Summary: In Episode 9 of the Together London Podcast, I talk to Wiep Hamstra from the Netherlands about accessibility, how to structure web teams, and becoming an agent of change. Check out Wiep's website, her upcoming talk at Confab London, and follow her on twitter @wiepstra. Listen to the podcast Download MP3 file or subscribe in iTunes. Read the transcript Jonathan Kahn: I'm talking to Wiep Hamstra, who is a content strategist based in The Netherlands. Wiep, thanks so much for taking the time to join me. Wiep Hamstra: Thank you. Jonathan: What is your background? How did you get involved in content strategy? Wiep: I studied science of communications. I worked in a variety of jobs mostly in advice, writing, and editing. One day, I discovered that there was nobody responsible for the Web. I started to work like a content strategist without knowing I was one [laughs] until I read the book of Kristina Halvorson. Jonathan: You've actually a book with some other people, which is in Dutch. Wiep: Yes. Jonathan: Because of Google Translate, I've been able to look at the website and understand what it says. It's called "The Secret of the Government Website." Is that a good translation? Wiep: Yes, it is. Jonathan: Can you tell us about why you wrote that book and what it's about? Wiep: This book really is about how to include accessibility in Web writing. I was asked to write the book as a Web editor, because, at the time, most people thought accessibility was something for the tech people, the tech stuff about CMSs and videos. But it really is something which is in writing. Jonathan: Yeah, in the content. Wiep: In the content, yeah. Maybe it's a nice story to tell about. It was in 2004. I worked in a very small municipality. One day...How do we call it...of legal, the legal department. Jonathan: A lawyer, so a lawyer...Yeah, legal department. Wiep: He said, "When you are making your website, you really should go to [the Dutch web accessibility guidelines] because it's a legal part of it. I thought... Jonathan: So like the web guidelines, or the guidelines for... Wiep: Yes. Jonathan: The guidelines in the Netherlands for accessibility of websites? Wiep: Yes. Jonathan: OK. Wiep: At that point, I dove in and I found out it really was easy. At first, I didn't want to find out, but later on I thought well, it's just easy. It's making right markup and good links and testing stuff. And so, I dove in, and I think I was the first web writer who was busy with [Dutch accessibility guidelines] at the time. Jonathan: So you're saying that the principles that were already in the law about how we should develop accessible websites, you actually felt that they were kind of similar to the principles of how to create good content, full stop? Wiep: Yes. Jonathan: And so, when you wrote the book, you're saying this book is mainly about how to make government websites accessible? Wiep: Yes. In fact, I wrote two books. First of all, it was about a discovery of those rules and writing them down and how to put them in a web project. And afterwards, I was asked to write a new book, and that was by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I decided well, it's not the web project, it's a process. I rewrote it all over and tried to include web standards and accessibility in the process of writing. Then I found out that it was not the writing, but it was the organizing stuff. And then I found out it was the organizing stuff with the right people. Then I found out it was the organizing stuff with the right people in the right places with the right words. That's what my book is about and how the Web professional can be the agent of change. Jonathan: Fantastic. You've actually moved from starting off with how do we make the website accessible all the way to how do we organize our companies.
