You Are Here: NYS Forum IT Accessibility Committee
December 2008 Newsletter
### Edited by Joel Obuchowski
Articles and ideas for future newsletters? Please e-mail them to Debi Orton dorton@goer.state.ny.us and Joel Obuchowski jobuchow@ins.state.ny.us
NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING
- December 11, 2008
- 2:30pm - 4:00pm
- Location: Empire State Plaza, Meeting Room 7 (behind the elevators for the Egg)
Topics for discussion:
- Progress on the Online Validation Tool
- Training plans for next year
CALL TO ACTION!
As many of you are aware, the NYS Online Validation Tool is set to expire on December 31. As of this writing, we have not been able to secure funding to continue it into the next fiscal year. CIO/OFT needs a demonstration of support before they will be willing to help us. So now it's up to you.
Here's what we need you to do. Explain to the powers that be at your agency that this tool (or the desktop version) is the only one available to help you ensure that your web content conforms to the state's web accessibility policy. Explain that lawsuits on web accessibility are increasing, and that CIO/OFT has removed the waivers traditionally allowed for undue administrative burden or fundamental alteration, which means that ALL content on your site must be available to individuals with disabilities. Explain that without the online validation tool, you have no way to ensure that your contractors are producing compliant web content, or that your agency's accessibility statistics are improving.
We need your help. Our initial communication on the tool went to agency CIOs, so please get in touch with your CIO and tell them that your agency is in danger of losing access to this valuable tool. We're not asking for a commitment of funding at this point, just an expression of interest in continuing to use the tool. Understand, though, that it may come down to asking agencies to fund a portion of the ongoing cost of the tool. But the more agencies that support the tool, the lower each individual agency's share will be.
WHAT TO DO
Have your CIO send an e-mail message to Mike Short (mike.short@cs.state.ny.us) by December 22. If we can get 20-30 agencies (hopefully more) to show support for the tool, we may yet be able to save it.
RESOURCES and RECENT NEWS
Are Accessibility Statements Useful?
http://www.digital-web.com/articles/are_accessibility_statements_useful/ 
Blind Webbers: Yahoo! Groups List for Blind and Visually Impaired Web Authors
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/blindwebbers/
Dev.Opera - Accessibility Testing
http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/26-accessibility-testing/
Scripting Enabled
This is How the Web Gets Regulated
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/thisishowthewebgetsregulated
W3C Markup Validation Service adds experimental HTML5 support
Special Spotlight: Welcoming Our Veterans Back into the Workforce (From the DBTAC - Northeast ADA Technical Bulletin)
November 11th was Veterans' Day and always provides us an opportunity to highlight the value of these dedicated individuals. As our veterans return home from service, more large and small businesses are realizing that hiring returning vets is not just a good thing to do, it also makes good business sense. The following articles and resources offer you more information and assistance on reintegrating veterans back into our workforce:
Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) Business Sense article: http://www.dol.gov/odep/workingpartners/bsense1108.htm
Hire Vets First: a comprehensive career website geared toward managers, human resources specialists, and veterans, which offers resources one would need to match employment opportunities with veterans: http://www.hirevetsfirst.gov/
America's Heroes at Work: online resource managed jointly by ODEP and Veterans' Employment and Training Service to assist employers and human resource professionals with helping veterans who have traumatic brain injuries or post-traumatic stress disorder return to work: http://www.AmericasHeroesAtWork.gov
The National Resource Directory: an online partnership of "shared care" providing information on, and access to, services and resources for wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans, their families and families of the fallen, and those who support them from recovery and rehabilitation to community reintegration. It is maintained by the Departments of Defense, Labor, and Veterans Affairs. The information in the Directory is from federal, state, and local governmental agencies; veteran service and benefit organizations; non-profit community-based and faith-based organizations; academic institutions; professional associations and philanthropic organizations: https://www.nationalresourcedirectory.org/nrd/public/DisplayPage.do?parentFolderId=6006
Captioned Radio Closer to Reality
Deaf and hard of hearing users vote yes on new radio technology during live captioned broadcast of presidential election
WGBH's Media Access Group provides technology and hosts private demonstration
While millions of U.S. citizens voted in national and local elections last week, some of the nation's deaf and hard-of-hearing citizens were casting important votes on the future of captioned radio broadcasts-new technology designed to enable them to experience live radio coverage for the first time. The results-more than three-quarters of people who are deaf and hard of hearing indicated that they would be interested in purchasing captioned radio displays after watching live demonstrations of the technology last week at seven locations around the United States. The election night broadcast demonstrations were made possible by WGBH's Media Access Group, NPR, Harris Corporation and Towson University.
