Authoring Tools Working
Group
Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AUWG) Charter
- Mission
- History
- Scope
- Duration
- Deliverables
- Dependencies and relations with other groups
- Intended degree of confidentiality
- Milestones for work items &
deliverables
- Meeting mechanisms & schedules
- Communication mechanisms
- Voting mechanisms
- Level of involvement of Team
- Participation
Information about how to join the Working Group
1. Mission
To complete the development of accessibility guidelines for authoring
tools, and to perform initial assessment of implementation of these guidelines
by authoring tool manufacturers. These guidelines should address how authoring
tools can:
- provide author support for creating accessible Web documents;
- ensure an accessible user interface for authors with disabilities.
Assessment of implementation is expected to allow improvement to the
supporting documents produced by the group, and if necessary to begin revision
of the guidelines themselves.
The Authoring Tool Guidelines Working Group was originally
chartered in December, 1997 as a Working Group of the WAI (the briefing package is
available). It was rechartered in February 1999. The
group has produced a number of working drafts, including
a Last Call Working Draft and Proposed Recommendation. The
Working Group wishes to renew the charter in order to be able to offer a
document as a Recommendation. Furthermore, it has become obvious that there is
demand for ongoing work, including monitoring of implementation outcomes and
possible improvements to the informative techniques document. It is therefore
proposed to charter the Working Group until April 2000.
3. Scope
3.1 Scope of work
The scope of the AUWG's
work is to produce guidelines for tools that are used to produce Web content.
These include:
- Editing tools specifically designed to produce Web content (e.g., WYSIWYG HTML
editors, and potentially CSS editors)
- Tools that offer the option of saving material in a Web format (e.g.,
word processors or desktop publishing packages)
- Tools that translate documents into Web formats (e.g. from PDF to
HTML)
- Tools that produce multimedia, especially where it is intended for use
on the Web (e.g. video production and editing suites)
- Tools for site management or site publication (including on-the-fly
conversion and Web site publishing tools)
- Tools for management of layout (e.g. CSS formatting tools).
4. Duration of work items
The Working Group is expected to continue until the end of April 2000.
5. Deliverables
5.1 Deliverables to be produced
- Minutes of AUWG meetings.
- Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines, as Proposed Recommendation, and
W3C Recommendation.
- Guidelines must address cross-disability considerations, be
consensus-based, technically sound, and reflect the most current
technology.
- Guidelines should contain general or abstracted principles, followed
by a rationale or explanation, followed by verifiable
checkpoints.
- Guidelines should be coordinated with the Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines and User Agent Accessibility Guidelines.
- Techniques for Authoring Tool Accessibility, as a W3C Note.
- Techniques should consist of implementation detail for
implementation of checkpoints in the guidelines.
- The first publication of this Note should be simultaneous with the
publication of the Guideines as a Recommendation.
- A revised version should be published in April 2000
- End of charter report on implementation progress and assessment of need
for subsequent work in this area.
5.2 Success criteria
- Production of deliverables listed in 4.1.
- Commitments from significant authoring tool developers to implement
Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines in future product releases.
6.1 Communication about dependencies within WAI
- The Protocols and Formats WG (PFWG public page also available) is the primary conduit
for describing and resolving dependencies between WAI groups and other W3C
Working Groups. Consequently, requirements for dependencies between the
AUWG and other W3C WG's are primarily channeled through the
PFWG, and only groups with which AUWG requires direct
discussions on dependencies are listed here.
6.2 Groups with which AUWG has dependencies
- (WAI) Protocols & Formats WG (PFWG public
page): The Working Group provides input on accessibility requirements with
regard to W3C technologies for which PFWG manages dependencies;
- (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines WG: The
Authoring Tool Accessiblity Guidelines rely on the Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines;
- (WAI) User Agent Guidelines WG -- The two groups
coordinate on common components of user interface accessibility;
- (WAI) Education & Outreach WG -- EOWG will
assist in promoting awareness & implementation of Authoring Tool
Accessibility Guidelines;
- (WAI) WAI Evaluation and Repair
Working Group and Interest Group develop and track development of
tools and documents which are important to the Working Group;
- Mobile Access IG -- The Working Group
and the Mobile Access IG will coordinate to ensure consistent approaches
on guidelines development and on CC/PP (Composite Capability
Preferences Profile);
- MathML WG (MathML public page)-- the Working Group
will coordinate with the MathML Working Group to ensure that the
Guidelines and techniques are appropriate for the needs of MathML
Authoring Tool developers;
- SYMM WG (SYMM
public page), -- the Working Group will coordinate with the SYMM
Working Group to ensure that the Guidelines and techniques are appropriate
for the needs of SMIL Authoring Tool developers;
- SVG WG (SVG public
page) -- the Working Group will coordinate with the SVG Working Group to
ensure that the Guidelines and techniques are appropriate for the needs of
SVG Authoring Tool developers;
- The Amaya Activity will provide an
important test-bed for techniques and refinements to the Guidelines.
