Teaching Accessibly and Teaching Accessibility

# Teaching Accessibly and Teaching Accessibility
## Mine Dogucu
### Keynote Talk at useR! 2022 <br> [mdogucu.github.io/user2022](https://mdogucu.github.io/user2022)
### 2022-06-23

---
layout:true
<div class="footer"><span>mdogucu.github.io/user2022</span></div>
---

## Teaching Context

- Have been teaching at University of California Irvine since July 2019.
- Taught undergraduate and graduate courses on statistics, computing, and data science.
- Teach (with) R mostly.

---

![:col_header 
  <span class="framed">Teaching Accessibly </span>,
  <span class="framed">Teaching Accessibility</span>,
  <span style="font-size:45px; color:whitesmoke; border-style: solid; display: inline-block;">Recommendations for the Community</span>
              ]

---

Teaching Accessibly

---

Alicia Johnson          
.font-20[Macalester College]

[<i class="fa-solid fa-house" title="Home Icon"></i>](https://ajohns24.github.io/portfolio)
[<i class="fa-brands fa-github" title="GitHub Icon"></i>](https://github.com/ajohns2)

]
]

.pull-right[
.center[
<img src="img/miles.png"
        alt="A headshot of a man with short dark hair, and a dark moustache. He is wearing a blue button up shirt and dark gray jacket."
        style="width:165px; margin-top:20px; border: 3px solid whitesmoke; padding: 10px;">

Miles Ott  
.font-20[Twitter]

[<i class="fa-brands fa-twitter" title="Twitter Icon"></i>](https://twitter.com/Miles_Ott)
[<i class="fa-brands fa-github" title="GitHub Icon"></i>](https://github.com/MilesOtt)

]
]

---

---

class:center

.pull-left[
<script src="https://use.fontawesome.com/releases/v5.15.1/js/all.js" data-auto-replace-svg="nest"></script>

[Bayes Rules! An Introduction to Applied Bayesian Modeling](https://bayesrulesbook.com)

]

[{bayesrules}](https://www.github.com/bayes-rules/bayesrules)
]

---

## Open-Access

- Cost of books and supplies for a student at a four-year university in 2021 was estimated to be $1240 per year ([Hanson, 2021](https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college-textbooks)).

- About 11% of the students indicated that they skipped meals in order to afford books and course materials ([Hanson, 2021](https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college-textbooks)).

- The bayesrulesbook.com page has been accessed from more than 150 countries.

---

## Assistive Technology

Assistive Technology is any form of technology (software, device) that helps people with disabilities perform certain activities.

Examples:

- walking sticks
- wheel chairs
- screen readers

---

## Screen reader

A screen reader is an assistive technology that supports blind or visually impaired people in using their computer.

---

The video shows use of a screen reader briefly. 
---

## Alternate Text

- "Alt text" describes contents of an image. 
- It is used in HTML pages. 
- Screen-readers cannot read images but can read alt text. 
- Alt text has to be provided.

---

In (northern) Summer 2020, we had lots of images but no way to provide alternate text within HTML so we asked for alternate text feature.

---

## Making math accessible

- Calculus is not a prerequisite.
- Checking intuition with quizzes.
- Supporting mathematical concepts with computing.

---

## Making learning fun

> How can we live if we don’t change? 
—Beyoncé. Lyric from “Satellites.”

> What is probability?

---

## Embracing mistakes as part of learning

> As you read the book and put Bayesian methodology into practice, you will make mistakes. Many mistakes. Making and learning from mistakes is simply part of learning. We hope that you persist through the struggle of learning so that you can contribute your unique insights, perspectives, and experiences to the Bayesian community.

> The proof is obvious.

---

# Making learning relevant with diverse set of applications

- Weather
- LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination laws
- Spotify data
- Hotel bookings
- Penguins

---

[Dogucu, M., Johnson, A. A., & Ott, M. (2021). Framework for Accessible and Inclusive Teaching Materials for Statistics and Data Science Courses. arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.06355.](https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.06355)

---

Teaching Accessibility

---

Between first CRAN download and alt-text feature request, there were 22,622,426 CRAN downloads of knitr.

