Rosenverse
Navigating accessibility and climate

Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.

Log in Create free account

100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.

Navigating accessibility and climate

Wednesday, April 17, 2024 • Climate UX Interest Group
Share the love for this talk
Navigating accessibility and climate
Speakers: Ned Gartside , Mike Gifford , Zoe Lopez-Latorre and Tzviya Siegman
Link:

Summary

The fourth in a series of discussions centered around Climate UX. The adverse effects of climate disproportionately affect the most vulnerable, but what does this mean in the context of UX? How does accessibility affect climate? What lessons can we draw from the accessibility movement to enhance our efforts in scaling climate action? Join our conversation to hear perspectives from those who have worked at this intersection. Panelists: Ned Gartside, Tzviya Siegman, Zoe Lopez-Latorre; Moderated by: Mike Gifford  

Key Insights

  • •

    Accessibility principles like simplification and user choice inform sustainable web design successfully.

  • •

    Sustainability in digital design is multi-dimensional and cannot be judged by page size alone.

  • •

    Video, while data-heavy, can be an energy-efficient and inclusive form of user communication.

  • •

    User empowerment can include toggles offering choices between higher and lower carbon footprint options.

  • •

    Government digital services exemplify leadership in integrating accessibility and sustainability standards.

  • •

    Sustainability adoption succeeds when linked to business outcomes like conversion or user experience.

  • •

    There is a shortage of sustainability-trained professionals, but the field is rapidly evolving with new educational resources.

  • •

    Digital sustainability responsibilities need to be clearly assigned using maturity models and cross-organizational collaboration.

  • •

    Digital impact compounds across millions of users, making even small efficiency gains significant at scale.

  • •

    The climate crisis urgency requires applying lessons from accessibility work: combined grassroots efforts and organizational leadership.

Notable Quotes

"Accessibility is a better sell than sustainability when engaging clients."

"We need to have a planet before we can have dignity, and sustainability and accessibility are tied basic human rights."

"There is no direct correlation between data size and energy consumed; many factors interplay."

"User choice can include opting for a higher carbon or lower carbon version of the same content."

"73% of users are willing to choose a more sustainable browsing option even if image quality decreases."

"Sometimes the best solution for users isn't digital - for example, farmers often prefer face-to-face interactions."

"Sustainability can accelerate adoption when it aligns with business impact, like improving conversions."

"You need the whole organization involved, from engineering to marketing to legal, to make sustainability work."

"There are risks that sustainability tools become gatekeepers or quasi-standards themselves, which we must avoid."

"The digital sector’s compounded impact on carbon footprint exceeds industries like airlines when aggregated across millions."

Ask the Rosenbot
Alla Weinberg
Design Teams Need Psychological Safety: Here’s How to Create It
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Nalini P. Kotamraju
An Organizational Story: Salesforce Lightning Design System
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Dean Broadley
Not Black Enough to be White
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Bob Baxley
Leading with Design Operations Past and Present
2019 • DesignOps Community
Chris Geison
What is Research Strategy?
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Prayag Narula
Dialing for Research: How to Reach the Unreachable
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Nick Lewis
Designing and building low-carbon websites independently
2025 • Climate UX Interest Group
George Abraham
Design Systems To-Go: Introducing a Starter Design System, and Indigo.Design Overview (Part 1)
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Rachael Dietkus, LCSW
Leading through the long tail of trauma
2022 • Enterprise Community
Courtney Kaplan
Taking it to the next level: Career paths in DesignOps
2018 • DesignOps Summit 2018
Gold
Sam Proulx
Online Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Jose Coronado
From Zero to Hero
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Mark Interrante
AI for Prioritization (3rd of 3 seminars)
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Jaime Creixems
Best Practices when Creating and Maintaining a Design System
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Billy Carlson
Principles of Team Wireframing
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Andrew Webster
Scaling Design Capability: How Involved Should You Be?
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold

More Videos

Boon Yew Chew

"You have to put yourself in stakeholders’ shoes and understand their domain to have meaningful conversations."

Boon Yew Chew

Making Sense of Systems—and Using Systems to Make Sense of the Enterprise

June 6, 2023

Libby Maurer

"We turned design thinking on ourselves to tackle our own hiring challenges—applying tools meant for customers to our own processes."

Libby Maurer

Treating Diversity & Inclusion in Hiring as a Design Problem

December 5, 2019

Emily Danielson

"Be extra patient and gentle with people, especially if they don’t pick up your call after a disaster."

Emily Danielson

“I mean, I can lift a shovel”: Design Skills in Disaster Response

June 9, 2022

Christian Bason

"We have to design not just for humans but for other life forms on this planet."

Christian Bason

Expand—Rethinking Design for Public Challenges

September 14, 2022

Anne Mamaghani

"Excluding key people might save time but it often leads to surprise blockers and misaligned decisions later on."

Anne Mamaghani

How Your Organization's Generative Workshops Are Probably Going Wrong and How to Get Them Right

March 28, 2023

Kaaren Hanson

"Steve Bennett asked, what’s beyond ease, leading us to study companies known for delighting their customers."

Kaaren Hanson

Stop Talking, Start Doing

June 9, 2017

Matt Bernius

"Leadership modeling of vulnerability and human challenges is the first step towards trauma-informed organizational culture."

Matt Bernius Sarah Fathallah Hera Hussain Jessica Zéroual-Kara

Trauma-informed Research: A Panel Discussion

October 7, 2021

Karen McGrane

"Natural language processing is basically about figuring out how to math words."

Karen McGrane Jeff Eaton

AI for Information Architects: Are the robots coming for our jobs?

November 21, 2024

Noel Lamb

"Partnerships are more important than ever as we're reminded each day how connected we really are."

Noel Lamb

Cultivating Business Partnerships to Grow Research Ops

March 21, 2022