WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.379 Let's start with a scenario. I mean, it's a scene 00:00:02.379 --> 00:00:05.540 that plays out in pretty much every school district 00:00:05.540 --> 00:00:08.140 in the country right around August. Oh, yeah. 00:00:08.339 --> 00:00:11.419 Budget season. Exactly. The administration, they 00:00:11.419 --> 00:00:13.000 look at the budget, they look at this strategic 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:16.760 plan, and they make the big announcement. We 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:20.059 have achieved one -to -one computing. Right. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:23.059 Every student has a Chromebook. The Wi -Fi is 00:00:23.059 --> 00:00:26.239 strong. The dashboard is all green lights. And 00:00:26.239 --> 00:00:29.320 the assumption is We did it. We bridged the digital 00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:31.940 divide. Everyone has access. And that's the hardware 00:00:31.940 --> 00:00:35.219 fallacy. It's so seductive because it's measurable. 00:00:35.619 --> 00:00:37.500 You can count the laptops. You can measure the 00:00:37.500 --> 00:00:39.939 bandwidth. Sure. But if you stop there, you haven't 00:00:39.939 --> 00:00:43.119 actually solved the equity problem. You've just 00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:45.359 electrified it. That distinction right there 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:48.340 between just handing out gear and actually creating 00:00:48.340 --> 00:00:50.119 an environment where that gear is useful for 00:00:50.119 --> 00:00:52.420 everyone, that's what we're unpacking today. 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:54.460 We're digging into a piece by Gary Ackerman. 00:00:54.659 --> 00:00:57.100 It's titled Assistive and Accessible Technology. 00:00:57.259 --> 00:01:00.399 published back in September 2025 on hackscience 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:02.460 .education. And the reason we pulled this one 00:01:02.460 --> 00:01:04.620 from the stack isn't because we think anyone 00:01:04.620 --> 00:01:07.000 needs a tutorial on what a screen reader is. 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:09.719 I think most of our listeners know the basics. 00:01:10.219 --> 00:01:12.040 We pulled it because Ackerman does something 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:16.340 really critical. He disentangles these two terms 00:01:16.340 --> 00:01:18.159 that get thrown around all the time as if they're 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:21.040 the same thing. Assistive technology and accessibility. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:24.700 Exactly. And he argues that confusing them isn't 00:01:24.700 --> 00:01:27.599 just like, a semantic mistake. It's a design 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:30.540 failure, a failure that actively excludes people. 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:32.579 I'll be the first to admit I've been guilty of 00:01:32.579 --> 00:01:34.680 lumping them together. You know, it's all just 00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:36.659 the stuff we do to help people with disabilities 00:01:36.659 --> 00:01:39.079 use computers. Right? It's what most people think. 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:42.439 But Ackerman sets up this fantastic framework 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:46.319 toolkit versus architecture that just, it really 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:48.680 shines a light on why that's so dangerous. It's 00:01:48.680 --> 00:01:50.900 dangerous because it completely blurs the lines 00:01:50.900 --> 00:01:53.640 of responsibility. OK. How so? Well, if you think 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:55.879 everything is just tech support, then you assume 00:01:55.879 --> 00:01:59.439 the IT person is going to fix it. But Ackerman's 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:01.719 framework forces you to realize that while one 00:02:01.719 --> 00:02:05.299 side of this is technical, the other is, it's 00:02:05.299 --> 00:02:08.379 structural. And if the structure is broken? The 00:02:08.379 --> 00:02:11.259 tech doesn't matter, not one bit. OK, so let's 00:02:11.259 --> 00:02:13.439 break that down. The first half, the toolkit. 