NYS Forum IT Accessibility Committee Meeting

March 11, 2010, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
Forum Offices, 24 Aviation Road, Colonie

Attendees: Kristen Albright (Parole), Jason Cortes (Parole), Estelle Council (Parole), Laura Edlund (AT&T), Kim Fraim (DOH), Dee McCumber (Health), Timothy Moody (DEC), Martin Navojosky (Tax), Joel Obuchowski (INS), Debi Orton (GOER), Mike Short (DCS), Sharon Rehder (DEC)
Remote Attendees: Jeff Bennett (OFT)

Introductions:

  1. We welcomed the new members: Tom Plummer, Marcia Rogers, Scott Rogler and Mike Stapleton

Ongoing Business:

  1. Agency Consulting:
    1. Debi assisted OFT with successor policy on P08005.
    2. Debi conveyed there are no know Accessibility concerns to SUNY's when they had questions.
  2. Training:
    1. Writing for the Web: March 8. Positive feed back on presentation (96 attended).
    2. Creating Accessible PDF Documents: had to be rescheduled from February 25, new date TBD. Planning Sheet due. (Debi, Lizette, Joel and possibly Anthony Califano) Discussion on how different screen readers process pdf documents differently JAWS/Window-eyes, Adobe's "Say aloud"). Joel to check with Rebecca on a few possible dates for rescheduling the session.
  3. Interactions with Other Forum Work Groups: Estelle asked if ITA could be involved in Web 2.0 . Estelle attended a meeting Interactions with Greg Benson and Jim Costello at OFT to discuss the Smiley Face Implementation. OFT agreed to allow Jim and Estelle to lead a swat team as advisors when they have new initiatives.
    1. Web2.0 and Accessibility demos along with Accessibility / Usability discussions at Forum's Webmasters Guild meeting on February 5th. (Jason, Jim, Jeff, Estelle, Joel)

New Business:

  1. 508 Policy Update:
    1. Implementation of new 508 has been stalled. CIO/OFT (Marilyn) waiting for OGS's decision for renewal of hybrid standard. They have engaged in fact-finding with OGS to try and understand their objections. Nothing explicit on policy to mandate keyboard display. OFT will not be renewing the NYS Validation Tool. There is no successor policy and no funding.
  2. Upcoming Presentations:
    1. Search Engine Optimization and Accessibility - Possibly late May. (Mike S, Jim C,) Joel to create planning sheet and Estelle volunteered to help.
    2. Possible Social Media class including Twitter, Facebook, etc. - Emerging Technologies is planning a brief session targeting a broad audience. Contact Emerging Technologies (Corinne) to see if Accessibility can speak for 10-15 minutes on topic. (Estelle). ITA not participating at this juncture as Corinne stated they are communicating at a high C level
    3. Possible Web 2.0 Refresh (Re-visited) with the Webmasters' Guild. Many ARIA features have changed since the last presentation. A re-address of issues that made the technology inaccessible needs a re-evaluation. (Jim C.)
    4. Possible 508 Training- possible ½ hour sessions.
    5. Accessibility 101 Training- Since the last session was in 2008. (Debi) Curriculum may need updating. A potential presentation for the 2010-2011 Calendar.
  3. Web 2.0 White Paper discussion: Estelle sent to ETC Committee and reviewed at their 2/5 work group meeting.
  4. Our next Work Group Meeting is scheduled on April 8th at 2:30 PM in the Forum Offices.

Next Meeting:

April 8, 2010
2:30-4:00 p.m.
Forum Offices, 24 Aviation Road, Colonie