Wireless RERC - Web Accessibility

W3C HTML Techniques for Providing Useful Text Alternatives

mz22 — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 13:38:59 +0000

W3C Working Draft - HTML5: Techniques for providing useful text alternatives

October 2014 – The World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) update to Working Draft of HTML5: Techniques for providing useful text alternatives was published this month. The document is a working draft and contains best practice guidance for authors of HTML (HTML5) documents on providing text alternatives for images. The update incorporates changes and corrections from as early as October 2012 and addresses common issues related to accessible web browsing. Developed through the HTML Accessibility Taskforce, the document is published by the HTML Working Group with approval by the Protocols and Formats Working Group. An updated publication with more information on descriptions of complex images and with clarifications of other guidance is in progress and expected in the near future.

Call for Papers Open - 2015 Web for All (W4A) Conference

mz22 — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 12:40:38 +0000

Wearable Technology

Wearables

Web Accessibility

W4A 2015: IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITY OF THE WEB, MOBILES AND WEARABLES!

The 12^th Annual Web 4 All (W4A’15) Conference, an event highlighting innovations in wearable and accessible technologies, will take place May 18-20, 2015 in Florence Italy. The W4A’15 theme is “The Wearable Web,” promoting the best of web, mobile, and wearable innovations designed for people with and without disabilities. Some highlights for the event include:

IBM will provide travel grants to both grad and undergrad students with disabilities
Google will sponsor 6 PhD students to participate in the Doctoral Student Consortium
Intuit will award $2,000 and $1,000 to the best technical and communication papers
The Paciello Group (TPG) will give awards to the winners of the Accessibility Challenge

Technology and paper submissions are currently being accepted and should discuss the technical solutions and scientific insights into technologies addressing diverse user needs (i.e. access and functional needs, culture, education, emotions, etc.). W4A’15 will be accepting submission until January 23, 2015, and notify award recipients by March 4, 2015

The event is also co-located with the 2015 24^th International World Wide Web Conference Web for All and the International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications and Services in Florence, Italy.

Call For Papers: W3C Web Accessibility Symposium

mz22 — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 13:37:05 +0000

Web Accessibility

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

Wayfinding

Accessible Way-Finding Using Web Technologies, Online Symposium 3 December 2014

The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative Research and Development Working Group (RDWG) invites researchers, professionals, and users with disabilities to participate in their online symposium on Accessible Way-Finding using Web Technologies, scheduled for December 3, 2014. Accompanying the invitation is a call for papers encouraging contributors to examine issues, technology, applications, and solutions that will assist people with disabilities when navigating the web and the world.

Accepted papers will be published online as part of the symposium proceedings. The deadline for abstracts and paper submissions is October 20, 2014.

Survey Results: Web Accessibility Practitioners

mz22 — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 20:20:30 +0000

Web Accessibility

Web Content

Survey of Web Accessibility Practitioners Results

September 2014 – The Web Accessibility in Mind (WebAIM) Survey of Web Accessibility Practitioners results are now available. Conducted in July 2014, the survey collected data from 900 respondents within the web accessibility field. The survey focused on practitioner demographics, roles, technology preferences, certifications, and various other aspects of web accessibility efficacy. Some of the details of the survey findings include:

Professionals in the web accessibility field are generally better paid and better educated than those in broader web design and development.
Women and people with disabilities are represented in a larger amount than in other technology fields.
41.5% of respondents without disabilities use Chrome compared to only 16.6% of those with disabilities.
The screen readers used by web accessibility practitioners differ from the general screen reader user population.
There is a disparity between what motivates web accessibility practitioners and what they say motivates their organizations to implement accessibility.

Web Accessibility Training Day

mz22 — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 12:54:44 +0000

On September 9, 2014, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Jernigan Institute and the Maryland Department of Disabilities’ Technology Assistance Program (MDTAP) will co-host Web Accessibility Training Day. The NFB and MDTAP will collaborate with members of government, educators, and business leaders to promote web accessibility technologies, best practices, and Maryland’s status as web accessibility leader.

The event begins at 8am and will be located at the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute: 200 E. Wells Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230. The day will be divided into three sessions: General, Policy, and Technology. Admission is $80. To register, please visit the registration page.

