Re: Item for discussion at Face-to-Face in LA

Brian,

At 03:01 PM 2/18/02 +1100, Brian.Hardy@visionaustralia.org.au wrote:
>Judy
>
>Some time ago you asked for items for discussion at the CSUN Face-to-Face
>of the EOWG in late March.
>
>Andrew Arch and I thought it might be useful to begin discussions about how
>best to promote the issue of accessible design into the mainstream software
>development industry. I am thinking of things like a resource material for
>Tertiary Lecturers to incorporate as part of their courses; a structured
>strategy across the world to get a place at key mainstream IT conferences;
>a concerted attack on the IT media, including "testimonials" from those few
>in the mainstream industry that have done some good work; "awards" events
>and so on.

There are some efforts to address this issue, via the National Task Force 
on Technology and Disability (NTFTD) in the US, and a Design-For-All 
Curriculum effort in the EU. Neither of these efforts are yet full-fledged 
though.

Developing the actual curriculum for this effort may be mainly beyond the 
scope of WAI's EOWG; however, I see no reason why we could not consider 
eventually adding additional modules to the "Planning Training for Web 
Accessibility" resource suite
         http://www.w3.org/WAI/training/
that might outline approaches for how to address the topic of designing 
software that conforms to the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 
and/or User Agent Accessibility Guidelines.

>With the work on the business case nearly complete,

Actually, unfortunately it's not. What's nearly complete is the appendix 
page "Auxiliary Benefits of Web Accessibility" which is just a part of the 
business case. We put aside the majority of business case work in order to 
finish the Implementation Planning Resource Suite. My guess is that the 
business suite will take us most of 2Q 2002; see proposed time-lines at 
http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/EO-Deliverables

>we now have the
>material we need to begin a more assertive approach to proselytising. Up
>until now we have made minimal impact on the mainstream industry (at least
>in Australia). I believe we need to focus on getting some more value out of
>the great work that the EOWG has done over the past few years.
>
>What do you think?

I agree with your sentiment; I just think that it will take us a little 
longer to get to where you're thinking we are already, and furthermore that 
we will need to identify a scope that is appropriate for us to take on, 
without taking on the entire challenge of promoting accessible design 
across the software industry.


>Brian Hardy

Regards,

- Judy

>______________________________________
>Brian Hardy
>Manager Information Services Development
>Vision Australia Foundation
>Phone: (03) 9864 9525    Mobile: 0419 102 451
>E-mail: brian.hardy@visionaustralia.org.au or hardyb@ozemail.com.au

-- 
Judy Brewer    +1.617.258.9741    http://www.w3.org/WAI
Director, Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
MIT/LCS Room NE43-355, 200 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA,  02139,  USA

Received on Friday, 15 March 2002 01:25:21 UTC