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EC Says Accessibility Must Be Key Factor In IT Buying
http://www.supplymanagement.co.uk/EDIT/SM_topstories_item.asp?id=13875
The European Commission has called on EU member states to change public procurement rules to make accessibility a criterion for buying IT goods and services. An EC spokesman said accessibility could become mandatory if too few states adopt the changes on a voluntary basis. However, a spokesman for the UK's Office of Government Commerce said the UK takes a more "pragmatic" approach. He said the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 requires public-sector bodies to make "reasonable adjustments" where relevant for disabled or elderly people, and in the drafting of ICT contracts. He added that the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, that is scheduled to come into force in December 2006, goes further by placing a duty on public-sector organisations to promote equality and ensure their "functions, policies and services do not discriminate against certain groups".
Contributed on Tue, 11 Oct 2005 23:24:22 GMT.
Yahoo Works With 2 Academic Libraries and Other Archives on Project to Digitize Collections
http://chronicle.com/free/2005/10/2005100301t.htm
Another search engine company has joined with academic libraries to digitize large collections of books to make them easily searchable online. Yahoo Inc. has teamed up with the University of California, the University of Toronto, and several archives and technology companies on a project that could potentially bring the complete texts of millions of volumes into digital form. Yahoo officials say that the project is not a response to Google's partnership with five major research libraries to scan millions of books, and that some planning for the Yahoo project was under way before Google announced its plans last December. The new archive is called the Open Content Alliance, and it was conceived in part by Brewster Kahle, director of the Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library. The archive will be doing much of the actual scanning for the project, using a process it has developed in recent years. Libraries involved in the project can have their books scanned by the Internet Archive for 10 cents per page, which leaders of the project say is far below the standard price of scanning. In similar news: EU to follow Google's lead with online library. Digitizing books can be of great value for students with disabilities, giving them the option to access the material in a format that best suits their needs. However, care must be taken to ensure that the materials are scanned to be accessible.
Contributed on Tue, 11 Oct 2005 23:23:04 GMT.
Texas Company Hopes to Sell Recordings of Professors' Lectures
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i07/07a03701.htm
It may cost only 99 cents to download the latest Kanye West song onto an iPod, but a recording of your marketing professor's most recent lecture could run you $5. Pick-A-Prof, a company that publishes online reviews of faculty members so students know whose courses to avoid, is testing a new service that allows students to download MP3 files of their professors' lectures for $5 each. The money is split between the professors and the company. So far, only four faculty members are participating in the test of the service, which began this semester. One is at Texas A&M University at College Station, and the other three are at the University of Texas at Austin, including William H. Cunningham, a former chancellor of the university system, whose son is president of Pick-A-Prof. William Cunningham now teaches marketing at Austin. His son, John Cunningham, has a degree in marketing from Texas A&M. Karen Bragg, director of university relations for Pick-A-Prof, said the company hoped to expand the service to more professors and more colleges in coming semesters. Some institutions, such as Purdue University at West Lafayette, provide a similar service for students free (The Chronicle, September 9). Ms. Bragg said the idea was for students to use the audio recordings, called "coursecasts," as study aids, not as an excuse to skip class. "We wanted to make sure they weren't going to abuse it," she said. "We're not looking to cheat students out of getting an education." Podcasts could be of great use for some students with disabilities - allowing them an alternate to traditional note taking and a way to easily review a lecture at a pace suits their needs. However, students with hearing impairments may be left out unless the courses are also available in transcript form.
Contributed on Tue, 11 Oct 2005 23:18:43 GMT.
Government Web Standards Usage: USA
http://standards-schmandards.com/index.php?2005/10/03/27-government-web-standard...
From the Standards Schmandards Blog: This is the first in a series of articles where we look at how government organisations use the W3C recommendations. Using the mass validation tool from a previous article, Validating an entire site, we have a look at our first contestant: USA. The result: only 14 of 546 government web sites use valid HTML. In a previous article I wrote about how you can script a local installtaion of the W3C validator tool using Python. I have since modified the validator to do more checks apart from making sure the HTML is valid. Links to US government web sites were obtained from FirstGov.gov: the U.S. Government's Official Web Portal. Only the first page of the web site was checked. The test was carried out on September 25. Please note that usage of the W3C recommendations is only an indication of accessibility. A site that does not validate may still be more accessible than one that does. I have not tested every site manually and you may find that some of the valid ones have a valid splash page but fail miserably for the rest of the site. If you find errors, please post them below and I will update the table.
Contributed on Mon, 10 Oct 2005 18:12:15 GMT.
