DRAFT Registration open for:
Teleconference on Making Visualizations of Complex Information Accessible for People with Disabilities

28 June 2004 - 14:00 UTC [10:00 New York, 15:00 London, 23:00 Tokyo].

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Research and Development Interest Group (RDIG) announces that registration is now open for the second in a series of teleconferences focusing on research issues in the area of accessibility and Web-related technologies.

Introduction

The Web is home to a growing and dynamic source of complex information and data sets from many domains. This information includes scientific measurements, financial data, modelling and simulation results, demographic information, and metrics describing the Web itself (communities, metadata, and relationships between pages).

Researchers and practitioners are seeking to develop innovative graphical presentations of information (visualizations). Effective visualization can make it easier for a user to quickly ascertain trends, make comparisons in several dimensions, and detect irregularities or anomalies in data. Visualizations can help users see new, interesting information or relationships between data and illustrate structures and known, useful relationships.

Our visual system is able to process large amounts of information in parallel, seeing structures and detecting irregularities. However, users who cannot see well need other methods to learn about the relationships. In addition, users with cognitive disabilities may need simplified presentations of complex visualizations and users who have difficulty interacting with spatial information may need information presented or operated sequentially. On the other hand, people with reading disabilities may find visualizations easier to understand than text.

This teleconference will explore accessibility issues in visualization technologies from the perspectives of researchers in the field. Presenters include:

Kent Cullers, SETI Institute (keynote speaker)
Al Gilman, Trace R&D Center,
Mayer Max, Sharkatech Research
Ed Sims, CTO, VCom3d
Lisa Seeman, UBAccess
Haixia Zhao and Catherine Plaisant, University of Maryland

Additional details and position papers are located on the teleconference agenda page.

Who should participate

Researchers and practitioners active in any aspect of Visualization Technologies, Human Computer Interaction, Assistive Technologies, Disability Studies, Web Accessibility, or related fields; and people with disabilities with interest or experience in different approaches to accommodating their requirements for accessible Web-based visualizations.

Goals of the Teleconference

Participants in this conference can expect to learn about current research in making visualization technologies for the internet accessible to persons with disabilities and to develop contacts with people performing such research.

The mission of the Research and Development Interest Group (RDIG) is to increase the number of Web-related researchers who incorporate accessibility into their research design, to identify projects researching Web accessibility, and suggest techniques that may contribute to new projects. The desired outcome of more research in Web accessibility and awareness of accessibility in mainstream Web-related research should decrease the number of potential barriers in future Web-related technologies.

Proceedings of the Teleconference will be published on the web by the Research and Development Interest Group.

Event Information

The teleconference will take place on Monday, 28 June 2004 at 14:00 UTC [10:00 New York, 15:00 London, 23:00 Tokyo]. To determine the time in your location, we recommend TimeAndDate.com. Registration for the teleconference is required and is limited to 40 participants. Registration will close on 21 June, 2004.

Duration: 2 hours.
Structure: Six brief presentations with Web-based presentation materials followed by moderated panel discussion.
Captioning: Caption Colorado will provide realtime captioning of the teleconference call. Users of the service only need a computer with an Internet connection to view the transcript.
Asking questions during the call: Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and email will be available to ask questions during the teleconference call.
Submitting questions in advance: Questions for discussion may be submitted by email to the chair, Mark Hakinnen, no later than 08:00 EST on Wednesday, 23 June 2004.

Timeline

21 June - Registration closes
22 June - Call-in and caption information sent to first 40 registrants
24 June - Close of discussion question collection via email (questions must be sent to the chair, Mark Hakinnen, by 12:00 UTC [08:00 New York, 13:00 London, 21:00 Tokyo])
28 June - Event at 14:00 UTC [10:00 New York, 15:00 London, 23:00 Tokyo]

$Date: 2004/06/01 17:30:34 $ Wendy Chisholm