World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
"Leading the Web to its full potential"
- Initiated and directed by Tim Berners-Lee
- International, vendor-neutral consortium
- Multi-stakeholder, consensus process
- Open and royalty-free Web standards:
- HTML, CSS, XML, SVG, SMIL, ...
W3C Structure
Operates from MIT, ERCIM, and Keio with ~350 Member Organizations from
- Commercial Web industry
- Technology adopters
- Research & development
- User organizations
- Public institutions
W3C Standardization
W3C Process governs W3C development:
- Consensus-based process
- Single vote per Member
- Roles and responsibilities
- Transparancy and openess
- Public accountability
W3C Work Areas
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
WAI develops strategies, guidelines, resources to make the Web accessible:
- Accessibility support in W3C technologies
- Guidelines for implementing accessibility
- Methods for evaluating accessibility
- Conducting education and outreach
- Coordinating with Research and Development
What is Web Accessibility?
Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web.
- Universal design approach
(aka "inclusive design" or "design for all")
- Cross-disability perspective
people with hearing, movement, sight, and cognitive disabilites
- Cross-technological solution
overlap with Web usability, mobile Web, ubiquituous Web, ...
Why is it Important?
The Web has become an essential medium for:
- news, information, commerce, entertainment,
- job searching, workplace interaction,
- civic participation, government services,
- classroom education, distance learning
Access to information has been recognized as human right by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)
Barriers on the Web
Web accessibility barriers for people with disabilities include:
- Images, videos, audio with no alternative text
- Layout and font do not expand and shrink well
- Forms and controls can not be used by keyboard
- Inconsistent and/or overly complex navigation
- Script events are device and browser dependent
- No user control, no language identification, ...
Web Accessibility Principles
Any content on the Web must be:
- Perceivable - Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive
- Operable - User interface components and navigation must be operable
- Understandable - Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable
- Robust - Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies
Additional User Benefits
Web accessibility also benefits many other users:
- Low literacy or computer skills
- Temporal functional limitations
- Situation or external influence
- Limited bandwidth connectivity
- Legacy hardware and software
- Mobile and PDA technology
Up to 65% can benefit from accessibility (source: Microsoft Research)
Resulting Business Benefits
Web accessibility provides business benefits:
- Increase audience reach and market share
- Reduce maintenance and redesign costs
- Increase server and bandwidth efficiency
- Support older and newer technologies
- Improve the access for mobile Web users
Scope of Web Accessibility
Web accessibility is supported by several key components:
- Base Format - technologies such as (X)HTML, CSS, SVG, SMIL, PDF, Flash, Silverlight, ...
- Authoring Tools - code editors, CMS, blog, wiki, save-as tools, conversion tools, ...
- User Agents - Web browsers, media players, browser plug-ins, assisitive technology, ...
- Web Content - text, images, audio, video, code, markup, structure, presentation, ...
Components of Web Accessibility
Example: Accessible Publishing
WAI Accessibility Guidelines
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops and maintains:
Relevance for e-Learning
Principles of Web accessibility are closely related to online learning:
- Multi-modal interaction - learners can interact with the content in different modes
- Device-independance - supports a wide range of software systems and hardware devices
- Customizable and adaptable - system can cater to users personal needs and preferences
- Improved system usability - higher user satisfaction, better learning experience, ...
Example: Accessible Content
Accessible content improves the quality of the e-Learning systems:
- Audio transcripts: people with hearing and learning disabilities, non-native speakers and people with low literacy, search engines, ...
- Image descriptions: people with sight and learning disabilities, non-visual learners those who miss the visual cues, search engines, ...
- Keyboard support: people with movement disabilities, learners using mobile devices, television boxes, kiosks, or other hardware, ...
- Simple language: people with learning disabilities, non-native speakers and people with low literacy, learners with individual needs, ...
Conclusion
Inclusion of people with disabilities and older people in online education is:
- ... a recognized human right (UN)
- ... required by laws and policies
- ... provides business benefits
- ... improves e-Learning quality
