[Apologies for cross-posting.]
BCS-EPSG one-day conference
ONLINE CONTENT FOR ALL
-- accessibility and compliance in e-publishing
London 3 December 2003, 76 Portland Place, London W1
ELECTRONIC PUBLISHERS -- and that includes organisations
such as local authorities, NGOs and businesses who
disseminate their information to the general public via
the Web -- will soon be obliged by law to improve the
accessibility of their information products.
While some are dragging their feet, or are unsure of how
to ensure that they comply with the new legislation, other
organisations are leading the way in catering for Web users
with visual impairments and for those who cannot easily use a
mouse, who do not read English fluently or who have learning
difficulties. This event is an opportunity for every organisation with
a Web site to learn how to improve its accessibility.
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
The Disability Discrimination Act (1995) is in the process
of coming into force, stage by stage. Part Three of the Act
obliges service providers to ensure that "access to their
services [is not] impossible or unreasonably difficult for
disabled people". From 1 October 2004, compliance with these
regulations will become mandatory.
It is already clear that the DDA will apply to websites.
The Disability Rights Commission has started 'naming and
shaming' commercial information providers whose websites
discriminate against disabled people, and the Royal National
Institute for the Blind has declared its willingness to take
information providers to court over this issue.
What will this mean for providers of electronic information?
What do they have to do to ensure compliance? Will changing
websites to be more accessible result in their 'uglification',
a throwback to the crude appearance of the early Web, or is
this our opportunity (and the spur we need) to solve the riddle
of the relationship between content and appearance with better
technology, bringing benefits for all?
More than a question of vision
For hundreds of years, publishing has given visual form to
ideas. In the last decade, the Internet -- combined with
assistive technologies such as screen-readers and voice
simulation -- has put these resources within the grasp of
the blind and vision-impaired. Perhaps this is why most
debates about access and the Web have swirled tightly around
the barriers experienced by those whose sight is poor.
BCS-EPSG recognises that there are other communities on
the wrong side of the 'digital divide'. Motor impairments,
deafness and learning disabilities also make Web content
harder to access -- what can be done to solve these
problems? If we resort to multimedia solutions, will this
in turn discriminate against people with low-bandwidth
access and less powerful equipment?
And it isn't just about disability. In a community that is
increasingly ethnically diverse, and a communication network
that is global, text in roman script fails to address
substantial audiences. Many information providers want to
know how electronic media can communicate in e.g. Bengali,
Urdu, Chinese and other languages which do not use roman
scripts, and a section of our event will be devoted to
exploring this problem.
Speakers (Subject to final confirmation)
Geoff Ryman from the Office of the e-Envoy (a UK Government
Agency) will speak about Practical Accessibility.
A speaker from Ability.net will describe the legal background
and demonstrate assistive technologies.
Bob Chase and Kath Noonan of Poptel Technology will describe
their Click2Build solution which uses a content management
database and on-the-fly HTML generation to make websites
that are both attractive and accessible.
Robin Stenham will talk about the work of the Open
University Centre for Assistive Technology and Enabling
Research (CATER).
Speakers from MENCAP will explain how to ensure that Web
resources are accessible to adults with learning
difficulties, and demonstrate how they use simplified
language with digital audio and images to achieve this.
Malcolm Duckett of Speed-Trap.com will explain and
demonstrate their software, which provides Web publishers
with an unprecedented insight into how visitors use their
sites, even capturing mouse movements. This can be used for
studying the usability of one's site design.
A 'brains trust' of speakers including Conrad Taylor and the
type designer Bruno Maag will talk about non-latin scripts
in electronic publishing and how to communicate multilingually
over the Web, and will lead a discussion on this subject.
The conference is to be held in the new ground floor lecture
theatre of the Institute of Physics in Portland Place,
London W1. More information will be made available shortly.
The venue has full wheelchair access.
The conference starts at 10:00 am and continues until about
4:30 pm, with an hour's break for lunch and two refreshment
breaks (lunch and refreshments are included in the fee). We
will be ready to receive you for registration and
refreshments from 9:30 am.
For full details of the fees and an application form, please see
appropriate page on the group web site,
http://www.epsg.org.uk/meetings/access2003/index.html. Note
that, for this meeting only, it has been decided to make the
member rate available to people from charities and voluntary
organizations.
--
Dr David Penfold, Chairman and administrator
British Computer Society Electronic Publishing Specialist Group
Edgerton Publishing Services
Jasmine Cottage, Elm Lane, Pett, Hastings, East Sussex TN35
4JD, UK
Tel +44 1424 813003; Fax +44 1424 813301; Mobile +44 7850
058544
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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Ann Apps. Senior Analyst - Research & Development, MIMAS,
University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 161 275 6039 Fax: +44 (0) 0161 275 6040
Email: [log in to unmask] WWW: http://epub.mimas.ac.uk/ann.html
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