As part of the University of Edinburgh’s broader accessibility drive, the WAC team annually run workshops in coordination with our web governance software provider, Little Forest, to support web developers and managers in utilising Little Forest tools effectively to identify areas of governance and accessibility to improve upon. In doing so, we have identified several key competencies- automated accessibility report interpretation, alt text development, and Microsoft Suite content accessibility, among others- needed to develop communities of practice that holistically support accessibility across the University.

Our workshops have led to demonstrably higher levels of Little Forest and accessibility engagement from the University of Edinburgh’s web community, with workshop attendees among our most engaged users. Further, our team has noticed clear network effects as a product of workshop attendance — future attendees and Little Forest users are often recommended to our workshops by past attendees.

We ran our most recent set of workshops from December 2022 through March 2023, covering four competency areas with a total attendance of over 160 people. By request, we are releasing recordings of the workshop series through Media Hopper Replay.

Interpreting Little Forest Accessibility Reports

This workshop guides new users through website reporting on Little Forest, explaining different accessibility and governance metrics, providing tips to improve accessibility scores.

Writing Accessible Alt Text with Little Forest

Writing alt texts can be challenging for new users. This workshop provides guidance on how and when to write appropriate alt text.

Colour Contrast Accessibility with Little Forest

This workshop guides users through accessibility tools designed to assess existing colour contrast and automatically generate improved colour combinations.

Generating Accessible Microsoft Suite Content with Little Forest

Microsoft Suite products are critical to all organisations within the University of Edinburgh. Many of our viewers and users require accessible formatting and this workshop guides web developers and managers through in-built Microsoft Suite tools designed to ensure accessible content production.

For Little Forest account requests, governance support, and workshop bookings, please contact Astoria DeTuncq at astoria.detuncq@ed.ac.uk.