[gui-talk] Fwd: E-Access Bulletin: Issue 112, April 2009

[Steve Pattison]

 From:    Dan Jellinek dan at headstar.com
 To:      eaccess at headstar.com

++E-ACCESS BULLETIN
Access To Technology For All, Regardless Of Ability
- ISSUE 112, April 2009.

A Headstar Publication.
http://www.headstar.com/eab/ .

Sponsored by:
Ford Motor Company
( http://www.ford.co.uk ).

Please forward this free bulletin to others (subscription details at the
end). We conform to the accessible Text Email Newsletter (TEN)
Standard:
http://www.headstar.com/ten/ .


++Special Notice: E-Access '09: Technology For All
- Access To All Technologies By People With Disabilities
- Fifth Annual Conference And Exhibition
- Event Runs Thursday - Sign Up While Places Remain!
http://www.headstar-events.com/eaccess09/ .

In an ageing population, and in tough economic times, ensuring all
your customers, service users and staff are included in everything you
do is more vital than ever, from your externally-facing websites to
internal IT systems.

E-Access Bulletin's fifth annual conference and exhibition on access to
technology by people with disabilities is taking place on 23rd April
2009 at Olympia Conference Centre in London. Our keynote speaker is
Bill Thompson, technology critic and broadcaster. Other speakers
include Graeme Whippy, Senior Manager, Lloyds TSB IT
Accessibility Group; and Shadi Abou-Zahra, of the W3C Web
Accessibility Initiative, on the new international web access guidelines
WCAG 2.0.

Places cost just £195 +VAT for public sector delegates; £295 +VAT
for private sector; and £165 + VAT for small charities and non-profits
(turnover less than £150k a year). To find out more and sign up today,
visit:
http://www.headstar-events.com/eaccess09/

[Special notice ends].


++Issue 112 Contents.

01: Disability Redefined As E-Learning 'Mismatch'
- New approach from international standards body.

02: Concerns Raised Over Australian Mobile News Service
- Analyst says site fails to meet access guidelines.

03: Finnish Trial For Touch-Screen Braille On Mobiles
- Research finds pulses can be read with high accuracy.

News in Brief: 04: Outstanding contribution - Lloyds TSB accessibility
manager Graeme Whippy wins award; 05: London Calling - Olympic
accessibility survey; 06: BlackBerry Speech - first screenreader for
smartphones; 07: Our Survey - Bloor research linked to Headstar
event.

Section Two: 'The Inbox' - Readers' Forum.
08: Discrimination Complaint - E-Book speech function removal; 09:
Permission Pending - online video vaults; 10: Second Guess - British
Standard committee question.

Section Three: Special Report - Web Accessibility Statements.
11: The Best Of Intentions, Clearly Stated: Local authority websites
are not always following best practice on the development and display
of accessibility statements on their websites, an important part of
ensuring sites are accessible to all, new research finds. However, they
have a better track record in this area than private sector sites.

[Contents ends].


++Section One: News.


+01: Disability Redefined As E-Learning 'Mismatch'.

An attempt to redefine or reframe the term 'disability', in the context
of online learning as a mismatch between a learner's needs and the
education process delivered, is enshrined in a new international e-
learning standard.

ISO/IEC 24751:2008, 'Information technology - individualised
adaptability and accessibility in e-learning, education and training' (
http://fastlink.headstar.com/iso3 )
has been published by the International Organization for
Standardisation (ISO) with the International Electrotechnical
Commission (IEC).

The standard says it views disability as "a consequence of a mismatch
between the learner's needs (or preferences) and the education or
learning experience delivered.

"For example, an individual who is blind is not disabled when the
lesson is delivered in audio. However, an individual who does not have
the necessary background knowledge to understand the lesson, or who
is listening to the lesson in a noisy environment, is disabled.

"Thus, the needs and preferences of a user may arise from the user's
context or environment, the technical requirements of the user's device,
the tools available (e.g. assistive technologies such as Braille devices,
voice recognition systems, alternative keyboards, etc.), the user's
background, or a disability in the traditional sense.

"Given this reframing of the meaning of "disability", a learning
environment is deemed as "accessible" when learner needs can be
addressed or matched."

