Month: May 2023

On May 18, our organization, led by our employee led Disability Business Resource Council (DBRC), recognized Global Accessibility Day 2023.

What is Digital Accessibility?

Every user deserves a first-rate digital experience on the web. It is our belief that someone with a disability must be able to experience web-based services, content and other digital products with the same successful outcome as those without disabilities.

This awareness and commitment to inclusion is the reason we are recognizing Global Accessibility Awareness Day (gaad2023).

Recognizing the need for digital accessibility

This year, sponsored by the (DBRC), our global teams will be encouraged to use a range of accessibility tools to understand how disabilities impact someone’s ability to fully utilize digital tools and technologies. Our DBRC provides information and works to find resources for our employees when they have specific needs. They also host events that help educate and direct our employees to outside resources that may be helpful to them.

This year marks the 12th anniversary of GAAD which is designed to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the more than one billion people globally with disabilities or impairments.

Digital Design System and Technology Applications

Through our Digital Design System and Digital Accessibility consulting, we’re ensuring that the authenticated experiences we deliver clients and partners are accessible for all users.

“The key to an inclusive experience is each team’s commitment to building with accessibility in mind. Through digital enablers like our design system and accessibility consulting, we can empower teams to meet WGAC compliance requirements.” John Fisher – Head of Experience Design & Research

Christine Holmes, Program Manager for the Digital Accessibility Team and leader within the DBRC, is a part of the Design Enablement practice. She works in closely with the Design System Product team to ensure that it’s completely accessible and a source of best practices and consults with teams to address accessibility throughout the delivery cycle, from planning, to design, to development and delivery.

One of the many benefits of using our Digital Design System for authenticated client and partner experiences is its adherence to WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility compliance. For example, if a developer uses our ‘button’ component, it’s already accounted for color contrast, labels, and tagged for screen readers.

Microsoft has done a wonderful job addressing accessibility and are taking advantage of this as we are rolling out the Microsoft 365 suite of applications. These applications come with many tools that can be useful to our people with disabilities.

The Digital Accessibility Team is available to consults with teams across all of Northern Trust. Teams are responsible for preliminary testing but can engage to consult and understand issues that need remediation.

This includes:

Reviewing design to avoid any accessibility issues.Showing developers how to identify accessibility issues.Showing quality assurance specialists available tools and how to perform required manual tests.Reviewing encountered issues, consult on remediation and priority.

When we look at digital accessibility we focus on several areas:

Ensuring Color Contrast is at certain level so that individuals with color blindness can interact fully on our applications.Testing the applications with keyboard interactions alone (not using a mouse at all), so that individuals who use assistive technology can work on our platforms.Testing our applications with screen readers to ensure that individuals with low vision or blindness can work on our applications.

Lori Roth who is a Director/Application Manager at Northern Trust says that when it comes to the actual technology applications, AA compliance is our target across internal and external channels, tools and technologies. Our technology application teams deliver digital solutions to all of Northern Trust. Accessibility is embedded into every delivery project with a strategy of “accessible from start”. It all starts with designers and product owners, writing the requirements with accessibility in mind. Then for developers to pull accessibility through the solution, and finally testing for accessibility to confirm compliance.

We embed accessibility into the procurement process from the beginning. So when we are looking at bringing in new tools, they must be compliant with our accessibility standards. To ensure teams understand all the compliance rules, Lori and her team recommends delivery teams review the rules regularly and leverage the resources available to ensure they are up to speed on the latest accessibility requirements and tools.

We also have automated tools to help the developers catch issues with accessibility compliance in testing – approximately 40% can be caught via automation, and the balance through manual testing for which we have established best practices.

Accessibility in our workplaces

In addition to our focus on digital accessibility, we also consider and plan for accessibility in the workplace. When we are building out new spaces, we practice Universal Design according to Sara Bonett. This ensures that spaces are available for all of our people to use with ease.

We also recognize that our employees spend many hours in the workplace and therefore we have considered the below as a corporate standard for all locations:

Ergonomic ChairsAdjustable Monitor ArmsConvenience power at desk-top

Our team has also implemented height adjustable workstations. This gives our employees the ability to adjust their workstation to their comfort. Height adjustability doesn’t just afford employees to sit or stand as they work – but it also allows them to do smaller adjustments for comfort as well. In many new renovations we review lighting specifications and the acoustic experience in our enclosed rooms to enhance the user’s experience.

Recently we’ve been rolling out some very exciting video pods in some of our locations. Many manufacturers standard offering is a small enclosed space with a step-up entry. The workplace team did extensive research and worked with external partners to find the right manufacturer to introduce a video pod that allows for any user to enter. The pods specific for accessibility have doors that automatically open with a push button and employees can experience the enhanced video conference experience with a space. This research has helped define a standard for this in our corporate locations and as we embark on new projects we always make sure they reach these minimum requirements.

Another thing that we consider in all builds and currently in some of our global offices – such as London – is a wide variety of seating options. We provide a variety of furniture options – different heights – different chair types – in all of our amenity spaces that allow employees to find a space they are most comfortable. These spaces are always considerate that we are not all the same and there should be many ways employees can choose to work on the day to suit their needs.

Lastly – we work closely with our internal teams to offer personalized solutions for anyone who may need an accommodation in the office. Our workplace counterparts in EMEA do this in partners home office space as well in certain regions. We evaluate various options and continuously work to better understand the needs of employees and how to incorporate more generally.

