I] Re: [WEB4LIB] QR codes and accessibility

[Gwen Schmidt]

Hi Everybody,
I'm not very techie, but I am happy to report that there will be programs at our Library this fall called "iPhone Help for People with Visual Disabilities" in partnership with the CNIB.  The CNIB's local Assistive Technology Specialist is a blind user of technology and a professional trainer of other people with visual disabilities, and she will be leading the sessions.  She is a strong proponent of the accessibility features of the iPhone for blind users.  With the iPhone, at least, touch screens instead of buttons don't seem to be a deal-breaker.
On the main topic of QR codes and accessibility, unfortunately, I can't be of much help.
Have a great weekend,
GwenGwen Schmidt, MLIS
Outreach Services Coordinator
Saskatoon Public Library
311 23rd Street East
Saskatoon, SK S7K 0J6
Phone (306) 975-7606
Fax (306) 975-7521
E-mail g.schmidt at saskatoonlibrary.ca
Website www.saskatoonlibrary.ca
-----Original Message-----
From: "Collins, Matthew S" <mscolli at EMORY.EDU>
Sent 8/31/2012 2:09:35 PM
To: WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: I] Re: [WEB4LIB] QR codes and accessibilityI don't have an answer on the ADA issue. But the issue is actually slight more (or less) complicated, since most new smart-phones have touch screens rather than buttons.  These phones are inherently difficult for the visually impaired to use.
-Matthew
------------------------------
Matthew Collins, PhD, MLIS
mscolli at emory.edu
-----------------------------
|-----Original Message-----
|From: Web technologies in libraries [mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On
|Behalf Of Deborah Stanley
|Sent: Friday, August 31, 2012 3:30 PM
|To: WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU
|Subject: [WEB4LIB] QR codes and accessibility
|
|Hi. I've received an interesting question that I'm hoping someone here might
|be able to shed some light on. Looking at what we do from an ADA compliance
|point of view, we are required to provide the same information to patrons
|with disabilities as we are to patrons without disabilities. Specifically, I was
|asked what libraries do to make QR codes ADA-compliant, i.e. how does a
|visually impaired or totally blind patron access the same information that a
|sighted person, using a QR code, can access with their smartphone?
|
|I must admit, I am having a hard time figuring out what the issues really are,
|and I haven't found anything very specific on the web either. I think there are
|a couple of issues (at least!) with this, and I'm wondering if any libraries out
|there have addressed this in any way?
|
|Presumably if someone has a phone with an app that can read print (i.e. hard
|copy print such as posters, fliers, handouts), we could put the URL next to the
|QR code, so that the phone could read it. We should be doing that anyway, in
|order to provide access for people without smartphones. I don't know if
|phones are able to detect that there is a QR code nearby and direct a visually
|impaired patron towards it (?), or if phones that can read physical print items
|can also detect a QR code within that print page, and decode it and direct the
|user to a website.
|
|If anyone has any thoughts or insights on this, or any experience to share on
|what their library does, I would be very grateful for your feedback.
|
|Many thanks,
|Deborah Stanley
|
|--
|Deborah Stanley
|UGA Libraries Web Editor, Germanic & Slavic Studies Librarian, Reference
|Librarian University of Georgia Libraries Athens GA 30602
|
|dstanley at uga.edu
|Phone: (706) 542-0656
|Fax: (706) 583-0268
|http://www.libs.uga.edu/staffpages/stanley.html
|
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|Web4Lib Web Site: http://web4lib.org/
|
|2012-08-31
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