How Do You Get Your Client To Pay For Accessibility?
http://juicystudio.com/article/client-pay-for-accessibility.php
From Juicy Studio: Scenario: You're talking to your client, and you present them with two quotes. One for a standard website, and another for an accessible website. The client looks at the difference in costs, and asks for the standard website. What do you do? One of the most difficult aspects of making professional websites is getting clients to pay for accessibility. In the world of business, issues such as accessibility are usually low down on the agenda, and it's difficult to convince clients that they should stretch their budget to pay that little extra for an accessible website. Legislation has helped, but there are still companies out there that just don't get it. This article discusses ways of ensuring that your clients are prepared to pay that little extra. You've learnt your craft; it's now time to reap the rewards.
Contributed on Mon, 10 Oct 2005 18:11:21 GMT.
Quiz 1.1.8: ALT Text or Title Text?
http://www.access-matters.com/2005/10/01/quiz-118-alt-text-or-title-text/
From Access Matters: A few months ago we looked at a test case which presented the various ways of providing text alternatives to an image using ALT text. Modern assistive technology handles most methods well. Even in cases where the ALT text was completely missing, assistive technology remained silent. Older screen readers would annoyingly read out the path names of images without ALT text. They've learned not to do that. The current best practice for a purely decorative image, an image that adds no material value to those listening to the page with assistive technology, ALT coded as two quotes with no intervening space: alt=". Of course, we all know that the current best practice for an image that conveys information is ALT text that accurately describes the image. That is exactly why ALT exists.
Contributed on Mon, 10 Oct 2005 18:10:42 GMT.
Navy Knowledge Online Surpasses 500,000 User Mark
http://www.navycompass.com/news/newsview.asp?c=169397
PENSACOLA, Fla. Navy Knowledge Online (NKO) moved over the half-million mark in registered users in August, with nearly 96 percent of active-duty personnel and 90 percent of the Reserve force now enrolled. NKO is the Navy's Sea Warrior Web portal for education and training management and life-long learning. "Registering a half-million users is certainly a milestone for NKO," said Peg David, NKO program manager for the Naval Education and Training Command. "The milestone we're really interested in, however, is ensuring that users have a quality experience and can readily access the content, training courses and other applications that make up the NKO Sea Warrior portal, such as Navy E-Learning, the JCMS (JASS Career Management System) and the 5 Vector Model (5VM). Access to these applications, and many more that constitute the portal, are vital to Sailors' personal and professional growth in the Navy, and applicable to civilians, Reservists and other NKO users." Online education can be of particular benefit to soldiers and veterans with disabilities, providing options for training and new skill development - as long as the courses are designed to be accessible.
Contributed on Mon, 10 Oct 2005 18:09:57 GMT.
Classroom Revolution
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/opinion/articles/051010/10edit.htm
Students of almost every age are far ahead of their teachers in computer literacy. This is especially true of younger kids with younger parents. So how is this digital revolution affecting education? A binary answer: Not enough. According to a federal study, most schools are essentially unchanged today despite reforms and increased investment in computers. The general pattern is for computers to be in a computer lab--something separate and apart like a Bunsen burner. Why? Students who have mastered the wonders of the Internet at home know that with a desktop computer they can do everything faster--take and save notes, write and do research. With guidance, kids can learn these skills at home, especially when high-quality interactive programming becomes more widely available in science, history, math, geography, and languages. There is much work to be done in creating these electronic assets, however. And it is critical for teachers to join the revolution--to adapt information technology to the methods and content of their instruction. Goodbye, Mr. Chips--hello, Mr. Chip! There is no limit to the possibilities. Distance learning can include Advanced Placement courses and special tutoring for students with learning disabilities whose talents are not developed in regular classes. With electronic links, textbooks will morph into digital versions with interactive sections, videoconferencing, and dramatic television sequences. What excitement! And all this can be kept as fresh as milk. In the language of Marshall McLuhan, video is a "cool medium" ; that is to say, it lends itself to high audience participation. Parents can also benefit by viewing their children's work online, exchanging E-mails with teachers, and watching webcasts from distance schooling. This is the 21st-century version of distance learning. What it offers is much more flexibility in time, place, and pace of instruction, an opportunity to create a superb instructional environment adapted to each school's particular needs.
Contributed on Mon, 10 Oct 2005 18:07:53 GMT.
Students Skeptical About Digital Textbooks
http://wiredcampus.chronicle.com/2005/09/students_skepti.html
College students may flock to online reserves and chat on Internet discussion boards, but they aren't ready to trade their bulky course books in for digital texts. The University of Oregon, one of 10 institutions that has begun to sell e-books through a company called MBS Textbook Exchange Inc., hasn't sold too many of the high-tech texts yet, and some bookstore officials say it might take a while for the new medium to catch on. Digital books may offer a better alternative for students with disabilities - allowing them to access the material in a format best suited to their needs.
