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#CSUN15 Audio: Latest News and Upcoming Conference for IAAP


In this interview, we hear from Christine Murphy Peck, CEO of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals. This organization aims to connect like-minded accessibility professionals with each other, as well as provide accessibility workshops and certifications. IAAP plans their first annual conference later in 2015 in Las Vegas, and members will receive a discounted registration price. To learn more about IAAP and sign up for a student or associate membership, visit the IAAP website.

Be sure to check our audio page for more exhibit hall coverage, and check out our new weekly podcast for news and features about technology and beyond. Blind Bargains audio coverage of CSUN 2015 is generously sponsored by the American Foundation for the Blind. Enjoying our coverage of CSUN15? You can help us out by taking this very short survey.

Transcript

We strive to provide an accurate transcription, though errors may occur.

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Transcribed by Kayde Rieken

Welcome to BlindBargains.com coverage of CSUN 2015 — the biggest names, provocative interviews, and wall-to-wall exhibit hall coverage — brought to you by the American Foundation for the Blind.

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Joe Steinkamp: Hey, everyone. It's Joe Steinkamp from the weekly Blind Bargains podcast. Did you know that we have an Apple Rundown that happens just about every week? We go over some of the craziest news that happens in the world of iDevices and Macs, and it's right there in text form in our Article section on the News page. Also, don't forget to check out our deals, our classifieds, and so much more over at BlindBargains.com. And now, audio from CSUN 2015.

Now, here's J.J. Meddaugh.

J.J. Meddaugh: We are here at CSUN 2015 with Christine Murphy Peck. She is the CEO of the IAAP. We talked about the IAAP last year at CSUN, and — and she is now the new CEO and here to tell us all the latest about it. Welcome to Blind Bargains.

Christine Murphy Peck: Thank you very much, J.J. It's an honor to be with you.

JM: Great. So congratulations, first of all.

CMP: Thank you.

JM: And why don't you refresh people's memory: What is IAAP? What's it stand for, and —

CMP: Sure. IAAP is the International Association of Accessibility Professionals.

JM: All right. So what is the — the overarching goals of the — the organization, and —

CMP: The overarching goals really are to define and enhance the accessibility profession. And we do that by helping accessibility professionals find one another; training and educating accessibility professionals; providing a forum for them to convene, both virtually and, as we'll talk about in one moment, face-to-face and in person; and, basically, to — to help people — we've got a lot of folks in the digital space. We've got a lot of folks in education and training, so that's both higher education and those people providing accessibility training. And we've got a lot of people in the finance industry. Those are sort of our three largest tenants of the membership.

JM: Okay. So last year, of course, we talked about the founding and some of the — the initial goals. So what has been some of the progress? I know you guys had a session here. You're doing a meet-and-greet, and —

CMP: That's correct.

JM: — you're taking members now, and —

CMP: That's right. So the progress includes the following: So, as you know, we — we did a year of, you know, signing members on. We're up over 1,700 members in over 51 countries; and so that's been really beneficial for us. We launched our connections website, which is our internal communications vehicle, and it's meant to be an open forum for people to post questions, concerns — whether that be about a technical aspect of something, an implementation, a design situation — could be a policy concern, could be an educational area. You know, they're trying to build a curriculum. And so it really is a forum for our members to speak to one another; and it's been really fun watching them as they got ready to come to CSUN. "Hey, I'm going to be at CSUN. Are you going to be at CSUN?" "Hey, we'll have this conversation." "Hey, what about this piece?" We've launched two aspects of our body of knowledge. So the first is around digital web competencies, and that is open for public commentary on our connections website. We encourage people to log in and provide their feedback. After CSUN, we're actually going to launch the full accessibility body of knowledge which we've been working to develop. And both of these bodies of knowledge are part of our certification program; so we're laying the groundwork for our certification, both at the basic level, the associate level, and then, on the up — you know, sort of moving into the various aspects of the profession, the next of which would be the digital web area. And then, we'll move into law and policy, HR, and some of the other — mobile and — and devices and that sort of — specialty areas.

