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Accessibility on the Internet |
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Creating Accessible Web Pages,
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Here we will provide some feedback on the assignment for Part 2--using accessible web techniques learned so far to create Web pages for the Strategic Plan Framework developed earlier.
These suggestions are intended to help each country group to refine and elaborate their Web pages.
We are very impressed by the draft papers. They show a good sense of how the Internet
can be used to increase accessibility for
all. Each in its own way is an excellent response to different national situations.
____________________________________________________
President of Associates for International Management Services
I have been pleased to observe this seminar, even from a distance. As President of AIMS
and a representative to the United
Nations of an international disability organization, I have been very impressed by the
work of the seminar. I would like to make
some concluding observations on that work.
All of the pages have very good ideas in them. Most of them did focus on the disability
issues.
While they are all nationally-oriented, if they are taken together, they actually reflect
a regional perspective. There are many
common elements in them.
None, however, have content at present that would allow a user to deal with disability
issues. It would be nice to have the
Standard Rules for the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities cited
and even used. In using disability
terminology, it might be useful to make use of -- and link to -- the WHO's International
Classification of Impairment, Disability
and Handicap, that is currently being revised.
The use of resource links is also very good. For example, the Philippines makes a link to
the DPA/Singapore page that is one of
the best in the world. The Singapore Web page in the seminar is also excellent, but could
benefit by including material to
promote the Standard Rules.
More attention to the disability community as an intended audience in all of the pages
would be helpful.
One of my concerns is that the Standard Rules, which are the main international instrument
for accessibility be strengthened to
take account of the technological changes that have occurred since the Rules were
negotiated. Since the Rules were agreed by
all countries, including all of the ASEAN countries, they can be used as a normative
framework for national and regional
policies.
Within the Group of 77 in the United Nations, ASEAN countries like the Philippines, have
taken the lead in promoting the
disability issue. It would be interesting if the ASEAN countries could reach an agreement
on the kinds of norms they think
should be in place and promote them within the United Nations.
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I would make a general comment that, because the Internet is inherently borderless,
national efforts should be supplemented by
regional and global efforts. Just as the participants would have had to find ways to agree
and reach consensus about the various
exercises, those persons designing and using the Internet can only successfully achieve
accessibility if they agree on the norms
and standards. That is how technical standards, like Internet Protocol version 6 (Ipv6) or
the MPEG3 are elaborated. A very
recent example, yesterday, was the policies to govern the regional domain name registries
under ICANN, including APNIC, the
Asian regional registry.
For accessibility, there needs to be a similar large-scale agreement. Here the main
concern would be the norms and standards
that would be applied. Should all sites be encouraged to have both text- and
graphics-based versions? Should there be an effort
to ensure that connections are available to all residential areas? There need to be
accessibility standards covering the whole
range of issues, many of which are addressed in the draft papers.
In looking at the drafts, it would be useful to see whether, taken as a whole, they
contain elements on which all could agree.
These would be the basis of regional standards. One could envisage encouraging APNIC to
publicize these standards to anyone
registering a domain name in the region. Or using other regional institutions, like ASEAN,
to do so.
But it would be important also to see that regional standards have to be part of a global
context. International standards develop
because one group of countries or constituencies see the need for the norms and act to
convince others of their merits. There
are few specific accessibility standards that have been agreed internationally and one
could see a positive role for ASEAN in
developing and promoting the kinds of standards that would work for its members and then
suggesting them as viable standards
for the rest of the world.
It would be interesting to see how the same techniques that were used in the seminar could
be employed to help develop those
standards.
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My comments are from the perspective of promoting accessibility through distance collaboration. I will comment on each one of the the six ASEAN country Web sites, and I will conclude with a general observation.
An information centre for disabilities is a wonderful idea, because it enables visitors to obtain current information about disabled persons and social services without leaving their homes. The Web site is especially useful if it is truly interative so that the visitors can submit requests for information, as well as to browse existing categories. An extremely useful site.
This is a very good example of how a Web site can be used to walk visitors through the planning process. Distance collaboration will be especially useful at the policy development stage. Through distance collaboration a wide variety of persons, including disabled persons who usually do not have access to the policy process, could be involved in the development of accessibility policy. Well done, indeed.
This site does an outstanding job of describing objectives and strategies, and it also contains a very useful list of hyperlinks to resources. This site could be even more useful to visitors if they had the opportunity to contribute information about the current state of IT infrastructure and examples of resources. An excellent Web site.
This is a very comprehensive plan that focuses on all ASEAN member states. Because of its regional focus, the site could be used to obtain feedback and ideas from local organizations. In addition, distance collaboration applications, such as video conferences and text chat could be added to involve relevant authorities in ASEAN countries. A wonderful example of how a comprehensive Web site can be integrated into a strategic plan.
This is a plan that is perfect for distance collaboration! A variety of organizations and persons in Thailand will be able to participate through distance collaboration to help identify the Steering Committee and develop guidelines. In the first year, the Web site will provide a central focus for the preparation and development of papers and guidelines. An outstanding concept paper!
This plan is designed to maximize feedback from visitors on issue of Internet accessibility. The on-line forum, which can be done as a threaded discussion, will deeply enrich the site and motivate visitors to return for more information. By using a guestbook, the Web site can be used to obtain feedback and comments from the visitors, as well as contact data. This Web site will be very useful for both the providers and visitors.
All six of the Web site plans are excellent and illustrate in different ways how the Internet can be used to promote accessibility. The next step is to plan a truly regional effort that would take advantage of the combined resources of the ASEAN countries. To achieve this goal distance collaboration techniques will be vital.
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