Re: Proposal on authoring tools

I am going to a 508 briefing tomorrow (July 11) at Department of Commerce.  
Should I mention any of this to the Access Board speaker (Tim Creegan)?

Please advise ASAP..

Thanks and best wishes
Tim Boland NIST
 

Quoting Jan Richards <jan.richards@utoronto.ca>:

> 
> Hi Barry,
> 
> I have some background on this:
> 
> - the Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology 
> Advisory Committee (TEITAC) is working on updating the 508 regulations.
> 
> - there is "Web and Software" Sub-Committee that is developing 
> regulations related to these parts of Section 508:
> 1194.21 Software applications and operating systems
> 1194.22 Web-based intranet and internet information and applications
> 
> - the Sub-Committee is co-chaired by:
> Andi Snow-Weaver, IBM
> Curtis Chong, NFB
> 
> - W3C-WAI is involved mainly via the participation of Jim Allan and Judy 
> Brewer.
> 
> - some time ago, the Sub-Committee decided to try and harmonize the 508 
> Web guidelines with WCAG 2.0. They gave consideration to harmonizing in 
> ATAG 2.0 but it was decided that it would be stretching the 
> interpretation of the 508 law too far to bring in ALL of ATAG 2.0.
> 
> - so a sub-group that included Judy proposed that the 508 regulations 
> should instead include SOME key pieces of ATAG 2.0 rather than the 
> entire document.
> 
> - at around that time I did a presentation to the Sub-Committee on one 
> of their phone calls detailing ATAG 2.0 and in particular Part B (they 
> are less concerned with Part A since they are already working on more 
> detailed general software accessibility guidance).
> 
> - over the the last few weeks Judy's proposal has been revised several 
> times, and I believe Barry has one of the more recent versions.
> 
> - clearly the TEITAC wording is a watered-down subset of ATAG 2.0.
> 
> Barry: Do you have any further thoughts?
> 
> What do other people think?
> 
> Cheers,
> Jan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Barry Feigenbaum wrote:
> > 
> > Apparently there is a W3C team that is proposing input to a revised 
> > Section 508 guideline set.  They are proposing authoring tools 
> > accessibility guidelines to include (see below).  I would expect the 
> > AUWG would be doing this work, but I don't think we are involved. Jan 
> > any comments?   I am very concerned that the 508 criteria consists of 
> > only the few rules listed below.  I am also concerned as to the role of 
> > ATAG if Section 508 address ATAG issues itself.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > *From:* Judy Brewer*
> > Date:* Wed, Jun 27 2007 08:05:00 AM *
> > Subject:* Proposal (updated 27 June) on authoring tools
> > No previous message | _Next message_ 
> > <http://teitac.org/mailarchives/mail_thread.php?thread=1276#post1>
> > 
> > This proposal incorporates additional suggestions and combines some
> > provisions.
> > 
> > (Specific notes: #1 combines 1 & previous 3 using Allen's language
> > following list discussion; #2 already received provisional approval; #3
> > combines previous 4 & a version of 5 that allowed meeting evaluation goals
> > by interoperability; #4 updates previous 6 with suggestions received;
> > "giving prominence to" is dropped in this set; "Web" is dropped in this
> > version of the definition of authoring tools as there has been no negative
> > feedback on that question.)
> > 
> > #1. For each accessible content format supported, authoring tools must
> > allow the author to produce content, including content derived from
> > programmatic sources, that meets applicable electronic content
> > accessibility standards.
> > 
> > #2. Authoring tools must preserve accessibility information necessary for
> > meeting the electronic content provisions, unless the user explicitly
> > indicates otherwise.
> > 
> > #3. For authoring tools with a user interface, authoring tools must
> provide
> > a mode which prompts authors to create accessible content; and either a
> > mode which assists authors in checking for accessibility problems, or
> > interoperability with evaluation tools that provide that function.
> > 
> > #4. Authoring tools which provide pre-authored content, or templates to
> > facilitate production of content, must provide at least one version that
> > meets applicable electronic content accessibility standards.
> > 
> > [DEFINITION] "Authoring Tool" means "...any software, or collection of
> > software components, that authors use to create or modify content for
> > publication."
> > 
> > Regards,
> > 
> > - Judy
> > 
> > 
> > Barry A. Feigenbaum, Ph. D.
> > Tool Architect
> > Human Ability and Accessibility Center - IBM Research
> > www.ibm.com/able, w3.ibm.com/able
> > voice 512-838-4763/tl678-4763
> > fax 512-838-9367/0330
> > cell 512-799-9182
> > feigenba@us.ibm.com
> > Mailstop 904/5F-021
> > 11400 Burnet Rd., Austin TX 78758
> > 
> > Accessibility ARB Representative on SWG ARB
> > W3C AUWG Representative
> > Austin IBM Club BoD
> > Interface Technologies IDT Member
> > QSE Development TopGun
> > 
> > Sun Certified Java Programmer, Developer & Architect
> > IBM Certified XML Developer; OOAD w/UML
> > 
> > This message sent with 100% recycled electrons
> > 
> 
> -- 
> Jan Richards, M.Sc.
> User Interface Design Specialist
> Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC)
> Faculty of Information Studies
> University of Toronto
> 
>    Email: jan.richards@utoronto.ca
>    Web:   http://jan.atrc.utoronto.ca
>    Phone: 416-946-7060
>    Fax:   416-971-2896
> 
> 
> 
>

Received on Tuesday, 10 July 2007 20:45:18 UTC