I sat down (over Hangouts) with Tyler Blankenship to talk about how we ended up working at OIT, the ins and outs of IT accessibility, and more.
Erin: Could you tell me a little bit about yourself and how you got started at OIT?
Tyler: Sure, I currently hold the position of Helpdesk Student Coordinator and provide IT Accessibility support for OIT. I got started back in 2016, so I’ve been here for four years now. I first worked in the English department for about a year before I joined OIT. I worked at the Helpdesk for a year and a half before I was promoted to the position of coordinator. That’s where I am today, alongside providing IT accessibility support for the University. I'm graduating this June so this will be my last year at OIT, at least as a student employee.
Erin: I’m in a similar position actually, I will be graduating this June from PSU. I’ll have worked here for two years at that time. So what is your major?
Tyler: I’ve switched my major about five times. I started in Computer Science, then went to social work, then I went majorless, because I was going to do EMT work. Then I went back to Computer Science and now I am a Philosophy major.
Erin: Do you feel like there is crossover between your work in OIT and philosophy?
Tyler: Yeah, so philosophy is basically critical thinking and reasoning skills. I think that does translate into customer service in technology, because you have to find creative solutions to a wide variety of problems. Philosophy fits into our OIT values as well, especially collaboration and innovation, which really benefit from critical reasoning skills. I’m focusing a lot on IT Accessibility right now. Finding accessible solutions to complex problems really builds from the critical thinking skills I work on in philosophy.
Erin: I’ve also learned about accessibility from working at OIT. It really opened my eyes to the importance of following best practices in web design, like using correct heading structures and image alt tags. It’s interesting to learn how accessible design not only benefits people who use adaptive technology, but actually benefits everyone.
Tyler: I can say that the PSU community is very interested in learning these accessibility skills. I’ve gotten a lot of emails from people who have never done this sort of work and are really motivated to improve the accessibility of their documents, from professors to department heads. I think PSU has the potential to be at the forefront for IT accessibility.
Erin: I agree. There seems to be a growing awareness about accessibility, especially with PSU’s transition to online instruction.
Tyler: Definitely. You can really see people trying to adapt to the situation as best they can. That does require a lot of document and website remediation to ensure that content is reachable to everyone.
So what is your formal position at OIT?
Erin: My job title is Content Specialist and I'm part of OIT's Content and Communications team. Right now I manage the Support Desk Operations Knowledge Base, which you’re probably familiar with from your Helpdesk work. It’s a collection of over 150 articles that support our frontline Helpdesk employees so they can solve technical problems for the PSU community. The articles need constant updates. New articles are written and obsolete ones get removed, as technology is always changing.
My mindset when I work on the articles is, “Who is going to be using this and what are they trying to do?” Those questions are my guide for figuring out how we can make the knowledge base as useful as possible.
So, could you give me a description of what a typical day might look like for you at OIT?
Tyler: Currently my job is a combination of Helpdesk Coordinator and an Accessibility expert. It’s a very dynamic position I’m in. From the Helpdesk side, I am jumping between taking calls, doing tickets, taking chat requests, and handling escalations from the Helpdesk technicians.
On the accessibility side I am doing a lot of research on specific remediations for different types of documents. For example, how would you display HTML code in a way that’s accessible? How would you remediate a PDF document so that it can be read by screen readers? Since accessibility is new to many people, there are a lot of unique issues that you run into.
Erin: It sounds like your position is a lot about working with people. You support the PSU community by addressing individual questions that come up, but you also think big-picture about how the process as a whole is working.
Tyler: That sums it up pretty well, as I said it is a dynamic position. For instance, today I worked on a BPA (Business Process Analysis) for our Helpdesk Chat. We basically look at everything that’s going well with our platform, and everything that we can improve on.
Erin: I think my work as a technical writer has a lot of crossover with your Accessibility and Helpdesk work. Both of our jobs require empathy, or putting yourself into the headspace of the person you are helping.
Tyler: Definitely a lot of empathy involved in my job. I actually came up with an acronym to help people with customer service which I call RAD, recognize the problem, apologize, and diffuse, which means you work on resolving their issues and give them options on how to proceed. Empathy plays a big role.
Erin: I can see how empathy is important, especially as a more advanced computer user yourself. You have to let go of any premeditated expectations for what people should know, and meet them where they are.
Tyler: Yeah, really it’s active listening. You listen to them, you get to know them, you get to know their experiences, and really their hopes and fears with using technology.
Erin: What’s your favorite thing about working at OIT?
Tyler: I think it’s the culture here. Everyone here really promotes this culture of respect and family. Frankly, I probably wouldn’t be here if the culture wasn’t as it is, the culture of helping people. I think it is a big part of this job.
Erin: I agree, when I first started working here it was a huge contrast to my previous work experiences. Working at OIT really feels like being part of a community.
Tyler: I also think this is a campus-wide thing, too. When I was working in the English department, they were very understanding and very helpful. So I think PSU does have that culture of respect, and those values we have at OIT also apply campus-wide.