Article type
Abstract
Background
eBASE Africa in collaboration with global evidence community stakeholders has recently evaluated and published on the accessibility of resources from 5 main evidence leaders (Cochrane, Campbell, EEF, JBI, and 3ie) (Yuh, 2023). The findings suggest that resources are not fully accessible to people with disabilities (PWDs). The 5 home pages of the respective online evidence databases of research scored an average of 78.6% (range: 73% to 87%) compliance with best practices according to WebAccessiblity. While this result falls below the ideal of 100% compliance, it does indicate that all 5 databases were somewhat accessible for persons with disabilities. The 25 resources selected from the 5 online databases scored an average of 52.5% (range: 12.5% to 70%) using the 8 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) indicators. (Yuh, 2023). Another recent study published by eBASE and the Africa Canada Artificial Intelligence and Data Innovation Consortium (ACADIC) highlighted how access to evidence can improve health, education, livelihoods, empowerment, and social well-being. (Yuh, 2024).
Objectives
Engage authors, editors, communication professionals, and publishers to raise awareness of and map opportunities for considerations of disability access in research reports
Methods
•Share results from Yuh 2023 and Yuh 2024 highlighting the importance of digital accessibility for PWDs
•Share the WCAG and experiences integrating WCAG guidelines into research reports as done with work with UCL Research 4 All as a modeling tool for editors, authors, and publishers
•Train participants to consider and include digital accessibility for reports, including hands-on workshopping
•Facilitate roundtable discussions in groups to map opportunities among participants for pathways forward for improving the digital accessibility of research reports
Description and activities/interaction plans
The training will be developed with guidelines from educational meetings (Forsetlund et al., 2021) using multiple strategies to improve compliance with desired practice and behavior change interventions.
The hall can be arranged in a roundtable to facilitate co-interaction and use of cultural diversity from African workshop techniques.
Ways to go forward
Authors and editors commit to making research reports digitally accessible.
eBASE Africa in collaboration with global evidence community stakeholders has recently evaluated and published on the accessibility of resources from 5 main evidence leaders (Cochrane, Campbell, EEF, JBI, and 3ie) (Yuh, 2023). The findings suggest that resources are not fully accessible to people with disabilities (PWDs). The 5 home pages of the respective online evidence databases of research scored an average of 78.6% (range: 73% to 87%) compliance with best practices according to WebAccessiblity. While this result falls below the ideal of 100% compliance, it does indicate that all 5 databases were somewhat accessible for persons with disabilities. The 25 resources selected from the 5 online databases scored an average of 52.5% (range: 12.5% to 70%) using the 8 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) indicators. (Yuh, 2023). Another recent study published by eBASE and the Africa Canada Artificial Intelligence and Data Innovation Consortium (ACADIC) highlighted how access to evidence can improve health, education, livelihoods, empowerment, and social well-being. (Yuh, 2024).
Objectives
Engage authors, editors, communication professionals, and publishers to raise awareness of and map opportunities for considerations of disability access in research reports
Methods
•Share results from Yuh 2023 and Yuh 2024 highlighting the importance of digital accessibility for PWDs
•Share the WCAG and experiences integrating WCAG guidelines into research reports as done with work with UCL Research 4 All as a modeling tool for editors, authors, and publishers
•Train participants to consider and include digital accessibility for reports, including hands-on workshopping
•Facilitate roundtable discussions in groups to map opportunities among participants for pathways forward for improving the digital accessibility of research reports
Description and activities/interaction plans
The training will be developed with guidelines from educational meetings (Forsetlund et al., 2021) using multiple strategies to improve compliance with desired practice and behavior change interventions.
The hall can be arranged in a roundtable to facilitate co-interaction and use of cultural diversity from African workshop techniques.
Ways to go forward
Authors and editors commit to making research reports digitally accessible.