- From: Robert Neff <rneff@bbnow.net>
- Date: Wed, 9 May 2001 16:56:11 -0500
- To: "W3c-Wai-Ig" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
- Message-ID: <AHENJNNCANEHAIIBJNDGAENMCHAA.rneff@bbnow.net>
Here is the announcement for the Accessibility Forum Event on Section 508, Live Friday, May 11 . Huge Government, Industry Participation Expected in Accessible Interactive Webcast, Friday, May 11, 9-12 AM EST at www.abletv.net . THIS IS A LIVE WEB CAST! PLEASE DISTRIBUTE!!! <Start Press Release> TVWorldwide.com's AbleTV Channel to Webcast GSA's Accessibility Forum Event on Section 508, Live, Friday, May 11 Huge Government, Industry Participation Expected in Accessible Interactive Webcast, Friday, May 11, 9-12 AM EST at www.abletv.net <http://www.abletv.net> on the TVWorldwide.com Network For Immediate Release Tuesday, May 8, 2001 Contact: info@tvworldwide.com <mailto:info@tvworldwide.com> TV Worldwide.com, Inc. www.tvworldwide.com (703) 961-9250 Jeff Pledger able@abletv.net www.abletv.net (301) 890-5944 (703) 598-2253 Chantilly, Va. - TVWorldwide.com, Inc. announced today that AbleTV.net, the web-based TV channel for the disabled on the TVWorldwide.com network, will provide live interactive and accessible webcast coverage of the Government Sevices Administration's Accessibility Forum, Friday May 12 from 9-12 AM from Gallaudet University's Kellogg Conference Center in Washington D.C. The event, sponsored by GSA's Center for Information Technology Accommodation (CITA) is an industry, user, and government partnership aimed at developing effective and broadly accepted metrics and methods to assess Electronics and Information Technology (E&IT) product accessibility for people with disabilities, as defined by Public Law 105-220, Section 508. The free webcast will feature AbleTV.net's live captioned video streaming or webcaptings process to assist on-line participants with disabilities and serve AbleTV's growing audience. This AbleTV webcast is sponsored by TVWorldwide.com and its strategic partners, Booz Allen and Hamilton and Post Newsweek Tech Media Group. We're excited about the prospect of offering this important GSA event for accessible on-line participation worldwide, stated Dave Gardy, Chairman and CEO of TVWorldwide.com. AbleTV is renowned for its webcasts addressing issues important to the community of those people with disabilities and we welcome everyone tuning in worldwide. The mission of the Accessibility Forum is to provide government agencies and vendors of E&IT and Assistive Technology with effective and broadly accepted metrics and methods to assess whether E&IT products comply with Section 508 accessibility standards. The Accessibility Forum seeks industry leadership and user involvement in development of these accessibility assessment metrics and methods. The Accessibility Forum will also provide the infrastructure for continuing collaboration and dialogue between users and vendors. It should also provide a means for vendors to gain insight into accessibility needs that could be addressed in future products. The webcast will be directed by Jeff Pledger, President of AbleTV.net, who lost his sight 17 years ago due to illness. We are pleased to provide captioned streaming for this live event webcast with TVWorldwide.com, remarked Pledger. GSA is fulfilling its commitment to make government and industry aware of Section 508 issues to level the E&IT playing field for people with disabilities. The program will be archived with the captioning for later viewing after the webcast at www.abletv.net <http://www.abletv.net> and on TVWorldwide.com's federal education channel, Fed EdTV at www.fededtv.com <http://www.fededtv.com>. Participants should have the free Real Player installed prior to the event. Questions can be directed to info@tvworldwide.com before and during the event and direct phone communication to the TVWorldwide.com webcast staff at (703- 961-9250, ext. 223.) About TVWorldwide.com and AbleTV.net In addition to being a video streaming service provider, TVWorldwide.com is building a network of community-based Internet TV channels, each underwritten by a strategic partner, aimcasting to targeted B2B and special interest audiences worldwide. TVWorldwide.com has worked with one of its first aimcast channels, AbleTV.net, to pioneer live and archived video streaming with open captioning to aid web site accessibility for the disabled. With this advance, AbleTV.net has received charter sponsorship from Microsoft Corporation, Sun Microsystems and NCR.
Received on Wednesday, 9 May 2001 17:51:23 UTC