NYS Forum IT Accessibility Work Group

May 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, May 13, 2010, from 2:30pm to 4pm.
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#

Directions? Please e-mail Joel Obuchowski jobuchow@ins.state.ny.us or Estelle Council ecouncil@parole.state.ny.us

 

AGENDA

OFT Discussions
Agency Consulting
Interactions with Other Forum Work Groups
NYS Validation Tool Update
Work Group Initiatives and Future Presentations
508 Policy Update
Miscellaneous/Other Topics

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Creating Accessible PDFs

May 12, 2010

Holiday Inn
189 Wolf Road
Colonie, NY
9am to noon

We have received a large response in registration for this event, and are looking forward to another great presentation on this topic. If you are interested in attending and have not registered, we recommend you do so as soon as possible.

http://www.nysforum.org/events/itaccessibility_5_12_2010/

 

FEATURE ARTICLE

WAI Resource Updates

To help and encourage developers and users to work together to make the web more accessible, WAI has updated the following three resources.

1. *Contacting Organizations about Inaccessible Websites* (primarily for users) - provides guidance on encouraging organizations to make their websites accessible, particularly when you find accessibility barriers on a website. http://www.w3.org/WAI/users/inaccessible

Additional perspectives are in the blog post: - Take a few minutes to encourage web accessibility. Your voice counts. http://www.w3.org/QA/2010/01/encourage_accessibility_make_a_difference

2. *Involving Users in Web Projects for Better Easier Accessibility* (primarily for project managers, designers, developers, editors, and the like) - describes how to better understand accessibility issues and implement more effective accessibility solutions by getting people with disabilities involved from the beginning of projects. Applies to:

websites and web applications
browsers, media players, and assistive technologies
authoring tools, including content management systems (CMS), blog
software, and WYSIWYG editors
standards and policies on accessibility
web technologies and technical specifications

http://www.w3.org/WAI/users/involving

3. *Involving Users in Evaluating Web Accessibility* (for those evaluating accessibility) provides the basics for anyone wanting to ensure that their websites, applications, and tools work well for people with disabilities. http://www.w3.org/WAI/eval/users

The Involving Users documents are introduced in the blog post: - Discover new ways of thinking about accessibility http://www.w3.org/QA/2009/12/discover_new_ways_of_thinking.html

These documents were developed and updated by Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG) as part of the WAI-AGE Project. WAI-AGE is a European Commission IST Specific Support Action, with the goal of increasing accessibility of the Web for older people as well as for people with disabilities. See: http://www.w3.org/WAI/WAI-AGE/

Shawn Lawton Henry
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

RECENT TESTIMONY

On April 22 Samuel R. Bagenstos, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General a the U.S. Department of Justice, testified before the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties on Achieving the Promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the Digital Age - Current Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities.

In his written testimony Bagenstos said. "There is no doubt that the internet sites of State and local government entities are covered by Title II of the ADA. Similarly, there is no doubt that the websites of recipients of Federal financial assistance are covered by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act."

While this has generally been thought of as true, this is the first time in over ten years that it has been the formal and public position of the Department of Justice.

Following on the heels of the Kindle settlements it seems likely that Justice and its sister agencies will increase its enforcement In this area. In light of this and our increasing reliance web based technologies, wireless communications and digital media It is prudent for institutions to review their current policies and internal enforcement as they relate to web and IT access from purchase to maintenance.

Some of the testimonies posted on the House Committee's site are ironically enough inaccessible. A thanks to John Foliot who did a service for the community by putting all of the testimonies in this first round in an accessible format at http://john.foliot.ca/a-letter-to-the-u-s-house-of-representatives-committee-on-the-judiciary/

RECENT NEWS

provided by Debi Orton, Governor's Office of Employee Relations

"Project puts 1M books online for blind, dyslexic" By BROOKE DONALD, Associated Press Writer Brooke Donald, Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - Even as audio versions of best-sellers fill store shelves and new technology fuels the popularity of digitized books, the number of titles accessible to people who are blind or dyslexic is minuscule.

