Mike Gifford, CPWA @FOSDEM

@mgifford
2K Followers
3.8K Following
1.7K Posts

Open Standards and Practices Lead at CivicActions | Drupal #Accessibility | Digital Services Coalition Board | @w3c Invited Expert #SustainableWeb #ARRM | http://ox.ca | #SolarPunk #CliFi #Quaker #Feminist #Canadian #WebAlmanac #IAAPCPWA | he/him

#UNOpenSourceWeek

Avatar - CC-SA by Tiana Lea

Websitehttps://ox.ca
LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/mgifford/
GitHubhttps://github.com/mgifford
Flickrhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/mgifford/
@allthingsopen is there a podcast or just a YouTube stream?

I just released pdf-crawler, a tool to audit PDF accessibility at scale!

This is a direct "remix" of the brilliant work by the Luxembourg government's #accessibility team & their #simplA11yPDFCrawler - it’s a testament to the power of #OpenSource: a tool built for one #gov can be adapted to help everyone.

I relied heavily on #AI to refactoring the original tech into this GitHub-based scanner. It’s a great example of using AI to amplify good.

Thank you @AccessibilityLU for sharing your work!

This has come up before. Screen readers do not have a limit. Long-desc is no longer supported. However for much longer alt text, it probably makes more sense to put in an aria-described by pointing to a paragraph or page describing the content.

I don't think that a 1500 character limit is unreasonable. Most folks barely do 20.

But then maybe maybe NASA won't like it https://www.npr.org/2022/07/22/1112878868/webb-telescope-alt-text-visually-impaired

Web Design Update: March 3, 2026

What if every project on GitHub had a ACCESSIBILITY.md

Would this commitment at the root of a project change anything?

This is a rough draft of what it could look like:
https://mgifford.github.io/ACCESSIBILITY.md

#Accessibility #OpenSource

ACCESSIBILITY.md

The open standard for project accessibility transparency, governance, and AI-assisted inclusion.

ACCESSIBILITY.md

I built a small prototype exploring how we might publish structured accessibility information about physical buildings:

https://mgifford.github.io/accessible-buildings/

Web #accessibility has standards as does the built environment.

There isn't a good model though to share the work to communicate what has been done via the web.

Serious critique welcome.

• What key #a11y attributes are missing?
• Are there existing standards to align with?
• What might stop adoption?
• What are the biggest risks in this approach?

Welcome to the Building Access Guide

A practical framework for communicating structured and transparent physical accessibility information.

Building Access Guide

Privacy is a big deal for cars, especially electric cars. Many are worried about Chinese cars. What is worth remembering is that Western car manufacturers all fail on respecting user privacy https://www.mozillafoundation.org/en/blog/privacy-nightmare-on-wheels-every-car-brand-reviewed-by-mozilla-including-ford-volkswagen-and-toyota-flunks-privacy-test/

#Privacy #EV

‘Privacy Nightmare on Wheels’: Every Car Brand Reviewed By Mozilla — Including Ford, Volkswagen and Toyota — Flunks Privacy Test

Mozilla’s latest edition of *Privacy Not Included reveals how 25 major car brands collect and share deeply personal data, including sexual activity, facial expressions, and genetic and health information.

Mozilla Foundation

Digital public goods are enabling open collaboration at scale. Explore what shaped the #DPG ecosystem in 2025 in the new State of the DPG Ecosystem Report: https://www.digitalpublicgoods.net/2025-DPG-Ecosystem-Report

#DigitalPublicGoods #DPGA #2025DPGEcosytemReport

Tag: @dpgalliance

🌍🚀 The 2025 State of the #DigitalPublicGoods Ecosystem Report is now live!

2025 marked a turning point for the #DPG ecosystem. With more than 220 digital public goods available for adoption and a growing Digital Public Goods Alliance, collaboration proved resilient and impactful despite global uncertainty.

The report brings together DPGA Secretariat updates, member impact stories, #DPG spotlights, and activities advancing worldwide.

🔎 Learn more and share:
https://new.digitalpublicgoods.net/blog/2025-dpg-ecosystem-report

The Sovereign Tech Agency is exploring how to better support open source maintainers and contributors who are actively working on technology standards relevant to their open source infrastructure projects.

Open standards are foundational to a healthy open source ecosystem. They enable interoperability, enhance digital sovereignty, foster competition and innovation and ensure that critical digital infrastructure remains accessible and serves the public interest.

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