[gui-talk] Fwd: E-Access Bulletin: Issue 114, June 2009

[Steve Pattison]

 From:    Dan Jellinek dan at headstar.com
 To:      eaccess at headstar.com

++E-ACCESS BULLETIN
Access To Technology For All, Regardless Of Ability
- ISSUE 114, June 2009.

A Headstar Publication.
http://www.headstar.com/eab/ .

Sponsored by:
Ford Motor Company
( http://www.ford.co.uk ).

Please forward this free bulletin to others (subscription details at the
end). We conform to the accessible Text Email Newsletter (TEN)
Standard:
http://www.headstar.com/ten/ .


++Special Notice: Building Perfect Council Websites '09
- Accessibility On The Agenda At Headstar/Socitm Conference
http://www.headstar-events.com/councilwebsites09/

Accessibility of pdfs and online forms; and implementation of the new
international web access guidelines WCAG 2.0 are among workshops
on the programme at Building Perfect Council Websites '09.

The conference, now in its fifth year, is the major annual meeting for
local authority web professionals - around 300 attended last year.
Facilitators of our accessibility sessions include Ted Page of PWS, a
leading expert in the field who has worked with the BBC.

A partnership between E-Government Bulletin and the Socitm Insight
Programme, this unique event draws on the collected wisdom of ten
years of Socitm's annual review of all UK council websites. Have a
look today to see the latest programme details, and book your place:
http://www.headstar-events.com/councilwebsites09/

[Special notice ends].


++Issue 114 Contents.

01: Ofcom Report Uncovers Major Accessibility Research Gap
- Companies not focusing on disabled users' needs.

02: Interactive Media Association Chair To Prioritise Accessibility
- Inclusion set to form part of new guidance to sector.

03: Public Procurement Enlisted To Improve Equality
- Government bill promotes responsible purchasing.

News in Brief: 04: Screen Award - access from memory stick; 05:
Learning Link - education and accessibility; 06: Audio Food -
'Boombox' pub menus.

Section Two: 'The Inbox' - Readers' Forum.
07: Readers' Rights - E-book speech debate continues; 08: BBC Hitch
- problems with news website function.

Section Three: Ofcom report - Access barriers.
09: Communication Breakdown? An Ofcom report on how the
communications industry addresses accessibility shows the topic is still
not a key priority for many companies. Scant user research and a lack
of understanding of disabled customers' needs were among the
findings, as Tristan Parker reports.

[Contents ends].


++Section One: News.

+01: Ofcom Report Uncovers Major Accessibility Research Gap.

Communications, technology and broadcasting companies are
currently carrying out "very little research" into the accessibility
requirements of consumers and the needs of disabled people, a new
report has found.

The report, based on interviews with 20 companies, was prepared by i2
media research for the Advisory Committee on Older and Disabled
People (ACOD), a sub-group of the communications industry regulator
Ofcom.

The report (
http://fastlink.headstar.com/of1 )
found companies are carrying out very limited user research into
usability and accessibility, and even less into the specific needs of
those people that required accessible products. Of the research that was
conducted, most of it was "small-scale", based around company
workers, or family and friends, due to ease of access.

Reasons for the failure included higher priority being afforded to other
technical issues, the report found: "One reason repeatedly given for the
lack of user research was that technical issues took higher priority, to
get products and services working. Usability and accessibility were
referred to as secondary priorities."

Other findings of the report included that senior level support of
accessibility issues was often important to addressing disabled
consumers' needs, and that some companies had not considered
accessibility needs at all, as they did not see disabled users as included
in their target audience.

NOTE: For full details of the Ofcom study see section three, this issue.

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=295


+02: Interactive Media Association Chair To Prioritise Accessibility.

Accessibility is to become a key priority for the British Interactive
Media Association (BIMA -
http://www.bima.co.uk/),
the body representing the interactive and digital content sector,
incoming chair Justin Cooke has told E-Access Bulletin.

