Earlier I wrote about my hope to see improved accessibility from CBS College Sports All Access. As of that writing I was told the accessibility fixes were expected on November 10. That day came and went with no update.
I received a brief update today from the people I’ve been exchanging e-mail with at the University of Wisconsin about the accessibility issues.
we received this info from cbs last Thursday. There was a setback in producing the ADA accessibility components for the Silverlight media player. CBS is saying end of November now.
I’m communicating with the University of Wisconsin folks because it is my belief that they are ultimately responsible for ensuring the accessibility of their online offerings. Obviously they’d be better off if they’d chosen a mechanism that was directly accessible and I’m disappointed they didn’t do a better job when choosing the CBS product at the outset.
The lack of accessibility in the online sports broadcasts is a bit ironic, given the same university of Wisconsin is referenced in an article talking about universities that have said no to Amazon’s Kindle over a lack of accessibility.
As I mentioned earlier, folks from the UW and CBS have been both polite and good about finding alternatives that allow for access to the online broadcasts while the accessibility issues are resolved. This by no means excuses the lack of direct accessibility but is a far cry better than frequently happens during these sorts of issues. As I’m sure anyone in the accessibility arena knows, it is just as likely that I could have been left out in the cold here.
Still, we are now two months beyond the initial promised accessibility resolution so the old “just a bit longer” is starting to wear a bit thin.
It is a shame some universities have said no to the Amazon Kindle. They surely are going to be cost saving in the future.
Ben – Kindle Case