The Living Archive exists to make understanding more available.
That purpose carries an obligation to reduce unnecessary barriers between people and the knowledge, orientation, and experiences the Archive provides.
Accessibility is not an additional feature of the Archive. It is part of making the Archive available.
Designing for Difference
People encounter the Living Archive with different abilities, devices, technologies, languages, levels of familiarity, and circumstances.
The institution therefore seeks to design its digital experiences so that unnecessary differences in access do not become barriers to participation.
Digital Accessibility
The Living Archive seeks to progressively align new and substantially revised digital experiences with recognized accessibility standards, using WCAG 2.2 AA as an institutional design target where reasonably applicable.
This includes attention to:
- keyboard navigation;
- readable structure and headings;
- sufficient contrast;
- meaningful alternative text;
- accessible forms;
- visible focus states;
- understandable error messages;
- captions and transcripts where appropriate;
- accessible documents and downloadable materials.
Content Accessibility
Accessibility is not limited to the technical interface.
The Archive also seeks to make its content reasonably understandable through:
- clear structural hierarchy;
- meaningful headings;
- appropriate language;
- readable typography;
- descriptive links;
- alternative ways of encountering important information where practical.
Where practical, content should be structured so that assistive technologies can interpret its hierarchy and meaning without depending solely on visual presentation.
Maps, Images, and Visual Systems
The Living Archive makes substantial use of maps, diagrams, symbols, images, and visual architecture.
Where visual material carries essential meaning, the institution seeks to provide an appropriate textual or structural means of accessing that meaning where practical.
Visual richness should not unnecessarily become informational exclusion.
Interactive Experiences
Interactive experiences, including assessments and navigational systems, should be designed with accessibility in mind from the outset.
The institution seeks to avoid making essential functions dependent upon a single mode of interaction where practical alternatives can be provided.
Progressive Improvement
Not every existing page or historical asset will necessarily meet the same standard immediately.
The commitment is therefore progressive rather than performative:
Improve what exists. Build new work more accessibly. Avoid creating new barriers.
Accessibility should become part of ordinary production rather than a separate compliance exercise performed only when required.
The Underlying Principle
The goal is not technical perfection.
It is to make the Archive’s central promise more real:
If understanding is offered, unnecessary barriers to reaching that understanding should be reduced.
Living Archive · Global Integrity & Standards
Part of the institutional standards of the Living Archive.
Living Archive · Life.Understood.