Unless the web designers consider the requirements of all types of their users, the minorities (in their view), though a considerable number, will be ignored and they have to fight for their rlights. Renuka.
On 10/24/13, habeeb. c <habee...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hello friends, > This post gives expression to many of the facts that a differently > abled person suffers from in his every day life. Please read and > commend. > Infosys Labs - Web 2.0 Challenges Accessibility? > Does Web 2.0 Challenge Accessibility? > > By Shrirang Sahasrabuddhe and Ajay Kolhatkar PhD > Web 2.0 poses a volley of challenges for the differently-abled user > and any step ahead in the technology must mull on inclusiveness > > Download > > With its global reach and versatility the world wide web has had a > huge impact on the way we work and live. The web has enabled access to > a range of news, > information, services and entertainment. It has also provided means > for social interaction, civic participation and in many cases, a means > of livelihood. > While for the able user the web opened a wealth of information and > entertainment, it provided more independence, work opportunities and > social interaction > for people with different abilities (PwDA). Assistive technologies > such as screen readers and speech recognition have made the websites > easily accessible > for people with visual and auditory impairments. > > Over the past few years developments in web technologies such as > JavaScript, cascading style sheets (CSS), eXtensible Markup Language > (XML) and Asynchronous > Java and XML (AJAX) have transformed the web from being a mere > information provider to an interactive medium that allows two-way > communication between > a website and its users. It has converted the web users from being > passive consumers to being active producers and consumers of content. > The new web harnesses > collective wisdom of crowds through means such as wikis, blogging, > tagging and social networking. Rather than being a means of > disseminating marketing > information the web is now being used to involve consumers in the > processes of product design, development, marketing (buzz or word of > mouth) and even > after sales support. This new web — christened Web 2.0— provides > interactions that are visually rich, contents that comprises > multi-media and experiences > that pan both real and virtual worlds. Most such visually rich > applications rely extensively on user interactions especially using > mice or other interface > devices. > > While all the above are welcome changes for able users, for PwDAs it > creates new challenges for access and usage. What follows is a brief > discussion on > the need to address the requirements of differently-abled people, > challenges posed by some of the technologies and possible resolutions > of some of these > challenges. > > NEED FOR ACCESSIBILITY > According to World Health Organization (WHO), close to 10% of the > world’s population (a little over 650 million people) suffers from > some form of disability > [1]. However some country specific statistics, collated from the > respective country’s census data, indicates that the malaise might > actually be larger. > Table 1 gives an indication of the percentage of PwDA population as a > percentage of total population. > > As per the WHO, disability is an umbrella term that covers > impairments, limitations on human activities and restriction in social > participation. Since the > use of information and communication technology (ICT) is increasingly > becoming a vital part of educational, economic and social life for > everyone today, > people with different abilities are likely to be excluded unless > efforts are undertaken to make ICT accessible. > > On a contrasting note, as per US Department of Labor estimates, the > PwDAs in the US have discretionary income of $175 billion [8]. In the > UK a similar estimate > puts the number at £200 billion and in Canada the estimate is $26 > billion [8]. This clearly indicates that there is a huge untapped > market that has expectations > of high quality products and services that are available at competitive > prices. > > Another important consideration is the fact that for most able users > the internet is just one more medium for transaction. But for a > differently-abled individual, > it is probably the most important (and sometimes the only) means of > interaction with the world outside. It also affords them the much > desired sense of > independence. > > In 2000, the National Organization on Disability and Aetna U.S. > Healthcare instituted Harris Interactive to conduct a survey of > Americans with Disabilities > [9]. One of the findings of this research was that four out of ten > people with disabilities were online and spent twice as much time on > the internet compared > to their able counterparts. > > Notwithstanding such an overwhelming case for making the web an > accessible place, almost 97% of the WWW is inaccessible as per the > United Nations Global > Audit of Web Accessibility conducted in 2006 [10]. > > MAKING WWW AN ACCESSIBLE PLACE > In