You Are Here: IT Accessibility Committee September 2005 Newsletter
### Edited by Joel Obuchowski
NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING
The September meeting of the IT Accessibility Committee will be held on September 8, from 2:30 - 4:00 at the Forum offices, 411 State Street, Albany. We'll be discussing the status of various projects, including our GTC presentations, our "Accessible Can Be Beautiful" web site redesign contest, and the upcoming training session for Rochester in November.
We also hope to share a feature article from the CIO's newsletter on our accessible web design training project with GOER and PEF.
CYBER SECURITY SEEKS ADVICE ON ACCESSIBILITY
The NYS Office of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination (CSCIC) is looking for some help in designing computer-based training for end users. The office is trying to strike a balance between content that will engage participants, but will not pose problems for people with disabilities. More specifically, we are seeking people who would be able to sit in on an occasional meeting to provide advice on potential pitfalls and alternatives.
If you're interested in volunteering, please contact Debi Orton at dorton@goer.state.ny.us.
ACCESSIBILITY CLINICS RESUME
After a summer hiatus, we resume our popular monthly Accessibility Clinics on Tuesday, September 20, from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m., with a session on validating your web pages for accessibility. Following a brief discussion of some of the things you can expect validators to flag, we'll move on to a hands-on session where you can validate your own web pages and develop a plan to fix them with the help of those more experienced with validation.
Pre-registration is required. To sign up, go to https://www3.oft.state.ny.us/glc/index.cfm and click on "List all courses." The classes are listed chronologically, so scroll down to September 20th and click on the link to register. As always, clinics are free.
UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS
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Committee Works on GTC Sessions
We will be presenting two GTC sessions at this year's conference, set for the week beginning September 19, 2005, and one of our co-chairs will be presenting another session on GTC's behalf.
The Committee is one of the co-sponsors, along with the Webmasters' Guild and the NYS Commission on Quality of Care and Advocate for Persons With Disabilities, of "A Survey of State Accessibility Initiatives." Kathleen Anderson from the State of Connecticut, Marilyn Cordell from New York, and Ken Knorr from the State of Virginia will explain the work done in their states on this important issue, discuss the obstacles they have encountered on the way, strategies that worked (and didn't), and will look into their crystal balls to forecast what the future for accessibility initiatives looks like. Sharon Trerise from Cornell University's Northeast ADA and IT Center will moderate. The session is scheduled for Wednesday, September 21 from 10:00 - 12:00 in the Swyer Theater.
Jason Gleman from the NYS Department of Civil Service will deliver his popular "Cascading Style Sheets for Your Web Site" for GTC attendees. If you haven't attended one of these sessions, you've missed a lively and informative look at the promised land of content separate from presentation. Jason's session is also scheduled for Wednesday, September 21, from 1:00 - 4:00 in Meeting Room 1.
You can register for both of these sessions on the Forum web site http://www.nysfirm.org. Look for the session titles running down the right side of the home page.
On Thursday, September 22, from 10:00 to 11:30, Mike Short will be presenting a GTC session on "Usability and Accessibility for Your Web Site." Pre-registration for this session is not required, but you need to register to attend the conference sessions for that day through GTC.
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WOW Training Scheduled for October 4-5
On Tuesday October 4 and Wednesday October 5, the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) will be delivering training on Web Application Development. This class will be taught by Prof. Bebo White, a Departmental Associate (retired) at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), the national high energy physics laboratory at Stanford University. His work focuses on the development and implementation of computing resources to support international physics collaborations, in particular the aBar experiment at SLAC. Prof. White's interest in the Web dates from 1989 when he was on sabbatical at CERN. Upon his return to the U.S., he was a member of the team that developed the first Web site in the Western Hemisphere at SLAC.
Here's the write-up from the WOW site:
"Web application development is the quiet giant of contemporary Web project design and management. Whether you're working on a global e-commerce site; administering systems and designing databases for government, industry, or education; or building any other type of Web-based application, this workshop is sure to be of interest to you.
"Part of the challenge of developing applications is having a strong process methodology, a strong understanding of available technologies and their cost/benefit, quality assurance and testing, and managing applications for their long and often-changing lifecycles. Known and proven concepts exist in Information Technology and engineering and they can be applied to help strengthen contemporary methods in Web development."
If you are at all interested in attending, we advise signing up quickly. Training of this type is hard to find and should fill up quickly.
WOW has once again offered discounted training for anyone who's a Webmasters' Guild member. The price for pre-registration is $195.
For more information, or to register for this training, see http://www.webprofessionals.org/community/events/websummit5/ 
.
There's a link on the bottom of the right column to register.
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** Forum Webmasters' Guild to Celebrate its 10th Anniversary **
It seems hard to believe, but it's true -- the Forum Webmasters' Guild will celebrate its tenth anniversary this year. The Forum commemorate this milestone with a luncheon and program to be held on Thursday, October 6, from 9:00 a.m. until 2:15 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Albany. Prof. Bebo White (see our WOW training reminder) will be delivering the keynote speech on the future of the web, and will participate in a panel discussion on what that future might mean for those of us who develop web sites.
Preregistration is required. See http://www.nysfirm.org/seminars/wmg-10-6-05/ for more information and to register. If you're interested in attending, be sure to sign up quickly, as this is sure to fill up quickly.
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New State Portal, Banner Coming
Within the next month or so, citizens typing "www.ny.gov " into their web browsers will visit a completely revamped new web portal, with a Google search interface and a focus on helping visitors answer the question "How do I...?" The new portal is being designed with accessibility in mind, and will feature a new, streamlined banner that will be rolled out to State agencies as soon as the portal has been announced.
