NYS Forum IT Accessibility Committee Meeting

December 10, 2009, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
Forum Offices, 24 Aviation Road, Colonie

Attendees: Jeff Bennett (OFT) via teleconference, Mike Bullock (OAG), Jason Cortes (GOER), Jim Costello (CTG), Estelle Council (Parole), Laura Edlund (AT&T), Kathy Kittle (DEC), Joel Obuchowski (INS), Debi Orton (GOER), Sharon Rider (DEC), Lisa Rosano-Kaczkowski (CQCAPD), Mike Short (DCS) and Mike Taber (OTDA).

Old Business:

  1. Agency Consulting:
    1. OGS on the impact of 508 on non-web related topics, as the policy was being written.
    2. NYSERDA through OFT requested clarification on the relevance of accessibility on email. Do emails fall under the definition of content as defined in NYS-P08-005 (web-based intranet and Internet information and applications). Debi and Mike stated that "E-mail itself does not fall under NYS-P08-005. However, if you're setting up an HTML-based template for clients to use via web browsers, then yes. In addition, not all HTML-based e-mails are compatible with e-mail viewing environments. We recommend including a text alternative if e-mail recipients cannot view the HTML e-mail version. It's always best to design it accessibly."
  2. Training - Progress Report:
    1. Writing for the Web: very successful with heightened audience participation. Resources will be made available through Forum resource site.
    2. Creating Accessible PDF Documents: Date TBD. Debi has begun researching and will be meeting with Jeff Bennett next week do go through program.
  3. Interactions with Other Forum Work Groups:
    1. Jim Costello distributed a report from the Webmaster's guild on the results of the .NING pilot after the October pilot rollout. Jim provided a list of findings along with remediation for each of the issues; Agency Firewalls block Social Networking sites; Accessibility issues - Section 508 compliance; Terms of Service have not been resolved; Google ads appear on the website; Hosted service - Data ownership/retention issues; Technology is not intuitive - difficult to use; Some services are available that won't be used, while other services (wiki, group voting) are not available.
    2. It was concluded that they do not need to "test" .NING anymore, yet this tool can continue to be useful in providing collaboration for those workgroups that wish to continue to utilize.

New Business:

  1. 508 Policy Recommendations:
    1. We recommend that agencies must test for content and summarize percentages that comply and that which does not and corrections need to be completed within six months. Debi has researched and compared Current 508 with State Policy and briefed Work Group on all sub-parts of law that may apply to NYS when adopted. The Work Group needs to begin considering how we plan to support the new Policy. Enterprise license approach for validation tools might should be considered to assist developers with compliance, although the validation process will still not be fully automated (and because of the more extensive nature of 1194, there is more of a "human review" obligation than currently exists). Many parts of the law - for example, Subpart D - addresses information, documentation and support. Discussion regarding possible mandatory compliance and enforcement policy ensued and team spoke of compliance weighting on individual pages versus overall noncompliance. It was notes that some agencies could incur undue burden for some of their applications.
  2. Upcoming Presentations:
    1. Creating Accessible PDF's returning in February. Joel to reach out to OPVD to see if we could use their PDF's for creating accessible PDF's documents.
    2. Writing for the Web was so popular another session requested possibly January 21st or 28th.
    3. Search Engine Optimization and Accessibility - TBD with a usability focus. Mike Short and Kathy Farrell possible resources for this 1.5 to 2 hour course.
    4. Possible Social Media class including Twitter, Facebook , etc. - Jeff Bennett leveraged into Social Media Day with Emerging technologies work group. Possibly January or February with Jeff Bennett, Estelle Council, Mike Short, Jason Cortez may support this effort.
    5. Possible Web 2.0 Refresh with the Webmasters' Guild.
    6. Possible half hour 508 Training class to address procurement, CIO, legal, media. Estelle volunteered to send out a call for volunteers and to find out if AG's office can get involved with possible training.
    7. Possible Accessibility 101 Training.

Next Meeting:

January 14, 2010
2:30-4:00 p.m.
Forum Offices, 24 Aviation Road, Colonie