media platform which allows people to post 140-character status updates, so that blind and vision impaired users can participate equally.

Easy Chirp was built in 2009 in response to Twitter’s inaccessibility. While Twitter has put significant work into improving its website and apps, Easy Chirp’s simplicity makes it the preferred option for many, if not most, blind Twitter users.

Currently, Easy Chirp uses the first version of Twitter’s API, the system which allows apps besides Twitter such as Easy Chirp and HootSuite to display tweets. Now, Twitter is updating its API and as a result, Easy Chirp needs an update too.

Taxonomy: 
General
Blind or vision impaired
Mobility
Web
News
Digital media and technology: 
Twitter
Social media
News alert taxonomy: 
Blind/vision impaired Digital Technology & Online Media news
Practical Web Accessibility news

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Global progress on social media accessibility

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Today marks the one-year anniversary of the release of our sociABILITY: social media for people with a disability resources. The project was the first of its kind and is being used as a keystone in a global push towards recognising people with disability as a large and influential audience on social media.

While social media networks still present access barriers, there are steps organisations and individuals can take to reduce them. For instance, Facebook does not let you provide alternative text for images and so Media Access Australia provides this in the first comment below the image. Similarly, when posting a link to a video we will always mention whether it is captioned or audio described.

Taxonomy: 
General
International policy and legislation
Web
Research & policy
News
Digital media and technology: 
Social media
News alert taxonomy: 
Deaf/hearing impaired Digital Technology & Online Media news
Blind/vision impaired Digital Technology & Online Media news
Research & Policy news
Practical Web Accessibility news

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Top 12 of 2012 #10 – helping seniors get online

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An important part of life for many older Australians is keeping in touch with family and friends, researching hobbies and interests and staying up-to-date with news.  In July, we launched a project to help older people get online and stay online as they begin to experience age-related disabilities.

In partnership with the Council on the Ageing Western Australia (COTA WA) and funded by the nib Foundation, we produced resources which will enable COTA WA member organisations to help individual members and train workshop coordinators on computer accessibility, assistive technology and social media.

Taxonomy: 
General
Digital technology
Web
News
Digital media and technology: 
Social media
Assistive technology
News alert taxonomy: 
Deaf/hearing impaired TV, DVD, Cinema & the Arts news
Blind/vision impaired Digital Technology & Online Media news

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Top 12 of 2012 #2 – access to social media

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As social media continues to dominate what people do online, a new digital divide is opening up between those who use social media and those excluded from them by their inaccessibility. To help remedy this, we published sociABILITY: Social media for people with a disability in March.

Funded by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network grants scheme, the resource explains the current state of social media accessibility and guides users through getting started on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Skype and blogging.

Media Access Australia researcher Dr Scott Hollier conducted an eight-month qualitative study among people with a sensory and mobility impairment. Through this research, social media users with disabilities were able to share their tips and tricks so that others can gain access.

Taxonomy: 
General
Blind or vision impaired
Deaf or hearing impaired
Web
News
Practical web accessibility
Digital media and technology: 
Twitter
YouTube
Skype
Facebook
Social media
Assistive technology
News alert taxonomy: 
Deaf/hearing impaired Digital Technology & Online Media news
Blind/vision impaired Digital Technology & Online Media news

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