JM: How do you define an accessibility professional? Who are the types of people that you're looking to — to try to be — become members?

CMP: Well, basically, anyone who works to make products accessible. So if they're doing website design, if they're working in a corporation like Target and they're trying to make their, you know, apps accessible for everyone — anyone looking to enhance the user experience by providing an accessible format on their digital space. Also, people who are educating and training, be they consultants, be they in higher ed, or we've got some folks K through 12 as well. If they are a person who's an attorney that needs to ensure that, you know, all of the laws are correctly implemented, all of the regulations are correctly founded, how to get their people up to speed about accessibility — what it means, what it really looks like — there's a place for all of those folks in our organization.

JM: And how much is membership?

CMP: Membership is $185 a year for professionals and $50 for students; and then, we have a whole range of organizational memberships, including a special rate for nonprofits.

JM: And what are some — you mentioned a couple of them. What are some — some of the other benefits of being a member?

CMP: So one of them is the Connections newsletter — again, a great resource, both of the places to post. You can post your blog; you can find out information from other people; discounts on our webinar program. We do do a monthly educational program, and we have all of the previous session archived. And members get a discount to those. We have launched a career center; so we'll have an opportunity for companies to both post, and for individuals to find jobs. And you must be a member to have access to the career center. And then, our annual event which we are launching in October 2015 — October 14-16 in Las Vegas. And there'll be a membership discount there as well.

JM: That's interesting. So another annual conference. Obviously, you've seen a need for an additional conference. What types of things are going to differentiate this conference from others that exist currently?


CMP: Well, we really want — and that's an excellent question. What we really want for our conference to be — again, it's a place, one, for people to find each other. What we here repeatedly is, "I need to know who my peeps are." You know, where are — are the people that do this work, whether it's 20 percent of their time or 100 percent of their time. They want to gather; they want to connect. And you can see that already happening virtually. And then, it's really meant to be a learning experience — so much more of a workshop, not as much research-based; but, you know, if we know that this is what the guidelines are, how do we make that work on a daily basis? What are the tips and tricks that we need? What do we need to know about design? What do we need to know to help each other? Where are some of the challenges in using some of the software applications?

JM: And you're a bit limited when you — in session; here. They actually shortened this year. They're only 40 minutes long. It really — you know, you can't do a lot of deep dive on a lot of those topics.

CMP: Right. And — and I think that — you know, obviously, CSUN is an incredibly important event for the — the accessibility world.

JM: Right. You — you don't intend this to compete, or anything.

CMP: Not at all. It's meant to be an add-on and a partner. And again — you know, as you said, you can present a lot of great data and information; and then, really, ours is meant to be a — more of a hands-on, if you will, opportunity for people to dive a little deeper, really get into some how-tos and some techniques.

JM: Have you — you determined the registration prices yet, or —

CMP: Those will be determined shortly. We'll publish those by the end of the month.

JM: Okay. But it'll be a little bit discounted for members, and —

CMP: There'll certainly be a discount for members.

JM: Okay. And in Vegas, no less, in October.

CMP: Yes. Well, and what's interesting is, we're looking at going back at the location where we originally decided that we should host an annual meeting. So that'll be fun.

JM: Awesome. If people want to get more information, or perhaps become a member, what would be the way to do that?

CMP: Well, they can log on to our website. And I will give you the correct website location because we've — www.AccessibilityAssociation.org.

JM: All right. All one word — AccessibilityAssociation.org.

CMP: That's correct.

JM: Thank you so much, Chris. We really appreciate you coming on.

CMP: Thank you, J.J. Pleasure being with you.

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J.J. Meddaugh is an experienced technology writer and computer enthusiast. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a major in telecommunications management and a minor in business. When not writing for Blind Bargains, he enjoys travel, playing the keyboard, and meeting new people.


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