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From YouTube: The Maintainers: Eric W. Bailey and the A11y Project
Description
In this series, I'll be interviewing Open Source Maintainers and talk about what open source means to them and why they do it. This episode:
Eric W. Bailey and the A11y Project
Eric Bailey is a Boston-based designer who helps create straightforward solutions that address a person’s practical, physical, cognitive, and emotional needs using accessible, performant, device-agnostic technology. He's an inclusive design advocate, A11Y Project maintainer, MDN Web Docs contributor,
- Twitter: @ericwbailey
- GitHub: https://github.com/ericwbailey
- Blog: https://ericwbailey.design/
- A11y Project: https://www.a11yproject.com/
A
A
I
think
I
first
got
involved
in
open
source
with
the
html5
boilerplate
project,
which
was
is
a
really
great
way
to
have
a
bunch
of
sensible
defaults
for
building
a
website,
and
I
liked
that
it
handled
a
lot
of
the
corner
cases
and,
like
things
that
you
may
not
have
thought
about,
I
also
like
that
it
was
built
by
people
who
were
experienced
in
the
industry,
so
it
was
a
lot
of
like
best
practice
or
like
working.
Knowledge
of
you
know,
tried
and
true
solutions.
A
I
didn't
actually
participate
in
it.
I
sort
of
listening
in
for
what
they
were
talking
about
and
what
they
were
doing.
It
was
kind
of
information
overload
to
be
honest,
so
that
kind
of
pushed
me
away
for
a
little
bit,
but
I
think
it
gave
a
lot
of
really
good
kind
of
examples
of
like
how
an
open
source
project
is
run
and
like
the
kinds
of
behaviors
and
like
what's
expected
and
the
norms.
A
I
really
like
the
a11y
project
because
of
what
it
represents.
I
was
drawn
to
it
from
my
background
in
design
and
accessibility
and
what
I
like
to
do
is
sort
of
a
one-stop
shop
for
everything
you
need
to
know.
You
know
one
of
its
goals
is
to
centralize
as
much
of
that
as
possible.
So
it
puts
the
onus
on
you,
the
reader,
to
kind
of
figure
out
what
you
need
and
self-serve,
but
also
there's
a
lot
of
opportunities
for
discovery.
A
When
that
happens,
I
also
really
like
what
it
represents
in
the
context
of
open
source,
in
that
the
information
it
presents
is
free
to
modify,
is
free
to
kind
of
update
and
upgrade,
by
which
I
mean
like
the
checklist
that
we
have
that
you
can
use
to
determine
if
your
site
is
more
on
the
accessible
side
than
not
is
not
behind
a
paywall,
it's
not
a
private
company.
It's
represents
the
you
know
the
best
practice
knowledge
that
we've
all
collectively
assembled,
because
you
shouldn't
have
to
pay
money
to
make
your
site
accessible.
A
You
shouldn't
have
to
rely
on.
You
know
a
certification
from
a
third
party.
These
are
these
are
things
that
you
should
be
able
to
learn
and
implement
on
your
own
and
then
figure
out
what
works
for
you
and
what
doesn't
and
then
feedback
into
that.
If
that's
something
you're
interested
in
web
development
has
education
problems
and
I'm
very
reluctant
to
blame
web
developers
in
that
the
market
incentivizes
certain
skill
sets.
A
So
you
know,
with
code
schools,
pushing
a
lot
of
developers
towards
becoming
you
know
proficient
in
single
page
application
systems
over
kind
of
the
underlying
materials
that
these
these
code.
Libraries
use-
and
you
know
this
this
isn't
to
say
that
these
libraries
are
valuable.
It's
just
more
in
learning
this
you
oftentimes,
overlook.
Other
earth
concerns,
notably
accessibility.
A
So
one
of
the
goals
that
we're
trying
to
do
is
show
that
it
is
this
holistic
concern
that
affects
more
than
just
screen
readers
or,
more
than
just
you
know,
an
alt
attribute
on
an
image.
