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/
Mike Gifford, CPWA @FOSDEMApr 5

So many good shows on #CanadaLandShow — I enjoy getting insight on what is happening to Canadians. It's a refreshing view on the news. Thanks @jessebrown

Here are some of their popular shows.

https://www.labs.canadaland.com/share

Welcome to Canadaland — CanadaLabs

The best news podcast in Canada just got easier to share than ever. Jump in with our favourite episodes and help us double our audience.

CanadaLabs
Mike Gifford, CPWA @FOSDEMApr 4
Matthew TiftApr 4

I appreciate this Green Web Foundation piece that @mgifford shared recently. It maps out 4 positions on AI: adoption, hype, refusal, resistance. Then it say something I don't hear much: it's okay to move between them. Most AI discussions push you to pick a side and stay put. This invites you to keep learning and let your position shift.

For me, at @drupalcon last week, I finally came to understand a way forward with AI that didn't feel yucky.

https://www.thegreenwebfoundation.org/news/adoption-hype-refusal-and-resistance-talking-about-ai/

Adoption, Hype, Refusal, and Resistance: Talking about AI - Green Web Foundation

In this blogpost, Tim Cowlishaw, Katrin Fritsch and Michelle Thorne introduce quadrants for navigating positions on AI.

Green Web Foundation
Mike Gifford, CPWA @FOSDEMMar 14
@allthingsopen is there a podcast or just a YouTube stream?
Mike Gifford, CPWA @FOSDEMMar 11

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!

Mike Gifford, CPWA @FOSDEMMar 10

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

Mike Gifford, CPWA @FOSDEMMar 3
Laura CarlsonMar 3

Today's Web Design Update: https://groups.google.com/a/d.umn.edu/g/webdev/c/Qajnh9vchlA

Featuring @tempertemper, @ire, @onsman,
@wilco, @amberhinds, @matuzo, @mgifford, and more.

Subscribe info: https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/webdev_listserv.html#subscribe

#Accessibility #A11y #WebDesign

Web Design Update: March 3, 2026

Mike Gifford, CPWA @FOSDEMFeb 21

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
Mike Gifford, CPWA @FOSDEMFeb 18

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
Mike Gifford, CPWA @FOSDEMFeb 17

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
Mike Gifford, CPWA @FOSDEMFeb 16

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