Cooke is managing director of web design agency Fortune Cookie,
which has a track record of creating accessible websites for clients
such as Legal and General. He has been elected chair of BIMA for
three years, heading an executive board that also includes senior
representatives of leading ad agencies, national newspaper websites,
digital agencies and recruitment and skills firms.

"In order for something to be interactive - to allow people to engage,
interact and transact - it has to be accessible," Cooke told the bulletin
in an exclusive interview the week after his appointment.
"Accessibility needs to be a key principle in developing interactive
work. It is about removing barriers - by removing barriers for
everybody, accessibility in a purer sense can be taken care of."

Cooke said he will recommend that BIMA create a set of simple, clear
guidelines on accessibility for its members as part of a 100-day plan to
create measurable proposals for improvement. "We will not create our
own standards, but I want to showcase how you create accessible
experiences and promote best practice."

He said he will also look at introducing accessibility as a key part of
the education work BiMA carries out with schools, colleges and
universities, aimed at boosting skills and bringing talented recruits into
the industry.

Ultimately, the key point for the interactive media industry is that
accessible products will be a bigger commercial success, Cooke said.
"Accessibility isn't just about compliance, it's about return on
investment," he said. "If a product is more accessible, you are going to
make more money. But there is still some education to be done in this
area."

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=298 .


+03: Public Procurement Enlisted To Improve Equality.

Public sector procurement should be used to improve equality for
people with disabilities, including the development of more accessible
IT systems, according to a government bill passing through Parliament.

The Equality Bill
( http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2008-09/equality.html
), introduced to the Commons on 24 April and currently undergoing its
committee stages, aims to reform and harmonise equality law. Notes
accompanying the bill say: "With an annual expenditure of around
£175 billion every year on goods and services, the public sector has an
important opportunity to use its purchasing power to promote equality
where possible."

Aimed at replacing previous legislation on inequality, including the
Disability Discrimination Act, the bill calls for selective procurement
to ensure public services reflect the skills and needs of a diverse
society. "It is right that public money is spent on goods and services in
a way that advances the government's public policy objectives on
equality," the notes say.

Examples of how this strategy could be implemented are outlined,
including the use of pre-qualification questionnaires for assessing the
suitability of potential suppliers, with a possible requirement to
disclose any previous breaches of equality legislation.

The Employers' Forum on Disability has welcomed the bill. Speaking
to E-Access Bulletin about procurement of accessible ICT equipment,
Vanessa Hardy, EFD's Campaigns Manager, said: "We know that
many disabled employees are still faced with inaccessible non-web
based legacy in the workplace. However, [suppliers] are starting to
understand the mutual benefits to business and disabled people of
delivering accessible and usable products."

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=300 .


++News in Brief:

+04: Screen Award: A free, open source screen-reader which enables
users to access the Microsoft Windows operating system has won a
'Making A Difference' award from Vision Australia, an organisation
helping blind and visually impaired people. The NVDA (NonVisual
Desktop Access) system, developed by NV Access, uses synthetic
speech and Braille, and can be run without installation from a USB
drive:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/nvda1 .

+05: Learning Link: The rise of e-learning and its impact on
accessibility and education for people with disabilities is the subject of
a feature in E-Access Bulletin's sister publication, E-Government
Bulletin. Written by learning design consultant Andrew Hooley, the
full article can be accessed here:
http://www.headstar.com/egblive/?p=223

+06: Audio Food: Audio menus have been installed in a pub in the
Yorkshire Dales National Park by DotSix Brailling Services using
'Boombox' technology. The menus are more accessible than others
produced using Braille or large print, DotSix says, and can be produced
for a small cost and maintained using free software:
http://www.dotsix.co.uk/

[Section One ends].


++Sponsored Notice: Media Trust Seminars, July

Introduction to accessible publications:
- how to ensure your pamphlets and brochures are accessible to older
and disabled people
London: 28 July 2009, 10am to 1pm,

Can everyone read your organisation's leaflets, brochures and posters,
or is poor legibility getting in their way? What about Braille, large
print and audio? Does the design of your publications take into account
age, literacy and the varying needs of disabled people, and are you
meeting the requirements of the government and funders? In this
session you will gain confidence in producing publications that
everyone can read.

