Norman E. Youngblood

A usability analysis of municipal government website home pages in Alabama

Abstract This study uses e-government and corporate usability benchmarks to compare municipal government websites in Alabama and examine correlations between usability scores and population, as well as usability scores and per capita income. E-government in Alabama is on the rise. At the state level, in 2008, Alabama ranked in the top 10 states in e-government after three years of being in the bottom three. Improvements in state-level e-government have not, however, necessarily trickled down to the municipal level, and this study found no correlation between usability and a municipalitys population or per capita income. Indeed, the study reveals substantial problems with municipal website usability, including accessibility; such problems could erode the web credibility of municipalities trying to engage citizens, to create or strengthen sustainable practices, and to attract companies that can bring new jobs and improve the local economy.

Revisiting Alabama state website accessibility

Abstract Potters (2002) accessibility review of over 60 Alabama state-level websites was designed to establish a baseline for monitoring the state governments progress on online accessibility. The study found significant room for improvement. Only 20% of the reviewed sites met Section 508 requirements, and only 19% of the sites met WAI Priority 1 accessibility standards, based on a combination of automated evaluation and manual inspection of the code. In 2006, Alabama adopted ITS 1210-00S2: Universal Accessibility, which offered basic guidelines to assist developers in complying with Section 508 requirements. The current study revisits the state home pages that Potter evaluated to see how accessibility levels have changed over the years, particularly with the states adoption of ITS-530S2. Like Potter, the current analysis is based on a combination of automated testing and a manual review of each pages HTML. The study found that compliance has not improved substantially since Potters analysis and reinforces the idea that the presence of a standard does not correlate with compliance.

e-Government in Rhode Island: what effects do templates have on usability, accessibility, and mobile readiness?

Abstract This study examines state and local e-government Web sites in Rhode Island with an eye toward determining the effects of templates on accessibility, usability, and mobile readiness. After examining 132 state and local e-government sites, using a combination of code inspection, heuristic evaluation, and automated analysis, the researchers found that templates had, at best, mixed success in promoting these key issues. The results suggest that while best practice-based templates may be helpful in improving usability, accessibility, and mobile readiness, it is critical that designers at the local level receive training in these areas and that governments monitor state and local Web sites for compliance with industry and legal standards.

E-government in Alabama: An analysis of county voting and election website content, usability, accessibility, and mobile readiness

Abstract Previous scholarship has evaluated the quality and content of state voting and election websites, often finding that states do not provide voters with the type of information and tools they need in a format that is usable and accessible. Although states establish voting and election rules, much of what voters experience on Election Day is determined by the decisions of county election officials. However, limited scholarship has investigated the content and quality of information provided by these individuals. This study analyzes the content and quality of county voting and election websites in Alabama. To evaluate content, a 22 point Election Information Content Score (EICS) is used. Website accessibly, usability, and mobile readiness standard compliance are assessed using a combination of heuristics, automated evaluation tools, and manual inspection. A series of correlations are also presented to evaluate the relationship between EICS and the demographic, socioeconomic, partisan, and participatory composition of a county. The findings suggest that across the state, counties provide limited voting and election information and are not in full compliance with accessibility, usability, and mobile readiness standards. Further, the extent to which voting and elections information is provided, is related to county composition.

Accessible Media: The Need to Prepare Students for Creating Accessible Content:

Electronic media accessibility has come a long way since the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In 2010, the Communication and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) mandated closed captioning many online videos and called for making video blind accessible through audio descriptions. The Department of Justice (DOJ) ruled Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) applied to the virtual world. Since January 2015, there have been over 240 online-accessibility lawsuits. As educators, we need to prepare students to understand what accessibility is and how to make electronic media accessible. This article outlines accessibility issues across the curriculum, including closed captioning, audio descriptions, and online documents, and calls for better integration of accessibility into the electronic media curriculum.

Usability, content, and connections: How county-level Alabama emergency management agencies communicate with their online public

Abstract Emergency Management Agencies (EMAs) in the U.S. operate at federal, state, and local levels, each with a common purpose “to prepare for, prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents” (Homeland Security, 2008). As Homeland Security (2008) explains, local EMAs (LEMAs) lay the groundwork for prevention and other activities, coordinating with nearby LEMAs and local entities, including private and non-governmental organizations. LEMAs have been studied little; most research on online LEMAs and State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) has been limited to website content, providing an incomplete picture of how they provide online service to the public. Bertot & Jager argue that functionality, usability, and accessibility are critical elements in evaluating e-government, noting that if users cannot get to or find the content, the content becomes irrelevant. This study contributes to addressing this gap by evaluating Alabama LEMA websites, based on a combination of content rubrics used in prior EMA studies and usability heuristics, factors that can affect user trust, and thus a sites usefulness. It also looks at how Alabama LEMAs are using social networking on their websites.

Accessibility and Use of Online Video Captions by Local Television News Websites

In July 2014, the Federal Communications Commission expanded broadcaster requirements for captioning online videos. The new guidelines, which go into effect in January 2016, require broadcasters to caption online clips from shows originally aired with captions. We conducted a content analysis and examined a stratified sample of one fifth of U.S. Designated Market Areas to see how prepared local TV news sites are for the rule changes and how accessible the sites are for users with disabilities. Barely 60% of sites captioned any of the sampled video clips and almost all sites had major accessibility issues.

Online Religion and Religion Online: Reform Judaism and Web-Based Communication

This study examines the online communication practices of American congregations associated with the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), the governing body of American and Canadian Reform congregations, through a content analysis of 252 American URJ congregational Web sites. Web site content was grouped into two categories, “religion online” and “online religion.” Religion online content promotes the organization and provides organizational information, including information related to organizational identity building, community outreach, and encouraging civic and social action. Online religion content allows the user to engage in spiritual activity via the Internet (Helland, 2000; Farrell, 2011). ANOVA and MANOVA analyses were used to determine significant differences in content based on congregation size. Results revealed larger congregations were more likely to use Web sites for organizational identity building, mobilization of civic and social action, and the practice of “online religion,” lending support to the existence of a size-based digital divide among URJ congregations.

Digital inclusiveness of health information websites

This study examines the accessibility and mobile readiness of 25 of the top health information website homepages using mobile-readiness heuristics and an accessibility analysis based on a combination of automated and manual inspection of the website code. The paper also explores whether there might be a relationship between an organization meeting accessibility guidelines and an organization making its site mobile-ready and whether there is a difference between government and non-government website digital inclusiveness. The findings revealed that the overwhelming majority of the sites were at least partially mobile-ready, reformatting for a mobile screen, but that many of the sites violated critical accessibility guidelines. While non-government sites tended to be somewhat more mobile -ready, government sites were more likely to perform well when it came to accessibility testing. The results question whether health information providers are putting a higher priority on mobile-readiness than on accessibility to users with disabilities

Website Accessibility: U.S. Veterans Affairs Medical Centers as a Case Study:

The Internet is a critical eHealth/eGovernment information source, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs operates the United States’ largest integrated health care system. This case study used machine-based accessibility testing to assess accessibility for 116 VA Medical Center websites, based on U.S. Section 508 standards and international WCAG 2.0 guidelines. While we found accessibility issues on each website analyzed, problems were generally limited. Notable exceptions included PDF accessibility and fixed-text sizes. The study’s results offer implications for practitioners (accessibility problems likely overlooked and ways to check accessibility) and educators, particularly the need to better integrate accessibility into the curriculum.