NYS Forum IT Accessibility Committee Meeting

November 12, 2009, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
Forum Offices, 24 Aviation Road, Colonie

Attendees: Jason Cortes (GOER), Estelle Council (Parole), Laura Edlund (via teleconference), Kim Fraim (Health), Mike Hritcko (INS), Joel Obuchowski (INS), Debi Orton (GOER), Mildred Polite Smith (OSC).

Old Business:

  1. Agency Consulting:
    1. OFT - Continuing to work with OFT on supporting documentation for policy change
    2. VESID - Requested assistance on table layout
    3. OMR - Requested assistance on table layout
    4. CQCAPD - Requested assistance with new web site.
  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. Change in Leadership
  4. Interactions with Other Forum Work Groups -Emerging Technologies Work Group and CTG are working towards developing a Web2.0 Session to target non-technical audience. Would like to involve various work groups in developing a program. More details in the coming week to identify date in early 2010. ½ day session will be the likely format with various modules. Webmasters Guild is piloting Social Network site: http://nysforumwebguild.ning.com/. They invite others to form groups. PM Work Group has created 4 thus far.
  5. Interactions with Other Groups - Debi attended the Tech Valley Code Camp and offered an accessibility presentation. This is a new market for us and may prove fruitful.

New Business:

  1. OFT Policy Commentary
    1. "Does NYS Need a Web 2.0 Policy?" Comments were added to discussion on OFT's Empire 2.0 wiki at http://wiki.cio.ny.gov/wiki/Talk:Does_NYS_need_a_Web_2.0_Policy_and,_if_so,_what_should_it_contain%3F and on Ning at http://nysforumwebguild.ning.com/forum/topics/developing-a-purpose-statement
  2. Upcoming Presentations:
    1. Search Engine Optimization and Accessibility - tabled.
    2. Social Networking class including Twitter, Facebook , etc. - Jeff Bennett. February 2010. Estelle is searching for volunteers.
    3. Possible Web 2.0 Refresh with the Webmasters' Guild - Late Spring with Mike Hritcko to readdress ARIA and how HTML5 impacts. Mike mentioned complexities in configuration with OS and Browser versions.
  3. Adopting Section 508? - 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 if adopted. The Work Group needs to begin considering how we plan to support the new Policy, if adopted. Enterprise license approach for validation tools might 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.
  4. Miscellaneous Matters:
    Debi/Jason attended webcast for Browsealoud.com text to speech software. The package is free for users, but must be set up on the server side. Cost runs about $14000 per server. BrowseAloud is meeting with Sharon Cates Williams (CIO/OFT) to discuss the possibility of enterprise licensing. Debi passed along contact information to Jim Costello as a potential presenter for the Webmasters' Guild.

    Mike H. mentioned NVDA as a free, open-source screen reader alternative.

Adjourned at 4:30 p.m.

Next Meeting:

Dec. 10, 2009
2:30-4:00 p.m.
Forum Offices, 24 Aviation Road, Colonie