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 2011, through September 2011.
EOWG continued developing materials to promote accessibility and to support other WAI groups. Particular highlights include the following:
RDWG (previously Research and Development Interest Group) started collecting and documenting web accessibility research topics. RDWG selected website accessibility metrics as a first topic for further exploration through an online symposium to be held on December 5 2011. Further information 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, identi.ca 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.
WAI Working Group Chairs and Staff Contacts met and coordinated regularly through WAI CG on key topics. Particular focus was put on coordinating accessibility requirements from different WAI working groups as input into HTML5 development; the development of WAI-ARIA specifications and their relationship to web content, authoring tools, and user agents; and the development of a WAI testing repository as part of the W3C testing framework that is currently under development.
Additionally, WAI staff conducted the following promotion, harmonization, and outreach activities, including some of the following highlights:
Presentations:
Standards coordination and promotion:
WAI staff monitored developments, provided comments, and maintained dialog on the development of technical requirements for web accessibility in: Canada, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, 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 now available in 8 languages.
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 | Judy Brewer | Judy Brewer | Chartered until 30 June 2013 |
This Activity Statement was prepared for TPAC 2011 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 1.333 2012/02/08 13:07:48 sysbot Exp $