Seminar on Accessibility for All : Presentations :

Lessons learned from the seminar

Statement by
Clinton E. Rapley, Senior Social Affairs
Division for Social Policy and Development

It is possible to identify three lessons from the Internet accessibility seminar experience.

First, while the current seminar has examined a range of information policy, structural and technological issues, our discussions also have emphasized the critical role that economic, social and institutional variables play in technological innovation.

It might be recalled that the current seminar has its origin in a series of training workshops on development analysis and planning from the social perspective. The social perspective on information technologies and development was considered in both a staff seminar and a training workshop during 1997. One of the lessons emerging from that series of exchanges is that while technologies are neutral their application is conditioned by the capacities of the intended beneficiary population to determine the logic and appropriate uses and to maintain and develop the particular technological innovation. The issue of accessibility obtained considerable importance as a result of guidance provided by the United Nations General Assembly on strategies and priorities to further equalisation of opportunities for persons with disabilities.

An equally important factor, as discussed by Mr. Sarbuland Khan, is the economic and social preconditions for effective and sustainable technology transfer. Mr. Khan noted that accessible Internet technologies necessarily require a certain level of social and economic infrastructure in countries and their sustainability is premised on certain minimum levels of literacy, shelter and livelihoods among the population.

In another context, a representative of a member State had observed that even the most technically correct accessibility design guidelines do not necessarily promote Internet accessibility among countries. Poor families, the representative noted, often have neither the skills, nor the means nor the time for even the most accessible Internet service.

Second, our seminar took an "open" approach to providing opportunities to develop the substantive knowledge and skills of interested United Nations staff. Seminar resources were posted on the Internet in cooperation with the institutional contractor, Associates for International Management Services. The "open" approach meant that one did not have to register to access the seminar resources or to comment on the presentation of material. This resulted in the unexpected development of an international network of development professionals and representatives of the academic and non-governmental communities whose skills and experiences greatly enriched the seminar for all. There also were the occasional critical comments; but overall the final product is greater than the sum of its four main components.

Of particular note are contributions made by senior representatives of the World Blind Union and of Disabled Peoples' International to both the content of the dialogue and valuable recommendations on further improvements and future directions.

Third, the experience of the seminar has underscored the importance of strategic planning in the organisation of any complex information technology and skill development enterprise.

The strategic planning process has four main components and a feedback loop - which is one of the purposes being served by our seminar today.

Strategic planning begins with a statement of shared vision: where do we wish to go and what do we expect to accomplish. Determination of the shared vision for the current seminar served to identify how the Internet can contribute to social and economic development of countries, the importance of accessibility as the principal design concern, and what changes - and among which groups - one might expect from accessible Internet for all.

A strategic plan next requires formulation of an objective function and determination of priorities to guide activities in an effective and purposeful manner. The objective of the current seminar is to build awareness of accessibility and understanding of why and how accessible design solutions can be done at the outset of any planning exercise. Priority was attached to Internet accessibility by, for and with persons with disabilities. However, Internet accessibility benefits all.

Our strategic plan then had to formulate a scheme of operations (work plan and schedule) and strategy for execution. Our strategy was to outsource the specialist services required to plan, organise and conduct the seminar, which went to the institutional contractor, Associates for International Management Services in the light of their international experience, particularly among the non-governmental community, and international network of specialists.

Finally, there is the matter of feedback on plan implementation performance and evaluation of results. The concern here is continuous improvement of operational activities better to achieve the stated objectives of the exercise.

An example for the current seminar: when the security "firewall" at the United Nations prevented implementation of the distance collaboration section of the seminar, the approach taken was rapid experimentation to identify a "fix" in order to carry out this component. There was modest slippage in the schedule of activities, due to time required for consultations, which included useful input from specialists in the non-governmental community. The experience could contribute to further improvements in telecommunications security procedures of the Organization as well.