00:02:13.900 --> 00:02:16.020 This is what he calls assistive technology. Yeah. 00:02:16.500 --> 00:02:19.219 And the definition here feels pretty rigid. We 00:02:19.219 --> 00:02:21.539 aren't talking about, say, features already built 00:02:21.539 --> 00:02:23.680 into an iPad. No, not at all. And that's a key 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:26.000 distinction. Ackerman defines assistive tech 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:30.139 as a, quote, personalized toolkit. Think of it 00:02:30.139 --> 00:02:34.039 like a bespoke suit in the education world. It's 00:02:34.039 --> 00:02:36.719 not off the rack. So it's specific hardware or 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:40.500 software for one single student to bridge a very 00:02:40.500 --> 00:02:43.099 specific gap. Precisely. This is the difference 00:02:43.099 --> 00:02:46.710 between a learning preference and, um... a medical 00:02:46.710 --> 00:02:48.849 necessity. We aren't talking about a student 00:02:48.849 --> 00:02:51.610 who just, you know, prefers dark mode. We're 00:02:51.610 --> 00:02:53.289 talking about a student who physically cannot 00:02:53.289 --> 00:02:56.250 use a standard mouse or who can't perceive a 00:02:56.250 --> 00:02:58.750 standard screen. The source really highlights 00:02:58.750 --> 00:03:01.830 that selecting this tech is a, it's a high stakes 00:03:01.830 --> 00:03:03.710 collaborative process. But who's in the room 00:03:03.710 --> 00:03:05.189 for that decision? I mean, you can't just be 00:03:05.189 --> 00:03:07.460 the teacher guessing what might work. No, it's 00:03:07.460 --> 00:03:09.919 a full tactical team. You've got the special 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:12.680 educators who understand the pedagogy. You might 00:03:12.680 --> 00:03:16.180 have outside consultants who specialize in, say, 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:19.280 visual or motor impairments. What? And then crucially, 00:03:19.419 --> 00:03:22.219 you have the school IT professionals. And Ackerman 00:03:22.219 --> 00:03:24.960 makes a point. to really elevate their role here. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:27.240 They aren't just the people who plug it in. Well, 00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:29.819 let's talk about that for a second, because in 00:03:29.819 --> 00:03:32.860 most places, IT is all about standardization. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:35.340 Of course. They want every computer to be identical. 00:03:35.580 --> 00:03:38.240 It's easier to manage, easier to secure. But 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:42.139 this stuff, assistive tech, is by its very definition 00:03:42.349 --> 00:03:44.909 non -standard. And that's the core tension. You 00:03:44.909 --> 00:03:47.569 have a student who needs a very specific, maybe 00:03:47.569 --> 00:03:50.729 even an obscure, legacy device just to communicate. 00:03:50.930 --> 00:03:52.750 I can see the security team getting nervous already. 00:03:52.909 --> 00:03:54.889 Oh, absolutely. It might need open ports on the 00:03:54.889 --> 00:03:56.629 firewall that they hate. It might need drivers 00:03:56.629 --> 00:03:58.729 that conflict with the district's update policy. 00:03:59.210 --> 00:04:02.129 The IT pros job here really changes from system 00:04:02.129 --> 00:04:07.020 administrator to... pedagogical partner. I like 00:04:07.020 --> 00:04:09.759 that. They have to figure out how to make this 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:13.680 bespoke square peg fit into the network's round 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:16.959 hole. Because if they don't, that student effectively 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:19.660 loses their voice. It's interoperability as a 00:04:19.660 --> 00:04:21.579 civil right. That's a great way to put it. The 00:04:21.579 --> 00:04:23.839 source mentions examples like Braille printers. 00:04:24.040 --> 00:04:26.379 And for anyone who hasn't seen one, these are 00:04:26.379 --> 00:04:29.060 not your desktop ink jets. They're loud, heavy, 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:31.639 industrial bossers. You don't put one in every 00:04:31.639 --> 00:04:33.959 classroom. No, it travels with that one specific 00:04:33.959 --> 00:04:36.439 student. Exactly, it travels with them. Or the 00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:38.519 assistive listening systems that he mentions. 