Staff Development Seminar at the University of Sheffield - 30 January 2003

Brian Kelly and Jenny Craven (CERLIM) gave a joint presentation at the University of Sheffield on Thursday 30^th January 2003 from 15:00-16:00. The presentation took place in St George's Church Hall.

Universal Web Accessibility: Is It Possible?

Abstract

The World Wide Web promised universal access to digital resources through use of open standards. From the very early days Web resources could be accessed on a range of platforms. However during the mid 1990s the "browser wars" made universal access to resources more difficult to achieve. Fortunately pressure from the user communities have forced browser vendors to give greater emphasis to support for open standards.
Legislation in many countries around the world to ensure that digital resources can be accessed by people with disabilities has encouraged the development of standards-based Web resources. The importance of universal accessibility has been highlighted in the UK Higher and Further Education communities since the advent of the SENDA (Special Educational Needs and Disability Act) legislation in September 2002, which extended the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) to include educational institutions.
Although there appears to be widespread awareness of the importance of universal accessibility within the Higher and Further Education communities Web developers are facing challenges in implementing accessible Web services, including:

• Tools to provide accessible Web sites.
• Auditing Web site accessibility.
• Defining the scope of Web site accessibility.
• Developing and implementing Web accessibility policies.
• Addressing potential conflicts between accessibility and usability
• The resource implications for developing accessible Web sites.

In this seminar the speakers will address the challenges facing Web authors and developers - not only in providing accessible Web sites but also in taking steps to ensure they are usable by all, taking into account the different needs and requirements of users.

Speakers

Brian Kelly (UKOLN, University if Bath) and Jenny Craven (CERLIM, Manchester Metropolitan University)

Biographical Details

Brian Kelly is UK Web Focus - a JISC-funded post which advises the UK's higher and further education communities on Web developments. Brian works at UKOLN, a national centre of expertise in digital information management, which is based at the University of Bath.

Jenny Craven is is a Research Associate at the Centre for Research in Library and Information Management (CERLIM), Manchester Metropolitan University. Jenny has worked on a number of research projects relating to the accessibility and usability of Web-based resources for blind and visually impaired users, including the British Library and JISC funded REsources for Visually Impaired users of the Electronic Library (REVIEL) project, and the Resource funded NOn-Visual Access to the digital library (NoVA) project which looked at information seeking behaviour in Web interfaces.

Slides

Slides

[MS Powerpoint 97/2000 format] - [HTML format]

In addition to the PowerPoint version of the slides the slides have also been produced using W3C's Slidemaker tool and are available in HTML and SVG formats. Please note this this is an experimental facility. The SVG slides, in particular, have not been finished: images aren't available and much of the text extends beyond the screen border.

Slides In HTML Format

[HTML format] (designed for use in Web browser in full-screen mode)
[HTML format] Single file (source)

Slides In SVG Format

[SVG format] (designed for use in Web browser with SVG plug-in)