W3C Public Newsletter, 2020-03-16

Dear W3C Public Newsletter Subscriber,

The 2020-03-16 version of the W3C Public Newsletter is online:
  https://www.w3.org/News/Public/pnews-20200316

A simplified plain text version is available below.

W3C Communications Team

-----------------------------------
Join us in celebrating the 31st birthday of the World Wide Web

   12 March 2020
   <https://www.w3.org/blog/news/archives/8378>

   In March 1989 Sir Tim Berners-Lee wrote “Information Management: A Proposal” and with that quiet act launched an idea, the World Wide Web, that has changed our lives forever.

   <https://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal>

   The Web was envisioned by Tim as a global information-sharing space that would connect people and encourage understanding and sharing of knowledge. It is now an indispensable, exciting and, in some cases a vital global commons. We are incredibly grateful to our Director, Tim Berners-Lee, for the invention of the Web, for founding the World Wide Web Consortium, for all his work to keep the Web open, international, accessible, and for his decades of inspiration to so many of us.

   For 25 years, the Web Consortium has developed the foundational technical standards upon which the Web has flourished. Please read more about our values in our blog post.

   <https://www.w3.org/blog/2020/03/happy-31st-birthday-world-wide-web/>

   If you are part of our community, helping to develop technologies for the web with the Web Consortium, thank you. Let others know that the Web was made to work for everyone. Let your family and friends know why your work at the Web Consortium –to make a web for all– matters.

   Thank you again, Tim! Happy Birthday, World Wide Web!

   Let’s all keep doing our part to keep making the Web and the world better.

   The Web Consortium: making the web work, for everyone.

W3C Team interim travel restrictions and guidance for continuity of operations

   11 March 2020
   <https://www.w3.org/blog/news/archives/8376>

   Effective immediately and through 15 May, the W3C Team travel policy prescribes that all international travel is suspended and staff are urged to consider the importance of any domestic travel before agreeing to domestic travel other than commuting. Remote teleconferencing is recommended in place of travel.

   W3C Management also recommends that all W3C groups not hold physical face-to-face meetings and should instead plan virtual equivalents. W3M plans on updating the guidance as conditions continue to evolve no later than March 26.

   To that effect the W3C Team has started to draft an addition to the Guidebook: Continuity of Operations under Travel Restrictions

   <https://w3c.github.io/Guide/meetings/continuity>

   Our primary concern is individual and community health. Slowing the spread of the COVID-19 virus improves the chances that health systems will have the capacity to continue to treat usual health issues plus those affected.

     * Individual and community health: take care of yourselves and those around you. Even if an individual is not personally at-risk, COVID-19 may be contagious before symptoms appear.
     * Unpredictability of border measures and quarantines: international travelers risk getting caught far from home or facing quarantine.
     * Unpredictability of meeting plans: many conferences are being canceled, and many localities are canceling large gatherings.

Macmillan Learning and Fondazione LIA win the ABC 2020 Awards

   12 March 2020
   <https://www.w3.org/blog/news/archives/8380>

   We are happy to share that W3C Members Macmillan Learning and Fondazione LIA are the winners of the Accessible Books Consortium’s 2020 International Excellence Awards for Accessible Publishing.

   <https://www.accessiblebooksconsortium.org/news/en/2020/news_0002>

   Macmillan Learning was recognized in the publisher category as the first Global Certified Accessible (GCA) publisher producing products and learning materials in accessible formats for students with different kinds of vision impairment.

   <http://macmillan.com/>

   Fondazione LIA was recognized in the initiative category for their achievements in improving the accessibility of e-books and other digital publications for people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled.

   <https://www.fondazionelia.org/>

   “Macmillan Learning feels strongly that knowledge sharing is important, and for us accessibility speaks to the core of our mission – to improve lives through learning. The needs for accessible educational materials are universal and extend beyond an area of focus for one publisher in one country. We look forward to continuing to be part of a solution that enables students of all abilities to have a great learning experience.“
   Rachel Comerford, Senior Director, Content Standards and Accessibility, Macmillan Learning