We received and implemented a new banner for State web earlier this year, but the new banner is designed to match the new portal, and will occupy less of agencies' home pages, a change sought by many agencies.
As ever, the Committee will be available as a resource to agency web developers who encounter difficulty incorporating the new design into their own web pages.
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EASI Announces September Sessions
EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information), a project based at the Rochester Institute of Technology, has announced several online training opportunities for September.
Free Web Conferences
Sept. 13 - Web conference: Designing Multimedia Using Universal Design Principles Presenter - Richard Banks
Sept. 22 - Update and Overview of Recent Legislation about Information Technology and People with Disabilities Presenter - Cynthia Waddell (the namesake of Cynthia Says)
Fee-based Four-week Interactive Series: Hands-On Learning on Streaming Multimedia (Sept. 19, Sept. 26, Oct. 3, Oct. 10) Presenter: Richard Banks
For more information on any of these sessions, visit http://easi.cc .
WEB CONFERENCES:
EASI 4-part Live, Web Conference on Creating PDF Documents Accessible and Usable PDF Documents: Techniques for Document Authors
Presenter: Karen McCall
November 1, 8, 15 and 29
The 4 Web conferences in the series are:
Week One: Getting Our Bearings
Week Two: Tagging and Repair Tools
Week three: Intermediate Techniques
Week Four: The Next Step
This PDF series is another in EASI's series of hands-on, online, instructional Web conferences. These fee-based series are $150 for each 4-part series. When you register for the live series, you will also have access to the recording of the presentation. Read more details and locate online registration at: http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
Related Resources
NEW RESOURCE FOR CREATING ACCESSIBLE/USABLE PDF DOCUMENTS
BOOK: Accessible and Useable PDF Documents: Techniques for Document
Authors
ISBN 0-9738246-1-1
Author: Karen McCall, M.Ed.
This 175 page book will be an invaluable reference tool for anyone working with PDF documents who wants to ensure their documents are accessible and usable. With the inclusion of 75 support documents to work through and examine, you will already have many of the solutions you need. Tips and techniques you work through will also help in making legacy PDF documents more accessible and usable.
This book is only available through IRTI, Innovative Rehabilitation Technology, Inc..
E-mail: info@irti.net
Catalogue web site: http://www.irti-cat.peachhost.com/ct_CGdaisytalkingbookproducts.htm
The author, Karen McCall, provides on-site training and workshops on creating more accessible and usable PDF documents. Contact karlen.communications@primus.ca for more information on training sessions.
ARTICLE: Facts and Opinions About PDF Accessibility Written by Joe Clark Published in: A List Apart's Accessibility Section (http://alistapart.com/topics/userscience/accessibility/ )
Joe Clark has never been one to shy away from controversy when it comes to advocating for more accessible web sites. This article continues the controversy. Read it for yourself and see what you think. If you'd like to share your opinions with others, send them to dorton@goer.state.ny.us and we'll include them in next month's newsletter.
"Contrary to popular opinion - and also contrary to quasi-judicial claims in some places - PDF documents can be no less accessible than HTML. While this may be a shocking revelation, it is nonetheless true. This article will explain how PDF does and does not support accessibility"
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CTG'S XML Testbed Project
On October 13, we will be presenting an overview on accessibility and a quick tour of New York's Mandatory Technology Standards for the organizations chosen as participants in the project.
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ARTICLES OF INTEREST
IBM DONATES ACCESSIBILITY CODE TO FIREFOX
By Dinesh C. Sharma, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: August 15, 2005 (http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5833354.html )
IBM will donate code to the Firefox browser that will make the application more usable for people with visual or other types of disabilities. According to the World Health Organization, as many as one billion people worldwide have a speech, vision, hearing, mobility, or cognitive disability, and legislation in at least some countries sets requirements for accessibility of information for individuals with disabilities.
Expected in the 1.5 release of Firefox, the code from IBM will allow Firefox users to manipulate and navigate Web pages without a mouse or with reduced numbers of keystrokes. The code also facilitates "rich Internet applications," which are designed for individuals with specific disabilities. Previously, IBM has helped the Mozilla Foundation, the maker of Firefox, make the browser compatible with Microsoft Active Accessibility, a widely used standard for accessibility tools such as screen readers.
W3C Letter Regarding US Copyright Office Proposal
2005-08-22: W3C has written to the US Copyright Office regarding a notice of proposed rulemaking. The notice asks if persons filing electronic-only preregistration forms will experience difficulties if the Office requires them to use Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser. W3C comments to the Copyright Office suggest that requiring a single browser is inappropriate for government services and encourages the Office to pursue standards-based access in accordance with US Federal policy. Read W3C's letter and About W3C. (News archive)
For more information related to this article, see the "News" column of the W3C home page: http://www.w3.org/
A GUIDE TO DISABILITY STATISTICS AVAILABLE
The Cornell StatsRRTC is pleased to announce the release of A Guide to Disability Statistics from the American Community Survey (ACS), which may be downloaded at http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/edicollect/123/ . This guide describes the ACS -- a Census Bureau survey -- and the capacity of the ACS to generate statistics on the demographic characteristics, employment status, and economic well-being of people with disabilities.
The ACS Guide is the first in a series of data source guides to be released by the Cornell StatsRRTC (Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics), which is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR).
For more information about the ACS Guide and the StatsRRTC or disability statistics in general, please feel free to email us at DisabilityStatistics@cornell.edu or call us at (607)255-9605.
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If you have questions or topics you'd like to see covered in our monthly newsletter, please contact Mike Short (mbs1@cs.state.ny.us), Debi Orton (dorton@goer.state.ny.us) or Lisa Ryan (lryan@MicroKnowledge.com) to let them know.