Crunch Mode
5. Diseño e implementación
Earlier research has pointed out that even though accessibility related obligations have been put in place in many countries, the establishment of intra-
organisational processes to maintain accessibility in the longer run seems to have received less attention so far72. At the operational level, barriers to
implementation include low levels of awareness of the importance of web
accessibility and a lack of expertise and knowledge on how to implement existing guidelines and standards.
The main objectives of this part of the research were:
To characterise the perspectives and opinions of web managers on the
key accessibility issues under study,
To identify the main driving factors, barriers and processes involved in
addressing web accessibility for the websites under the responsibility of the interviewee,
To try to characterise the costs and benefits of addressing web
accessibility,
To characterise web managers views on the proposed Directive.
72 For example, empirica, WRC and eWorx (2009) Web accessibility in European countries: level of compliance with latest international accessibility specifications, notably WCAG 2.0, and approaches or plans to implement those specifications.
The themes addressed in the interviews covered:
Organisational policies in relation to web accessibility, if any, and main
reasons why such a policy is in place,
Approach taken to address web accessibility (what types of activities,
whether done in-house and/or using externally contracted services), any issues/challenges that may have been experienced,
Whether and how the specific accessibility themes examined in the web
accessibility assessment have been addressed in their approach and any issues/challenges experienced in these areas,
Outcomes of the accessibility activities including accessibility related benefits
for users with disabilities as well as any wider/other benefits),
Perspectives and/or available information on effort/costs of activities to
address web accessibility,
Current activities in relation to monitoring web accessibility, as well as
perspectives on monitoring and its value (including proposed EU approach from the Directive).
The interviewees targeted were from the same types of public service
organisations whose websites were tested for accessibility, making a total of 18 interviewees sought. The main criterion for selecting interviewees was that they had a web management or web development role within the team and enough knowledge of the website to be able to comment meaningfully on accessibility activities that have been undertaken.
In total, in-depth interviews involving 19 people from 13 public service public sector organisations were conducted in three countries (Germany, Ireland and Sweden)73.
The aim was wherever possible to conduct interviews with the personnel dealing with the types of public service websites that were covered in the accessibility assessments, although it should be noted that there is not always a one-to-one correspondence between the websites that were tested for accessibility and the websites that were the subject of the interviews74. In some cases it was not possible to obtain interviewees from those responsible for the websites that
73The numbers of interviewees varied between 1 and 4 per web site. In Ireland, 10 people contributed to the interviewees on 5 web sites, in Germany 4 people were interviewed in relation to 4 web sites, while in Sweden, 5 people were interviewed in relation to 4 web sites. 74All of the organisations from which the interviewees came had been involved in addressing accessibility issues in relation to the web sites that they were responsible for.
were tested, while in others, interviewees sometimes had responsibilities for larger websites than those which were tested. In this latter case, the interviews took place with reference to the broad responsibilities of the interviewee, as this gave the opportunity to obtain information based on a wider set of experiences of addressing accessibility. Many of the interviewees had technical competence, while others operated at a more managerial or policy related level, and both perspectives are of interest and importance.
In addition to these interviews with website managers, it was intended to hold a further set of interviews with selected policy makers in the core countries(IE, SE, DE) to provide a national level perspective on web accessibility. These were to focus especially on issues relating to methods of monitoring compliance with regulations. However, it was only possible to arrange one such interview in Sweden75. For the others, it did not prove possible to arrange such interviews, at least in part because of sensitivities around ongoing consultations with the
Commission in relation to these issues.
Following the identification of the URLs in each country, initial contact with the web managers was made in order to identify suitable interviewees76.
When these were identified the interview was arranged. The methodology used varied according to the requirements of the interviewee; some were interviewed face to face, while others were interviewed via the telephone.
Finally, the content and structure of the interview guides were informed by both the results of the web accessibility assessments and the background research into the policy context in each of the three countries. It was felt to be inappropriate to present the results of the web accessibility assessments to interviewees prior to interview them, as this approach would have informed their responses. In addition, most interviewees have responsibility for a larger portion of the website than the ones on which the accessibility tests were conducted. Decoupling the accessibility test results from the interviews had the benefit of allowing for discrepancies to emerge between the two information sources.
75This is not reported upon because it cannot provide a representative view.
76The process of finding the relevant person to talk to in a given organisation was quite challenging, so a pragmatic approach was taken in terms of how much effort was spent on first finding and then chasing people to respond.