Announcement
The Jodi Mattes Access Award
The Museums Computer Group (MCG) invites nominations for a new award for the
most accessible museum website of the year - the first Jodi Mattes Access
award. The winner will be announced at the RNIB (Royal National Institute of
the Blind)’s Talking Images conference on 20th May 2003. In this, the
European Year of Disabled People, the award should generate significant
press coverage for the winner(s).
Criteria for the award will be usability and content accessibility.
Technical compliance will be measured to level A of the Web Accessibility
Initiative Guidelines. If entries are sufficient in number, there will be
two prizes for 'Best Large-scale Site' and 'Best Shoestring Project'.
Websites from all countries are eligible, but must contain some navigation
and content in English.
The winner will be invited to display the award logo on their website,
linked to the MCG site explaining the criteria and background, and to the
Museums and Galleries Disability Association (MAGDA)’s website. T he MCG
will arrange press coverage, including the Museums Journal, MCG newsletter
and the 24 Hour Museum.
Judges will include representatives from Leicester University, MAGDA, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, the MCG, RNIB and Resource: The Council for
Museums, Archives and Libraries.
Nominations should be made on the MCG website at
http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk where a form asks for the name and
address of the nominated website, reason for nomination and name of
nominator. Under reason for nomination, please explain why you find the site
and its content particularly usable. The deadline for nominations is
Wednesday 30th April 2003. Museums may nominate their own websites for the
award, but in this case nominators should also refer to recommendations from
users or evidence of evaluation. Queries on eligibility should be sent to
[log in to unmask] (East Midlands Museums, Libraries and
Archives Council are handling nominations on behalf of the MCG).
Background:
The award is named in memory of Jodi Mattes (1973-2001). Jodi worked at the
Royal National Institute of the Blind and the British Museum. Amongst many
other things, Jodi worked to ensure that the British Museum’s COMPASS
website was accessible to all. She developed a text-only version of COMPASS,
organised testing of the system by blind and partially sighted users, worked
with the system developers on changes informed by the testing process and
specified visitor desks accessible to wheelchair users. She also worked on
accessible text descriptions, which has fed into the development of content
on children’s COMPASS. Jodi’s work has inspired other museums and galleries
to develop accessible websites.
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Sue Gordon
MCG Chair
tel: 01494 772096
mobile: 07798 622070
[log in to unmask]
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