One
thing
we're
trying
to
do
is
show
that
it's
something
that
kind
of
permeates
every
aspect
of
the
design
experience
of
the
development
experience
and
it's
it's
a
top-level
concern
that
a
developer
should
be
thinking
about
the
same
way.
A
designer
should
be
thinking
about
the
same
way.
A
A
It
really
kind
of
stuck
with
me,
because
you
get
this
like
proprietary
block
of
crap,
that,
like
barely
worked
and
you
know,
oftentimes
broke
and
was
kind
of
purpose
built
to
satisfy
a
contract,
and
then
she'd
have
to
kind
of
take
it
home
and
tinker
with
it
to
get
it
to
actually
work
had
their
like
circuit
boards,
or
you
know
their
like
their
construction
been
a
little
bit
more
open.
That's
something
that
you
know.
Potentially,
we
would
have
been
empowered
to
go
back
and
say,
like
hey,
we've
used
this
in
the
field.
A
The
a11y
project
is
now
my
full-time
part-time
job,
as
is
kind
of
what
I
understand
a
lot
of
open
source
winds.
Up
being
I
have
a
full-time
job
and
I'm
pretty
careful
to
keep
church
and
state
separate.
So
I
work
on
it
on
evenings
or
on
the
weekend.
Quarantine
has
afforded
me
a
lot
of
time
to
work
on
it.
That's
I
guess
a
silver
lining
of
this
whole
situation.
You
know
I
I
do
try
to
kind
of
balance
to
make
sure
that
it's
not
going
to
burn
me
out.
A
You
know
if
I
am
going
to
offer
one
criticism
of
the
open
source
movement
is
funding
is
oftentimes
problematic.
You
know
who
uses
it
and
what
they
put
back.
Fortunately,
we
have
received
a
grant,
a
very
generous
one
from
envision,
because
they
are
committed
to
supporting
accessibility
and
inclusive
design,
so
that
does
give
us
a
little
operational
runway.
A
An
interesting
thing
about
the
web
community
is
everything
old
is
new
again,
so
you'll
start
to
see
a
lot
of
the
same
concepts
being
brought
up
if
you've
been
in
the
gig
long
enough,
so
the
information
has
always
been
out
there.
It's
just
the
redesign
was
getting
people
aware
that
it
was
out
there.
So
it's
a
shiny,
new
coat
of
paint
on
a
lot
of
good
existing
content,
and
with
that
interest
we
definitely
did
see
an
uptick
in
contributors,
which
makes
me
extremely
happy.
A
Another
concern
that
is
always
top
of
mind
for
me
is
representation
and,
given
that
open
source
is
so
transparent,
and
given
that
you
know
the
technology
field
does
have
a
lot
of
kind
of
biases
and
towards
who
is
present
in
these
spaces
and
how
they
come
there.
One
thing
I'm
actively
trying
to
pursue
is
a
diversification
of
our
maintaining
staff,
notably
minoritized
groups,
as
well
as
disabled
people,
self-described,
because
I
think
it's
important,
given
the
nature
of
the
project
to
be
as
inclusive
as
possible,
and
that
is
one
thing
we're
actively
working
towards
improving.
A
Accessibility
is
you
know
at
its
core,
its
interoperability,
which
is
very
friendly
for
software.
The
way
that
two
machines
can
exchange
information
so
like
a
server
to
a
browser
or
like
a
markup
language,
to
multiple
browsers.
That
interop
is
also
conveniently
the
way
that
a
lot
of
assistive
technology
consumes
and
presents
information
to
people.
A
And
again
that's
that's
screen
readers,
but
it's
also,
you
know
other
devices
voice
control.
You
know
blind
developers
exist,
you
know
developers
without
the
use
of
their
hands
exist.
You
know
it's
something
that
we
kind
of
take
for
granted
and
assume.
Given
our
you
know,
everyday
lived
experiences,
but
it's
amazing,
and
especially
watching
them
in
action.
If
you
have
the
opportunity
to
kind
of
I
know
the
w3c
has
some
videos
about.
You
know
assistive
technology,
users
in
action
and
it's
just
it's
really
cool,
and
it
makes
me
really
happy
that
we
built
technology
this
way.