Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (Recommendation, 5-May-1999) Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (Proposed Recommendation, 26-Oct-1999) User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (Last Call, 1-Dec-1999) IEEE Internet Best Practices Standards Working Group Interagency Collaborator Project: http://w3.gsa.gov/web/m/cita.nsf/Portals/ICP CoDIAK: COncurrent Development, Integration and Application of Knowledge (Doug Engelbart) Engines for Education (Roger Schank, ILS, Northwestern University) Distributed Learning: Approaches, Technologies and Solutions (Lotus Institute) Network for Inclusive Distance Education (Canada) Boosting Your Collective IQ (Doug Engelbart) Appreciation, Influence & Control (William E. Smith) Community-Based Research (Richard Sclove, Loka Institute)
Strategic Directions WAI Guidelines Framework: Employing a systems engineering perspective would lead to a framework for depicting the relationships among the Web Content, Authoring Tools, and User Agent guidelines and how they work together to provide the overall web experience for each person. Enabling direct communication among people with disabilities: This would be one of the most strategic ways to address accessibility issues. Assistive technology has progressed to the point where we can enable a blind person and deaf person to communicate directly (a blind person using a TTY software package with a screen reader). To what degree can the other pairs be addressed -- visual and cognitive, visual and motor, hearing and motor, hearing and cognitive, cognitive and motor? Connectivity Models: To date, there has been a widespread (but implicit) assumption that there will be constant, always reliable connectivity with the Internet - the “Always Connected” model. While this might eventually be achieved, more (explicit) attention needs to be given to the alternative “Connect as Necessary” model which would extend the 3-tier client/server architecture developed for corporate internal LANs to the Web. The result would be that a person could be self-reliant within their local environment to the greatest extent possible, only connecting to distributed resources over the web when necessary. Ubiquitous Distributed Learning Environments: In a keynote speech at Lotusphere ‘99, Nobel Laureate Gary S. Becker discussed the economic implications of extending the United States postsecondary education model to other countries, noting that this would require building 14,000 new universities in India and 20,000 new universities in China! His conclusion was that the emerging Knowledge Age would require widespread use of distributed [web-based] education.[11] It is imperative that these distributed learning environments be accessible for people with disabilities. Organizational Development: Two ideas that warrant further attention in guiding web site evolution are COncurrent Development, Integration and Application of Knowledge (CoDIAK) [12], as articulated by Douglas Engelbart, will be a core strategic capability for Knowledge-based organizations, and the Appreciation, Influence and Control process model developed by William E. Smith [13]. Long-Range R&D: Two prominent government reports that are guiding the long-range research and development efforts to address the concerns raised in this paper are the National Research Council’s More Than Screen Deep: Toward Every-Citizen Interfaces to the Nation’s Information Infrastructure [14] and the recent President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) report to the President, Information Technology Research: Investing in Our Future.[15] [1] PINNACLE ( Public Information Networks’ Need for Accessible Collaborative Learning Environments) http://w3.gsa.gov/web/m/cita.nsf/Portals/PINNACLE [2] Engelbart, Douglas C. “Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework”, 1962: http://www.histech.rwth-aachen.de/www/quellen/engelbart/ahi62index.html [3] Universal Design principles: http://trace.wisc.edu/world/gen_ud.html [4] W3C Web Accessibility Initiative: http://www.w3.org/WAI/ [5] IEEE Internet Best Practice standards working group: http://computer.org/standard/Internet/ [6] ANSI/HFES 200 Standard: http://www.ansi.org http://www.hfes.org [7] NCITS Information Technology Accommodation Study Group, which is determining the feasibility of an Alternative Interface Interaction Protocol (AIIP): http://www.uniac.com/ [8] Baecker, Ronald. Readings in Computer-Supported Cooperative Work: Assisting Human-Human Collaboration. San Mateo, CA: Morgan-Kaufmann Publishers, 1991, p. 1.http://w3.gsa.gov/web/m/cita.nsf/Books/1558602410 [9] Roger Schank, Introduction to Engines for Education: http://www.ils.nwu.edu/~e_for_e/nodes/I-M-INTRO-ZOOMER-pg.html [10] Lotus Institute white paper, "Distributed Learning: Approaches, Technologies and Solutions." http://www.lotus.com/home.nsf/welcome/institute [11] UNext web site: http://www.unext.com/ [12] CoDIAK Capability: http://www.bootstrap.org/augment-132811.htm#6 [13] AIC: The Process -- http://www.odii.com/aic-process.html [14] National Research Council, More Than Screen Deep: Toward Every-Citizen Interfaces to the Nation's Information Infrastructure: http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/screen/ [15] PITAC Report: http://www.hpcc.gov/ac/report/ -----