NYS Forum IT Accessibility Committee Meeting

May 14, 2009, 2:30-4:00 p.m.
Forum Offices, 24 Aviation Road, Colonie

Attendees: Laura Edlund (AT&T), Kim Fraim (DOH), Mike Hritcko (NYSIF), Dee McCumber (DOH), Joel Obuchowski (SID), Debi Orton (GOER), Lisa Rosano-Kaczkowski (CQCAPD), Mike Short (DCS)

Old Business:

  1. Agency Consulting; Insurance Department had Question about how to access the VT; GOER had Accessibility reviews for the NYS-Balance site; OPDV needed contact info for DMV staff familiar with translation routine; Thruway Authority Follow-up on accessibility of traffic web cams; DOS had a question on boilerplate language for development of accessible application; NYSED inquired on the Accessibility of online forms for screen readers, as well they were looking for resources, referred them to our committee web site; NYSED/VESID were inquiring for site design advice related to accessibility; OCA has video of Jeff using screen reader to access non-web application will be made available for our use; NYSED wanted video and materials from 4/23 session; OPDV asked if Committee would be willing to do an in-service training for their staff.
  2. "Accessibility for Executives" session was held on April 23rd from 9:00AM until 12:00 PM. Approximately 40 people attended. Mike Short, Dee McCumber and Jeff Bennett presented. Then different disability types were featured in the roundtable portion of our session which included the following; Visual Impairments, Hearing Impairments, Mobility Impairments, Color Blindness, Cognitive Impairments, Elderly and Aging, Digital Divide, Seizure Disorder and Usability.

New Business:

  1. Training Progress: Here are the other programs we are planning with estimated target dates:
    1. Writing for the Web - Fall timeframe
      Kathy Farrell, Lizette Rivera and Debi will work on an outline for this session, covering reading levels, clear language, how users read on the web, and how to optimize content for the medium.
    2. Basic Web Development Skills at the CIO/OFT Technology Academy - CIO/OFT was interested in offering a "web basics" class. Debi will follow up with Marilyn, who was unable to attend.
    3. JAWS training at the CIO/OFT Technology Academy: May not be able to execute the training due to funding constraints this year. Could explore possible training for Basic JAWS Training for Web Developers.
    4. Search Engine Optimization and Accessibility - TBD, possibly a session that exposes some of the hidden benefit of using semantically correct, syntactically correct markup.
    5. Attorney General Briefing on Web Accessibility Requirements - (Note: Previously Lisa Rosano noted that the CQCAPD Counsel, Greg Jones, is planning something similar for attorneys and ADA officers.) Per Dee's contact at the AG's office they are not taking on outside speaking engagements until the fall
    6. Social Networking class including Twitter, Facebook , etc. - Jeff Bennett is working on an article for the June newsletter on this topic and offered to present demonstrations of how social network applications interact with screen reading programs
    7. Accessible PDFs - Debi committed to have an outline for this session for the June meeting.
    8. Possible Web 2.0 Refresh with the Webmasters' Guild
  2. Adopting Section 508: OFT had recommended we consider the adoption of the Federal section 508 standard. However, subsequent events have put this initiative on hold.

Next Meeting:

June 11, 2009
2:30-4:00 p.m.
Location: Forum Offices, 24 Aviation Road, Colonie