free traveller accessible transit information study

http://www.freetraveller.co.uk/#!about

"Free Traveller is a Loughborough University project to study how different forms of information help disabled people plan their journey in confidence.

The aim is simple, to understand how different forms of information effect the usability of a mashup (thats the thing with the information balloons on a map). Does different information effect how users see the mashup, and if so how can we use these judgements to make better mashups, websites and products in the future? This is done by creating three custom maps to explore under what conditions information influences user information perceptions. Participants are then asked to view these maps, interact with them and then share their thoughts on how confident they would feel using that information when travelling in the future."

hey folks,

i did this, and it was actually pretty neat, a great project designed to figure out how folks who use accessibility information for transit traveling deal with the info (value? usefulness? clarity? accuracy? etc). They made a mistake with the time it takes to complete it, which has now been corrected, and they really need folks to try it out!


(doesnt hurt that you can win a chunk of change for participating!)


please note there are a couple glitches/issues right now:
As of right now, you can't increase the text size of the info boxes in the maps yet, but i alerted them to it. i ended up cut n pasting the info into a word doc and increasing the font size myself, but that's not a good solution and they're on it.

Currently, there are only 2 gender options (neither of which suit me. sigh). i mentioned this, and perhaps if more people do, there'll be movement on that.

not knowing / not bothering

i don't actually have the power personally/ systemically/ institutionally to "force" or "make" you post accessibilitIES information for your events -- & if it must be forced, have folks learned anything?). 

However, if you consider yourself IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER "allied" to me as a disabled person, you will do the right thing & post it. If you don't know what to post, ask me or someone else. There's nothing wrong with NOT KNOWING. You are not alone in not knowing, believe me! There are many things i don't know about accessibilitIES too. It's a learning process, but you have to be willing to not know to move forward. No shame, nothing wrong with not knowing!

There is, however, something wrong with NOT BOTHERING. When you have the opportunity but don't bother, you are sending a very clear message to me that: 

- you don't care about my/our inclusion and participation, 

- you don't care about the fact that i/we get shut out of things every single day, 

- you don't care that our friendship or other kind of relationship doesn't actually get to include all of me/us, and that you would rather not think about that. You have devalued me/us based on ableism, likely without even realizing it.

i know it maybe seems like a lot, but this is what is being transmitted in your "not bothering". i'd like to think you'd never say such things to my face, so why are you willing to say them in other ways? 

Ask yourself, honestly, why you don't/won't prioritize this, us, me. No brownie points, but you --yes you-- will be doing me, my disabled friends & non-disabled allies, our communities, & ultimately our friendship a major favour.

[And also, like i've said elsewhere, gimps can (and often do!) do this aaaaaall day long. We aint goin' anywhere (especially since folks seem to insist on using non-accessible spaces!). So, y'know, we're meeting up with each other, drawing up plans, making change happen. You can come along for the ride and help steer every now and then, or you can get sick in the backseat. Your choice. Either way, change is happening, friend!]

 <3