Curmudgeonly fun

While my curmudgeonly personality generally arises in response to things that truly bother me, such as [elided for politeness’ sake], some of my curmudgeonliness [1] does provide me with a modicum of fun [2]. In particular, I pick things that are important and that I care about and, when I have a spare moment [3], I find ways to address them in the small.

The two that come up the most recently are Web accessibility and FERPA [4] issues with regards to cloud software. The former is something that I consider both a moral and a legal obligation of the College. The latter is something that others tell me is a legal obligation of the College [5]. I’ve been thinking about accessibility because I think it’s the right thing to do, because I got tasked to serve on an accessibility committee [6], and because I have students for whom it is a real issue.. I’ve been thinking about the latter ever since we designated Microsoft as a College official [7] so that we could outsource email hosting to them. It’s a common hack, which lots of institutions use; because they have accepted the designation as a College official, they have the same responsibility to protect records that we do.

How do I have fun with these two issues? Well, whenever someone points me to a College site, I do a quick accessibility check. The quick check isn’t hard: I look at images to see if they have alt text, I watch videos to see if they are captioned, and, if I’m feeling energetic, I run it through WAVE, the Web accessibility evaluation tool [8]. Much of the time, that gives me the chance to dash off a latter.

Dear Colleague, I was looking at the Web site at [elided]. I am concerned that the site fails to meet accessibility standards. In particular, most images lack alt text and those that have it have inappropriate alt text, such as image 23. As I hope you know, we have both a moral and a legal obligation to make sure our sites are accessible. In fact, the College has new accessibility guidelines. Both I and our affected students would appreciate it if you’d make changes asap. If you have questions, I’m sure that Communications can help [9].

Ah, that was fun! It raises awareness, helps the College, and helps students. What could be better? I’d advise you to try the same.

These days, I’ve started to think about viewing College Web sites through Lynx, which is one of the browsers the College recommends. It’s fascinating what happens with Lynx. For example, here’s what I get when I try to look at pioneers.grinnell.edu.

  Pioneer Athletics
  Grinnell College Grinnell College

  Grinnell College Grinnell College Athletics
  Baseball Baseball: Schedule Baseball: Roster Baseball: News Basketball
  Basketball: Schedule Basketball: Roster Basketball: News Cross Country
  Cross Country: Schedule Cross Country: Roster Cross Country: News
  Football Football: Schedule Football: Roster Football: News Golf Golf:
  Schedule Golf: Roster Golf: News Soccer Soccer: Schedule Soccer: Roster
  Soccer: News Swimming & Diving Swimming & Diving: Schedule Swimming &
  Diving: Roster Swimming & Diving: News Tennis Tennis: Schedule Tennis:
  Roster Tennis: News Track & Field Track & Field: Schedule Track &
  Field: Roster Track & Field: News Basketball Basketball: Schedule
  Basketball: Roster Basketball: News Cross Country Cross Country:
  Schedule Cross Country: Roster Cross Country: News Golf Golf: Schedule
  Golf: Roster Golf: News Soccer Soccer: Schedule Soccer: Roster Soccer:
  News Softball Softball: Schedule Softball: Roster Softball: News
  Swimming & Diving Swimming & Diving: Schedule Swimming & Diving: Roster
  Swimming & Diving: News Tennis Tennis: Schedule Tennis: Roster Tennis:
  News Track & Field Track & Field: Schedule Track & Field: Roster Track
  & Field: News Volleyball Volleyball: Schedule Volleyball: Roster
  Volleyball: News Baseball Football Men's Basketball Men's Cross Country
  Men's Golf Men's Soccer Men's Swimming Men's Tennis Men's Track and
  Field Prospective Student-Athletes Overall Recruiting Link Women's
  Basketball Women's Cross Country Women's Golf Women's Soccer Women's
  Swimming Softball Women's Tennis Volleyball Women's Track and Field
  Facilities Bear Center Events Venue Availability Hours of Operation
  PE/Athletic Department Mission Statement Staff Directory Pioneer
  Composite Schedule Hall of Fame MWC Team Champions Academic
  All-Americans 2016-17 Athletic Forms Overnight Policy and Release Form
  Athletic Training Strength and Conditioning Sexual Respect Policy
  Policies Student-Athlete Services ATHDB Employment Photo Gallery by
  Cory Hall Photo Jackson Katz Appearance Grinnell Outdoor Recreation
  Program Intramurals 2017 Grinnell Triathlon
  Search ____________________

Top Stories

  More Headlines

   Pioneer Events

   Connect With Us
   Twitter Instagram Youtube Facebook

   Grinnell College
   Midwest Conference
   NCAA
   SIDEARM Sports

   Grinnell College Athletics
   Charles Benson Bear '39 Recreation and Athletic Center 1201 10th
   Avenue, Grinnell, Iowa 50112
   Privacy Policy / Terms of Service

   Grinnell College Athletics
   Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube RSS Feed

Yes, that’s everything. You know what else is really fun about that page? Everything in that huge paragraph is a link [10,11]. But Top Stories, More Headlines, and Pioneer Events are not links.