A new service being announced Thursday by the nonprofit Internet Archive in San Francisco is trying to change that. The group has hired hundreds of people to scan thousands of books into its digital database - more than doubling the titles available to people who aren't able to read a hard copy.

Brewster Kahle, the organization's founder, says the project will initially make 1 million books available to the visually impaired, using money from foundations, libraries, corporations and the government. He's hoping a subsequent book drive will add even more titles to the collection.

"We'll offer current novels, educational books, anything. If somebody then donates a book to the archive, we can digitize it and add it to the collection," he said.

The problems with many of the digitized books sold commercially is that they're expensive, they're often abridged, and they don't come in a format that is easily accessed by the visually impaired.

The collections are also limited to the most popular titles published within the past several years.

For the full article, please visit this link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100506/ap_on_hi_te/us_books_for_the_blind

"ROKTalk Text-to-Speech Adds Multi-Language Translation Functionality"

April 14, 2010
MarketWatch (press release)

ROK Entertainment Group, the UK-based mobile technology, applications and services company, has today announced the addition of multi-language translation functionality to its ROKTalk text-to-speech service for websites...

For the full article, please select the following link: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/roktalk-text-to-speech-adds-multi-language-translation-functionality-2010-04-14?reflink=MW_news_stmp

"Apple Buys a Start-Up for Its Voice Technology"

By JENNA WORTHAM

Apple continued its migration into Google's turf on Wednesday with the acquisition of Siri, a mobile application that allows users to perform Web searches by voice command on a cellphone.

Siri, a start-up based in San Jose, Calif., describes itself as a virtual personal assistant for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. For example, Siri users can speak commands like "find a table for two at 9 tonight" or "send a taxi to my house"; using GPS and speech-recognition technology, the application translates the commands and uses search algorithms to find answers. For results, Siri worked with several companies, including Citysearch, OpenTable and Taxi Magic.

An Apple spokesman, Steve Dowling, declined to comment on the specifics of the Siri deal. "Apple buys smaller companies from time to time but doesn't comment on products or plans," he said.

Norman Winarsky, vice president of licensing and strategic programs at [13]SRI International, a research lab that [14]helped develop the application, confirmed the sale but declined to disclose any financial details of the transaction. Mr. Winarsky described the sale of Siri, which was released as a mobile app in February, as "a great event for us in terms of our impact on the world."

Before its sale to Apple, Siri [15]raised a total of $24 million from investors, including Menlo Ventures and [16]Li Ka-Shing, a Chinese billionaire who has also invested in [17]Facebook.

Apple may eventually hope to offer an alternative to Google's search service on the iPhone, the iPod Touch and the [18]iPad, said Charles S. Golvin, an analyst with [19]Forrester Research. Google has made large investments in voice command search, location-based search and advertising and in visual recognition search.

"Apple is trying to break ties to Google," Mr. Golvin said. "Rather than have search in the browser, users would have a more relevant search application to use."

Apple has acquired several smaller companies over the last few months as part of a larger effort to gain an edge on rival mobile companies. Most recently, Apple bought Intrinsity, a company that makes a speedy computer chip for mobile devices that uses very little battery power while processing graphics, video and other images. In January, Apple acquired Quattro Wireless, a mobile advertising company.

"This is as much about keeping this good technology away from Google as it is about wanting it for themselves," Mr. Golvin said.

RESOURCES

provided by Mike Hritcko, NYS Insurance Fund

"A Letter to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary"
http://john.foliot.ca/a-letter-to-the-u-s-house-of-representatives-committee-on-the-judiciary/

"ADA & Web Accessibility to Proudly Take Center Stage"
http://jfactivist.typepad.com/jfactivist/2010/04/justice-department-congress-advance-ada-and-web-accessibility.html

"Civil Rights Division Pushes for Internet Accessibility"
http://www.mainjustice.com/2010/04/22/civil-rights-division-pushes-for-internet-accessibility/

"WGBH - Descriptive Video Service movies"

WGBH's Media Access Group, home to the Descriptive Video Service (DVSŪ) offers two new online resources for fans of described movies.

Both can be reached via a new, easy-to-remember Web site address: http://www.describedmovies.org

  1. DVS on DVD
  2. Full List of DVS Movies