---

![:col_header 
  ,
  <span class="framed">Developers Create  Tools with no Accessibility Support</span>,
  <span class="framed">Data Scientists Create Inacessible Products</span>
              ]

---

![:col_header 
  <span class="framed">Curriculum Does Not Teach Accessibility </span>,
  <span class="framed">Developers Create  Tools with no Accessibility Support</span>,
  <span class="framed">Data Scientists Create Inacessible Products</span>
              ]

---

## Acknowledgement

I was supported by the [Teach Access](https://teachaccess.org/) network.

<img src="img/teach_access_logo.jpg" title="Teach Access logo that is an illustration of a bridge" alt="Teach Access logo that is an illustration of a bridge" width="40%" style="display: block; margin: auto;" />
---

.center[
<img src="img/jooyoung.jpeg"
        alt="A headshot of a man with short, straight, dark hair. He is wearing a white button up shirt and black rectangular glasses."
        style="width:165px; margin-top:20px; border: 3px solid whitesmoke; padding: 10px;">

JooYoung Seo  
.font-20[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign]

[<i class="fa-solid fa-house" title="Home Icon"></i>](https://jooyoungseo.github.io/)
[<i class="fa-brands fa-github" title="GitHub Icon"></i>](https://github.com/jooyoungseo)
[<i class="fa-brands fa-twitter" title="Twitter Icon"></i>](https://twitter.com/seo_jooyoung)
]

---
class: middle

[Computing Competencies for Undergraduate Data Science Curricula](https://dstf.acm.org/DSReportDraft2Full.pdf) by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Data Science Task Force

Analysis and Presentation, Foundational considerations, Knowledge

**"Accessibility considerations for different groupings of users including those with special needs"**

---

## Accessibility as Career Preparation

[Accessible Technology Skills Gap Report  by The Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT), 2018](https://www.peatworks.org/infographic-the-accessible-technology-skills-gap/)

84% of industry respondents say it is important or very important to their company to hire developers and designers with accessible technology skills.

60% said it was difficult or very difficult for their organization to find job candidates with accessibility skills. 0% said it was easy or very easy.

41% of companies consider accessibility certification credentials as a differentiator in hiring.

---

## Curriculum Goal

As educators, we have to ensure that the current and the next generation of data scientists, provide public-facing outputs (websites, analysis reports, etc.) that are accessible.

---

## Learning Objectives

- Students should get familiar with Americans with Disabilities Act and/or United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 
- Students should use at least one assistive technology (i.e. screen reader).
- Students should consider different representations of data.

---

Students can use screen reader on Windows and Mac

- If you are on a Windows machine go to Settings > Ease of Access > Narrator, and then turn on the toggle under Use Narrator.

- If you are on a Mac go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Voice Over > Enable Voice Over

---

## Data Visualization - Colors

---

### Color Blindness Simulator

```r
colorblindr::cvd_grid(fig) 
```

---

---
class: middle

### Okabe-Ito Color Palette

```r
palette.colors(palette = "Okabe-Ito")
```

```
##         black        orange       skyblue   bluishgreen        yellow 
##     "#000000"     "#E69F00"     "#56B4E9"     "#009E73"     "#F0E442" 
##          blue    vermillion reddishpurple          gray 
##     "#0072B2"     "#D55E00"     "#CC79A7"     "#999999"
```

---

```r
fig + colorblindr::scale_color_OkabeIto()
```

---

### Resources

[Color Blindness Simulator](https://www.color-blindness.com/coblis-color-blindness-simulator/) You can upload any image and in return get an image with colors that would be visible to color-blind people with specific color vision deficiency.

[Okabe-Ito 2008](https://jfly.uni-koeln.de/color/)  Color Universal Design. Color palette that is color-blind friendly.

[Okabe-Ito color-palette](https://mikemol.github.io/technique/colorblind/2018/02/11/color-safe-palette.html) Color codes for Okabe-Ito palette.

---

## Data Verbalization

We can verbalize data via alternate text.

