Presentation on Accessible SVG at Libre Graphics 2015 in Toronto (29 April – 2 May)

Hello all,

I am planning to submit a proposal for a short presentation on the work of
the SVG accessibility task force, and accessible web graphics in general,
for the Libre Graphics conference this spring in Toronto (29 April – 2 May).

Will anyone else be there and/or interested in collaborating?  I know Doug
has done talks on SVG accessibility in the past, and I know Tav frequently
does a general update on SVG working group activities at the Libre Graphics
conferences.

*Unfortunately, there's not much time to decide: Submission deadline is
Monday (February 1).  Sorry for the (very) late notice, I wasn't paying
enough attention to timelines.*  The conference promises to confirm the
accepted presentation list by 20 February, so if you'd only be coming if
the presentation/workshop is selected you would still have a couple months
to arrange travel plans.

Doug & Tav might know more about the conference than myself, since I
haven't been before.  It is an annual meet-up of contributors to open
source graphics software.  It would therefore be a chance to connect with
people building graphics-creating tools about how they can integrate better
accessibility support.

This year's conference also happens to be conveniently co-located in the
same city as friends and family whom I'd like an excuse to visit, but that
may be less of a selling point for the rest of you.

Tentative summary of my presentation (for a 20min talk, an
overview/introduction to the main issues rather than an in-depth
exploration):

Accessible Web Graphics


   - Quick overview of accessibility in general, using the WCAG categories
   of perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust
   - What does this mean for graphics?  It depends on their purpose: what
   information is being communicated, in what ways should they be interactive
   - Accessibility in SVG 1.0 and 1.1: structured content, readable text,
   links, titles and descriptions
   - How web accessibility has advanced since then, particularly how ARIA
   supports advanced interaction and more complex document structures
   - Goals and ongoing projects of the SVG Accessibility Task Force; how
   ARIA will be integrated into SVG 2
   - How these techniques could be extended to apply to non-SVG graphics,
   such as HTML canvas graphics (using focus-able fallback content) or other
   XML-based vector graphics (such as those used in open document drawing
   formats)


If other people want to get involved and make it a bigger thing, we could
pitch a complementary 1hr workshop.  That could include brainstorming ideas
with participants about how they can adapt the specific tools they work on,
or demonstrating various ATs with accessible and non-accessible web
graphics.

Feel free to contact me, on or off list, if you have any ideas or questions,

Best,
Amelia Bellamy-Royds