NYS Forum IT Accessibility Work Group

February 2010 Newsletter

### Edited by Joel Obuchowski

Articles and ideas for future newsletters? Please e-mail them to Joel Obuchowski jobuchow@ins.state.ny.us and Estelle Council ecouncil@parole.state.ny.us

 

NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING

Thursday, February 11, 2010, 2:30-4:00 p.m.
Forum Offices, 24 Aviation Road, Colonie
 
If you are unable to attend in person, and wish to participate via teleconference, here's the call-in information:
Phone #: 888-387-8686
Conference ID: 4435001#

 

AGENDA

Agency Consulting:
508 Policy Recommendations to OFT
Upcoming Presentations and Training - Progress Report
Creating Accessible PDF Documents
Writing for the Web
Recent Presentations - Webmasters Guild (February 5, 2010)
Interactions with Other Forum Work Groups

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

"Creating Accessible PDFs" - February 25, 2010

On February 25, 2010, the "Creating Accessible PDFs" session will be taking place at the Empire State Plaza.

** Note: Registration is required. **

For more information and to register for this event, please visit the NYS Forum Web site at this link: http://www.nysforum.org/events/itaccessibility_2_25_2010/

"Writing for the Web: Clear and Concise"

Stay tuned. More information coming soon on the listserv.

 

RECENT EVENTS and NEWS

IT Accessibility Work Group weighs in on WEB 2.0
by Estelle Council

In January, the IT Accessibility Work Group, spearheaded by the NYS Forum's Emerging Technologies Work Group, researched and evaluated Web 2.0 Technologies focusing on its impact on individuals with visual, hearing and cognitive impairments. The AccessWEB2.0 Project was fast-tracked from the onset with a call for volunteers issued on December 22nd. Eleven team members worked as a "virtual community" to produce a report to the NYS Forum Emerging Technologies Work Group by January 22nd. The report gives recommendations to web designers and developers when incorporating social networking tools into an agency's business model. The report also offers suggestions on approaches to remediate the challenges encountered when using FaceBook, Twitter, wikis and other Social Media products.

On February 5th, the Project Team collaborated with the NYS Forum's WebMaster's Guild by providing a demonstration and discussion surrounding Social Networking technologies and the "Open Source" platforms which they operate under.

The Report is currently under Forum Executive Review and the Project Team hopes to make it available to listserv members of the Accessibility and Web Guild Work Groups sometime in March.

The following Work Group members comprised the Project team: Kristen Albright, Jeff Bennett, Ellen Cataldo, Jason Cortes, Jim Costello, Estelle Council, Laura Edlund, Joel Obuchowski, Debi Orton, Laurie Schaible, Mike Short

In addition to the above efforts at the Webmaster Guild meeting, topics were also discussed that recently appeared on the listserv, including questions about Accessible PDFs.

Overall, the presentations were received favorably, and provided the audience good opportunities for questions on Web 2.0 and other topics discussed.

Jack Pickard, heralded for his efforts in the area of Accessibility, passed away recently. http://accessify.com/news/2010/01/rip-jack-pickard/

For those not familiar with his work, please visit the following links:
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/alphabet
http://www.thepickards.co.uk/index.php/category/accessibility/

 

FEATURE ARTICLE

"Be fortunate for Accessibility"
by Joel Obuchowski

With the recent devastation in Haiti, it does make one wonder how difficult our own lives are, here in the United States. Generally, we are more fortunate. What really sparked a comparison is what we can provide for persons with disabilities. Listening to some of the CNN coverage within a week after the earthquake, it was noted that services in Haiti do not support physical Accessibility (e.g. wheelchair ramps, and other mobility services) at nearly the same level we do. With the ongoing crisis, it's even more difficult for residents, the injured, and those trying to help, to get around.

In the field of Accessibility, there are not many perfect solutions, and it's not always easy to access resources. In addition, some resources need improvement or more reasonable pricing. However, whether it be in New York State or other U.S. states, and there are very worthwhile tools one can use.

If you are a person with disabilities who needs some accommodations, never be afraid to ask for help. A lot of potential resources do exist, and can help provide balance to one's normal activities. No one wishes to be stigmatized for having a disability, but these have an impact on daily life, let alone when faced with a crisis, such as in Haiti.

 

RESOURCES

provided by Mike Hritcko, NYS Insurance Fund

"Accessible HTML5 Video with JavaScripted captions"
http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/accessible-html5-video-with-javascripted-captions/

"Accessibility & Social Media"
http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/1581-Accessibility-and-Social-Media

"Assistive Technology Products"
http://orin.com/access/

"Alternatives to CAPTCHA"
http://www.evengrounds.com/developers/alternatives-to-captcha

"Contacting Organizations about Inaccessible Websites"
http://www.w3.org/WAI/users/inaccessible

"Engineering for Software Accessibility" (104 pages) - a Microsoft eBook and free download
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsaccessibilityandautomation/thread/23e30891-9c1a-456f-834f-4023369468b2

"MS Office 2010: Accessibility Investments & Document Accessibility"
http://blogs.technet.com/office2010/archive/2010/01/07/office-2010-accessibility-investments-document-accessibility.aspx

"Take a few minutes to encourage web accessibility. You can make a difference."
http://www.w3.org/QA/2010/01/encourage_accessibility_make_a_difference.html