The New York State Forum (The Forum) of the Rockefeller Institute of Government is comprised of a network of public officials, State government organizations, and corporate partners. The Forum's mission is the promotion of policies and practices for effective, equitable and secure use and management of information resources in New York State government at all levels.
The Internet has become an essential channel for government information and service delivery, and the Forum's interests have evolved to incorporate issues surrounding the state's effective use of the Internet to deliver constituent information and services.
Though the NYS Forum deals with many issues, few have the potential for affecting so many of New York's constituents — individual and business alike — as the development of state and local government web sites. This widespread impact and the need to achieve equitable access for all led the Forum to create the IT Accessibility Committee.
This committee maintains a web site to help web developers, especially in New York Government, meet design demands for accessible web sites. This site contains tutorials, resources, commentary, and examples on New York's policy and standards for accessible web sites, curricula for workshops, and seminars on Web Accessibility topics. Ideally, the web site serves not only as a resource, but also as a strong example of the principles presented there.
The first phase of the Successful Web Communications in NYS Government series of training classes has concluded. The program was an unqualified success and has been nominated for several awards.
Work has begun on the second phase of training classes, and we should have news about new class offerings toward the end of summer.
Also in process this summer is a project to define requirements for a new web content validation tool that will test for conformance with New York State's Mandatory Technology Standard S04-001.
If you are interested in the Committee's projects, please e-mail Debi Orton at dorton@goer.state.ny.us.