WordPress Contributors Explore the Possibility of a Global Accessibility Event

WordPress’ accessibility team is evaluating the possibility of organizing a virtual Global Accessibility Day, similar to the Polyglots’ Global Translation Day. This marathon-style contributor event has proven to be valuable for the Polyglots in terms of recruiting, onboarding, and fueling progress on translation projects.

Accessibility contributors proposed the idea at a meeting two weeks ago after discussing the team’s desire to have more representation at WordCamp contributor days. WordCamp Europe 2019 had a strong contingency of accessibility contributors, but being present on the ground in Berlin was not an option for the vast majority of the team.

“I heard different people saying that this Contributor Day was extremely useful, because they had the opportunity to talk in person and exchange ideas with a lot of other people,” Stefano Minoia said. “This is really good: if we want to push forward a project like WordPress, it’s extremely important to have the opportunity of working together at least once a year in person.”

Due to the relatively small size of the team and the expense associated with traveling to larger WordCamps, accessibility contributors do not often have the opportunity for in-person collaboration. A remote contributor day focused on accessibility was proposed as an alternative.

“We’re a small group with very little sponsorship,” Joe Dolson said during the initial discussion. “I don’t go to most WordCamps anymore, because the time and expense is just too great for me. I’ll probably go to my local WordCamp only, this year, if I have the time.”

Due to the nature of the work, Dolson anticipates the team may face some challenges in working around some of the constraints of collaborating through a virtual event.