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Current News

Boston A11y Roundtable

The "Boston A11y Roundtable" is a Web Accessibility networking group that meets on a monthly basis at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge.

Each month, members and friends of Boston-IA join other Boston area developers, media specialists, designers, usability professionals, and accessibility experts for the latest open discussion about accessibility. Join us to share knowledge and learn at the Boston A11y Roundtable. Everyone is welcome to attend!

Boston A11y logo

Boston A11y Roundtable
Microsoft NERD Center
One Memorial Drive, Suite 100
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02142

The gatherings are dedicated to keeping internet professionals and other information technology and services professionals up-to-date about accessibility news and challenges, while providing networking opportunities in a fun and informal way. The format of the meetings varies from speaker presentations, to group case studies, to impromptu discussions, and more.

To learn more, or to receive announcements about future Boston A11y Roundtable events:

Hint: If you don't know what A11y stands for in A11yBos or Boston A11y, it means that there are eleven letters between the letter A and the letter Y, hence "Accessibility"! "A11yBos" simply means "Accessibility Boston"— Now you know!

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Upcoming Boston A11y Roundtables

Come to tne next meeting of the Boston A11y Roundtable!

The Boston A11y Roundtable networking group meets each month at the Microsoft NERD Center, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Upcoming meetings include:

  • Wednesday, June 12, 2013: Adams Room

All meeting rooms are located on the First floor.

Pizza and beverages will be provided. We request contributions at the meeting to defray the cost.

Event registration is requested on Meetup.com (group membership required). Or contact Boston-IA for more information.

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Directions to Boston A11y Roundtables

The Microsoft NERD Center is located close to the Kendall/MIT Square stop on the MBTA subway system.

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Boston Interactions Calendar

Boston-IA is a member of Boston Interactions, a collaboration of the premier of user experience, interaction, design, and usability organizations the Greater Boston area.

The Boston Interactions organizations maintain a collaborative calendar to help members coordinate participation in local professional usability groups.

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New Directions for Boston-IA

In 2003, when Boston-IA was founded, many individuals and organizations were building fairly static websites without much concern for Internet Accessibility. Boston-IA and its members focused most of our attention on advocating for online accessibility for people with disabilities and raising awareness about the need for accessible and universal web design.

A lot has changed since then. The World Wide Web has become more interactive, browsers now host a wide variety of web applications, and social networking and multimedia are incorporated everywhere. Almost everyone has at least heard of the concept of Web Accessibility, and internet professionals and organizations have been struggling with the best way to achieve accessibility compliance for the websites and applications they are developing. The bar has been raised for incorporating accessibility into the delivery of electronic information.

Even the standards and guidelines are changing. The U.S. government is working on a refresh of the Section 508 accessibility standards originally published in 1998, and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) issued its second revision of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) in December 2008.

Boston-IA continues to be committed to "Making Internet Accessibility Mainstream". But we see our mission shifting from the job of raising consciousness and advocating for accessibility to providing more education about how to achieve accessibility of electronic information. Not only is our focus changing, but we also see our audience expanding.

Over the years, Boston-IA has hosted or cosponsored dozens of exceptional talks and presentations on a wide variety of accessibility topics and has participated in many networking programs with fellow Boston Interactions organizations. Our current goal is to expand our on-line presence as well and offer more information electronically. We hope to address the needs of a wider range of internet professionals in a wider geographic area, and we see more of our efforts going online.

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Join the Boston-IA Mailing List

Don't miss out on future Boston-IA participation.

Boston-IA members automatically receive notice by e-mail about Boston-IA meetings and events, and attend all meetings for free. If you are not a member, you can join Boston-IA now by mail.

Even if you do not become a member, you can subscribe to the Boston-IA mailing list to be notified about future Boston-IA happenings.

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Planning Future Programs

Boston-IA continues to focus on our mission of making Internet Accessibility mainstream.

We define Internet Accessibility as providing universal access, regardless of physical, cognitive, or technological barriers. We define Information Accessibility, in the broadest sense, as ensuring the clarity and organization of content and the information that people need.

Don't miss out on the chance to learn how universal access to electronic information benefits everyone. Join Boston-IA in 2013 for more great programs, many of them joint programs with our sister organizations.

Additional details about our programs will be announced as they are scheduled.

As always, we welcome speakers and topic suggestions for future meetings and workshops:

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Boston-IA Membership

All individual Boston-IA memberships are currently open-ended until further notice. All current Boston-IA memberships are extended automatically, and if you join Boston-IA now, you remain a member until you opt out. We will be developing more ways that you can participate with Boston-IA than ever before.

Boston-IA membership dues are currently a one-time fee of $15 (a substantial savings over previous years), and we have made our memberships open-ended until further notice.

Please note that Boston-IA Institutional memberships, designed for corporations and organizations, continue to be renewable annually on their anniversary dates.

Join Boston-IA! Now is the perfect time to become a member of Boston-IA.

Support our goals of universal access by becoming a member now.

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Volunteer for Boston-IA

We are looking for volunteers to help with our online efforts. If you are interested learning or contributing your expertise with any aspect of social networking or electronic information delivery, now is a great time to become a Boston-IA volunteer.

Recently, a couple of Boston-IA's key board members have decided to retire after many years of dedicated service. We thank them with heartfelt gratitude. Without them, Boston-IA wouldn't have been able to present so many high quality programs. We now have openings on our board as we move into the next phase of our work. If you would like to help guide Boston-IA into the future, please consider joining our board of directors.

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Past News

2012 Boston Accessibility Conference (September 15, 2012)

The 2012 Boston Accessibility Conference was be held Saturday, September 15, 2012, at the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center in Cambridge.

Date: September 15, 2012
Location: Microsoft NERD Center at One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02142

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Annual Boston Interactions Winter Networking Party

Each year, members of Boston-IA join other Boston Interactions organizations at the Annual Boston Interactions Winter Party for an evening of networking, food, and fun.

The 2013 Boston Interactions Winter Networking Party will take place on Wednesday, January 24, 2013, from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at The Asgard Irish Pub & Restaurant, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Asgard is located between Central Square & MIT.

The party is hosted by BostonCHI and UPA Boston. All Boston area human-computer interactions organizations were invited.

Boston Interactions brings together members of Boston's premier usability and user experience organizations to network and socialize. Boston Interactions is made up of groups such as:

Boston-IA has been a member of Boston Interactions since 2008 and has participated in the following events with other Boston Interactions organizations:

Note: We value your privacy. Boston-IA does not rent, trade, or sell your personal or organizational information to other parties without your express permission.

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