00:04:39.139 --> 00:04:42.220 Systems that send the teacher's voice directly 00:04:42.220 --> 00:04:45.100 to a hearing aid. I mean, this is equipment for 00:04:45.100 --> 00:04:48.839 the exclusive use of one student. And that exclusivity 00:04:48.839 --> 00:04:51.269 is important. because you can't share a prosthetic. 00:04:51.350 --> 00:04:54.250 You can't. This toolkit is what allows that student 00:04:54.250 --> 00:04:57.410 to interface with the world. So if the assistive 00:04:57.410 --> 00:04:59.689 technology is the toolkit, the thing the student 00:04:59.689 --> 00:05:02.889 brings with them to handle the environment, then 00:05:02.889 --> 00:05:06.329 the second half of Ackerman's model is the environment 00:05:06.329 --> 00:05:09.110 itself. Accessibility. This is the architecture. 00:05:09.350 --> 00:05:12.569 I love this analogy. It just shifts the burden 00:05:12.569 --> 00:05:15.709 so perfectly. If I can't get into a building 00:05:15.709 --> 00:05:19.180 because there are stairs and no ramp, The problem 00:05:19.180 --> 00:05:20.860 isn't that I brought the wrong wheelchair. The 00:05:20.860 --> 00:05:23.560 problem is the building is defective. Exactly. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:25.860 And this is where the conversation usually gets 00:05:25.860 --> 00:05:28.220 a little uncomfortable for, you know, content 00:05:28.220 --> 00:05:31.459 creators. Assistive tech is about the user adapting, 00:05:32.220 --> 00:05:34.360 but accessibility is about designing the environment 00:05:34.360 --> 00:05:37.079 so it doesn't need adapting. And this is a legal 00:05:37.079 --> 00:05:39.500 thing too. Absolutely. Ackerman grounds this 00:05:39.500 --> 00:05:43.100 firmly. in a civil rights context. The Americans 00:05:43.100 --> 00:05:45.699 with Disabilities Act, this isn't a nice to have, 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:48.180 it's a mandate. Okay, but let's play devil's 00:05:48.180 --> 00:05:50.759 advocate. We all know what physical accessibility 00:05:50.759 --> 00:05:53.420 looks like. Ramps, elevators, braille on signs. 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:56.480 But digital architecture is invisible until you 00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:59.199 hit a wall. It is. The source lists things like 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:02.399 closed captions and alt text. And I mean, these 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:05.199 feel like basic digital hygiene now, but we still 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:07.439 see them missing all the time. All the time because 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:09.240 they're treated as an afterthought. Oh, I'll 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:10.800 upload the video now and I'll add the captions 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:12.759 later. And of course, later never comes. Right. 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:15.120 But think about the architecture of a digital 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:18.639 classroom. Let's say a teacher uploads a PDF 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:21.500 that is just a scanned image of a textbook page. 00:06:21.879 --> 00:06:24.060 Which happens constantly. Constantly. Now, to 00:06:24.060 --> 00:06:26.579 a sighted student, it looks like text. But to 00:06:26.579 --> 00:06:28.519 a student using a screen reader, which is their 00:06:28.519 --> 00:06:32.199 toolkit, that PDF is a blank page. It's just 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:34.740 a silent void. So the architecture has failed 00:06:34.740 --> 00:06:37.759 the toolkit. Exactly. The screen reader is working 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:40.860 perfectly, but there's no data for it to read. 00:06:41.019 --> 00:06:42.560 That's what you mean by the difference between 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:45.519 technical access and functional access. The student 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:47.639 can download the file. But they can't consume 00:06:47.639 --> 00:06:49.899 it. It's the digital version of a building with 00:06:49.899 --> 00:06:52.480 a locked front door. And Ackerman points out 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:55.240 that good architecture, it benefits everyone. 