The Working Group home page, deliverables and working drafts, proceedings
of meetings, email lists and archives and this charter are all public.
8. Milestones for work items and deliverables
As with other WAI groups, Working Drarfts must first be reviewed by the WAI
Interest Group before being posted on the W3C Technical Reports page or sent
to the W3C Advisory Committee (AC) for review. The minimum WAI IG review
period is one week, after which the Working Group must review and incorporate
WAI IG comments.
Proposed milestones:
Note. All milestones are estimated, and conditional on
progress of the Working Group and review by W3C.
- February 2000
- Guidelines become a W3C Recommendation
- April 2000
- Produce revised techniques document, report on implementation,
determine whether there is a need for rechartering the group.
9. Meeting mechanisms & schedules
The Working Group will hold regular face-to-face meetings, which are likely
to be quarterly. Where practicable these will be held in conjunction with
other WAI face-to-face meetings or with an event where WAI IG members gather.
Working Group meetings are announced to W3C Member organizations through the
Member Events Calendar and the Member Newswire; to Working Group participants
through the w3c-wai-au@w3.org mailing list; to WAI IG participants via the WAI
IG mailing list; and to the general public via the WAI home page.
10. Communication mechanisms
10.1 Communication within the group
The primary fora for Working Group discussion are the w3c-wai-au@w3.org
mailing list, and regular teleconferences. As an alternative to
teleconferences the group may trial the use of an Internet-based chat system,
which will provide logging of the session. If the group unanimously feels that
this is an improvement it may be adopted in place of some scheduled telephone
conferences. The primary record of the group's activity is the Working Group
home page.
- w3c-wai-au@w3.org
mailing list archives
- Publication of minutes or log files for
all meetings
- Working Group home page
- Face-to-face and teleconference
meetings
10.2 Communication with W3C
- The Working Group coordinates with other WAI Working Groups through the
WAI Coordination Group;
- The Working Group coordinates with W3C through the WAI Domain
Leader;
- The WAI Domain Leader communicates about W3C and WAI activities through
postings to WAI IG;
- WAI groups report to the WAI IG at quarterly face-to-face meetings.
10.3 Communication with the public
The Working Group communicates with the public through the Working Group
home page and general W3C communication mechanisms.
11. Voting mechanisms and Escalation
- The usual decision making process is by consensus, or by voting with
dissenting opinions recorded, as per the standard W3C process for working
groups [http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process/Plan/process.html#GroupsWG].
In the event of a vote there is one vote per member organization or
technical expert's organization, via e-mail.
- Escalation is through the WAI Domain Leader as needed.
12. Involvement of Team
13.1 Who should participate
As the Web Accessibility Initiative is a multi-stakeholder/partnership
project, it is critical that different stakeholders in Web accessibility are
represented on the Working Group. These include:
- representatives of Web-related industry, especially Web
content-generating application developers;
- representatives of disability organizations, including cognitive
disabilities, hearing disabilities, physical disabilities, and visual
disabilities;
- representatives of research organizations specializing in accessible
design for diverse disabilities and functional requirements;
- representatives of governments.
Participants are expected to observe the requirements of the W3C Process for Working Groups. The
following is an excerpt from the 8 June 1999 Process Document:
Participation on an ongoing basis implies a serious commitment to the
Working Group charter. Participation includes:
- attending most meetings of the Working Group.
- providing deliverables or drafts of deliverables in a timely
fashion.
- being familiar with the relevant documents of the Working Group,
including minutes of past meetings.
For this Working Group, the following commitment is expected:
- 3-6 hours per week, including meeting time and reading/responding to
mailing list. That figure is expected to peak around November, and drop
somewhat following the release of a Recommendation.
- Remain current on w3c-wai-au list & respond in timely manner to
postings on mailing list;
- Participate in weekly phone meetings or send regrets to Chair;
- Participate in face-to-face meetings or send regrets to the Chair;
- Remain aware of related work in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
and the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines.
Information about how to join the Working Group is
available on the Web. Existing members in good standing at the time of
rechartering will retain that good standing.
13.3 Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
The purpose of the Working Group is to produce public documents available
royalty-free to everyone, following W3C standard IPR terms. Therefore, anyone commenting in the
Working Group will be considered to offer these ideas as contributions to the
Working Group documents. Organizations with IPR in areas related to the User
Agent Accessibility Guidelines or Techniques must disclose IPR as described in
the W3C Process regarding IPR and W3C's IPR fact sheet. Invited experts are required to
disclose IPR claims in the same manner as individuals from W3C Member organizations.
Jutta Treviranus, Charles McCathieNevile, Judy Brewer
$Date: 2000/11/08 08:11:50 $