The IT Accessibility Committee has been remarkably successful in its first two years. Formed in November 2003, the Committee has provided standards-based training and informational opportunities to over a thousand individuals so far, and partnered with the NYS Forum Webmasters' Guild to forge an alliance with the World Organization of Webmasters, bringing top names in the web standards movement to Albany.
This year Committee partnered with the Guild to publish a white paper, Mastering the Web Revolution in New York State Agencies, which outlines some of the obstacles we currently face in staffing web development positions in agencies, along with specific recommendations for future improvements.
Working with the Office for Technology, members of the Committee have also consulted with State agency web developers to find solutions to problems experienced in applying the policy to real-world situations.
In 2004, Committee Co-Chairs Debi Orton and Mike Short were given an Award for Excellence in Government Information Services by the Forum's Executive Committee, and in 2005, the Forum was named to the Advance America Honor Roll based on the work the Committee is doing to improve the accessibility of State government web sites. The Committee added a new Corporate Co-Chair in 2005, Lisa Hebert Ryan from MicroKnowledge, Inc.