00:06:55.339 --> 00:06:57.959 The curb cut effect. The classic curb cut effect. 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:00.180 Yeah. Ramps were designed for wheelchairs, but 00:07:00.180 --> 00:07:03.060 they're great for parents with strollers, delivery 00:07:03.060 --> 00:07:05.259 guys with dollies. I use captions all the time 00:07:05.259 --> 00:07:06.759 when I'm watching videos on the train without 00:07:06.759 --> 00:07:09.990 my headphones. And that's the whole goal of accessibility. 00:07:10.149 --> 00:07:12.629 It makes the information more robust. You know, 00:07:12.730 --> 00:07:15.949 the source lists unique slide names and presentations 00:07:15.949 --> 00:07:18.750 as another requirement. OK, that sounds really 00:07:18.750 --> 00:07:20.990 trivial. It does, doesn't it? I mean, why does 00:07:20.990 --> 00:07:23.290 it matter if my slides are just named slide one, 00:07:23.410 --> 00:07:26.029 slide two, slide three? OK, so imagine you're 00:07:26.029 --> 00:07:28.110 navigating that slide deck without looking at 00:07:28.110 --> 00:07:31.170 it. You're using a keyboard, listening for a 00:07:31.170 --> 00:07:34.149 cue to tell you where you are. Right. If every 00:07:34.149 --> 00:07:37.089 slide just announces itself as slide, You have 00:07:37.089 --> 00:07:39.569 no landmarks. You can't jump to the conclusion 00:07:39.569 --> 00:07:42.370 slide or the data analysis section because the 00:07:42.370 --> 00:07:45.529 architecture has no signs. You're lost. You're 00:07:45.529 --> 00:07:47.889 in a maze of identical rooms. That's a perfect 00:07:47.889 --> 00:07:50.149 way to put it. It's claustrophobic. But if you 00:07:50.149 --> 00:07:52.410 have unique names, they act like signage on the 00:07:52.410 --> 00:07:56.370 wall. Room 101, history. It allows for independent 00:07:56.370 --> 00:07:59.110 navigation. Independence, that's the key word. 00:07:59.449 --> 00:08:01.290 If a student has to raise their hand and ask, 00:08:01.370 --> 00:08:03.769 what's on this slide? because the accessibility 00:08:03.769 --> 00:08:06.149 is broken, you've taken away their independence. 00:08:06.430 --> 00:08:08.050 There's one other example in there that I think 00:08:08.050 --> 00:08:11.129 people ignore. Avoiding flashing content. They 00:08:11.129 --> 00:08:13.449 see it as just a design choice. But it's a safety 00:08:13.449 --> 00:08:16.730 issue. Photosensitive epilepsy is very real and 00:08:16.730 --> 00:08:20.069 it's dangerous. And even beyond that medical 00:08:20.069 --> 00:08:22.730 risk, you know, flashing animation, spinning 00:08:22.730 --> 00:08:25.819 text. They're cognitive loads. They're distracting. 00:08:26.060 --> 00:08:28.360 They're distracting for students with ADHD. They 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:30.480 make the content harder for everyone to understand. 00:08:30.600 --> 00:08:33.580 Good architecture is calm. It's stable. So we 00:08:33.580 --> 00:08:36.139 have the toolkit assistive tech, which is specialized 00:08:36.139 --> 00:08:38.720 and personal. Yep. And we have the architecture 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:41.120 accessibility, which is universal and structural. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:44.100 So now we get to the part of the article that 00:08:44.100 --> 00:08:46.460 I think causes the most heartburn in schools. 00:08:47.179 --> 00:08:50.100 Whose job is this? And this is the massive shift. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:53.200 For decades, inclusion was the job of the special 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:55.620 ed department. Yeah. If a student couldn't read 00:08:55.620 --> 00:08:57.519 the textbook, you called the specialists. Or 00:08:57.519 --> 00:08:59.639 you called IT to get them to install the reading 00:08:59.639 --> 00:09:02.740 software. Exactly. But Ackerman is arguing that 00:09:02.740 --> 00:09:06.320 IT and special ed, they own the toolkit. They 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:09.980 own the specialized gear. But accessibility. 