Web Accessibility Initiative Education & Outreach Working Group Charter

(WAI EO WG)

1. Mission statement
2. Scope
3. Duration of work items
4. Deliverables to be produced
5. Dependencies of this group on other groups
6. Dependencies of other groups on this
7. Intended degree of Confidentiality
8. Relation to other groups
9. Milestones for work items & deliverables
10. Meeting mechanisms & schedules
11. Communication mechanisms
12. Voting mechanisms
13. Level of involvement of Team
14. W3C staff contact
15. Estimate of time commitment a group member would have to make in order to participate.

1.0 Mission statement

The Education and Outreach Working Group will develop strategies and materials to increase awareness among the Web community of the need for Web accessibility, and educate the Web community regarding solutions to Web accessibility.

2.0 Scope

2.1 Scope of work items

Items included in the scope of work are:

• planning & prioritizing education/outreach strategies & approaches;
• identification & prioritization of audiences for dissemination/outreach/education;
• compiling existing educational materials, event opportunities;
• developing & refining outreach message & educational materials in a variety of formats;
• promoting implementation of accessibility improvements in technology of the Web;
• coordinating with related educational activities;
• coordinating translation & localization of education & outreach materials;
• assessing impact of educational activities.

2.2 Criteria for success

Criteria for success of EO WG include:

• wide adoption of WAI education & outreach materials;
• demonstration of increase in Web accessibility resulting from education & outreach activities.

Attempted measurement of increase in Web accessibility will likely be contaminated by several factors, including degree of implementation of accessibility improvements in Web technologies due to the W3C/WAI Technical Activity; changes in the tools which measure Web accessibility; changes in predominance of different media on the Web; and education and advocacy by other related projects.

Nevertheless some impact data would be useful towards on-going prioritization of education and outreach strategies.  At a minimum the EO WG should:

• identify sources of baseline data on Web accessibility;
• conduct post-training evaluation on the effectiveness of particular education approaches.

3.0 Duration of work items

The expected duration of the EO WG is two years, at which time the group should be re-chartered for the duration of WAI work.

4.0 Deliverables to be produced

4.1 Process for developing and releasing educational material:

Many deliverables of the EO WG will be produced under subcontract, or by delegation to WAI staff, but with the guidance of this group.  The EO WG will review at least one draft of each of the educational deliverables, and comments will be incorporated to the extent appropriate.  The W3C is the final arbiter of materials release.

4.2 Materials to support education and outreach:

• EO WG workplan/strategies/priorities & deliverables schedule;
• dissemination points (international, multi-stakeholder: industry, disability organizations, research organizations, government, publishers, designers);
• compilation of existing Web accessibility materials, related activities, event opportunities, policy references;
• compilation of baseline data/ or approaches to gathering baseline data on Web accessibility

4.3 Educational & outreach materials (variety of formats -- Web-based, CD, hard-copy, etc.) to include:

• FAQ's on accessibility improvements in W3C technical specifications
• code samples for accessible design
• sample accessible style sheets
• demonstrations of accessible & inaccessible design & innovations
• awareness & promotion materials
• policy references on accessibility
• business case for accessibility & Universal Design (Design For All)
• instructional modules for accessible design
• pre-whacked Web sites on accessibility
• presentation & workshop packages

5.0 Dependencies of this group on other groups

5.1 Groups to which deliverables promised

There are no dependencies of other W3C groups on this.

5.2 Liaison method for communication over deliverables

Not applicable.

6.0 Dependencies of other groups on this

6.1  Expected time of delivery

• WAI Protocols & Formats Working Group -- multiple sets of accessibility requirements with regard to existing W3C specifications, as adopted or negotiated by the relevant W3C working groups:  on-going.
• WAI Mark-Up Guidelines Working Group - WAI Accessibility Guidelines: Page Authoring.
• WAI User Interface Guidelines Working Group - WAI Accessibility Guidelines: Browsers.
• WAI Authoring Tools Guidelines Working Group - WAI Accessibility Guidelines: Authoring Tools.
• WAI Rating & Certification Interest Group - evaluation & validation tools for accessibility checking.

6.2  Specified level of conformance of groups, or requirements documents

Accessibility requirements, guidelines, and rating & certification tools must address cross-disability considerations, be consensus-based, technically sound, and reflect the most current technology.

7.0 Intended degree of Confidentiality

7.1 Confidentiality of group procedings & deliverables

Group procedings, e-mail list & archives, and deliverables are public.

7.2 Confidentiality of charter

Charter is public.

8.0 Relation to other groups

8.1 Relation to W3C Groups

• The WAI  EO Working Group is closely related to other WAI working groups and interest groups, and is coordinated by the WAI Coordination Group.
• The WAI EO Working Group's work is closely related to the WAI-TIDE project, in particular the educational work packages, and there should be WAI-TIDE representation in the WAI EO Working Group.

8.2 Relation to External Groups

The WAI EO WG should coordinate activities with:

• IEEE CS Internet Best Practices Committee
• Numerous Internet Accessibility Groups in various countries; one of the first tasks of the EO WG will be to compile an up to date list of these organizations.

9.0 Milestones for work items & deliverables

(First half year)

• March, 1998 - convene EO WG; review WG plan & deliverables; compile dissemination points for WAI outreach; release technical FAQ on accessibility in HTML 4.0;
• April, 1998 - release technical FAQ on accessibility in CSS2; release code samples for page author guidelines & HTML 4.0; compile existing Web accessibility materials, related activities, & event opportunities; review outreach & event plan;
• May, 1998 - release business case for Web accessibility; release sample accessible style sheets; release basic awareness & promotional materials on Web accessibility; publish policy references;
• June, 1998 - conduct interactive training for content developers; release instructional modules for page authoring; release pre-whacked Web site on Web accessibility;
• July, 1998 - release baseline data on Web accessibility; release demonstrations on accessible & inaccessible design;
• September, 1998 - release packaged presentation & workshop materials;
• On-going: translation of materials into Japanese, possibly other languages

10. Meeting mechanisms & schedules

• primary meeting mechanism: w3c-wai-eo list
• monthly meeting: by phone
• quarterly (roughly) meeting: face-to-face

11. Communication mechanisms

11.1 Communication within the group

• w3c-wai-eo list
• WAI EO group home page
• monthly to bi-weekly phone meetings
• quarterly face-to-face meetings

11.2 Communication with W3C

• coordination through WAI Coordination Group to other WAI working groups and interest groups
• communication to W3C Member organizations through monthly bulletin

11.3 Communication with the public

• through monthly bulletin.

12.0 Voting mechanisms

One vote per member organization or technical expert's organization, via e-mail.

13.0 Level of involvement of Team

• 25% Judy Brewer - EO WG chair, staff contact, deliverables subcontracting and/or delegating
• 20% Ian Jacobs - FAQ & code sample development
• %TBD Masafumi Nakane - Promotion & outreach in Asian community
• Additional internal & external resources to be determined and to be allocated from W3C/WAI International Program Office funds.

14.0 W3C staff contact

• Brewer

15.0 Estimated time commitment a group member would have to make in order to participate

• minimum 4 hours per week
• must remain current on w3c-wai-eo list & respond in timely manner to postings
• must participate in monthly or bi-weekly phone meetings or regrets to chair

If you want to join the WAI Education & Outreach Working Group, please complete this form and send it as an email to <wai-eo-call@w3.org>
 
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WAI-EO working group participation form
 
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March 10, 1998

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