view of the situation described in the previous section, a world > wide effort is on to make the WWW an accessible place for all. The > efforts are at multiple > fronts of instituting legal requirements, to creating new standards > and guidelines for web development, to developing tools and services > for assessing > if a website is indeed accessible, to creating awareness amongst large > organizations about the business case for accessibility. Several > developed countries > that already had laws governing people with different abilities, such > as the Americans with Disabilities Act, the US Rehabilitation Act, the > Disability > Discrimination Act of UK and Disability Discrimination Act of > Australia, have now included the internet as a public property and > hence have mandated that > websites be accessible to differently-abled people. All over the world > special laws are being drafted and existing laws are being amended to > ensure that > a differently-abled person is not excluded from this new means of > information sharing, socializing and in some cases, even earning a > livelihood. > > ACCESSIBILITY CHALLENGES OF WEB 2.0 > Here we discuss the technological challenges that have resulted from > the development and adoption of technologies that are collectively > referred to as > web 2.0 technologies. > > AJAX: Asynchronous Javascript and XML is increasingly becoming the > lingua franca of the new web development. It makes web-based > interactions much more spontaneous > and user friendly, responses much more real-time, closely imitating > desktop interactions. But the dynamic web, with its constantly > changing and updated > text, requires screen readers to reset the page and start all over > again. This makes it difficult for visually-impaired users to > comprehend the website. > > RIA: Rich Internet Applications such as Flash or Shockwave files that > rely extensively on the usage of animation, graphic imagery and colors > to represent > information is a nightmare for the alternative access technologies > that are rendering this information perceptible by the visually > impaired users (color > blind, partially impaired or fully impaired). > > User Generated Content: This has become the mainstay of Web 2.0 where > users are contributing their opinion, experiences, expertise and > feedback as web content > in the form of blogs, wikis, tags, ratings and reviews. While this has > been welcomed by able users, it has made life difficult for users with > some form > of impairment. The reason is that not all users are experts in making > their content PwDA friendly, not everyone complies with the standard > practices of > making content easily accessible and not everyone really cares who > consumes their content. > > Extensive Use of Colors: With millions of colors now being rendered by > LCD screens and new-age CRT monitors, web designers are letting their > creativity > take wing, using colors not only to accentuate backgrounds but also to > emphasize text on screen. Sometimes colors are used to announce > special information > and even to require user interaction, for example: ‘All fields marked > with red asterix are mandatory.’ While this has made life easier for > able users, > users of assistive technologies are finding it very difficult. This > applies not just to the physically challenged user but also to people > who use monochrome > monitors and ageing users with weak eyesight. > > Use of Mouse or Other Pointing Interfaces: Just as an exercise, an > able user should disconnect all input devices like the mouse from the > computer and try > to accomplish the most routine of tasks, such as selecting a website > link or browsing through a series of websites. The challenge will > become evident. > This does not mean that alternatives do not exist; it is just that it > has become second nature to use a mouse or other pointing devices. > This makes people > with motor disability, who are unable to control a mouse, frustrated > with web access today (not to mention those who cannot use the mouse > because of old > age). > > CAPTCHA: Since the focus of Web 2.0 is on user involvement and > contributions, almost every interaction with the web today demands > that users undergo a Completely > Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart > (CAPTCHA). For a visually impaired user this is inaccessible unless > accompanied by an audio > CAPTCHA option. > > Videos: On the web today amateur as well as professional videos are > abundantly available and are increasingly consumed for their novelty > as well as content > with a human touch. Almost all aspects of our interaction with the web > today viz., news, entertainment, education, commerce or social > interaction is full > of video content. This is not really accessible by visually as well as > audio impaired users unless accompanied by a full text or close > captioning. > > Fat Pipe Requirement: Most of the Web 2.0 content requires larger > bandwidth and faster networks. These are not always available in > remote locations and > in lower income households which limits their use of the internet. > > ADDRESSING THE ACCESSIBILITY