Introduction to digital inclusion:
- how to ensure your web content is accessible
London: 28 July 2009, 2pm to 5pm,

You've designed a website but can everyone use it? In this session you
will discover how good web design impacts disabled and older people,
through interactive demonstrations including the latest eye-tracking
technology.

Price per seminar: Private companies £118.75 + VAT; Not-for-
profits/charities £95 + VAT. To book visit:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/mt3 .

[Sponsored notice ends].


++Section Two: 'The Inbox'

- Readers' Forum.

Please email all contributions or responses to:
inbox at headstar.com .

+07: Readers' Rights: It is always a delight to receive letters from our
readers across the globe, and this month we have two. Asim Rauf from
Pakistan writes in to contribute to our ongoing debate about the right of
blind people to have audio access to electronic books, in the wake of
news stories describing the removal of a speech function from some
electronic book readers in a dispute over audio licensing.

"I am reading the discussion regarding disabling text-to-speech of e-
books," writes Asim. "If it is a right to buy and read books, similarly, it
is also a right to have access to books purchased by blind people. If a
person buys a book, and he is unable to read the same, then his right is
violated.

"I am therefore of the view, that the text-to-speech characteristic at the
web should not be disabled. Otherwise, it will amount to depriving
visually impaired people of their right to read books. Second, can
anyone help me in finding free e-book sites, from where I can read
good books?"

Responses please to inbox at headstar.com .

+08: BBC Hitch: Meanwhile Rakesh Chand, a reader and past
correspondent from the beautiful Pacific island nation of Fiji, writes in
to report problems accessing one of the services on the BBC News
website using a screen-reader. The service in question is the site's
handy facility of being able to email a news story to a friend or
colleague via a pop-up window.

"I just visited the BBC website, and discovered that JAWS won't
speak on certain fields if I was posting the story to somebody else,"
Rakesh writes. "It's pretty bothersome, as there are some fields where
JAWS would become silent. So, I couldn't tell if it was the cc area or
subject-line.

"I would appreciate you having a look and advocating how it may be
fixed."

Any input from readers - especially those from the BBC - much
appreciated, to inbox at headstar.com .

[Section Two ends].


++Special Notice: Fortune Cookie
- Web Sites That Really Work.

Fortune Cookie's dedicated web accessibility team makes sure that
everyone finds the web sites we design easy to use. As well as being
accessible, Fortune Cookie sites are beautiful and deliver stunning
return-on-investment. They're award-winning too. In 2007, our work
was nominated for major web design awards 11 times.

Legal & General, Kuoni, Diabetes UK, FT Business - just some of the
big name brands on Fortune Cookie's client list.

Every business can benefit from making its web site more accessible.
If you'd like to know what accessibility can do for your business, talk
to Fortune Cookie.

Visit our web site at:
http://www.fortunecookie.co.uk

Julie Howell is our Director of Accessibility. Email Julie at:
Julie.Howell at fortunecookie.co.uk .

[Special notice ends]


Section Three: Ofcom report
- Acces barriers.

+09: Communication Breakdown?
by Tristan Parker.

"The more this gets talked about, the better", says one interviewee in a
new report on access to communications, broadcasting and IT by older
people and people with disabilities.

It sounds simple enough, but it's a key point: tackling barriers to
accessibility is not an insurmountable task, but the starting points are
realising the issues, airing them, and discussing them: all sadly still
quite rare in modern organisations.

The report, 'Exploring how manufacturers, suppliers and retailers
address the needs of older and disabled people: what are the barriers
and drivers?' (
http://fastlink.headstar.com/of1 ),
was undertaken by i2 media research for the Advisory Committee on
Older and Disabled People (ACOD -
http://fastlink.headstar.com/acod1 ),
a sub-group of communications and broadcasting industry regulator
Ofcom. Its findings were based on interviews with senior figures from
20 companies, representing a cross-section of the broadcasting,
telecommunications and online sectors.