Contributed on Fri, 07 Oct 2005 00:46:02 GMT.
Accessibility, Usability and Web Standards International Meeting
http://www.fundamentosweb.org/introduccion.html.en
What is it? This is an event that will bring together international experts on Web accessibility and usability to talk about accessibility, usability and Web standards. The experts' point of view will be the starting point of a discussion on the necessity to develop accessible and usable Web sites. Where and when? The main event will be held on November 22 - 23, 2005, at Centro Municipal Gijon-Sur, in Gijon, Asturias, Spain. The 24th of November an additional event will take place to offer a tutorial on XHTML2/XForms, at Escuela Universitaria de Ingenieria Tecnica Informatica, in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. Who is it for? Business, organizations and institutions interested in Web accessibility and usability, and also project managers and Web developers interested in improving the user experience through a Web design focused on accessibility and usability.
Contributed on Fri, 07 Oct 2005 00:45:16 GMT.
University Websites Come Of Age
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2005/nt-2005-10-03-university-websites.htm
University websites have matured significantly over the last 2-3 years. There are fewer pictures of buildings and smiling faces, and greater focus on helping students decide why they should enroll. Has web accessibility improved as well - are universities designing for both usability and accessibility?
Contributed on Fri, 07 Oct 2005 00:43:52 GMT.
IBM Pools Accessibility Tools
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3553071
IBM is consolidating emerging technologies for people with disabilities under one Web site to promote the use and development of applications that target those users, officials announced Monday. The accessibility resource site within Big Blue's alphaWorks is the third area of focused research - semantics and visualization are the other two - featuring technology downloads, articles and other online resources. The launch of the alphaWorks accessibility site is timed to coincide with the launch of IBM's Mature Workforce Campaign.
Contributed on Fri, 07 Oct 2005 00:42:19 GMT.
Government Web Must Ensure Disabled Access
http://www.iwr.co.uk/information-world-review/news/2143013/government-websites-g...
Great Britain: Government information professionals working towards the Implementing e-Government (IEG) standards need to be addressing accessibility, experts say. Users with eyesight, hearing or learning difficulties must be able to easily access online government information by April 2006 as part of IEG compliance. Local authority services such as schools admissions, vote registration, planning applications, government information, and council tax administration have to be online by December 31, 2005. By April 2006 government bodies will have to achieve a second IEG deadline of ensuring that all their website information complies with the e-government metadata standard and be accessible to the AA standard set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international organisation for internet standards.
Contributed on Fri, 07 Oct 2005 00:41:13 GMT.
Wikibooks Takes On Textbook Industry
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5884291.html
If you found yourself needing an old biology textbook and couldn't locate your battered copy from college, you'd have a few options. You could go to a university bookstore and snag a used copy; you could drop a few dollars on a new one at Amazon.com; or you could track down some old college chums and ask for their copies. But if Jimmy Wales and his colleagues at the Wikimedia Foundation have anything to say about it, you could have another way to go - the Wikibooks project. It's their attempt to create a comprehensive, kindergarten-to-college curriculum of textbooks that are free and freely distributable, based on an open-source development model. Created in the same mold as the Wikipedia project--the open-source encyclopedia that lets anyone create or edit an article and that now has nearly 747,000 entries in English alone--Wikibooks is still in its earliest stages. Yet because of Wikibooks' digital model, in which material written for the project can be as short or as long as needed, and be easily manipulated, read and edited, Wales and others believe it can pose a major challenge to the publishing industry's hold on the world of textbooks. "The purpose is really contained in the word 'freely licensed,' which is to make available to anyone in the world, in any language, a curriculum that they can copy, redistribute and modify, for whatever purpose they may have, for free," Wales said. Books that can be modified to suit the needs and purpose of a particular class or student could be of great value for students with disabilities, allowing the teacher - or the student to create materials that are tailored to their individual requirements.
Contributed on Fri, 07 Oct 2005 00:40:26 GMT.
Conference Announcement: An Introduction to Access Technology - London
http://www.usabilitynews.com/news/article2625.asp
Access Technology aids visually impaired people of all ages to gain access to information of all kinds. The proliferation of information technology means that many professionals come into contact with these specialist technologies, but often do not understand their function and potential. The day will present an opportunity for delegates to get their hands on equipment and software including: Screen Readers, Screen Magnifiers, Speech Synthesis, Notetakers, Reading machines, Braille output devices, Closed Circuit Television magnification. Date: Thursday, 10 November 2005
Contributed on Fri, 07 Oct 2005 00:35:28 GMT.