The telecast leveraged cutting-edge digital HD Radio™ technology to enable people who are deaf to experience NPR's election coverage by viewing live radio content on specially equipped receivers. WGBH's "stenocaptioners" monitored NPR's live coverage and fed instantaneous speech-to-text transcriptions to the participating NPR stations and to NPR's web site.
The broadcast, part of an initiative to make radio more accessible to the millions of consumers with sensory disabilities around the world, was demonstrated at NPR's international headquarters and Towson University in Towson, Maryland, WGBH, and four additional NPR member stations around the United States. During the broadcast, 150 people who are deaf or hard of hearing filled out surveys in person or online to provide feedback on the technology.
"WGBH was thrilled to welcome members of the deaf and hard of hearing community to experience live captioned radio of NPR's election night coverage," said Larry Goldberg, director of Media Access at WGBH. "Our captioning staff and our colleagues at WGBH-FM made magic happen ... and the reaction for users was strong and clear... 'Finally!' and 'When will this be available all the time?' Very soon, we hope!"
Responses to surveys indicated that captioned radio will be a popular broadcast format for deaf and hard-of-hearing users.
- 95 percent were happy with the level of captioning accuracy, a crucial aspect for readability and comprehension
- 77 percent said they would be interested in purchasing a captioned radio display unit when it becomes available
- 86 percent indicated they would be interested in purchasing a 'dual-view' screen display for a car (which would enable a deaf passenger to see the captioned radio text while the driver listens to the radio).
"Being able to read the captions enabled me to stay current on the election results. I usually tune out the radio when it's on because it is difficult to understand the dialogue with my hearing loss," said Betsy McCarthy, who participated in the demonstration at WGBH. "This technology would allow me instant access to a broadcast as opposed to taking the extra time to obtain a transcript when one is available."
Demonstration participants also showed a strong desire to rely upon captioned radio in emergency situations - on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being extremely important, they ranked emergency notifications at 9.6 when asked what types of information would be important to receive through captioned radio broadcasts. General news came in second at 8.0.
The survey also included a number of questions regarding format preferences, such as the speed of the scrolling text and the size of the text. The information will be used to improve future captioned broadcasts.
"WGBH did it again! The first to provide TV captioning in 1972 has once again become the first to caption the election results on HD Radio," said Karen Keefe, past president of Association of Late-Deafened Adults, Inc. and president of ALDA of Boston. "An amazing, innovative idea!"
The event was coordinated by the International Center for Accessible Radio Technology (ICART), which is headquartered at Towson University in Towson, Maryland. Founding members also include NPR and Harris Corporation. Towson houses the primary administrative and academic research office for the initiative, NPR Labs in Washington, DC, provides the technology R&D and software development, and Harris Corporation supplies the transmission and research support at its radio broadcast technology center in Cincinnati, Ohio. WGBH served as a technology partner in the initiative.
HD Radio enables station operators to split their broadcasts up into multiple channels, providing several CD-quality channels for their audiences. Through this accessible radio initiative, a small amount of the total data capacity will be used to carry textual data that will be shown live on a screen on new versions of HD Radio receivers, essentially providing a closed-caption transcript of live broadcasts for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
More information on the initiative can be found at www.i-cart.net . In addition to NPR, Harris Corporation, and Towson University, ICART member organizations include iBiquity Digital Corporation, Delphi, NDS, Radiosophy, Helen Keller Institute, Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media at WGBH (NCAM), Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard-of-hearing Persons, and the G3ict, an Advocacy Initiative of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development.
NPR's Accessible Radio project is funded by a grant from the National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation and Research (NIDRR).