Accessibility Statement
This website runs on Oxford Mosaic, the University of Oxford’s web platform.
Information regarding the accessibility features common to platform sites can be found in the Oxford Mosaic Accessibility Statement.
The Pitt Rivers Museum, as part of The University of Oxford, is committed to providing an accessible web presence that gives members of the public and members of the University community full access to our collections, exhibitions, research, and activities offered publicly through the web.
This website is run by the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
• change colours, contrast levels and fonts
• zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
How accessible?
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
• Not all images have appropriate alt text
• Some link text isn’t meaningful out of context
• Not all audio content has transcripts
• Older pdf documents aren’t fully accessible to screen readers
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format, please contact the Site Owner, Louise Hancock; louise.hancock@prm.ox.ac.uk
We will consider your request and get back to you in 30 days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: Louise Hancock; louise.hancock@prm.ox.ac.uk
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Other accessibility resources
If you’d like more information about accessibility and resources for students, staff and visitors in Oxford more generally, please visit our Equality and Diversity pages.
If you’re looking for information on building accessibility, please try the Access Guide or the University’s interactive map.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
The Pitt Rivers Museum and University of Oxford are committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Compliance status
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliance and exemptions listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:
Images, Carousels, Audio & Visual Content
Alt text
Some images do not have a meaningful text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1.
By March 2021 all images will:
• Have meaningful text alternative.
• Purely decorative images will have blank alt text.
• Infographics and charts will have a link to a full description of the content.
All new images that are being added to the site now are compliant.
Images containing text
Some images include text as part of the image, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5.
By March 2021 all images containing text will have a suitable text alternative to include the image text. New images won’t include text that forms part of the message.
Carousels
Carousels do not have obvious controls for users to stop the auto-rotate, which can cause people with cognitive disability that affect focus and concentration to be distracted making the site less accessible. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.2.2.
Audio only content
Not all audio-only files have a transcript, making the content inaccessible to website users who cannot hear. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1.
All audio-only files will have transcripts by November 2020. All new audio content will be accompanied by transcripts.
Video only content
Not all video-only files have a transcript, making the content inaccessible to users who cannot see. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1.
All new video-only files will be accompanied by transcripts.
Video with audio content
Not all videos have captions that are synchronised to the audio content of the video, making them inaccessible to people who cannot hear. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2.
All new video and audio content will have captions. Video recorded before 23 September 2020, including our film and sound collections, are considered exempt.
Not all videos have audio descriptions of important visual information that doesn’t have audio, making this inaccessible to people who can’t see. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.5.
All new videos will have audio descriptions before they are published. Pre-recorded audio and video including our film and sound collections, are considered exempt.
Links
Link text
Some links do not use text that is meaningful out of context, which can result in users of screen readers not being able to understand the link without reading the surrounding text and users of speech recognition software being less able to target links accurately using voice commands. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4.
All links will be reviewed and fixed by May 2021
Structure
Headings
Not all headings are hierarchical, making the site more difficult for users of assistive technology such as screen readers to access. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1.
Headings have on occasion been used to highlight information rather than acting as headings, making the site more difficult for users of assistive technology to use. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.3.1 and 2.4.6.
Keyboard operability
Users ‘should be able to navigate most of the website using just a keyboard' (WCAG success criterion 2.1.4) It isn’t currently possible to carry out all tasks using a keyboard (for example the dropdown navigation on the main horizontal navigation bar isn’t accessible), which can make the site less accessible to people with mobility impairments. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1. However most modern browsers offer standard keyboard shortcuts.
Language of content
Where the language of all or part of a page isn’t English this isn’t defined in the html, which can result in screen readers being unable to correct read the text. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 3.1.1 & 3.1.2
Documents (Word & PDF)
Many of the documents (Word and PDF) on this site do not meet accessibility standards, which could result in them not being fully accessible to users of screen readers.
Documents that are essential to the service we provide will be either converted to HTML pages or replaced with accessible versions by January 2021. Any new documents published will meet accessibility standards.
Disproportionate burden
We do not consider any of the accessibility issues to be a disproportionate burden and aim to make the site fully compliant by September 2021.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
Third-party content
Our site includes third party content and functionality. This may direct you to a related service, link to another site or supporting documentation. We are not responsible for the accessibility of third-party content or to other sites we link to.
This includes:
• YouTube or Vimeo videos
• Sound Cloud audio files
• Google maps
Documents (Word & PDF)
This site has a small number of Word and PDF documents which were published before September 2018. These aren’t essential to the service we provide and won’t be replaced. If you experience any difficulties accessing these documents, please email prm[at]prm.ox.ac.uk. Any new documents published will meet accessibility standards.
The following items are also excluded:
• pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020
• scanned manuscripts from the Balfour Library and Museum Archives
• Third-party content (e.g. soundcloud, youtube, vimeo, blogger, google maps plugins)
• Audio and video content published before 23 Sep 2020
• PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 - unless users need them to use a service
• archived websites that are not updated, including our ‘microsites’ (see below) and some research sites
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We want to provide the best possible experience for all our website visitors. To achieve this we will:
• Fix known issues.
• Check all new features in the MOSAIC platform, which is used to create this website, for accessibility before they are made available.
• Check all new content for accessibility before it is published.
• Train all content editors on accessibility.
• Carry out periodic accessibility checks.
• Repair or rebuild three of our collections research sites; ‘The Tibet Album’, ‘The Other Within’, and ‘Rethinking Pitt-Rivers’. This repair project will be completed in September 2021. Many of the other sites will be removed or exempted owing to the disproportionate burden of making them compliant with this legislation.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 18 September 2020.
The following pages were checked to ensure that we covered the full range of content across the site:
• Homepage
• Visit us page
• Collections page
• Learn page
• Research page
• Join and Support page
• Sitemap
