Progress towards accessible analytics and data visualization

Ed SummersSAS Institute

McKinsey report on Big Data

"The United States alone faces a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills, as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts to analyze big data and make decisions based on their findings."

Education initiatives

• SAS mobile learning apps• SAS Curriculum Pathways • Institute for Advanced Analytics • SAS OnDemand for Academics• Accessible data visualization initiative

SAS mobile learning apps

• Primarily for K-12• Initially on iOS, expanding to other

platforms • Enables effective use of technology in the

classroom • Available at no cost

SAS Curriculum Pathways

• Curriculum resources for grades 6-12 • Contains more than 1,100 interactive,

online, standards-based resources • Covers all the core disciplines • Aligned with the Common Core State

Standards • Used in more than 100,000 classrooms

around the world • Available at no cost

Institute for Advanced Analytics

• Established at NCSU in 2007 • Created the nation's first Master of Science

in Analytics (MSA) degree • MSA is an intensive, full-time, 10-month

learning experience • MSA job placement greater than 90% for

five years • Serves as a model for similar programs

across the U.S.

SAS OnDemand for Academics

• Immediate access to enterprise-class SAS software at no cost

• Used to teach data management or analytics in post-secondary education

• Students gain marketable skills • 100% instructor-driven • Access apps from anywhere • Processing takes place on secure servers

hosted at SAS

Instructor perspective

• Set up SAS OnDemand for Academics account

• Register as an instructor • Access instructor home page on SAS

OnDemand for Academics Control Center • Create a course and upload data • Invite students to register for the course

Student perspective

• Set up SAS OnDemand for Academics account

• Access student home page on SAS OnDemand for Academics Control Center

• Register for a course • Install client software, if necessary

SAS Enterprise Guide

• Primary interface to SAS • IDE for SAS programming • Menu-driven and wizard-driven tasks for

analyzing data and publishing results

Accessibility of SAS Enterprise Guide 6.1

• Available in SAS OnDemand for Academics in Fall 2013

• Adopts Windows color scheme • Supports a high contrast theme • Significant keyboard accessibility • Programming environment supports

screen readers • Still a work in progress

SAS Web Editor

• Web-based access to SAS programming environment

• Zero-footprint • Supported on Internet Explorer, Firefox,

Chrome, and Safari • Desktop access went production in

February 2013 • iPad access is beta

Accessibility of SAS Web Editor

• Supports browser zoom • Adopts browser color scheme • Significant keyboard accessibility • Significant support for screen readers• Recommended screen reader is JAWS 14

with Firefox

More information

http://support.sas.com/ondemand/

Accessible data visualization initiative

Design goals

• Affordable mainstream hardware• Born-accessible mainstream content • Cradle-to-grave digital delivery of

content • First-hand access with perceptual

precision • Support roles of consumer and producer

Example data visualizations

• Bar chart• Line chart• Pie chart• Scatter plot• Maps

Delivery on iOS touchscreen devices

• Built-in accessibility features• Support for refreshable braille displays• Support for kinesthetic feedback• Broadly adopted in K-12 schools• Broadly adopted in blind community

SAS accessibility gallery

http://support.sas.com/misc/accessibility

Questions?

accessibility@sas.com