Opening Credits…

I found this slideshow that really goes into the meat of what it means to have an accessible PDF. You can “watch” it (and read the transcript below the images) but you’ll get the gist of it after viewing.

Here are the top 10 (in no particular order) most prevalent PDFs used by the college (and probably most colleges).

1. CVs
2. Program of study
3. Program handbooks
4. Flyers for programs, events, etc., sometimes with registration links
5. Informational sessions with QR codes to go to a website… (go figure)
6. Tip sheets for students
7. Forms (some fillable, some not, some for students, some for faculty/staff)
8. Reports and outcomes
9. Resource guides
10. Reading materials (for class, for knowledge, through our centers, etc.)

Technology is supposed to be the equalizer for everyone regardless of their abilities. To that effect, even technology creates hindrances for people with various degrees of other abilities.

As stated in Episode 1 PDFs are not very accessible to those using assistive technology to read them. Therefore, we (or whoever the designated mitigator is) need to take on this task.

And it is daunting. It’s not easy, it’s complicated and very time-consuming.

So how do we move forward? Is there a way we can get around the use (mostly, not all the time) of PDFs on our website? Not only because of 508 compliance issues but also for user experience.

Let’s start with the first item on the list – CVs. Faculty have them and they like to change them, constantly and refresh what’s already online. This usually means the old CV comes down and the new one goes up – but first, you have to mitigate the new one for 508 compliance. Darn it.

There is a way faculty can take control of updating and changing their CVs if they use Google Docs or SharePoint to store them (and we can then set up a Download Manager link to it – completely evergreen).*

Shay Yao, an assistant professor of communications at the College of Arts & Sciences, created her CV in Google Docs. This allows her to access it anytime she needs to for changes. She shares a public link with the web editor who then places that link in Download Manager. As long as she keeps with the same file, nothing ever needs to change. Take a look at her CV to view.

Google Docs has accessibility guidelines and accessibility tools such as a magnifier and screen reader support. SharePoint offers 508 compliant tools, as well.

On the other hand, if they send us the PDF CV, we have to make them compliant and go through the process again when they update.

Solution

We would prefer faculty remain with Microsoft SharePoint (or other Microsoft projects that are shareable online) to create their CVs with. But Google Docs is ok if it’s their personal account and that’s where their CV is… as long as faculty follow accessibility guidelines.

* Note: Georgia State University is not a Google school so we cannot advise or suggest to faculty that they use Google Docs. If they have a personal Google account where they’ve stored their CV document, as Dr. Yao has, we can place the link in Download Manager, but it’s not something we would push out to the faculty at large.