The new standard is published in three parts. Part 1 offers a framework
and reference model to describe and specify learner needs and
preferences and the corresponding description of the digital learning
resources. Part 2 sets out "access for all" criteria on personal needs and
preferences, including how they can be ranked by priority. Finally, Part
3 provides a 'digital resource description', a common language for
describing aspects of a computer system to facilitate their being
matched to learners' needs and preferences.

The standard or individual parts are available at a charge from ISO
national member institutes such as the British Standards Institution, or
from the ISO Central Secretariat.

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=273


+02: Concerns Raised Over Australian Mobile News Service.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has failed to
adequately address accessibility problems with its new mobile web
news service, one of the country's leading accessibility analysts has
told E-Access Bulletin.

Tom Worthington, a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer
Science at the Australian National University, examined 'ABC Mobile'
(
http://www.abc.net.au/innovation/mobile/ )
for accessibility on its launch. In a report posted to his blog, he said:
"The home page does not appear to have been designed in accordance
with guidelines for web accessibility for the disabled, and may be
unlawful. The site also fails several mobile phone and other web
guidelines." One of the key faults had been with a lack of proper
alternative text tags for information conveyed as images, he said.

Following Worthington's initial comments, the ABC took action to
address accessibility concerns. In a public response to Worthington's
comments, the corporation's Chris Winter said his organisation was
working to comply with WAI guidelines, and had updated the home
page with alt tags integrated so text-to-speech software can now
recognise most images for visually impaired people.

Worthington's original comments and the ABC response can be read
on his blog at:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/abc3 .

However, Worthington has now told E-Access Bulletin the changes do
not go far enough.
"If anything, the web site appears to be less compliant than it was
when first released," he said. "Senior management need to make sure
they get advice from competent staff. The ABC has competent web
designers, as shown by their main web site. But these staff do not
appear to have been consulted on the mobile web site."

Much of the academic's concern centres around the potential of mobile
news services to act as early warning systems in major emergencies,
such as the recent Australian bushfires. But in a recent talk on the
subject Worthington warned that if services were not accessible they
could not act as effective emergency warnings:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/tomw1 .

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=275


+03: Finnish Trial For Touch-Screen Braille On Mobiles.

A method for presenting Braille characters as a sequence of strong and
weak pulses on the touch-screen of a mobile device has been
developed by a research team at the University of Tampere in Finland.

The most successful method tested by the team involved sending
sequences of pulses about a third of a second apart to a single point of
the screen of a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet. Almost all participants could
accurately recognise individual characters sent in this way, though
faster speeds reduced the recognition rate.

Further studies are needed to evaluate how well people can recognise a
series of multiple characters forming words, the team says. The full
research paper is available from the international technology standards
and research organisation IEEE at a cost of 29 US Dollars:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/ieee1 .

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=279


++News in Brief:

+04: Outstanding Contribution: Graeme Whippy, Senior IT
Accessibility Manager at the high street bank Lloyds TSB and
prominent accessibility standards campaigner, has won the
'Outstanding contribution to the industry' prize at this year's prestigious
Financial Sector Technology Awards:
http://www.fstech.co.uk/awards/winners09.htm
Whippy is among the plenary speaker's at this year's E-Access '09,
hosted on 23 April by E-Access Bulletin:
http://www.headstar-events.com/eaccess09

+05: London Calling: A survey to gather information to help make
London more accessible ahead of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic
Games is being conducted by the office of the Mayor of London. The
research aims to highlight areas in need of immediate improvement
including access to restaurants, hotels and tourist attractions by people
with mobility issues including disabled people, older people and
parents with small children. Take part until 31 May by telephoning
01344 360 101 or online at the web address below:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/london8 .

+06: BlackBerry Speech: The first text-to-speech screenreader for
BlackBerry smartphones has been released by access technology
specialist HumanWare. 'Orator' is based around software developed by
technology partner Code Factory and supports multiple languages:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/blackberry1 .

+07: Our Survey: Anyone involved in using or selecting accessibility
tools for their organisation is invited to participate in a survey to find
out how seriously organisations take accessibility issues. The study is
being conducted by Bloor Research, who are partners at Headstar's
annual conference on the topic, E-Access '09, on 23 April. Take part
now at:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/bloor1
And the E-Access '09 website is at:
http://www.headstar-events.com/eaccess09/ .

