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Latest Update: May 8, 2008

Since July 2007, the Content Accessibility Working Group (CAWG) has been studying the best available research on how viewers are navigating their program choices and analyzing the business process whereby program data and metadata travel from the program producer to the viewer's set.

Recognizing that otherwise-interested viewers often fail to watch their local PBS station not because they dislike the programming, but because the programming does stand out sufficiently among the multitude of options made available to them via digital cable and satellite, the CAWG has developed a set of Best Practices. These are designed to be adopted throughout the public television system with the goal of increasing viewer awareness of, access to, and interest in the programs of the primetime NPS.

Go to http://www.citysquareassociates.com/ABPfeedback to read Accessibility Best Practices V. 1.0, give your opinion, or volunteer to help with implementation. Feedback on this draft will be reviewed by the CAWG and used to guide implementation.

The Content Accessibility Working Group (CAWG)

The members of the CAWG are:

Station Management

Dennis Haarsager (KWSU), Michael Isip (KQED)

Programming

Scott Chaffin (KUED), Gillian Gonda (GPB), Shawn Halford (PBS)

Traffic

Craig Carter (Myers Information Systems), Michelle Nesmith (Rocky Mountain PBS)

Marketing/Development/Promotion

Steve Baker (WGBH), Judy Diaz (PBS), Kerri Hanlon (Formerly of WHYY)

Engineering

Bruce Jacobs (TPT)

Production

Jared Lipworth (WNET)

Since July 2007, member of the CAWG have participated in three conference calls and four day-long working sessions in at CPB to review data and share ideas. In between meetings they have consulted with their own staffs and constituencies to gather information, questions, and feedback. They have used extensive qualitative, quantitative, and ethnographic viewer research to inform their deliberations. And they have benefitted from a business process analysis customized for the purpose of their work. They completed work on a preliminary concepts in March, which were published widely for open feedback. They completed a first full draft of Accessibility Best Practices in early April, which were vetted in Web-based Focus Groups including representatives from nearly every discipline in public television: producers, programmers, marketing and communication professionals, development staff, local and national managers and executives. The main best practices were presented and discussed at the PBS Technology Conference in Las Vegas, and feedback gathered here and in the WebGroups helped to shape the final draft.

The next meeting of CAWG will be June for the purpose of developing a plan for communication and implementation, and identifying other actions that will be necessary to support Accessibility Best Practices, and determining the appropriate methods for measuring impact.