W4A’2023 - Call for Papers

Save the date for the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A’23), on April 30 and May 1, 2023, in Austin, Texas, USA (http://www.w4a.info/2023), the premier venue for web accessibility research. W4A is co-located with the 32nd International World Wide Web Conference, TheWebConf'23 (https://www2023.thewebconf.org/).

The conference focuses on all aspects of web accessibility. Areas of general interest include, but are not limited to the following: age, cognition, culture, education, emotions, dexterity, disability, diversity, health, hearing, income, infrastructure, language, learning, literacy, mobility, neurodiversity, situation, society, and vision.

Accessibility in the Metaverse
This year’s W4A conference theme is “Accessibility in the Metaverse”. The Metaverse - the emerging ecosphere built upon web and internet platforms has become an integral part of the today’s digital society. Representing a new paradigm, the Metaverse is made up of virtual worlds developed in extended reality (XR), mixed reality (MR), virtual reality (VR) and augmentative reality (AR) technologies. The Metaverse has opened up a plethora of exciting opportunities in which accessibility and inclusive design are important attributes.

As tech writer Julie Brehuescu recently wrote for The Drum<https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2022/04/13/how-the-metaverse-widening-accessibility-digital-experiences>, “One goal of the metaverse is to replicate the feeling of real-world connection by creating immersive virtual environments. But it may also make the internet more accessible to the more than one billion people who struggle to interact with digital content each day due to neurodivergence, disability or other impairments.”

How can the Metaverse adapt to working and learning environments to ensure user needs are met quickly and efficiently? What solutions exist to encourage the autonomy and well-being of people with disabilities and older adults? What are the social, financial, cultural or ethical implications of deploying immersive web solutions without accessibility in mind?

While we encourage authors to contribute to the conference on any of the traditional topics covered at W4A, this year we seek to provide an answer to these and other related questions by particularly welcoming submissions that address web-related challenges and/or solutions associated with the following areas:

  *   Accessible e-learning, student evaluation and assessment
  *   Accessible remote work, physical workplace environment, employment, onboarding and job-training
  *   Accessible entertainment and media
  *   Telehealth, mental health support and exposure therapy
  *   Enhancements for accessible communication (e.g., accessible information and communication technologies – including social media, learning technologies, authoring technologies, multilingualism)
  *   Assistive technology (3D printing, virtual reality, tactile graphics, etc.)
  *   Social interaction


But as in every year, do not be deterred by the theme; all topics related to web accessibility are welcome as are papers dealing with wider aspects of digital accessibility and universal access.

Submissions

  *   Technical Papers: 10-pages (without references) or
  *   Communication papers: 4-pages (without references)
  *   Web Accessibility Challenge: Submit 2-page extended abstracts (http://www.w4a.info/2023/submissions/accessibility-challenge/)
  *   Doctoral Consortium: Submit 2-page extended abstracts for consideration for inclusion in the Doctoral Consortium (http://www.w4a.info/2023/submissions/doctoral-consortium/).

Those who have an accepted Technical or Communication Paper, are participating in the Accessibility Challenge or the Doctoral Consortium are invited to submit a poster which will be judged by the delegates.

All submissions will be published in the ACM Digital Library. Instructions for authors will be available on the conference website.
AUTHORS TAKE NOTE: The official publication date is the date the proceedings are made available in the ACM Digital Library. This date may be up to two weeks prior to the first day of your conference. The official publication date affects the deadline for any patent filings related to published work.

Important dates

  *   Paper abstracts: 27 Jan. 2023
  *   Full submissions: 1 Feb. 2023
  *   Doctoral Consortium: 10 Feb. 2023
  *   Accessibility Challenge: 10 Feb. 2023
  *   Final decisions: 28 Feb. 2023
  *   Camera ready: 5 Mar. 2023
  *   Doctoral Consortium: 29 Apr. 2023
  *   Conference: 30 Apr. - 1 May 2023