[Section One ends].


++Sponsored Notice: BrowseAloud - E-Access '09 Preview

BrowseAloud can improve the Accessibility of your Website - Visit E-
Access'09 Stand 23 to learn more.

BrowseAloud is the world-leading text-to-speech solution from
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such as dyslexia, mild visual impairments or where English is a second
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For more information contact Donna on 028 9442 8105 or email
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[Sponsored notice ends].


++Special Notice: Fortune Cookie
- Web Sites That Really Work.

Fortune Cookie's dedicated web accessibility team makes sure that
everyone finds the web sites we design easy to use. As well as being
accessible, Fortune Cookie sites are beautiful and deliver stunning
return-on-investment. They're award-winning too. In 2007, our work
was nominated for major web design awards 11 times.

Legal & General, Kuoni, Diabetes UK, FT Business - just some of the
big name brands on Fortune Cookie's client list.

Every business can benefit from making its web site more accessible.
If you'd like to know what accessibility can do for your business, talk
to Fortune Cookie.

Visit our web site at:
http://www.fortunecookie.co.uk

Julie Howell is our Director of Accessibility. Email Julie at:
Julie.Howell at fortunecookie.co.uk .

[Special notice ends]


++Section Two: 'The Inbox'
- Readers' Forum.

Please email all contributions or responses to:
inbox at headstar.com .


+08: Discrimination Complaint: In a comment left on our website on
last issue's article 'Row Brewing Over E-Book Speech Function
Removal' (
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=244 ),
reader Dave Garside raises some questions about the apparent inequity
behind a refusal to allow text-to-speech automation for electronic
books.

"When a paper book is purchased a royalty is paid and it is not an issue
whether the book is read by sight, a second person out loud or by
mechanical means," he says. "With an e-book the royalty has also been
paid.

"Are the objections because those who prefer an audio copy are being
ripped off by paying a higher royalty fee? Or is it not a royalty but a
profit issue?

"Either way, it forces the blind to pay extra for a service that could be
supplied at the same price as to a sighted customer, and that is a
discrimination issue."

Further responses please via the web link above or to
inbox at headstar.com .


+09: Permission Pending: Mary Watkins, Director of Communications
and Outreach of the Media Access Group at the Boston-based public
service broadcaster WGBH (
http://access.wgbh.org ),
writes in following a request in our last issue for information about
online databases of movies in audio formats (see 'Movie Vaults',
Inbox, March 2009).

Mary points out that the 'DVS' format for films in audio form
combining soundtracks with audio description as MP3 files is the
property of WGBH and is not currently licensed for free circulation.

"The movies and TV shows the Media Access Group at WGBH
describe are protected by both the movie/TV studios' copyrights as
well as our own for the description, and no permission has been
granted for internet or any other form of distribution," she says.

"WGBH is working to migrate this described content to additional
outlets, including online distribution."

[Further comments please to inbox at headstar.com].


+10: Second Guess: Gustaw Kon, a reader living in Germany, writes in
to question the reasons behind Julie Howell's recent decision to step
down as chair of a committee developing a British Standard on web
accessibility. He writes: "Julie Howell has resigned as chair of a
British Standards Institution committee on web accessibility. She is
rather knowledgeable on the matter, and we were not told why she left.

"If I am wrong in thinking that it was because of the convoluted failure
to progress, I apologise to Julie Howell for second-guessing her."

[Further comments please to inbox at headstar.com].

[Section Two ends].


++Sponsored Notice: Adept Transcription
- Alternative Formats At Affordable Prices.

When you want alternative formats for disabled colleagues, customers
and staff, call Adept.

Formats we produce include audio, audio description, Braille, BSL,
Easy Read, e-docs for websites, large print, Makaton, Moon and sub-
titles, at prices from a penny a word.

Whether handling a newsletter, training DVD, equality scheme, public
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Contact us at:
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Email transcription at adept-uk.org

[Sponsored Notice ends]


++Section Three: Special Report
Web Accessibility Statements.

+11: The Best Of Intentions, Clearly Stated.

Just 10 per cent of accessibility statements on local government
websites are 'excellent', with a further 37 per cent deemed
'satisfactory', according to new research from the Society of IT
Management (Socitm
http://www.socitm.gov.uk ).