   “We are really pleased that the work done by the LIA Foundation to create awareness on accessibility in the publishing industry has been recognized. This is a further stimulus to pursue our goal of creating a fully inclusive publishing ecosystem where all readers have the same opportunity to choose what they want in the publishers’ catalogues. A special thanks goes to all our stakeholders, the Italian Publishers Association and the Italian publishers, the Italian Blind and Visual Impaired Union, the Italian Dyslexia Association and the Biblioteca di Monza, without whose precious collaboration this would not be possible.“
   Cristina Mussinelli, Secretary General, Fondazione LIA

   This prestigious award is a noted event in the field of accessibility, in a context where over 253 million people worldwide are blind or have severe to moderate vision impairment and more than 90% of these are resident in developing countries, where the World Blind Union estimates that people who are blind have only a one in ten chance of going to school or getting a job. The lack of accessible books is a very real barrier to getting an education and leading an independent, productive life, and a reason why the Accessible Book Consortium seeks to recognize leadership and achievements in advancing the accessibility of e-books and other digital materials.

   Congratulations to Macmillan Learning and Fondazione LIA!

Updated Candidate Recommendation: CSS Speech Module

   10 March 2020
   <https://www.w3.org/blog/news/archives/8358>

   The CSS Working Group invites implementation of an updated Candidate Recommendation of "CSS Speech Module." CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a language that describes the rendering of markup documents (e.g. HTML, XML) on various supports, such as screen, paper, speech, etc. The Speech module defines aural CSS properties that enable authors to declaratively control the rendering of documents via speech synthesis, and using optional audio cues. Note that this standard was developed in cooperation with the Voice Browser Activity.

   <https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/>
   <https://www.w3.org/TR/2020/CR-css-speech-1-20200310/>
   <https://www.w3.org/Voice/>

Two First Public Working Drafts for Pronunciation

   10 March 2020
   <https://www.w3.org/blog/news/archives/8366>

   The Accessible Platform Architectures Working Group has published two First Public Working Drafts today:

   <https://www.w3.org/WAI/APA/>
     * Explainer: Improving Spoken Presentation on the Web defines a standard mechanism to allow content authors to include spoken presentation guidance in HTML content. Also, it contains two identified approaches and enumerates their advantages and disadvantages.
     * Pronunciation Gap Analysis and Use Cases presents the results of the Pronunciation Task Force work on an HTML standard. It includes an introduction with a historical perspective, an enumeration of the core requirements, a listing of approach use cases, and finally a gap analysis. Gaps are defined when a requirement does not have a corresponding use case approach by which it can be authored in HTML.

   These documents were initially developed by the Pronunciation Task Force, whose objective is to develop normative specifications and best practices guidance collaborating with other W3C groups as appropriate, to provide for proper pronunciation in HTML content when using text to speech (TTS) synthesis.

   <https://www.w3.org/WAI/APA/task-forces/pronunciation/>

   More news: <http://www.w3.org/blog/news/>

W3C Blog

     * ‘CSS X’
       <https://www.w3.org/blog/2020/03/css-x/>
       16 March 2020 by Bert Bos
       <http://www.w3.org/People/Bos/>
     * Happy 31st birthday, World Wide Web!
       <https://www.w3.org/blog/2020/03/happy-31st-birthday-world-wide-web/>
       12 March 2020 by Coralie Mercier
       <https://koalie.blog/>

W3C Membership

   Learn more about the benefits of W3C Membership. If you or your organization cannot join W3C, we invite you to support W3C through a contribution.

   <http://www.w3.org/Consortium/membership-benefits>
   <http://www.w3.org/Consortium/join>
   <http://www.w3.org/support/>

New Members

     * ClearVision

About W3C

   The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop "Web standards." Read about W3C.

   <https://www.w3.org/>
   <https://www.w3.org/TR/>
   <https://www.w3.org/Consortium/>

Receiving the Newsletter

   Bookmark this edition or the latest Public Newsletter and see past issues and press releases. Subscribe to receive the Public Newsletter by email. If you no longer wish to receive the Newsletter, send us an unsubscribe email. Comments? Write the W3C Communications Team (w3t-comm@w3.org).

   <https://www.w3.org/News/Public/pnews-20200316>
   <http://www.w3.org/News/Public/>
   <https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-announce/latest>
   <http://www.w3.org/Press/>
   <mailto:w3c-announce-request@w3.org?subject=Subscribe>
   <mailto:w3c-announce-request@w3.org?subject=Unsubscribe>
   <mailto:w3t-comm@w3.org>

Received on Monday, 16 March 2020 14:47:42 UTC