Given the vital role that the Web plays throughout society, it is essential to ensure that the Web is accessible to people with disabilities. Access to the Web can affect people with auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, and visual disabilities. The solutions developed for web accessibility also benefit non-disabled people. The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) International Program Office helps create a forum where representatives of industry, the disability community, research, and government work together to identify accessibility requirements and develop solutions under W3C Process.
WAI's International Program Office Activity includes the following groups:
The following are key highlights of the WAI International Program Office since the previous W3C Advisory Committee Meeting in May 2012, through October 2012.
EOWG continued developing materials to promote accessibility and to support other WAI groups. Particular highlights include the following:
RDWG continued to gather reasearch topics to help advance web accessibility, and to explore selected research topics through online symposia.
RDWG published a Working Draft of the Research Report on Web Accessibility Metrics, as an output of the Web Accessibility Metrics Symposium held in December 2011.
RDWG held a Mobile Accessibility Symposium in June 2012 and published the proceedings and transcript online. It continues work on the W3C Working Group Note from this symposium.
RDWG announced the Text Customization for Readability Symposium to be held online on 19 November 2012, and the Easy-to-Read on the Web Symposium to be held on 3 December 2012, and is currently discussing the upcoming symposium topic scheduled for first quarter 2013.
RDWG invites Working Groups, W3C Members, and others interested in web accessibility research and development to contribute research topics for exploration. More information about RDWG and its online symposia is available in the RDWG Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
WAI staff continued to engage the WAI IG community by providing regular updates on WAI work through WAI Highlights available as RSS feeds, Twitter messages, and WAI Interest Group e-mails. WAI Chairs and Working Group participants monitor WAI IG discussion for feedback on their work and participate in discussions as appropriate.
As the WAI-Engage Community Group develops, we plan to encourage engagement of WAI IG participants in WAI-Engage.
WAI Working Group Chairs and Staff Contacts met and coordinated regularly through WAI CG on key topics. Particular focus was put on coordinating on addressing accessibility requirements in HTML5 development; the development of accessibility requirements for multimedia; and the development of a WAI testing repository as part of the W3C testing framework that is currently under development.
Additionally, WAI staff conducted promotion, harmonization, and outreach activities, some of which are listed below.
Presentations:
Standards coordination and promotion:
WAI staff monitored developments, provided comments, and maintained dialog on the development of technical requirements for web accessibility in: Australia, European Commission, India, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, United States, and others.
WAI staff also promoted and supported the development of translations for WAI documents. In particular to promote the development of Authorized Translations for WCAG 2.0, that are currently available in 9 languages.
The EC-funded WAI-ACT Project continues to develop technical and educational resources through WAI Working Groups. More information is available in the WAI-ACT Project Deliverables.
The following are key highlights of the WAI International Program Office for the upcoming period:
| Group | Chair | Team Contact | Charter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Education and Outreach Working Group (participants) | Shawn Henry | Shawn Henry | Chartered until 30 June 2013 |
| Research and Development Working Group (participants) | Simon Harper | Shadi Abou-Zahra | Chartered until 30 June 2013 |
| WAI Coordination Group | Judy Brewer | Shadi Abou-Zahra | Chartered until 30 June 2013 |
| WAI Interest Group | Shawn Henry | Shawn Henry | Chartered until 30 June 2013 |
This Activity Statement was prepared for AC 2013 per section 5 of the W3C Process Document. Generated from group data.
Shadi Abou-Zahra, WAI International Program Office Activity Lead$Id: Activity.html,v 1.436 2013-06-18 15:56:35 sysbot Exp $