Web 2.0 is about harnessing the potential of the Internet in a more collaborative and peer-to-peer manner with emphasis on social interaction.

December 06, 2008

Interrelationship between Accessibility and Usability

As mentioned my previous blog posting, Web Accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web - they can perceive, understand, navigate and interact with the Web. Usability on the other hand means that products – IT or otherwise – are easy to learn, easy to memorize, can be used without making errors and allow the users to accomplish tasks efficiently.  

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Posted by Chandan Gokhale at 01:27 AM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

November 30, 2008

Web Accessibility and the Law - EU Part I

Continuing our discussion on the laws dealing with web accessibility around the world, this blog focuses on the legislations and regulations in the European Union (EU). It should be mentioned here that the European countries have been one of the key funding contributors (besides US and Japan) to the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C). To that extent there is an acceptance of the recommendations of the WAI across the EU. But the efforts are not limited only to passive contribution to the WAI. The EU has independently adopted several recommendations from councils and commissions set up especially to address the issue of an inclusive global information society.

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Posted by Dr. Ajay Kolhatkar at 10:46 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 27, 2008

Web Accessibility and the Law - India

I would really like to thank Vijay Krishnamani for his comment on the previous post. Essentially, because it helped me dedicate this post only for the law in India. Vijay, thanks for your interest in the post and also for your question. Let me start with a short answer – To the best of my knowledge, we do not yet have a law that governs web accessibility in India. The last I know of is that a working group has been set up, in Jan 2007, under the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. The stated objective of this committee is to formulate “Policy and Procedures for Implementation of Web Accessibility Standards”. This is the only public information available.

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Posted by Dr. Ajay Kolhatkar at 10:53 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

November 25, 2008

Web Accessibility and the Law - UK

Another country that has taken web accessibility and regulations thereof very seriously is UK. The primary regulation there, the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) dates back to 1995. The Part III of this act that is applicable to websites and requires them to be accessible came into effect on 1st October 1999. In the same year the Disability Rights Commission Act came into effect to set up the Disability Rights Commission (DRC), which was responsible for “elimination of discrimination against disabled persons” besides other tasks. This commission actively promoted the Part III of the DDA 1995.

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Posted by Dr. Ajay Kolhatkar at 11:49 PM | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

November 23, 2008

'DMV' for enterprise social media?

Most modern enterprises are in the rush towards understanding & rolling out social media to help with their marketing efforts or to reduce support costs (among others). Most of this effort is in figuring out where to set up a blog, or communities. Companies pay little or no attention to who does the blogging and commenting - in fact they're grateful that someone volunteers!

 

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Posted by Akash Bhatia at 10:26 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Web Accessibility and the Law - Australia

Continuing from the previous post, if the changes in the US regulatory systems have been more visible as a consequence of the Target vs. NFB case, the laws in other parts of the world have actually been in existence for quite some time now.

Australia has particularly taken a lead in institutionalizing regulations / guidelines that make web accessibility a mandatory requirement. This blog lists some of these regulations.

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Posted by Dr. Ajay Kolhatkar at 09:39 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 22, 2008

Web Accessibility and the Law - US

A few days back Chandan Gokhale’s blog discussed web accessibility and the efforts of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) via its Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). It briefly touched upon the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0 and 2.0 (draft 11)).  While the WCAG is an independent effort being driven by W3C, there are several legal / regulatory efforts being steered in countries around the world. This blog discusses some of these regulatory requirements for web accessibility in the US.

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Posted by Dr. Ajay Kolhatkar at 10:38 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

November 21, 2008

Economics of Web Accessibility - Part 2

The above statistics underline the fact that the size of the market for accessible technology is larger than commonly perceived. This is important because for disabled users, everyday actions can often be completed more quickly and efficiently on the web. Moreover of the 54 million Americans with a disability, 4 in 10 are online and these users tend to spend more time logged on and surfing the Internet than nondisabled users. The number of people with disabilities – and income to spend – is likely to increase as the likelihood of having a disability increases with age, and the overall population is aging. As the world’s population is living longer, there are more older adults using the Internet and physical impairments hamper web usage for users. Moreover over 20% of the EU will be over 65 years of age and the number of people aged 60 or over will double in the next 30 years. This will account for a large section of population which needs effective and efficient access to the Web.

 

Posted by Dr. Jai Ganesh at 11:05 AM | | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

November 20, 2008

Economics of Web Accessibility - Part 1

A large part of the World Wide Web is not accessible to a large section of the disabled population (about 18-20% of the global population suffers from some form or disability). About 97% of websites fail to meet the most basic requirements for accessibility. These are rather shocking numbers given the fact that the Web plays an important role and offers significant benefits for people with disabilities. The below statistics highlights the economics behind making the World Wide Web Accessible to the physically challenged population:

 

 

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Posted by Dr. Jai Ganesh at 01:09 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

November 17, 2008

Understanding Web Accessibility

Starting this week, we will be addressing the area of Web Accessibility - organized in multiple blog entries – to address various facets of Web Accessibility.  In this posting, we will look at the big picture, the meaning of Web Accessibility and its relevance for promoting Equal Opportunity.  

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Posted by Chandan Gokhale at 09:25 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)