<div class="figure" style="text-align: center">
<img src="index_files/figure-html/unnamed-chunk-12-1.png" alt="The scatterplot shows speed ranging from about 0 to 25 mph on the x-axis and dist ranging from 0 to 120 ft on the y-axis. There is a moderate positive linear relationship."  />
<p class="caption">The speed of cars (mph) and the distances (ft) taken to stop</p>
</div>

---

````markdown
```{r fig.cap="The speed of cars (mph) and the distances (ft) taken to stop", 
fig.alt="The scatterplot shows speed ranging from about 0 to 25 mph on the 
x-axis and dist ranging from 0 to 120 ft on the y-axis. There is a moderate 
positive linear relationship."}
plot(cars)
```
````

---

### Manual Alternate Text

- Chart type

- Type of data

- Reason for including the chart

- Link to data or source (not in alt text but in main text)

[Cesal, 2020](https://medium.com/nightingale/writing-alt-text-for-data-visualization-2a218ef43f81)

]

- Description conveys meaning in the data

- Variables included on the axes

- Scale described within the description

- Type of plot is described

[Canelón & Hare, 2021 ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxLkv2iRdf8&ab_channel=csvconf)

]
---

### Data Verbalization -  Automated

The automated alternate text for this plot is on the next slide.

---

### Data Verbalization -  Automated

```r
BrailleR::VI(example_barplot)
```

```
## This is an untitled chart with no subtitle or caption.
## It has x-axis 'transmission' with labels automatic and manual.
## It has y-axis 'count' with labels 0, 5, 10 and 15.
## The chart is a bar chart with 2 vertical bars.
## Bar 1 is centered horizontally at automatic, and spans vertically from 0 to 19.
## Bar 2 is centered horizontally at manual, and spans vertically from 0 to 13.
```

<hr>

Drawback of using `VI()` is that not every type of plot can be verbalized yet.

---

### Alternate Texts are Under Utilized in the Data Science Community

"Over the 3 years of TidyTuesday, there were 7,136 data viz tweets and only 215 (3%) of them had alt-text"

[Canelón & Hare, 2021 ](https://github.com/spcanelon/csvConf2021)

---

## Data Sonification

Data sonification is the presentation of data as sound.

```r
x <- 1:10
y <- 1:10
plot(x, y)
sonify::sonify(x,y)
```

<audio controls>
      <source src="audio/sonify.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
      Your browser does not support the audio element. </audio>

]

]

---

## Data Tactualization

Data tactulization refers to making data visualization in a form so that it can be touchable. 
The video shows printing of a tactile boxplot.

]

---

## Data Tactualization

```r
library(tactileR)
brl_begin(file = 'tactile.pdf', 
          pt = 11, 
          paper = 'special', font='BRL')
hist(airquality$Ozone)
brl_end()
```

]

]

---

Different representations of data is one way of introducing accessibility to students but it is not meant to be a complete introduction to accessibility.

---

Recommendations for the Community

---

~~A picture is worth a thousand words.~~

An alternate text is worth thousand pictures.

---

~~Fixing a typo is a good first pull request~~

Fixing a typo and writing alternate text are good pull requests.

---

Disclosure should fall on event (including meetups) organizers.

---

Accessibility should not fall on volunteers.

<hr>

In communities where work is solely based on volunteers then volunteer(s) for accessibility should be considered.

---

Accessibility should be taught at undergraduate, graduate, and equivalent practitioner trainings.

---

Accessibility can be taught as part of language specific (e.g. R) and language agnostic trainings.

---

Accessibility should be taught in a way that learners can apply their learning in non-data contexts.

---

Students should be assessed on and held accountable for their accessibility practices.

---

Accessibility is for everyone.

---

## Thank you

<hr>

<i class="fa-solid fa-laptop" title="Laptop Icon"></i> [mdogucu.github.io/user2022](https://mdogucu.github.io/user2022)

<i class="fa-solid fa-house" title="House Icon"></i> [minedogucu.com](https://minedogucu.com)

<i class="fa-brands fa-twitter" title="Twitter Icon"></i> [MineDogucu](https://twitter.com/MineDogucu)

<i class="fa-brands fa-github" title="GitHub Icon"></i> [mdogucu](https://github.com/mdogucu)