In this session, each presenter will address a different “lens” to apply when developing and improving content for self-represented litigants. They will each provide a list of principles or issues to spot when designing content, which will be provided in a sheet to attendees. 1. Education Pedagogy: We will explain the difference between working memory and long-term memory and why it matters for SRLs. Drawing from tools such as Bloom’s Taxonomy, we will break down how people learn information and provide basic strategies for disseminating different categories of information. 2. Inclusive Design: We will discuss common communication barriers that SRLs face and how this contributes to decreased confidence and trust in program resources. The presentation will focus on how a team of researchers, inclusive designers and mediation program staff transformed the notice, webpage and video resources of an Illinois mediation program using scaffolding and inclusive, mobile-first design principles. 3. Accessibility: We will share a triage framework for legal content from the NH Judicial Branch form modernization project. The presentation will spotlight three tiers of accessible design approaches and common issues to look out for when crafting for accessibility. Attendees will learn how to break up an accessibility project into an approachable, practical two-phase process. Activity: Attendees will analyze a 1-2 page sample document with before/after examples, identifying which principles/issues identified during the presentations they think were applied to the improved document. They will have the opportunity to add their own improvements as well. Working in groups, attendees will share what they learned and walk away with strategies to apply to their own materials.