EU E-Accessibility
http://www.accessibilityblog.com/2005/09/29/eu-e-accessibility/
From Matt Bailey 's Accessibility Outlook Blog: In a decision by the EU, electronic accessibility is a critical initiative that the online industry must meet. However, in what I feel is a stroke of common sense, the EU is not implementing any immediate legislation to mandate the accessibility concerns. After two years, the progress will be measured and the direction decided from there. What the EU will do is require three main things: Continued accessibility requirements for public contracts; Exploration of certification for accessible products and services; Make better use of the existing 'e-accessibility potential' in current legislation.
Contributed on Tue, 04 Oct 2005 23:42:34 GMT.
Build Your Own Standards Compliant Website Using Dreamweaver 8
http://webstandards.org/buzz/archive/2005_09.html#a000580
From the Web Standards Project (WaSP): If you're working with the new version of Dreamweaver, you may be interested in a new book from SitePoint aimed at those who wish to build standards compliant sites. Written by WaSP member Rachel Andrew of the Dreamweaver Task Force, and tech edited by Group Leader Molly E. Holzschlag, Build Your Own Standards Compliant Website Using Dreamweaver 8 is apparently everything you need to create standards compliant, accessible, cross-browser compatible websites with - you guessed it - Macromedia Dreamweaver 8.
Contributed on Tue, 04 Oct 2005 23:39:37 GMT.
Computer Games Help Train Kids To Pay Attention
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryRSS.cfm?ArticleID=5895
In what is believed to be the first real evidence to support what is becoming a growing field of inquiry, the use of special computer games to "train" their brains improved the ability of healthy children to pay attention during scientific trials, researchers reported Sept. 26. Their research has important implications for schools, which are charged with educating an increasing number of students with attention disorders. It's not clear just how much the games helped, other specialists cautioned. But with booming interest in developing therapies for attention problems, the research sheds light on how a normal youngster's brain pays attention in the first place.
Contributed on Tue, 04 Oct 2005 23:38:27 GMT.
Study: States Are Slowly Embracing Etexts
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryRSS.cfm?ArticleID=5883
Nearly all states with textbook adoption policies now include software, digital content, and other technology-based media in their definitions of "instructional materials," according to a recent survey by the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA). But only a third have updated their submission or review processes to account for unique technology issues not otherwise faced with printed textbooks. The survey's results come almost a year after the SIIA launched a campaign to get states to update their archaic textbook adoption policies to accommodate digital resources. Digital texts can be a boon to students with disabilities, allowing them to access the material in a variety of formats - but only if the materials are designed for accessibility.
Contributed on Mon, 03 Oct 2005 23:00:54 GMT.
Websites And The Fourth Plinth
http://www.it-director.com/article.php?articleid=12913
Trafalgar Square is famous for its column with a statue of Nelson at the top. But his is not the only commemorative sculpture in the square; there is a plinth at each corner of the square and three of them have monuments to worthy Britons. The fourth, originally built in 1841 (but lacking in funds to create a statue) remained empty for many years. It was decided that the plinth should be used to display the works of a series of modern artists, with a piece of modern sculpture being put on the plinth for a period of about a year and then replaced by a new piece by another artist. The latest piece is a 3.5 metre high white marble sculpture of a naked lady, which will remain in place for 18 months. The controversy? Well, the sculpture is a portrait of disabled artist Alison Lapper when she was eight months pregnant; her disability is that she was born with only vestiges of arms and deformed legs. "Outraged" of Edgware (the New Tunbridge Wells!), thinks this is political correctness gone mad, a waste of public money and is unsuitable for the Square. I disagree. I think it is great to see a piece of modern art that has a political and social agenda it wants to forcefully put forward. Its message to all of us is that: * there are disabled people in the community * they want to be an integral part of the community (right at the heart of London) * they have pride (willing and wanting to be seen naked) * they want to do those things that we all want to do (e.g. in this case, as a female, be pregnant). So what does that fairly lengthy introduction have to do with websites and IT in general? Just this: the designers of any IT system, but especially websites that are very public, need to hear that message loud and clear. Go to Trafalgar Square, or look it up on a website, and ask yourself how you would explain to Alison, or to any other disabled person, why they are excluded from your website. This is a purely moral question, but should be followed by asking yourself how you can explain to your management that they are breaking the law.
Contributed on Mon, 03 Oct 2005 22:59:44 GMT.
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