2019 First Batch of Phase Twos
Welcome! After the new year started we began reviewing these Phase Two projects separately. From the Home page navigate to the specific page for each project. Below are older status updates.
We've started to do some research and reach out for the following projects. We've do not have any interviews scheduled yet as we await responses during the holiday season.
- User-Centered Data Specs - Corey, Ivory
- USWDS Privacy One-Stop Shop - Ivory, Jared
- Public-Centered Privacy Guidance - Jared, Ivory
We've reviewed the projects and have a plan on who can start what. These are kicking off later this week
USWDS Adoption & Forms
We've Learned...
- What the Design System "Maturity Model" currently looks like
- The Site Scanner application might have potential to be extended to help in reporting on usage/adoption in the future. Current Site Scanner implementation is too simplistic to be a viable tool regarding adoption.
- After meeting with the 21C IDEA team we recommend pausing research efforts until January
Learn Next...
- 21C IDEA team priorities and where/how we fit in from 10x perspective (should have more clarity Monday, Dec. 2)
- Where we can help 21C IDEA team before the 12/19 USWDS Monthly Webinar
A11y & Visualization Patterns
We've Learned...
- Data literacy is a cross cutting concern between accessibility and reusable design patterns, encompassing a broader set of concerns within data visualization than the term "cognitive disability"--any effort in making data visualization easier to comprehend will benefit those with cognitive disabilities. Some examples include use of the "big three" charts (pie, bar, line) vs. more complex styles if possible, and also alternating chart style to better chunk data into discernible groups.
- Contrast checkers/color vision deficit simulators are useful in evaluations, but human intelligence is needed to evaluate whether information is truly meaningful/useful
- The overlap area between "skilled in information design" and "skilled in making web content accessible" is very narrow. Both camps need the other to ensure visualizations are meaningful and accessible
Learn Next...
- How users of assistive technology consume data visualizations, and what strategies they employ to extract meaningful information
Forecasted End Dates: Early-Mid February for USWDS Adoption & Digital Forms, Early March for Reusable Patterns & Accessibility
USWDS Adoption & Forms
We've Learned..
- At the heart of the blockers to adoption is lack of onboarding and value statement. This leads to lower awareness & commitment.
- The impression is that the USWDS is extremely technical & hard to implement.
- More resources for USWDS would greatly impact adoption in multiple ways; increased awareness, greater commitment, and better guidance.
- There is a strong interest in developing a practitioner contribution model.
- Agencies are moving forward with digital forms without USWDS & we need to get involved early to reduce costly & inefficient redesign.
Learn Next...
- Begin to learn of the blockers to adoption from agencies who haven't implemented USWDS.
- Understand the challenges outside partners have when engaged to build tools that leverage USWDS on behalf of agencies (e.g., Form.io)
A11y & Visualization Patterns
We've Learned...
- There is a community and guild we can leverage that genuinely wants to improve accessibility of data visualizations.
- There are a lot of questions from practitioners on how to evaluate and improve accessibility of data visualizations, & who are the resources they should tap into.
Learn Next...
- Who would be the best groups/individuals to help with getting more feedback for an early Jan outreach due to the holidays.
Learn Next...
- Are there any Phase I projects that appear to be not technically feasible as a first pass.
Summary: This sprint went by fast with a few team members out for a conference. We interviewed Ammie Farraj Feijoo, Eleni Gesch-Karamanlidis, and a fellow Flexion Engineer, Eric Sorenson, who has implemented sites using USWDS and forms. Next sprint we have interviews with Jeremy Zilar and Syed Azeem.
We've learned ...
- ...some specific challenges with implementing USWDS especially related to forms and form validation
- ...a need for more case studies, as well as specific and more sophisticated examples and demos/code. This will be to alleviate 'philosophical' discussions and down time to address problems that may have already been solved for
- ...product owner believes that USWDS IS the design standard to comply with 21st Century IDEA, and making the language less ambiguous is the current challenge
- ...at this point there is not a need to do a prototype for A11Y viz in phase two. We believe a combination of surveys (creator and maintainer audience) and interviews (consumers) will provide answers for the majority of questions that need answering in phase II
Learn ...
- ...how to align the questions that need answering relating to producers of visualizations to a learning plan/survey
- ...how to finalize all qualitative interviews and begin to map findings to assumptions, then map both to phase 1 considerations
- ...about what's working or not working by analyzing public articles and other marketing, and how that informs our recommendation
USWDS Adoption: January 2020 (based purely on burn rate)
Summary: The majority of our focus has been on the 2 USWDS projects. We feel we accomplished what we set out to do in terms of finalizing the learning plan in creating the interview scripts & surveys. We also have a deeper understanding of how SVG can be made accessible & should be the foundation of our development plan for data visualization.
We've learned ...
- ...about the real and perceived technical challenges that are involved with adopting and upgrading the USWDS from the product perspective, as well as some of the various level of extensions being done. We’ve also learned there are different “levels” of adoption.
- ...inline SVG has ability to be built with A11Y in mind, lots of strategies
- ...we can focus on tooling that produce inline as a starting point for prototype (d3, chartist.js)
Learn how...
- ...the technical challenges inform the levels of adoption or upgrades, as well as form usage, from the agency perspective.
- ...communication from the product level plays into support and adoption.
- ...to refine goals of audience surveys to align to the open questions from phase 1 for data visualization.
This was a partial sprint to get us started.
- Conducted a team day to get together and discussed how we want to work together
- Setup Flexion GitHub & ZenHub for now until we have access to TTS repo
- Completed a first draft of interview questions for USWDS adoption & digital forms & scheduled time with Dan Williams
- Completed a first draft of surveys for each of the four projects
- Finalize learning plans to gain insights into USWDS Adoption & Forms in regards to blockers, the audience, implications for sustainability, and additional guidance
- Create development plan for an initial accessible visualization prototype to aid in creator and consumer learning plans