Promoting the SensusAccess Service

Promoting SensusAccess and getting users to use the service to convert their documents is an important part of a successful implementation of the service. This page outlines four important steps in the efficient promotion of the service.

Step 1 – Define the Target Audience

Who should the SensusAccess service be made available to? Although the service agreement allows institutions to make the service available to everybody associated with the academic institution, including students with and without disabilities, staff members, faculty, and alumni, local conditions may require you to limit the access.

Once you have defined the target audience, draft a simple communication plan that ensures that you reach out to all relevant parts of your organisation.

Step 2 – Publish Form in Central Locations

If the SensusAccess service is to be made available beyond staff working to provide disability services, make sure that the SensusAccess web form is published in one or more logical locations on your institution’s website. Primary users may look for it at the main web page of the Disability Service Office. Others may look for the conversion form at the main Library web page.

If possible, also make sure that links to the web form are available in a central location such as the front page or site map, and that it can be found when using the search function.

Step 3 – Promote the Service

Make sure that potential users are made aware that your institution is providing the SensusAccess service as an important resource for document conversions. Consider the following activities:

Publish news stories about the service on your main website.
Publish news stories in campus newsletters or university newspapers.
Use promotional videos (e.g., from the SensusAccess website) to spread the word via campus mailing lists.
Publish case stories on how students and faculty have successfully used the service.
Invite yourself to student events and ask for 15 minutes to present the service to students.
Invite yourself to faculty meetings and ask for 15 minutes to present the service to faculty.
Invite faculty with special-needs students or at-risk students to meetings where you present the service and show how it can be used to make educational material more accessible.
Monitor the effects of your promotional activities via the SensusAccess usage statistics.
Repeat the promotional activities on a regular basis.

Step 4 – Invite Users to Training

Use training events to teach users advanced functions and to inspire alternate use of the service. Even though the SensusAccess service is fairly intuitive to use and most functions can be used without instructions, some of the more sophisticated functions do require proper training. This is especially the case for formats such as structured audio books and Braille documents. Users may also be unaware of how certain formats (e.g., reflow-able e-books) can be used as efficient reading media for people with low vision and dyslexia.

As part of the service agreement, Sensus offers a two-hour intro workshop to students, staff, faculty, and others – either in person or as a webinar. You may also want to develop your own training classes to promote advanced use of the service.