At Northern Trust, while we’re taking the time on May 18th to recognize this day specifically, our teams focus on accessibility every day across digital design and experience including technology application procurement, development, testing and implementation and in our workplaces.

Interested in joining an organization that helps all our people find their greater?

Learn more here about careers at Northern Trust.

Originally published on the IBM Blog

Summary:

Together with IBM, Deltares is working to enhance and expand the reach of its Aquality app, formerly called the Nitrate app. The tool can help farmers improve water quality, protect biodiversity, save on fertilizer costs and make farming practices more sustainable.The Aquality app leverages technologies such as machine learning to help communities detect nitrate pollution and other quality characteristics in water and is experimenting with artificial intelligence to provide feedback and recommendations to farmers.IBM is accepting proposals for the third cohort of the IBM Sustainability Accelerator — focused on water management solutions — until May 31st, 2023.

Apply to the 3rd Cohort by 5/31

Maintaining good water quality is crucial for the overall well-being of people and the environment. Yet, reports have said that one in four people do not have access to safe drinking water. The world is making progress on clean water and sanitation, but is still far behind its target to meet Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: ensuring access to water and sanitation for all.

Agriculture is one of the main sources of contamination in the water we use to drink, fish, participate in recreational activities and more. According to reports, 78% of global ocean and freshwater pollution with excess nutrients is caused by agriculture.

Nutrients, pesticides and other harmful chemicals commonly used by farmers enter the water through various channels, including runoff from fields and irrigation systems. This results in eutrophication: the over-enrichment of water by nutrients such as nitrogen, which can create severe ecological and human health consequences. For example, too much nitrate in water will stimulate algae growth, which can then deprive the water of oxygen needed by fish and other organisms that live in the water.

Farmers also want to optimize their fertilizer use for economic reasons. In an ideal situation, they would be able to track the amount of fertilizer they need in order to make the best use of their resources, helping them to save money.

Fortunately, there is a solution in development, all thanks to the power of data and human-centered design.

A solution to improve farming’s impact on water quality

Monitoring nitrate levels is critical to managing and improving water quality.

That’s why Deltares, a non-profit research organization based in the Netherlands, teamed up with IBM to enhance and expand the reach of its Aquality app: to find a tech solution that helps farmers monitor nitrate levels and give insights into nutrient losses and local water quality.

This app, originally created by Deltares, is free for users and can help farmers improve water quality, protect biodiversity, save on fertilizer costs and make farming practices more sustainable.

Deltares joined the IBM Sustainability Accelerator to implement a new user interface designed to make the app more accessible for farmers, add more value to the user, and increase adoption. After completing the first phase with the IBM Garage, a new version of the app will become available in the next few months with enhanced user experience, measurement recording and information sharing capabilities.

This solution is being developed to support farmers with the intention of using IBM technology, such as artificial intelligence, to provide an easy and accessible platform to engage with other farmers and to share water quality knowledge with communities.

“The main goal is to provide farmers — even those who aren’t the most technologically savvy — with a tool that helps them to optimize their resources, which is advantageous to both the farmer and the planet,” said Joachim Rozemeijer, a water quality researcher at Deltares. “IBM’s technology and expertise has been instrumental in helping us achieve this mission.”

Improving water quality with human-centered design

Another key component of the project is the use of IBM’s Enterprise Design Thinking framework to create value for the business, people and the planet. The framework was applied to assess the app from a user perspective to bring more value to communities.

“We’ve been doing a lot of research, talking to farmers, but also agricultural advisors, people from water authorities, and even researchers who use the app currently,” said Michelle ten Pas, a UX Design Consultant at IBM helping with the redesign of the app. “We translated those needs that we identified through the user research, and we implemented them by redesigning the app in a way that meets their needs.”

Many enhancements have already been made to the usability, accessibility and functionality of the Aquality app. For example, to make it easier to understand how the app works, the team added instructions in the app that explain how to take measurements, which is particularly helpful for first-time users.

Other new functionalities that the team hopes to add based on farmer feedback include the ability to measure nitrate in soil, adding measurements of phosphate and ammonium in water, setting location labels that can be reused by farmers, enabling users to share measurements within groups to ease collaboration and even adding a page within the app for farmers to order the equipment they need. The new version of the app is expected to go live in the coming months.

The global Aquality app user community currently consists of over 600 active users and thousands of direct beneficiaries, in particular in the Netherlands. For example, measurements from the App inform environmental monitoring and management efforts in the provinces of Limburg and Zeeland. Further, the App is now being piloted by users in Denmark, France, South Africa and the United States, which provides an opportunity to continue testing the app with more farmers to increase awareness and address a greater variety of needs.

Solutions for real-world impact

To help protect our environment and aid farmers around the world, utilizing sustainable agriculture systems is critical. This project is a great example of how technology and partnerships can help solve some of the most urgent environmental challenges.

“What makes me proud about this project is that I can really contribute to something that matters,” said ten Pas. “I think you see a lot that people from my generation are looking for meaning in their work, and something where they can make an impact. And I think this project is exactly that.”

But progress can’t end here. IBM announced in March that it is currently accepting proposals for its third cohort focused on water management solutions, providing more opportunities to support solutions like the Aquality app. Nonprofit and governmental organizations are encouraged to apply by May 31, 2023.