00:09:10.259 --> 00:09:12.200 That belongs to the content creator. It belongs 00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:14.179 to the content creator. And in a school, that's 00:09:14.179 --> 00:09:16.779 the teacher. It's the teacher. It's the curriculum 00:09:16.779 --> 00:09:19.200 coordinator. It's the principal sending out the 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:21.759 weekly newsletter. Anyone who makes something. 00:09:22.279 --> 00:09:25.879 I could just hear the collective groan of a million 00:09:25.879 --> 00:09:28.419 overworked teachers right now. I know. They're 00:09:28.419 --> 00:09:32.320 dealing with testing, grading, behavior. And 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:34.139 now we're saying, congratulations, you're also 00:09:34.139 --> 00:09:37.360 a web compliance officer. Is that really feasible? 00:09:37.740 --> 00:09:39.639 It is a valid pushback. We're adding another 00:09:39.639 --> 00:09:42.379 layer. But the counter argument is what's the 00:09:42.379 --> 00:09:44.899 alternative? Right. If a history teacher makes 00:09:44.899 --> 00:09:47.840 a slide deck that's inaccessible, the IT guy 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:50.720 can't fix it. He doesn't know the history content. 00:09:50.779 --> 00:09:52.860 He doesn't know that the picture on slide four 00:09:52.860 --> 00:09:55.980 is a map of a famous battle and not just, you 00:09:55.980 --> 00:09:58.559 know, a decorative picture of a field. Only the 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:01.059 author knows the intent. The author is the architect. 00:10:01.460 --> 00:10:03.159 If you build the lesson, you have to build the 00:10:03.159 --> 00:10:05.429 ramps. Ackerman does point out that publishers 00:10:05.429 --> 00:10:08.269 have a role. Textbooks should come accessible 00:10:08.269 --> 00:10:11.009 out of the box. But for all that teacher created 00:10:11.009 --> 00:10:13.809 stuff, the source mentions accessibility checkers. 00:10:13.990 --> 00:10:16.470 I've seen them in Microsoft Word and Google Docs. 00:10:16.730 --> 00:10:18.669 Is that little check mark enough? Can't a teacher 00:10:18.669 --> 00:10:20.950 just click check and be done with it? They're 00:10:20.950 --> 00:10:22.870 a starting point. They're a really good starting 00:10:22.870 --> 00:10:25.070 point, but they are not a silver bullet. OK. 00:10:25.190 --> 00:10:27.190 And this is where we have to be careful about 00:10:27.190 --> 00:10:30.750 compliance versus actual usability. An automated 00:10:30.750 --> 00:10:33.830 checker can tell you, hey, this image is missing 00:10:33.830 --> 00:10:36.190 alt text. It gives you the green check. It gives 00:10:36.190 --> 00:10:38.600 you the green check. But it can't tell you if 00:10:38.600 --> 00:10:43.059 the alt text says IMG5044, or if it says a bar 00:10:43.059 --> 00:10:45.279 graph showing rising temperatures in the Arctic 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:47.860 Circle. So you can be technically compliant, 00:10:48.059 --> 00:10:50.960 but functionally useless. Exactly. Computers 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:53.179 are good at checking syntax. They are bad at 00:10:53.179 --> 00:10:55.120 checking semantics. The teacher still has to 00:10:55.120 --> 00:10:57.539 use their judgment. But the tools are getting 00:10:57.539 --> 00:11:00.639 so much better at guiding that process, they 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:03.139 flag things for you. So it's like a spell check 00:11:03.139 --> 00:11:05.379 for inclusion. That's a good way to think about 00:11:05.379 --> 00:11:07.720 it. It requires a cultural shift more than a 00:11:07.720 --> 00:11:10.620 technical one. It moves accessibility from being 00:11:10.620 --> 00:11:13.639 a retrofit, something we tack on at the end, 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:16.120 to being part of the drafting process itself. 