How can we use new technologies to provide greater equality in the 21st century? This Friday, June 28th, Nonprofit Commons is happy to feature Elle Waters (Nethermind Bliss in SL) who will be leading a discussion on digital inclusion as a civil right and highlighting the exciting innovations in technology that provide greater access for people with disabilities. She will discuss some of the history behind the fight for global accessibility awareness, and examples where accessibility has been successfully used as a powerful tool to create a better experience for everyone. Elle will discuss the paradigm shift from compliance to cutting-edge at some companies, and she will demonstrate pragmatic techniques using examples from newly launched and not-yet-published solutions from enterprise projects.
About Elle Waters
Elle has been working in online spaces for over 15 years, always with the goal to promote equality and collaboration on the web. After years of evangelism and leading projects within virtual worlds, online communities, and social media channels, she started a career as the web accessibility coordinator at a large Fortune 100 company. While there, she focused primarily on implementation strategies for design, development, and process teams across the enterprise. Working with internal and external teams to build a corporate program from the ground up, Elle built the business case and established accessibility as an integral part of both the design strategy and the software development lifecycle, institutionalizing the process and creating a framework for long-term success.
Now, many years later with many lessons learned, Elle supports the enterprise strategy and business development needs of Simply Accessible, a leading UX firm that delivers insightful and creative accessibility consulting to Fortune 500 corporations, educational institutions, public utilities, government agencies and other private sector clients. She works directly with clients to form strategic solutions to problems and outline a roadmap to ensure that their websites can be successful and sustainable in meeting or exceeding accessibility requirements.
When Elle presents publicly, she usually speaks on topics ranging anywhere from enterprise accessibility strategy to leveraging accessibility as a tool to inspire innovation and transform an organization’s culture. Occasionally, she indulges in discussions about the gamification of accessibility and motivational design. Past speaking engagements include CSUN, John Slatin AccessU, Code PaLOUsa and several accessibility camps across the country. When not looking to start a revolution, Elle enjoys virtual worlds, zombie lore, and video games.
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Join us in Second Life!
Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting
Friday, June 28th, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT
Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater
AGENDA
• 8:30 am Introductions
• 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
• 8:45 am Mentors Central
• 9:00 am Featured Presentation – Elle Waters on Digital Inclusion and New Technologies
• 9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements
The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions.
Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir