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
Leah Buley
Ask Me Anything with Leah Buley and Joe Natoli, co-authors of The User Experience Team of One (2nd edition)
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Megan Blocker
Panel: Excellence in Impact
2024 • Advancing Research 2024
Gold
Smitha Papolu
Theme 3 Discussion
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Steve Portigal
War Stories LIVE! Steve Portigal
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Samuel Proulx
Inclusive Research: Debunking Myths and Getting Started
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Sol Mesz
Hands or Brains? How to Hire for Strategy, Strategically
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Bria Alexander
Opening Remarks
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Sheryl Cababa
Integrating Systems Thinking Into Your Practice as a Designer
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Sabrina Mach
How to Design Your Design Operating Model
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Michaela Mora
Advanced Concept Testing Approaches To Guide Product Development and Business Decisions
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Dan Saffer
Why AI projects fail (and what we can do about it)
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Devon Powers
Imagining Better Futures
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Randolph Duke II
War Stories LIVE! Randy Duke II
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Brigette Metzler
Research Repositories: A global project by the ResearchOps Community
2020 • Advancing Research Community
Kristin Skinner
Opening Keynote: Org Design for Design Orgs
2017 • DesignOps Summit 2017
Gold
Caroline Jarrett
Garbage in, garbage out? Measuring error rates to get ready for AI
2026 • Rosenfeld Community

More Videos

Sam Proulx

"You may need to operate the prototype on behalf of users whose assistive tech can’t click or interact with clickable prototypes."

Sam Proulx

Prototype Reviews, People With Disabilities, and You

December 8, 2021

Prayag Narula

"Sometimes you have to completely change your research questions after building relationships with the community."

Prayag Narula Rida Qadri

HCI 2.0: Humanity Deserves the Attention that UX Research has to Offer

March 28, 2023

Ovetta Sampson

"Don't get exhausted with communicating what we do, rather just show what we do."

Ovetta Sampson

Turning UX Passion into Real Product Influence

June 7, 2023

Nicole Aleong

"Potential refers to not yet actualized possibilities that may or may not come to fruition."

Nicole Aleong

Future Orientations to Everyday Life: Futures Anthropology as a Methodology

March 26, 2024

Marjorie Stainback

"Designers would often say, I didn’t realize research was this hard or what you go through is traumatic."

Marjorie Stainback Kelsey Kingman

Transforming Strategic Research Capacity through Democratization

October 24, 2019

Jen Crim

"The hiring process typically includes two manager screens and a final interview with project presentations."

Jen Crim Jess Quittner Saritha Kattekola Alex Karr Gurbani Pahwa

Culture, DIBS & Recruiting

June 11, 2021

Amy Marquez

"Find your senior executive ally who understands design and go talk to them first — it works."

Amy Marquez

INVEST: Discussion

June 15, 2018

Jemma Ahmed

"Market researchers have an air of arrogance like an old cat, confident and unbothered by disruption."

Jemma Ahmed

Bringing together market and user research

October 17, 2019

Ariel Kennan

"We heard a bit about understanding the power and privilege that we have as designers, how to wield it, but also how to yield it to others."

Ariel Kennan

Theme Two Intro

November 17, 2022