WAI EO, Friday Nov 13 Mtg, Plus films outlines

WAI EO:

Reminder: 
	meeting this Friday, November 13, 1998.
Time: 
	8:30 - 10:00 a.m. US EST
Phones:
	+1 (617) 252-1038 in the U.S.
	+33 (0)1 49 57 40 52 in France
Agenda:
	To follow, but note one item below already, regarding the RNIB video
outlines.
RSVP:
	As usual please let me know at <jbrewer@w3.org> if you canNOT attend this
meeting.
Regards,

Judy
_____________

We now have both video outlines from RNIB, and so will re-visit this topic
during part of our EO call this Friday.

Please review and comment on the materials below:

[material from RNIB follows]


OUTLINES FOR TWO FILMS FOR THE RNIB ABOUT WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY AND
TECHNOLOGY IN EMPLOYMENT FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE.

1) WEBSITES THAT WORK
This ten-minute film is aimed at both website designers and computer
programmers.Its aim is to introduce the principle of making the internet,
the world wide web and all the information therein available to everyone,
including people with visual impairments, both total and partial. 
The film will begin with an introduction to the history and aims of the
Website Accessibilty Initiative (WAI), hopefully by Judy Brewer at M.I.T.
The technology that enables Visually Impaired People (VIP) to gain access
to the www is called Access Technology (A.T.) For totally blind people,
this means translating visual information into text, which is then 'read'
by a synthetic voice. For partially sighted people, it means allowing the
user to choose his or her own specific requirements, based on the actual
visual impairment, such as choosing text size and/or colour combinations.
However, for this to work, the websites and the programmes need to
incorporate certain requirements to activate it! The film will explain what
these are.
We'll see visually impaired people using the internet with the aid of
Access Technology. We'll then see examples of what happens when the sites
haven't been designed with this technology in mind. They're our 'bad'
(i.e.inaccessible to VIP) websites and we'll show how they can be made
accessible. Julie Howell, the website designer for the RNIB, will show us
the BBC website before and after she started to advise them (at their
request) on accessibility. She will lead us through the common pitfalls,
such as using columns. (A.T. reads across the page, so people using voice
synthesisers end up hearing gobbledegook, such as "Des Lynham is an
aquarium!") Other examples, explained in voice-over by Julie and
demonstrated on the screen by VIP, will be using 'click here' icons for
links, hiding links within frames, not having a text alternative to
pictures and using tables. 
Julie will also explain that only a minority of registered blind people are
totally blind: most VIP have partial sight and a high proportion of visual
impairment is related to ageing. As we all get older, and as we're all
going to be using the internet more and more,from shopping to e-mailing and
getting information on our hobbies, then obviously an increasing number of
internet users will have impaired vision. The film will show how
magnification of screens can help, as well as flexibility: the ability for
the visually impaired user to choose his or her own text size and colour
combinations, for example, to suit a specific visual impairment.
In her positive and down-to-earth way, Julie will show us how, with a
little thought, we can make the world wide web accessible to everyone and
still be visually exciting for sighted people!
 
2) EMPLOYERS' FILM (Haven't thought of a catchy title yet. Any ideas?)
This ten-minute film is aimed at employers and potential employers of
people with visual impairments.
Its aim is to encourage employers to understand and encourage the use of
technology in enabling visually impaired people to be productive and active
members of the workforce!
The film will begin by debunking the traditional, widely held views (or
myths) about jobs that blind people can do.: the computer programmer as the
latter day equivalent of the piano tuner!
We'll see two or three people doing their jobs. People who happen to be
visually impaired or even totally blind, such as Judy Watson,who is a
headmistress at a school in Somerset or Ann Beevor, a psychologist .
Generally, the film will show what adjustments employers and potential
employers can make (and are required by law to make?) to enable visually
impaired people to do their jobs.Some of the information in this film will
overlap with the Website film, insofar as it will include the use of Access
Technology.
The intention is to make this an upbeat, positive film that will encourage
employers to re-think their prejudices and to show them what talents
they're missing by denying access to jobs to visually impaired people! 

[material from RNIB ends]
----------
Judy Brewer    jbrewer@w3.org    +1.617.258.9741    http://www.w3.org/WAI
Director, Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) International Program Office
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
MIT/LCS Room NE43-355, 545 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA,  02139,  USA

Received on Wednesday, 11 November 1998 17:47:45 UTC