Guide Dog

Guide Dog Diagram
Screenshot of a11y widget

Submission for the Healthcare category

Inspiration

Pain Point

Accessibility and Security for websites and web apps. Privacy protection is a key concern for Accessibility experience that is not being addressed by other A11y widgets. Accessibility users are at threat for privacy and security concerns, and are a target for fraud.

Solution

A full featured Accessibility Widget that includes privacy features. Leveraging the Pangea Redact API, the Guide Dog widget keeps sensitive information secure on the client's screens and prevents the wrong content from being submitted to the wrong form.

What it does

Guide Dog is a accessibility Widget that adds optional user experience features to a website or web app, primarily through style integration and overrides. In addition to standard UX features, Guide Dog leverages Pangea Redact API for two privacy and security features:

Screen Privacy
For screens that display sensitive data, Guide Dog uses Pangea Redact Rules to hide the data. For example, when using a laptop in a public space.

Input Security
Keeps form inputs secure. Guide Dog uses Pangea Redact Rules to redact sensitive data before submission.

How we built it

UX accessibility features are included with a vanilla javascript plugin that integrates with the client site's style. The widget UI uses SVG instead of iframe. Pangea Redact API is used to filter contextualized content for sensitive information. The Redact API is implemented using the Node.js SDK, on a Svelte Kit server-side rendered backend (effectively a Node.js server) deployed to Google Cloud Run with Docker infrastructure.

Challenges we ran into

Implementation of a platform agnostic widget poses many unique problems. These were solved with a vanilla javascript plugin using all SVG for the widget interface, instead of iframes.
CORS policies had to be correctly managed to allow communication with the Guide Dog server from the client site.
Creating the example client site with relevant content that aligned with redact rulesets.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Guide Dog proof of concept looks like a fantastic product, a great application of the Redact API. We believe there is a real potential for a product and partnership with clients, solving Accessibility and Security problems for all sorts of use cases.

What we learned

We learnt a lot about accessibility User Experience and solutions. The Pangea API as an exciting new addition to a developer's tech stack we had to learn.

What's next for Guide Dog

Guide Dog would be a fantastic product for Clients, with a service sales model, and potential broader partnership for Accessibility and Security solutions.
Pangea API features can be expanded to fully use Redact rulesets for different client requirements.
Subscribing clients need an identity provider.
Expand A11y features for the widget.
Plugins for frontend frameworks, exposing more control for client websites.
Explore User Experience advocacy.

Source Code

Demo Client Site
https://bitbucket.org/makeitTim/guidedog-demo-public/src/main/
Plugin Javascript Code
https://guidedog.dev/guidedog.js
The server code is in a private repo on bitbucket. For access, please contact us over Devpost or timothy.w.davidson-at-gmail-dot-com.