00:11:16.220 --> 00:11:18.360 Right, the retrofit problem. If you build a whole 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:20.779 course and then realize, oh, I have a blind student, 00:11:20.779 --> 00:11:23.580 now I need to fix this, you have a mountain of 00:11:23.580 --> 00:11:25.740 work in front of you. It's expensive. It's time 00:11:25.740 --> 00:11:29.299 consuming. But if you build it with headers and 00:11:29.299 --> 00:11:34.539 alt text from day one, it adds maybe maybe 3 00:11:34.539 --> 00:11:37.399 % more effort to the creation process. It's cheaper 00:11:37.399 --> 00:11:39.440 to pour the concrete for the ramp while you're 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:41.679 pouring the sidewalk than to jackhammer it all 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:44.919 up later. Much cheaper, and a whole lot more 00:11:44.919 --> 00:11:47.340 welcoming. So when these two things, the toolkit 00:11:47.340 --> 00:11:49.519 and the architecture, when they actually work 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:52.059 together in sync, what does that look like? The 00:11:52.059 --> 00:11:54.980 source calls it a technology ecosystem. It looks 00:11:54.980 --> 00:11:57.789 like flow. It's frictionless. The student walks 00:11:57.789 --> 00:11:59.830 in with their specialized device, their toolkit. 00:12:00.230 --> 00:12:02.309 They open the teacher's lesson, the architecture. 00:12:02.929 --> 00:12:05.169 The device shakes hands with the file. And the 00:12:05.169 --> 00:12:07.710 student starts working immediately. At the same 00:12:07.710 --> 00:12:09.330 time as their peers. At the exact same time, 00:12:09.389 --> 00:12:11.049 without having to ask for a special version, 00:12:11.190 --> 00:12:13.070 without waiting for an aid to read it to them. 00:12:13.409 --> 00:12:15.750 They're just another student. That's the goal, 00:12:15.850 --> 00:12:18.240 isn't it? The invisibility of the friction. The 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:20.940 invisibility of the barrier, the disability is 00:12:20.940 --> 00:12:22.860 still there, the technology is still there, but 00:12:22.860 --> 00:12:25.700 the handicap, the disadvantage the environment 00:12:25.700 --> 00:12:29.019 imposes on them, that's gone. Before we wrap 00:12:29.019 --> 00:12:31.120 up, I'm going to zoom out a bit. We've been talking 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:33.179 about schools, since that's Ackerman's focus, 00:12:33.379 --> 00:12:35.759 but the learner listening to this, you might 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:38.360 be a project manager, a developer. Yeah. This 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:40.539 applies to you, too. It applies to anyone who 00:12:40.539 --> 00:12:42.580 puts information into the world. If you're a 00:12:42.580 --> 00:12:44.559 business leader and you send out a company memo 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:47.820 as a flattened PDF image, you've basically told 00:12:47.820 --> 00:12:50.299 your low vision employees this isn't for you. 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:52.460 Or if you have a checkout process on your website 00:12:52.460 --> 00:12:55.840 that requires a mouse, you've just fired every 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:58.039 customer who navigates by keyboard. And that's 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:00.590 an economic reality. We talk about gatekeepers 00:13:00.590 --> 00:13:03.950 in business, but bad accessibility is an automated 00:13:03.950 --> 00:13:06.389 gatekeeper. It just slams the door in the face 00:13:06.389 --> 00:13:09.070 of millions of potential users. It goes back 00:13:09.070 --> 00:13:11.509 to that idea of intention. We think of ourselves 00:13:11.509 --> 00:13:15.029 as open, inclusive people. But if our digital 00:13:15.029 --> 00:13:18.029 output is closed, our intention doesn't really 00:13:18.029 --> 00:13:20.370 matter. Impact over intent? Oh. So I want to 00:13:20.370 --> 00:13:21.769 leave everyone with something to think about 00:13:21.769 --> 00:13:24.590 today. We tend to think of the digital world 00:13:24.590 --> 00:13:28.450 as this infinite open space. But based on our 00:13:28.450 --> 00:13:30.830 conversation, it's actually filled with invisible 00:13:30.830 --> 00:13:32.950 walls that we build ourselves. And we usually 00:13:32.950 --> 00:13:35.950 build them just out of habit. So the next time 00:13:35.950 --> 00:13:38.110 you're drafting an email or posting a photo or 00:13:38.110 --> 00:13:40.590 building a slide deck, just ask yourself, am 00:13:40.590 --> 00:13:43.450 I building a door or am I building a wall? Because 00:13:43.450 --> 00:13:45.669 the person on the other side, they have the toolkit. 00:13:46.009 --> 00:13:47.929 They just need you to provide the architecture. 00:13:48.129 --> 00:13:50.129 Be a good architect. Thanks for diving in with 00:13:50.129 --> 00:13:51.210 us. We'll see you in the next one.