CHALLENGES > Despite the challenges all is not lost for users with physical or > technological impairment. Their spirit overtakes their disabilities > and has demanded, > nay, forced development of alternative access mechanism. Several > approaches are being explored to make the web an accessible place for > people with different > abilities. > > Standardizing Accessible Web Development: The World Wide Web > Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) has spent lot of > efforts in bringing about > the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0) way back in > 1999 and the second version (WCAG 2.0) in 2008. These guidelines offer > specific recommendations > to make the web more accessible by following simple design principles. > Across the world the adoption of WCAG 1.0 has been slow, but > nevertheless has made > its impact on the country specific guidelines. There will soon be laws > in the USA, UK, Australia and several EU countries, forcing > enterprises to abide > by these guidelines. > > Design for Accessibility: Experts around the world are of the opinion > that guidelines alone may not be sufficient to enforce accessible web > development. > A need is felt for adopting best practices right at the requirements > and design stages that incorporates non-functional requirements > related with accessibility. > These practices need to be taught at various levels of vocational and > professional training. > > Development of Accessible Web 2.0 Technologies: Companies like Adobe® > and Microsoft® that make the building blocks of Web 2.0 technologies > are themselves > focusing efforts on making such technologies ready for accessibility. > Examples are, Accessible RIA (ARIA), PDFs, Flash® and Silverlight® > development platforms, > AJAX and Java scripts that are alternatively accessible such as AxsJAX. > > Improved Alternate Access Mechanisms: Screen readers and magnifiers > have existed for a while now. But several other alternate access > mechanisms are being > developed for people with multiple disabilities like physical > impairment as well as speech/hearing impairment. Text/symbols to > synthesized or digitized > audio, speech to text convertors, close captioning creators and > synchronizers, smart phrases and next word predictors, screen > magnifiers, gesture recognition > are all examples of these alternate/assistive accesses. > > CONCLUSION > Although the preceding section discussed potential problems with > accessibility of Web 2.0 and their solutions, Web 2.0 accessibility is > a much wider discussion. > It probably needs to be approached with a multi-modal solution rather > than a point solution. It also needs a well-orchestrated approach that > considers > not only the guidelines and best practices, but also the content going > on the website, the authoring tools used to create the content, and > the assistive > technologies employed to make the web accessible. Most importantly the > approach needs to be cognizant of the specific challenges faced by > differently-abled > people. Even before the design is put in place and introspection is a > must to check whether the final results assume faculties that might > not be available > with some people. Once this level of sensitivity is imbibed into the > entire developmental activity, the technologies are already available > to make things > happen. Accessibility then happens not by chance, but by design. > > REFERENCES > list of 7 items > Disability and Rehabilitation, World Health Organization. Available at > http://www.who.int/disabilities/en/index.html > Opens in a new window > Americans with Disabilities: 2002, Household Economic Studies, US > Census Bureau. Available at > http://www.census.gov/prod/2006pubs/p70-107.pdf > Opens in a new window > Census 2001 - Health, disability and provision of care, National > Statistics, Census 2001. Available at > http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/profiles/commentaries/health.asp > Opens in a new window > Introduction to disability and disability services in Australia, > Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Available at > http://www.aihw.gov.au/disability/natpic/index.cfm > Opens in a new window > 2006 Disability Survey, Statistics New Zealand. Available at > http://www.stats.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/799A77CC-4DF6-445C-96DA-F5A266538A72/0/2006disabilitysurveyhotp.pdf > Opens in a new window > Advancing the Inclusion of People with Disabilities (2008), Human > Resources and Skills Development Canada. Available at > http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/disability_issues/reports/fdr/2008/page03.shtml#overview > One in six of the EU working-age population report disability, > EuroStat News Release, December 2003. Available at > http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/health_safety/docs/ceremony_en.pdf. > Opens in a new window > > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of > mobile phones / Tabs on: > http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ > > To unsubscribe send a message to > accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
