I was at this today.
So if you're in the vicinity of Melbourne and are doing Web stuff, get your butt down 'ere tomorrow. Or something :)
**
I came home feeling completely disoriented, and I swear it can't have been due to the single red wine I had. I stopped reacting badly to wine quite a while ago ...
At the end of today's conference program, after some drinks were served, there was an additional presentation by a couple of students who re-did a Flash website into an accessible website[1]. It also meant that after the presentation, the audience began a quite lengthy open discussion into accessibility related issues.
I had one single point to make - and I got my chance eventually. What I began saying was that webdesign as a field is seen as being "easy". I have no bloody idea what I actually said after that, but a fair number of the audience nodded vigorously in agreement, so I guess I musn't have been too far off the mark.
It disturbs me when I forget things even before I remember them.
We were talking about the education of web developers in order that accessible websites can be more commonly developed. What I meant to say was that because web design as a field is seen as "easy", most developers believe in "quick and dirty" delivery, that accessibility is not even considered, or is put aside and disregarded as an afterthought. Y'know, I think web design is so misunderstood and yet overrated as a profession? Even worse, most people who are out there teaching web design related courses today probably don't know enough about Web standards, nor do they know enough about making accessible websites. To fix the problem, we have to go to the roots ... and educate those who educate to teach the right things.
Anyway, a lady came up to me afterwards and said, "I liked what you said! But I can't remember what it was!"
Oh dear ...
It occurred to me today that certain conferences are rather like evangelist church services. You come and mix with like-minded people to be inspired, to be reminded of your beliefs. You become reminded about the "thou shalt nots", that there are sinners to be "saved", and you sing praises about the good things that have been done. (Now, please don't come commenting to me about churches and Christianity, I've probably heard it already. I'm just drawing a parallel.)
And it is a good thing, to be reminded about what you stand for, to have your ideals reinforced, to feed off others' enthusiasm in order to keep going with what seems to be an eternal struggle. It is good to be fired up about worthwhile causes.
**
It was disastrous trying to get home. My normal train route was disrupted (overheard that there might have been an accident) so we had to sit on a train to a particular station, from which we had to be put on a bus to be driven to another station further down the line.
There was a Japanese girl on the train who was quite worried. She didn't speak English fluently, and later I learned she'd only been here for a month and she didn't really know her way around. So I talked to her for the rest of the way, about this that or the other. What did she like best about Australia? What did she dislike most? And so forth.
Then I had to take a taxi home because normal buses had stopped running for the evening. It was almost 9pm when I got home. Haven't had dinner, didn't feel like dinner ... but I ate eventually something anyway.
I don't think it was the red wine. It was just a strange day.
[1] Check out the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative.
Posted by sniffles at November 15, 2001 11:30 PM