[DRAFT] Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group Charter

Scope

Activities within the WCAG WG scope of work include:

1. Support Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Recommendation:
   • Maintain errata for WCAG 2.0;
   • Maintain Understanding WCAG 2.0 for editorial issues and additional clarifications;
   • Maintain Techniques for WCAG 2.0 to add techniques and update applicability and sufficiency information;
   • Continue to expand and maintain techniques for implementing WCAG 2.0 across all web platforms including mobile;
   • Develop support materials as needed to explain the application of WCAG 2.0 to particular situations, e.g., cognitive accessibility, accessibility support, and applicability to devices such as e-books, mobile communications, tablets, automotive interfaces, Web-enabled television, etc. and across emerging technologies such as social networking, real-time communications, Web-based television viewing, etc.;
   • Respond to public comments on WCAG 2.0 and its support materials;
   • Publish alternate format versions of WCAG 2.0 to meet particular needs, such as PDF and zip / tgz files;
   • Better enable public interaction by improving feedback mechanisms and procedures;
   • Coordinate with other groups to support public awareness of WCAG 2.0 and how to use it;
   • Publish WCAG 2.0 Edited Recommendation to incorporate editorial errata only.
2. Develop normative WCAG 2.0 extensions to address special topic areas as needed without changing the meaning of conformance to WCAG 2.0 on its own:
   • Explore specific user groups and industry verticals that have identified needs for concrete guidance, including but not limited to:
     • mobile devices,
     • cognitive impairments and learning disabilities,
     • digital learning materials,
     • low vision;
   • Ensure that extensions are optional and are not required for conformance to WCAG 2.0;
   • Ensure that while extensions may or may not redefine aspects of WCAG 2.0 within the context of the extension, extension work does not affect the validity of any current WCAG 2.0 claim;
   • Guidance for how WCAG 2.0 extensions could apply to non-web content as needed;
3. Explore accessibility issues and define requirements for potential future guidelines:
   • Review feature requests that are not fully met by current versions;
   • Explore accessibility implications of new types of technologies that were not forecast during the development of WCAG 2.0;
   • Evaluate proposed requirements that were not considered testable in WCAG 2.0 but may now be due to advances in technology;
   • Consider impact of new assistive technologies and cloud-based accessibility services on accessibility;
   • Explore impact of future work on regulatory policies where WCAG 2.0 is currently adopted;
   • Publish requirements document for future WCAG version.
4. Coordinate with other groups working on WCAG related activities:
   • Participate in work on documentation of accessibility support, including other WAI work on an accessibility support database to store crowd-sourced accessibility support information, although the WCAG WG will not maintain or review the data itself;
   • Collaborate with other groups to expand the set of test samples for WCAG 2.0 techniques;
   • Collaborate with other groups to address new web content accessibility issues;
   • Contribute input where appropriate towards requirements for future web accessibility guidelines from other parts of the Web Accessibility Initiative.

The UAAG and ATAG Working Group charters are expected to expire in one year. A new Working Group that addresses uses cases, user needs, and guidelines for content, user agents, and authoring tools may be chartered to take the place of all three groups, in which case the WCAG Working Group would end its charter early.

Task Forces

Consistent with W3C Process requirements on Task Forces, the WCAG WG may form task forces composed of WCAG WG participants or join other W3C task forces to carry out assignments when under the chartered scope of WCAG WG. Any such task force must have a work statement (including objectives, communication, participation, and leadership) that has been announced on the WCAG WG mailing list, approved by the WCAG WG, and is available from the WCAG WG home page task forces list. WCAG WG task forces should produce requirements documents that outline the scope and expectations for work. Task forces may set up separate teleconferences and hold face-to-face meetings per the W3C process and with the approval of the WCAG WG.

Success Criteria

• Periodic publication of Understanding WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.0 Techniques;
• Publishing WCAG 2.0 extension specifications and support materials;
• Improved information available about understanding and implementation of WCAG 2.0;
• Increased reflection of WCAG 2.0 in other specifications;
• Clearer vision for future web content accessibility authoring guideline requirements.

Deliverables

The following deliverables will be published as W3C Technical Reports:

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Edited Recommendation to incorporate editorial errata only;
• Understanding WCAG 2.0, to be published as a W3C Working Group Note or as a curated resource of the Working Group. Understanding WCAG 2.0 explains the intent of each Success Criterion and links to known sufficient techniques, both general and technology-specific;
• Techniques for WCAG 2.0, to be published as a W3C Working Group Note or as a curated resource of the Working Group. The WCAG WG will produce these documents to demonstrate applicability of WCAG 2.0 to a variety of technologies. The WCAG WG does not expect them to be a comprehensive list of all possible techniques and anticipates these documents will evolve over time. At charter time it is expected that this will transform into an index of techniques published outside of the Technical Reports to allow more frequent updating due to technology changes;
• Understanding support materials for each of the above extension specifications.
• Requirements for extension specifications for content authoring guidelines and future versions of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines;
• Extension specifications to add normative content accessibility requirements to the WCAG 2.0 base for topics identified as priorities according to the Working Group scope;

Milestones

The Working Group plans to publish updated Working Group Notes of Understanding WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.0 Techniques one or more times per year. Prior to publication as updated Working Group Notes, the Working Group publishes public editors' drafts and issues a formal review request.

A detailed plan to achieve these milestones, and known deviations from these initially chartered milestones, is documented in the WCAG WG Deliverables.