- From: B.K. DeLong <bkdelong@naw.org>
- Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 09:43:43 -0400
- To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Hi everyone, Thought I would invite you to our first event dedicated to Web Accessibility. Hope to see you there: An event sponsored by Miller Freeman and featuring the topic of Web Accessibility, will be presented on Wednesday, September 23rd, 1998 in room 108 of the Hynes Convention Center from 1p.m. - 3p.m. The New England Chapter of the World Organization of Webmasters will host the event. Bruce Alexander, Chairman of WOW's Web Accessibility SIG, will serve as moderator. The World Wide Web offers the promise of transforming many traditional barriers to information and interaction among different peoples. Therefore it’s important to lead the Web to its full potential including promoting a high degree of usability for people with disabilities. Several initiatives are pursuing accessibility of the Web through five primary areas of work: technology, guidelines, tools, education & outreach, and research & development. Speakers at the event include the head of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, Judy Brewer. She coordinates five activities with respect to Web accessibility: data formats and protocols; guidelines for browsers, authoring tools and content creators; rating and certification tools; education and outreach; and research and advanced development. Prior to joining W3C, Judy was Project Director for the Massachusetts Assistive Technology Partnership, a U.S. federally-funded project promoting access to assistive technology for people with disabilities. Judy has a background in applied linguistics, education, technical writing, management and disability advocacy. Brewer will discuss the various projects the initiative has been working on including a draft of page authoring guidelines. The guidelines will help Web developers insure their site’s accessibility. Also speaking will be Joseph Lazzaro, project director of the Adaptive Technology Program housed at the Massachusetts Commission For The Blind in Boston, and author of "Adapting PC's for Disabilities", Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. His published articles have appeared in Byte, Time Life, the New York Times, Computer Shopper, and other industry trade magazines. Lazzaro will focus on the power and pitfalls experienced by persons with vision impairments when surfing the World Wide Web. He’ll briefly describe the basic technologies employed by persons with vision impairments: speech synthesis, screen magnification, and Braille displays and will describe how these basic technologies can be used to read web pages using both text and graphical browsers. Also speaking will be a representative from Microsoft Corporation who will discuss their efforts to make Internet Explorer more accessible to the Web browsing public. This event is open to the public. Afterwards, attendees may be interested in browsing through the Web ’98 Exposition. A free pass to the Expo can be gotten by registering online at https://www.exporeg.com/Shows/WebEast/expo1.htm Be sure to register now because registering for the Expo on-site will cost $50. This event is open to the public- free for members and $15 for non-members. -- B.K. DeLong 360 Huntington Ave. Director Suite 140SC-305 New England Chapter Boston, MA 02115 World Organization (617) 247-3753 of Webmasters http://www.world-webmasters.org bkdelong@naw.org
Received on Wednesday, 16 September 1998 09:43:21 UTC