W3C - the World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility InitiativeAuthoring Tools Working Group

Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AUWG) Charter

This charter is written in accordance with section 4.2.2 of the W3C Process Document.

  1. Mission
  2. Scope
  3. Duration
  4. Deliverables
  5. Dependencies and relations with other groups
  6. Degree of confidentiality
  7. Milestones for work items & deliverables
  8. Meeting mechanisms & schedules
  9. Communication mechanisms
  10. Voting mechanisms
  11. Level of involvement of Team
  12. Participation

Information about how to join the AUWG

1. History and Mission

The Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AUWG) was originally chartered in December, 1997 as a Working Group of the WAI Technical Activity. It was rechartered in February 1999 and is being rechartered again in November 2000. The group has produced a number of working drafts leading to the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines, a W3C Recommendation, and two versions of Techniques for Authoring Tool Accessibility, a W3C Note. It is being rechartered to perform the following tasks:

  1. Enhance the W3C Note Techniques for Authoring Tool Accessibility.
  2. Support and track implementation of the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines, including specifying evaluation techniques.
  3. Assess the need for, and begin work on, a revision of the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines.

2. Scope

2.1 Scope of work

The scope of the AUWG's work under this charter is to support implementation of the W3C Recommendation Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (ATAG 1.0), and to assess whether there is a need for a revision of that document.

This work is expected to include :

3. Duration of Work Items

The AUWG is expected to continue for 24 months years, from November 2000 through October 2002.

4. Deliverables

4.1 Deliverables to be produced

  1. Minutes of AUWG meetings.
  2. Semi-annual revisions of the W3C Note Techniques for Authoring Tool Accessibility, as a W3C Note.
  3. Evaluations of how authoring tools conform to ATAG 1.0.
  4. End of charter report on implementation progress and assessment of need for subsequent work in this area, including if appropriate requirements for a revision of ATAG 1.0.

4.2 Success criteria

5. Dependencies and relations with other groups

5.1 Communication about dependencies within WAI

5.2 Groups with which AUWG has dependencies

6. Degree of Confidentiality

The AUWG home page, deliverables and working drafts, proceedings of meetings, email lists and archives and this charter are all public.

7. Milestones for Work Items and Deliverables

As with other WAI groups, AUWG Working Drafts must first be reviewed by the WAI Interest Group before being posted on the W3C Technical Reports page or sent to the W3C Advisory Committee (AC) for review. The minimum WAI IG review period is one week, after which the AUWG must review and incorporate WAI IG comments.

Proposed milestones:

Note. All milestones are estimated, and conditional on progress of the AUWG and review by W3C.

November 2000
Produce Public Working Draft of revised techniques document.
May 2001
Produce Public Working Draft of revised techniques document.
November 2001
Produce Public Working Draft of revised techniques document.
May 2002
Produce Public Working Draft of revised techniques document, draft of requirements for updating Guidelines
September 2002
Produce Revised Techniques Note, implementation report, requirements for revision of the Guidelines.

8. Meeting Mechanisms & Schedules

The AUWG will hold regular face-to-face meetings, which are likely to be quarterly. Where practicable these will be held in conjunction with other WAI face-to-face meetings or with an event where WAI IG members gather. Working Group meetings are announced to W3C Member organizations through the Member Events Calendar and the Member Newswire; to Working Group participants through the w3c-wai-au@w3.org mailing list; to WAI IG participants via the WAI IG mailing list; and to the general public via the WAI home page.

9. Communication Mechanisms

9.1 Communication within the group

The primary fora for Working Group discussion are the w3c-wai-au@w3.org mailing list (archives are publicly available), and regular teleconferences. As an alternative to teleconferences the group may trial the use of an Internet-based chat system, which will provide logging of the session. If the group unanimously feels that this is an improvement it may be adopted in place of some scheduled telephone conferences. The primary record of the group's activity is the AUWG home page.

  1. w3c-wai-au@w3.org mailing list archives
  2. Publication of minutes or log files for all meetings
  3. Working Group home page
  4. Face-to-face and teleconference meetings

9.2 Communication with W3C

  1. The AUWG coordinates with other WAI Working Groups through the WAI Coordination Group;
  2. The AUWG coordinates with W3C through the WAI Domain Leader;
  3. The WAI Domain Leader communicates about W3C and WAI activities through postings to WAI IG;
  4. WAI groups report to the WAI IG at quarterly face-to-face meetings.

9.3 Communication with tool developers

The AUWG encourages developers to become part of the group or to maintain close contact with its work. In addition, the group will specifically seek contacts from developers who can provide additional feedback for conformance evaluations, and act as contact points for their development teams.

9.3 Communication with the public

The AUWG communicates with the public through the AUWG home page and general W3C communication mechanisms.

10. Voting Mechanisms and Escalation

11. Involvement of Team

12. Participation

12.1 Who should participate

As the Web Accessibility Initiative is a multi-stakeholder/partnership project, it is critical that different stakeholders in Web accessibility are represented on the AUWG. These include:

12.2 Required commitment

Participants are expected to observe the requirements of the W3C Process for Working Groups. The following is an excerpt from the November 11, 1999 Process Document:

"Participation on an ongoing basis implies a serious commitment to the AUWG charter. Participation includes: attending most meetings of the AUWG, providing deliverables or drafts of deliverables in a timely fashion, being familiar with the relevant documents of the AUWG, including minutes of past meetings."

For this Working Group, the following commitment is expected:

Information about how to join the AUWG is available on the Web. Existing members in good standing at the time of rechartering will be required to join the rechartered group.

12.3 Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

The purpose of the AUWG is to produce public documents available royalty-free to everyone, following W3C standard IPR terms. Therefore, anyone commenting in the AUWG will be considered to offer these ideas as contributions to the AUWG documents. Organizations with IPR in areas related to the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines or Techniques must disclose IPR as described in the W3C Process regarding IPR and W3C's IPR fact sheet. Invited experts are required to disclose IPR claims in the same manner as individuals from W3C Member organizations.


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Last updated 21 January, 2002 by Jan Richards (jan.richards@utoronto.ca)

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