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Date: Fri, 16 Feb 1996 21:17:47 -0500 (EST)
From: Bob Weinstock
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TFA Notes from All Over Friday, February 16, 1996
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In this issue:
* Gallaudet University President, AAAD Vice President Selected for Olympic Torch Run* CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media Announces Model Accessible World Wide Web Site Project Fire Alarm Boxes to Stay in New York City February 17: NTID Alumni Social in New Jersey February 19: Blood Drive at Gallaudet February 19-23: Faculty/Staff Appreciation Week at Gallaudet
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[... other articles were snipped ...]
CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media Announces Model Accessible World Wide Web Site Project
To millions of Americans, the World Wide Web is an exciting new tool for learning and communicating. To millions of deaf, hard of hearing, blind or visually impaired computer users, however, the Web's enhanced graphics, audio, and video capabilities are out of reach.
A new project announced by the CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) aims to change that. The Model Accessible World Wide Web Site project will research, develop and test methods of integrating access technologies (such as captioning and video description) and new Web tools (like Java and RealAudio) into a World Wide Web site, making it fully accessible to blind or deaf computer users. NCAM will be using WGBH Online -- the public broadcaster's Web site which is visited by more than 2,000 users a day -- as its test-bed for research and field- testing of solutions.
The Model Accessible World Wide Web Site project is made possible by the support of the Telecommunications Funding Partnership for People with Disabilities.
One of the first items of business for the Project will be the development of a universal, generic, public-domain "Web Access" symbol or icon. This symbol will designate a web site as accessible to deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired users. The symbol will be made available to web sites free of charge if they meet certain accessible design criteria which will developed by the Project.
On March 1, several competing symbols will be posted on NCAM's page of the WGBH web site (new address effective March 1: http://www.wgbh.org/ncam). Each of the competing symbols will be described and tagged so that the symbol itself will be accessible. The public will be invited to comment and vote on the symbols, and the winning symbol will be chosen and announced on March 18, based on the comments received by a committee of technology experts and disabled users.
"The World Wide Web has been rapidly evolving into a vital link, connecting members of society with sources of information and with each other," said NCAM director Larry J. Goldberg. "WGBH has always been at the forefront of access technologies, having pioneered captioning in the early 1970s and descriptive video in 1990. Making the Web accessible to people with sensory disabilities is the next logical step toward our goal of total media accessibility."
In the next year, the Project will:
* Adapt technologies, such as description and captioning, and exploit new Web tools, to make the WGBH Online Web site fully accessible.* Evaluate these techniques using a core group of beta testers who are disabled or who are involved in technology access issues.* Reach out to online service providers, hardware and software developers, and others in the Web communities to explain the importance of accessibility as a key factor in developing new products and services.* Develop guidelines and methodologies for making Web sites accessible and distribute them to creators of World Wide Web sites and related services.
The CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) is a research and development facility dedicated to the issues of media technology for disabled people and non-English speakers in their homes, schools, workplaces, and communities. Current NCAM projects include putting captioning tools in the hands of students, bringing captioning and description to movie theaters effectively and unobtrusively, and ensuring accessibility to the National Information Infrastructure for people who are disabled.
(contributed by Geoff Freed)
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