NYS Forum IT Accessibility Committee

July 2009 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

July 9, 2009, 2:30pm - 4:00pm
NYS Forum Offices
24 Aviation Road, Colonie

NOTE: There will be no meeting this August. Meetings will resume September 2009.

Agenda:
Adopting Section 508
Agency Consulting
Annual Report/Planning Meeting
Elections for chair positions in September
Training Progress
Upcoming Presentations

UPCOMING EVENTS

NYS Forum - Annual Strategic Planning Session - July 10, 2009

This session is an important way for you to become familiar with The NYS Forum's Work Group initiatives and to provide input to them for the coming year (commencing October 1).

You will participate in one of the Work Group discussion tables, where ideas are proposed and refined for inclusion as 2009-2010 NYS Forum initiatives. You will also have the opportunity to suggest new initiatives and participate in the prioritization of all initiatives for the coming year.

Upcoming New Media Webinars for Government:

Pre-registration is required.
http://www.nysforum.org/events/planningsession-7-10-09/

ADVERTISEMENT - "WANTED: Energy and dedication!"

If you have these in abundance and want to use them where they will absolutely make a difference, do we have the job for you. After six years on the job, Debi and Mike are stepping down as co-chairs for the IT Accessibility Committee. When you ask them why, they mumble something incoherent about surfboards, but we think it is a metaphor ... they say they can't handle the next big wave.

The challenges facing the committee will continue. We will continue to offer first-rate training, top-drawer advice and tireless support. But time moves on and in our case, we have arrived at the point where we need new leadership.

Debi and Mike assure us they will remain active members of the committee. Both of them, however, can sense--if not see--the end of the road. To smooth the transition, they both feel it is best if they step aside now.

Elections will be held during the September meeting of the IT Accessibility committee, September 10. Here's your chance to take the reins of one of the most successful committees in history!

RECENT NEWS

Last Call: CSS3 module: Multi-column layout

2009-06-30: The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/members.php3 has published a Last Call Working Draft of CSS3 module: Multi-column layout http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/WD-css3-multicol-20090630/. This module describes multi-column layout in CSS. It builds on the CSS3 Box model module and adds functionality to flow the content of an element into multiple columns. Comments are welcome through 01 October.

XHTML 2 Working Group Expected to Stop Work End of 2009, W3C to Increase Resources on HTML 5

2009-07-02: Today the Director announces that when the XHTML 2 Working Group charter expires as scheduled at the end of 2009, the charter will not be renewed. By doing so, and by increasing resources in the HTML Working Group http://www.w3.org/html/wg/, W3C hopes to accelerate the progress of HTML 5 http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/ and clarify W3C's position regarding the future of HTML. A FAQ http://www.w3.org/2009/06/xhtml-faq.htm answers questions about the future of deliverables of the XHTML 2 Working Group, and the status of various discussions related to HTML.

RESOURCES

Apple Resources - provided by Jason Gleman, NYS Civil Service

AAC (Augmentative and alternative communication)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmentative_and_alternative_communication

App for iPhone and iPod touch - similar to the device that Steven Hawking uses (only cheaper):
http://www.proloquo2go.com
Proloquo2Go™ is a new product from AssistiveWare that provides a full-featured communication solution for people who have difficulty speaking. It brings natural sounding text-to-speech voices, up-to-date symbols, powerful automatic conjugations, a default vocabulary of over 7000 items, full expandability and extreme ease of use to the iPhone and iPod touch.

"Commitment to Accessibility"
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/

MAC OSX Upgrade - Improved Accessibility
http://www.apple.com/macosx/accessibility/

iPhone - VoiceOver
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/iphone/vision.html