“Blue Beanie Day” coinciding with my dissertation subject – a message from above?

http://www.zeldman.com/2007/11/19/blue-beanie-day/

Relevant quotes by Steve Krug

• “In most organizations,the people who end up being responsible for doing something about accessibility are the people who actually build the thing: the designers and the developers. [...]Two arguments in particular seem to make them skeptical [of making their websites accessible]:
  • Since their world consists largely of able bodied 26-year olds, it’s very hard for them to believe that a large percentage of the population actually needs help accessing the Web.They’re willing to write it off as the kind of exaggeration that people make when they’re advocating for a worthy cause…” (p.170)
• “The worst thing about this skepticism is that it obscures the fact that there’s really only one reason that’s important:
  • It’s the right thing to do.

  And not just the right thing it’s profoundly the right thing to do, because the one argument for accessibility that doesn’t get made nearly often enough is how extraordinarily better it makes some people’s lives.”(p.171)

Krug, S. (2006) Don’t Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach To Web Usability. 2nd ed.Berkeley: New Riders

Relevant quote by John Simmons

• “Chefs and cooking programmes became all the rage on TV,and one of those chefs,Jamie Oliver,started a campaign based on his reality TV show to improve the quality of school dinners.The choice between good and bad food became an emotive issue,surrounded by moral arguments directed at the big manufacturing companies.Guilty of poisoning us with chemicals,ws the charge.And a little juice company in West London seemed to make its position clear through its name, Innocent.” (p.27)

Simmons, J. (2007) Great Brand Stories: Innocent : Building a brand from nothing but fruit. London: Cyan Books

Relevant quotes by Donald A. Norman

• “The academic, research enterprise of design has not done a good job of studying fun and pleasure. Design is usually thought of as a practical skill, a profession rather than a discipline.” (p.104)
• “Academics have concentrated primarily upon the history of design, or the social history or societal implications,or if they are from the cognitive and computer sciences,upon the study of machine interfaces and usability.” (p.105)
• “I believe that those of us who become angry with today’s technology are justified.It may be an automatic result of our affective and emotional systems.It may not be rational,but so what?It is appropriate.Is it the computer’s fault,or is it the programmers who neglected to understand our real needs?As users of technology ,we don’t care.All we care about is that our lives are made more frustrating.” (p.141)
• “Technology often forces us into situations where we can can’t live without the technology even though we may actively dislike its impact.Or we may love what the technology provides us while hating the frustrations encountered while trying to use it.” (p.157)
• “The designer has some power here,but only to a limited extent,for although some of the irritation and dislike is a result of societal norms and standards,and these can only be changed by society itself.”(p.157)
• “Much of modern technology is really the technology of social interaction:it is the technology of trust and emotional bonds.” (p.157)

Norman, D.A. ( 2004) Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things.New York: Basic Books

Relevant quote regarding accessibility and sexiness

• “Accessibility is definitely not the sexy subject of design. Very few folks get on the covers of design subscriptions for making something equally accessible to people with various disabilities.”

Onori, P.J. (2006) Comment on the article ‘Accessibility for blind people’ [Online] available from http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/09/29/accessibility-for-blind-people/
[Accessed 23.06.2007]