Web Standards and Small Businesses
Andy Higgs was somehow tempted to switch his final year dissertation from essentially “Why don’t grannies like using mobile phones?” to “An enquiry into the acceptance of accessible web content and web design standards by UK small businesses.” With only four weeks to spare.
The dissertation approaches some key accessibility questions in the UK; do small businesses know that they are expected to provide accessibility and are they prepared to bite the bullet and shell out for an upgrade? There are also a few more findings and the statistics could be particularly useful if you are doing any work in the area yourself. If you want a one-page overview of the whole project including some key findings, you can read the abstract.
At 9000 words with an underlying online questionnaire Andy devised to base his findings on, it’s a good piece of work, especially given the timescale. Kudos Andy.
Read his full dissertion here.
Additional comments from around the globe (and a few days later):
Web Standards Project: Accessibility and UK Businesses.
Molly: Web Accessibility in UK Small Businesses (right-hand sidebar).
Stuff and Nonsense: Web Accessibility In UK Small Businesses.
For the life of me, I can’t remember where I learnt about this research. Was I first?