Week 2: Media Project Musings...

An open letter to Dr. Sue Bedard.

Hello Dr. Bedard!

Emily Wray here... Remember me? It seems like just yesterday I was tagging along with you at FETC. I can't believe it's already time for us to be talking about my final media project. Time flies... when you're working hard (and having fun).

So just a little background info... please feel free to skip ahead if I've already told you all this. Unlike most other students in the EMDT program, I'm not currently a teacher or a trainer. I say "currently" because I feel that's the direction I'm headed in. Right now, I'm a graphic designer that dabbles in web. By day, I work for the State of Florida as a webmaster and, by night, I do freelance graphic work. I am student 24/7. Since I'm not a K-12 teacher and most (not all) of the EMDT curriculum caters to that lot, I've had to dig deep to find a way to make our assignments/projects personally relevant to my current occupation and the direction I feel my career is headed in.

The topic of my thesis is technology accessibility. It is a VERY broad subject, but I have attempted to narrow my focus on how the issue relates to me professionally as state webmaster. I intend to explore the State of Florida's legal/moral obligation to ensure universal access to information technology.

Here's my thesis statement:

Accessibility is most easily achieved during the content creation process; otherwise countless hours must be spent in remediation. If the State of Florida is to ensure that all its electronic information is accessible, then it stands to reason that the state employees who create that content must be properly trained. However, a majority of state employees are unfamiliar with technology accessibility issues and are unaware of their legal obligation to ensure universal access to electronic information. The development of a self-paced, computer-based training module using Bates’ ACTIONS model is a viable, efficient, and cost-effective solution to increase state employee awareness about technology accessibility issues and laws, as well as provide instruction on simple techniques for increasing the accessibility electronic information.

I think if I just read the above statement I would feel EXTREMELY confused. However, it is my hope, that within the context of my paper, these broad/complicated ideas will start to make sense and become meaningful to each reader on some level. The fact that accessible design benefits everyone is central to my argument, the individual value depends on which angle the reader is viewing the topic from.

I was inspired early on by our Education Design and Evaluation course to be thinking about my thesis topic and the resulting media project. It was my goal, when applicable, to dedicate my individual course assignments to my thesis topic so that when I got to this very point in the program I would have:

1) A clear idea of the design for my media project; and

2) A repository of media already created to "plug and play" in the final version.

Given the above mindset, I feel like I've already created 3 versions of my media project, each one an evolution based on the theories/skills acquired in our courses.

My idea for the final media project:

Because the educational solution to the problem presented in my thesis statement is the development of a computer-based training course for state employees, I would like my media project to be a working protoype of a section of that training, complete with video, audio and Flash components.

Please visit the links below to see what I have already developed in previous months.

http://www.eephotoanddesign.com/emdt/ede/index.html
http://www.eephotoanddesign.com/emdt/emd573/index.html
http://www.eephotoanddesign.com/emdt/mta/index.html

Each of these projects builds on the one before it.
My idea for the media presentation:

In addition to presenting my topic and my media project, one of my major goals for the presentation is to demonstrate to the panel the importance of accessible design and how it affects each of them in personal and professional ways that may have never occurred to them. I'm still brainstorming ideas... but I have a few doozies.

Also, just so you're aware, I plan on coming to Orlando to do my presentation in person.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this and for the valuable guidance I know you'll offer. I sincerely look forward to this process and receiving your feedback.

Image Credits: Screen shots taken of websites created and hosted by Emily Wray