The interviewee responses pinpoint a number of barriers preventing
their respective industries from better addressing the needs of disabled
people. Lack of user research into usability and accessibility was found
to be a common barrier, and this was also found to be true even in
larger companies that carry out substantial consumer research on other
topics.

There was found to be a reliance in some organisations on "gut feeling
and expertise" to address customer needs, rather than specialist
research. Tellingly, one interviewee said: "If we always did what the
customer wants, we wouldn't move forward at all." This apparent
knowledge gap might help explain why some participants also reported
that they found it difficult to build a business case for more accessible
products.

As well as uncovering obstacles to progress, a key objective of the
report was to identify what could be done to improve the current
situation and overcome obstructive barriers. Several common themes
emerged in this respect, including - unsurprisingly, given the 'gut
feeling' finding - calls for greater availability of current research on
the needs of disabled people.

Other ideas for improvement included using the procurement process
to demand more accessible products, and better consumer
communications. In fact, several interviewees said consumers currently
"do not have sufficiently high expectations of the usability and
accessibility of media products and services." This is a problem, since
if customer feedback about accessibility and usability is not present, it
will be even harder for companies to encourage developments in this
area, the report finds.

The report's primary conclusion was that despite finding evidence of
support of accessibility issues in some companies, other pressures
often took priority. These often included commercial considerations:
"If companies do not believe they will benefit financially from
addressing the needs of older and disabled people . and if there is no
external requirement or incentive for them to do so . there is little
reason to envisage a change to the status quo."

The report warns of a potentially bleak future for accessibility should
this external encouragement not be supplied: "The current economic
downturn and competing commercial pressures are likely to limit the
extent to which industry is able to better address the needs of older and
disabled people."

It was also concluded that a more collaborative approach across the
industry was needed, as well as better co-operation between the
industry and stakeholders. Many companies were happy to address
accessibility and usability issues, but wanted to do so through an
inclusive method - potentially through communication with charities
and government - rather than being "lobbied or pressurised" into doing
so.

On the positive side, the report does suggest that most companies are
willing to explore accessibility issues, providing that certain criteria are
met, and that they are certain the need exists in the first place. Which
brings us neatly back to our opening remark: the more accessibility is
openly discussed, and the need for action is firmly established, the
better for all concerned.

And you can comment on this story now, on EAB Live:
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=303 .

[Section Three ends].


++Sponsored Notice: Adept Transcription
- Alternative Formats At Affordable Prices.

When you want alternative formats for disabled colleagues, customers
and staff, call Adept.

Formats we produce include audio, audio description, Braille, BSL,
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Contact us at:
Tel: 0208 133 5418 (precede with 18001 for typetalk)
Email transcription at adept-uk.org

[Sponsored Notice ends]


++End Notes.

+How to Receive the Bulletin.

To subscribe to this free monthly bulletin, email
eab-subs at headstar.com
with 'subscribe eab' in the subject header. You can list other email
addresses to subscribe in the body of the message. Please encourage all
your colleagues to sign up! To unsubscribe at any time, put
'unsubscribe eab' in the subject header.

Please send comments on coverage or leads to Dan Jellinek at:
dan at headstar.com .

Copyright 2009 Headstar Ltd http://www.headstar.com .
The Bulletin may be reproduced as long as all parts including this
copyright notice are included, and as long as people are always
encouraged to subscribe with us individually by email. Please also
inform the editor when you are reproducing our content. Sections of
the bulletin may be quoted as long as they are clearly sourced as 'taken
from e-access bulletin, a free monthly email newsletter', and our web
site address:
http://www.headstar.com/eab
is also cited.

+Personnel:
Editor - Dan Jellinek.
Reporter: Tristan Parker.
Editorial advisor - Kevin Carey.

ISSN 1476-6337.

[Issue 114 ends.] 

Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
MSN Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com
Skype:  steve1963