NYS Forum IT Accessibility Committee

October 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

October 8, 2009, 2:30pm - 4:00pm
NYS Forum Offices,
24 Aviation Road, Suite 103
Colonie, NY

Directions? Please e-mail Joel Obuchowski jobuchow@ins.state.ny.us.

Agenda:
Finalizing the 'Writing for the Web' and 'Creating an Accessible PDF Document' sessions
Discussion of IT Accessibility Committee response to OFT Wiki query on the need for a "Web 2.0" policy
Revisiting the Committee goals for 2009-2010
Seeking volunteers to help with training sessions and other committee activities

UPCOMING EVENTS

"Writing for the Web" and "Creating Accessible PDF Documents" are planned for mid-November.

Details on agenda and registration coming very soon.

FEATURE ARTICLE

WAMC Launches New, More Accessible Website for Women in Science Programming

ALBANY, NY (10/02/2009)(readMedia)-- In October, Disability Employment Awareness Month, WAMC will launch a new website for its "Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)" radio programming. The new site, www.womeninscience.org, was recently redesigned with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to be more visually appealing, easier to navigate, and fully accessible to people with disabilities.

The NSF grant used to renovate the site is also supporting WAMC's production of the latest of six NSF-funded "Women in STEM" radio series, Access to Advancement: An Audio Exploration of the National Effort to Increase the Role of Women with Disabilities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The new series, awarded through NSF's Research in Disabilities Education Program, will shed light on the opportunities for, and achievements of, women with disabilities in STEM fields.

"WAMC is incredibly proud of its participation in this exciting project," says WAMC President, Dr. Alan Chartock. "We have been at the forefront of programming devoted to women in this country, and with the support of the National Science Foundation, we are thrilled to be setting a new standard for the media's coverage of disability issues as well."

To ensure that people with visual, hearing, and other disabilities can access the radio programming and resources available on the new site, WAMC worked with the award-winning web development firm Cogent Technologies located in Troy, NY. Cogent is known for helping clients clearly communicate their mission and reach new markets through accessible web design.

The site was designed to meet the Website Accessibility Standards established by the World Wide Web Consortium (an international consortium that develops web standards and guidelines). It includes text transcripts of all audio and is programmed to be easily navigated by people who use screen reading software (which provides text-to-speech translation of the information displayed on a computer screen).

RECENT NEWS

European Commission considers web accessibility legislation

Viviane Reding sees herself as internet Robin Hood

By OUT-LAW.COM
Posted in IT Director, 5th October 2009 07:02 GMT

The European Commission has proposed legislating to ensure that all EU nations adopt accessibility rules designed to ease disabled people's access to the web.

Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding has for the first time talked of a 'European Disability Act' that could compel EU nations to adopt web accessibility rules together so that all of Europe's websites become accessible at the same rate.

For the full-text of this article, please see this link:
http://out-law.com/page-10418

Net Views: A Web 2.0 digital divide in e-government
From The Industry Standard http://www.thestandard.com/, Oct. 1, 2009

"As the use of web 2.0 technologies becomes more widespread, the citizen-government relationship is moving online. Through community and government-run web sites that utilize ever more sophisticated technologies, citizens and government are able to hold online 'conversations.' However, the web 2.0 revolution is leaving some behind and widening the digital divide; those who are not computer literate and those without access to a broadband connection or a PC are not able to engage in online dialogue with government or to access online services and information. As more services and information move online, the challenge will become increasingly acute. Whereas some will be able to conduct all of their business with government online and access information in minutes, others will be forced to interact with government face to face or over the phone, leading to dramatic inequalities in the accessibility of services and information."

Accenture, "From e-Government to e-Governance: Using new technologies to strengthen relationships with citizens"
See the "From e-Government to e-Governance" web site:
http://nstore.accenture.com/egovernance/

Jakob Nielsen Web site - Alert Box - September 4, 2009

Hosting a company's content and services on 3rd-party social media sites such as YouTube involves both tactical risks (lower usability) and strategic risks (less user loyalty).
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/social-mega-ia.html

RESOURCES

Provided by Mike Hritcko, NYS Insurance Fund

An interview with Jamie Knight: autism & accessible web design
http://www.iheni.com/an-interview-with-jamie-knight-autism-and-accessible-web-design/

Accessibility: Take 2
http://www.cssquirrel.com/2009/09/17/accessibility-take-2/

Accessibility in Web 2.0 Technology
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/wa-aj-web20/index.html?ca=dgr-twtrAjax-Accessdth-WD&S_TACT=105AGY83&S_CMP=TWDW

Accessibility vs. Alpha Transparency
http://weblog.200ok.com.au/2009/09/accessibility-vs-alpha-transparency.html/

A Bit of SVG and Canvas
http://nimbupani.com/blog/bit-of-svg-and-canvas.html

Comic Update: Squirrel in the Dark
Comic - http://www.cssquirrel.com/comic/?comic=34
Blog - http://www.cssquirrel.com/2009/08/31/comic-update-squirrel-in-the-dark/

JAWS 11 Public Beta
http://freedomscientific.com/downloads/jaws/JAWS-public-beta.asp

Keyboard Accessibility - Basic steps towards a more usable and accessible site
http://my.opera.com/ODIN/blog/2009/09/15/keyboard-accessibility-presentation-at-future-of-web-design-tour-2009-in-glasgow

Testing Accessibility Feature: aria-describedby
http://www.cssquirrel.com/2009/09/05/testing-accessibility-feature-aria-describedby/

The HTML5 drag and drop disaster [LANGUAGE WARNING!!!]
http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2009/09/the_html5_drag.html

WCAG 2.0 and Accessibility Supported
http://www.dingoaccess.com/accessibility/wcag-20-and-accessibility-supported/