Accessibility in font choice
Choosing the right typeface for your presentation (or for that matter anything you create that contains words) is fraught. In a previous post I wrote about the difference between serif and sans-serif. I mentioned font…
Why you need a Dead Man’s Switch
Right off the top here, I must note that the term “dead man’s switch” is archaic, so for the rest of this post I’ll refer to it as “operator presence control,” or OPC. The concept…
Let’s talk about typefaces
I have previously written about accessibility in video captions, presentation slides, and disabilities, and I thought I should expand on the latter topic as it relates to typefaces, or what we call “fonts.” To be…
Join me on 13 August 2021 for Dativerse
This coming Friday the 13th (August 2021) is the first ever Dativerse virtual conference, hosted by our DataGrillen friends William and Benjamin. According to their site: We try to elevate those that are usually underrepresented…
Accessibility is not just about slides
Although I don’t write about it much on this website, I am on the autism spectrum, and I have ADHD. I need to sit at the front of a room because it helps me see…
Accessibility in your PowerPoint slide deck
This post is part of the series I kicked off here. You can read my post about captions here. Let’s talk about slides! Many of us are familiar with producing slide decks for talks and…
Join me at the EightKB virtual conference on 28 July 2021
Next week on Wednesday 28 July 2021, I will be presenting a brand-new session titled “How SQL Server stores that data type” for the free EightKB virtual conference. I’ve made it a 500-level talk, as…
Accessibility after the fact: closed captions for videos
My user group, the Calgary Data User Group, has been recording videos since April of this year, so at the time of this writing we have just two videos on our YouTube channel. As one…
On accessibility in our community
Today I want to write about the community that brought us all together. The community that got this very website on your radar. The community that got many of us spending lunch breaks, evenings and…
Calgary Data User Group with Deborah Melkin and Andy Yun
Next week on Wednesday is the Calgary Data User Group’s second event for 2021, and the second event as a member of Microsoft’s new Azure Data Community. Since last year February we have been offering…
Upcoming speaking engagements
The last time I presented a session was at the final PASS Summit in November 2020, so it is time to get back on the virtual conference trail again. Columbus Ohio User Group, 8 April…
What is a community advisory board anyway?
For those of us who have been involved in the Microsoft Data Platform community for a few years, the events of the last few months have been dramatic, culminating in the end of the Professional…
Welcome to the Azure Data Community, empowered by Microsoft
After the Professional Association of SQL Server (PASS) unceremoniously closed down in January this year and its video library & brand names were bought by Red Gate Software Ltd, it left the SQL Server Family (#SQLFamily)…
Calgary Data User Group – 24 February 2021 at 5pm MST
This Wednesday, from 5pm to 7pm Mountain Standard Time, the Calgary Data User Group is presenting two sessions for your virtual attendance. 15 minutes: A lightning talk on Kubernetes (by Mohammad Darab) 60 minutes: New…
Professionalism in the age of COVID-19
Some years ago, I wrote about what it means to be “professional” (and that it doesn’t mean having to wear a suit and tie). Recently a conversation broke out on Twitter about what it means…