Start Date:

Tuesday, September 9, 2014 - 8:00am to 5:00pm

Additional Information:

The National Federation of the Blind and the Maryland Technology Assistance Program present Web Accessibility Training Day

Web Accessibility

W3C Introduces New Method to Help Evaluate Websites

mz22 — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 13:50:21 +0000

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

Web Accessibility

Website Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM)

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0 AA)

Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) 1.0

July 2014 – The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative published a new document to help developers assess the accessibility of websites in addition to web and mobile applications. Titled Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM), the document provides a methodology developers can use to test websites and apps for conformance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. In general, WCAG 2.0 focuses on individual web pages. Given as a series of five steps, the guidelines walk developers through defining an evaluation scope, exploring the target website, selecting a representative sample of individual pages from the site, and auditing the sample. While the WCAG-EM does not replace WCAG 2.0, it provides a first step to evaluating more comprehensive websites.

Class Action Suit Highlights Accessibility Issues of Government Website

mz22 — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 17:54:01 +0000

Web Accessibility

General Services Administration (GSA)

Class Action Suit

Nextgov: Lawsuit Says GSA Discriminates Against Blind Contractors

April 2014 — Federal contractors have filed a class action suit against the Government Services Administration (GSA) regarding the accessibility of the System for Award Management website, www.SAM.gov, run by GSA. The case highlights that, among many responsibilities, GSA is responsible for ensuring that all “federal contractor programs and activities are Section 504 compliant and accessible to [individuals with disabilities].” Use of SAM.gov is essential for all federal government contractors, as contractors are required to register with the site before any work can begin. Contractors must also renew this registration annually. Yet the plaintiffs note that SAM.gov is not screen reader accessible and does not allow for keyboard navigation. Additionally, technical assistance staff employed by the SAM.gov helpdesk lack training to assist individuals who are blind or have low vision. In a quote to Nextgov, attorney Matthew Handley noted, “It would be one thing if [the Environmental Protection Agency’s] website wasn’t compliant with screen reader software, but this is all the more troubling because this is the agency that’s supposed to be policing all the other agency websites and it doesn’t appear to be policing its own websites.”

Wireless RERC CSUN14 Presentations Now Online

mz22 — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 19:37:19 +0000

Technology & Persons with Disabilitities Conference

Futures

Web Accessibility

Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC)

Publication Type:

Presentations

Wireless RERC researchers were featured at the 2014 International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference (CSUN) in San Diego, California March 17-22, 2014. Links to presentations are below.

Are we Neglecting the 20%: Accessibility of Emergency Management Websites, Dr. DeeDee Bennett
Hearing Aid Compatibility: Results from a National Survey, Dr. John Morris
Wireless Technology Uses and Activities by People with Disabilities, Dr. John Morris
Future of Disabilities: Is Technology Failing Us?, Salimah LaForce

Related Files:

Attachment	Size
Are we Neglecting the 20percent- Accessibility of Emergency Management Websites (PDF).pdf	782.82 KB
Hearing Aid Compatibility Results from a National Survey.pdf	1.19 MB
Wireless Technology Uses and Activities by People with Disabilities.pdf	964.56 KB
Future of Disabilities Is Technology Failing Us.pdf	3.2 MB

NIDRR Awards Funding for Cloud Computing Research

mz22 — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 16:40:06 +0000

cloud computing

Web Accessibility

Carnegie Mellon Press Release

November 2013 — The U.S. Department of Education National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) has awarded $3.7 million to Carnegie Mellon University to conduct a Disability Rehabilitation Research Project (DRRP) on Inclusive Cloud and Web Computing. The project is a collaboration between Carnegie Mellon, Syracuse University and The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Project team director, Aaron Steinfeld, noted, “There has been great progress over the years on Web accessibility standards and systems, but there is still a lot of work left to do.” The five-year project will focus on enhancing web accessibility including the accessibility of web interfaces, the “presentation of information on the web,” and “ways to dynamically change pointing and clicking actions on web pages.” More information on the project can be found at http://inclusiveweb.org/.

Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines: Call for Testing

mz22 — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 16:48:31 +0000

Accessible Content

Web Accessibility

W3C

ATAG 2.0 Implementation Testing

November 2013 — W3C announced that the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (ATAG 2.0) have been published as a W3C Candidate Recommendation. ATAG 2.0 provides guidelines for developers to ensure that authoring tools, including “content management systems, learning management systems, HTML editors, blogs, wikis, social media, and development environments,” both produce accessible content and are accessible for people with disabilities. At this stage in the process, W3C encourages all developers to test the recommendations to ensure that they can be implemented in various projects. W3C also requests comments regarding all authoring tools that have met ATAG 2.0 criteria, so that these tools can be mentioned in the ATAG 2.0 Implementation Report. All comments are due by December 7, 2013 and can be sent to mailto:public-atag2-comments@w3.org.