The research is published this week as a special supplement to Better
Connected 2009, the society's annual snapshot review of all UK
council websites.

The accessibility statement is seen as central to having a website that is
accessible to all users, including people with disabilities, the report
says. However, despite the low level of excellent practice found, local
authority sites fare well when compared with the private sector, it says.
No private sector statements were found to be excellent, and just 16 per
cent were satisfactory.

A much higher percentage of local authority websites (79 per cent)
have a link on their home page to an accessibility statement than
private sector websites (44 per cent). On a number of other points
about facilities on the home page (such as changing text size), local
authorities are significantly better than the private sector, Socitm says.

Taken together, the results of the survey show that local government
has a much stronger awareness of accessibility policy and
implementation than the private sector, it says.

Central Office of Information guidance states that website accessibility
statements should contain four features, the report says.

The first feature is a clear statement that demonstrates the
organisation's commitment to web accessibility. The percentage of
sites that show this commitment from those that have accessibility
statements is very high, the new report finds, and more or less the same
across the two sectors.

The second feature is information about any areas of the website that
do not yet conform with the overall accessibility targets of the website.
Here, the percentage is low in both cases, at no more than 10 per cent.

The third feature concerns contact details for people wishing to report
problems with the website. On this feature there is some differentiation
between the two sectors with local government (60%) much more
likely than the private sector (43%) to provide contact information.

Finally, Socitm tested for a link to an accessibility policy. Just four
councils and no private sector website tested featured such a link.

The researchers then looked at other types of accessibility practice,
starting with ways of making the site more flexible to use by people
with disabilities.

Local authority websites are much more flexible (71 per cent) than
private sector websites (25 per cent) in offering an option to change
text size on web pages. Many organisations provide information for
visitors on how to change text size in their browser. However, many
also made it easier by offering links from the home page which
increase text size. Some provided both options.

Similarly, local authority websites are more flexible (41 per cent) than
private sector websites (11 per cent) in offering an option to change
colour contrast, but in both cases this option is less common than
changing text size. A 'Yes' answer counted if there was information on
how to change colours, or if there was a link to an external site such as
'MyWebMyWay' in context.

Overall, the Socitm research recommends that an accessibility
statement should be central to an organisation's commitment to an
accessible website. It is no surprise that having an accessibility
statement increases the likelihood of having an accessible website (by
23 per cent according to this research), but it is no guarantee of having
one, as the intention has to be matched with the practice, the report
finds.

It concludes with three recommendations for website owners: to review
their accessibility statements against best practice criteria; to redevelop
statements according to the findings of that review; and to adopt the
best practices for implementing the intentions set out in the statement.

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=281

[Section Three ends].


++Special Notice: Web Accessibility Forum.

Accessify Forum is a discussion forum devoted to all topics relating to
web accessibility. Topics cover everything from 'Beginners' and 'Site
building and testing' through to projects such as the new accessibility
testing tool WaiZilla and the accessibility of the open source forum
software itself.

All you need to register is a working email address, so come along and
join in the fun at:
http://www.accessifyforum.com .

[Special notice ends].


++End Notes.

+How to Receive the Bulletin.

To subscribe to this free monthly bulletin, email
eab-subs at headstar.com
with 'subscribe eab' in the subject header. You can list other email
addresses to subscribe in the body of the message. Please encourage all
your colleagues to sign up! To unsubscribe at any time, put
'unsubscribe eab' in the subject header.

Please send comments on coverage or leads to Dan Jellinek at:
dan at headstar.com .

Copyright 2009 Headstar Ltd http://www.headstar.com .
The Bulletin may be reproduced as long as all parts including this
copyright notice are included, and as long as people are always
encouraged to subscribe with us individually by email. Please also
inform the editor when you are reproducing our content. Sections of
the bulletin may be quoted as long as they are clearly sourced as 'taken
from e-access bulletin, a free monthly email newsletter', and our web
site address:
http://www.headstar.com/eab
is also cited.

+Personnel:
Editor - Dan Jellinek.
Reporter: Tristan Parker.
Editorial advisor - Kevin Carey.

ISSN 1476-6337.

[Issue 112 ends.] 

Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
MSN Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com
Skype:  steve1963