Digital Media Checklist

In the 300x, we produced various digital media. As a producer of the content, when I decided how to license each piece, there were three options: copyright to retain the full rights, Creative Commons license to select the level of rights, or Open Educational Resources (OERs) to release it into the public domain, relinquishing all rights.

The issue of copyright is an important consideration when producing your own and incorporating any digital media created by others, including educational content. 

Copyright

Copyright is a legal concept that gives the creators of intellectual property (IP) the right to assert ownership over their creations. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), IP covers various “creative” work and prevents others from taking an individual’s IP without permission. However, WIPO also explains that the concept of  “free/fair use” allows the use of works without the rights owner's permission, factoring in the nature and purpose of the use. Generally, it simply requires the attribution of the copyright holder and non-commercial gains from the use. Permission is required for extensive use, such as films. (WIPO, n.d).

In its most general sense, fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to (1) commentary and criticism or (2) parody a copyrighted work (Standford Libraries, n.d.). 

Creative Commons

This self-declaring license encourages setting the terms of use to grant sharing and open access to information. There are six different license types.

Open Educational Resources (OERs)

There are many levels of Open Educational Resources (OERs), and many of the contents are licensed under Creative Commons. To select such educational digital content to enhance learning experiences, one may want to run criteria to review and evaluate the reliability of the content. You can view and download the OER evaluation checklist I created.

Among the set of criteria, a couple of aspects required further research.

Inclusivity in learning is about recognizing the diversity of needs among learners and reducing obstacles to their participation to ensure no learner is left behind. It evaluates whether digital media content provides equal representation of people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized. 

Accessibility refers to providing the same access to services and products, including websites, content, digital media, and resources, regardless of one's abilities. Considering the needs of people with disabilities and situational barriers is becoming more common and even required across institutions and industries.  

When I searched the website compliance standards that are applicable to digital media, I was confused about the acronyms and differences between them. Of these, I found that the common ones in the United States (US) are WCAG, ADA, section 508, and WebAIM/WAVE.

Key differences

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)2.1: An international standard curated by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The WCAG guidelines are grouped into 4 principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. Each guideline is further categorized to three conformance levels: Level A (minimum), AA (mid-range), and AAA (highest). WCAG 2.1 is the latest version published in 2018 that contains 78 standards altogether.

• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Enacted in 1990, this civil rights law of the US prohibits discrimination against any person on the basis of their disabilities. It ensures the same level of access to people who have disabilities as people who don't have them.

• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act: signed into a federal US law in 1998, mandates federal agencies to incorporate digital accessibility in government websites, online activities, and communications and information technology.

• WebAIM quick reference: WAVE®  is a web accessibility evaluation tool developed by Utah State University, Institute for Disability Research, Policy, and Practice. The browser extension of WAVE® can identify categorized Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) errors.

Should my digital media be compliant with these standards? 

• WCAG 2.1: Must adhere to the guidelines, but no need to be compliant because it's not a regulatory body. 

• ADA: Must be adhered to by state and local governments, non-profits, and businesses in the US. The ADA itself does not yet define technical requirements for web accessibility; however, in 2021, a report by UseableNet predicted that there will be more than 4,000 lawsuits on digital inaccessibility, which gives enough reason to persuade some organizations to make their websites accessible, referring WCAG 2.1 A/AA as the technical standard (WebAIM, n.d.).

• Section 508: Applicable to the US federal agencies and departments, including businesses supplying the E&IT products and higher education that receive funding under the Assistive Technology Act of 1998. 

In the end

WebAIM/WAVE® measures WCAG of semantic HTML structures on the website. Check the WebAIM quick reference. When digital media is created with the other creating/authoring tools, it's best to evaluate the accessibility of the content manually. Check the applicable guidelines with the WCAG2 Checklist.