Believe it or not, but I’m not going to rant about that page right now. I know that Athletics has been working hard on issues like captioning their videos. I’m not even sure that the site needs to be accessible through Lynx. But it’s interesting to see what it looks like.

Let’s turn our attention to FERPA. What about FERPA? Well, I’ve decided that in order to be responsible, I should ask about FERPA issues when I’m using or being asked to use cloud-based services.

Is GrinCo FERPA-compliant?

Yes.

Are Google docs?

Of course not; Grinnell has no contract with Google.

Is Blackboard [14], now that we’ve moved hosting to the Web?

Yes, of course; they are designated as a College official.

Proofpoint stores some of our messages, including messages students are sending to me. Doesn’t that violate FERPA?

Let me check with the College attorney.

[Time passes.]

No. It does not violate FERPA.

I’m doing some surveys of my students. The College has a contract with Formstack and tells me to use Formstack. That’s FERPA-compliant, right?

Um, it turns out that it’s not.

Oh. Can I still use it for asking students what the hardest question on an exam was? I’m not putting any grade information out there.

It’s probably better not to.

Do we have an alternative that’s as convenient as Formstack?

No; we’re working on it.

What about t-shirt sizes? Those aren’t directory information. Can I use Formstack for gathering those?

No one has every asked that before. But yes, you may do so.

I’ve been asked to fill out this form on survey.grinnell.edu that includes grade information. It appears to be hosted off campus at Vovici [15]. Does our contract with Vovici permit me to enter confidential grade information?

What did someone ask you to enter?

[Sam Answers].

Let me get back to you.

Wasn’t that fun? I know that those questions improve my relationship with the CIO and the FERPA officer because they like to see others take these issues seriously [16]. Some of these cases are also an opportunity to raise awareness.

I’d love to fill out that survey. However, it appears to ask me to enter FERPA-protected information. Can you verify that the site is FERPA compliant, it appears to be hosted off campus?

You too can have curmudgeonly fun. Think about accessibility when you visit College Web sites. Think about FERPA issues when you are asked for information. Raise issues when you note them. It will make you feel better [17].

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As they say, What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander [18]. If you notice accessibility or FERPA issues with any of my Web sites, please let me know and I will do my best to repair them promptly [19].

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[1] Is that a word? It’s kind of like cuddliness, isn’t it? There’s even a saying: Curmudgeonliness is next to G-dliness.

[2] Even when dealing with things that truly bother me.

[3] I rarely have a spare moment. So perhaps it’s when the inclination hits me.

[4] The Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act. It’s the thing that says that I cannot reveal things about your academic performance to others.

[5] And it probably is.

[6] Yes, I know, who would ask me to be on a committee? It does make you worry about their sanity, doesn’t it? Perhaps it’s that the person picking the members of the committee isn’t on the committee.

[7] No, really.

[8] I don’t know why it seems to be an acronym, but that’s how they treat it.

[9] It’s a bit different when I’m sending the message to Communications. In that case, I just carbon copy the Webmaster.

[10] Lots and lots of links, to be precise.

[11] There’s a reason that Skip to body is a recommended practice [12].

[12] Not that there is a body on that page, but you know what I mean.

[14] Also known as PioneerWeb or P’Web.

[15] Visiting the Vovici Web site is fun. I have Flash turned off for security reasons, and it appears that the majority of the page is in Flash.

[16] Actually, I do think they like to see others take this seriously, and both would rather that someone be proactive on these issues than have to deal the fallout if we violate FERPA.

[17] And maybe some day I’ll pass on my badge to you.

[18] And what’s better than saucy ganders?

[19] I do know that I have to make my newer course web sites friendly for JavaScript-free browsing. It’s on my agenda for the summer.

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Version 1.0.3 released 2017-05-16.

Version 1.0.4 of 2018-02-25.