| June, 2003 |
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Eye On 508
Blackboards New Accessibility Initiative
Blackboard is making progress in attempts to ensure accessibility with distance learning.
Blackboard has recently launched a major new release: Blackboard Learning and
Community Portal Systems (Release 6). This product was designed to meet the Section
508 standards. We are currently in the process of having the product tested by
a third party that specializes in accessibility testing. One of the major improvements
in Release 6 is our rewrite of the Virtual Classroom tool that was used in Blackboard
5.x. In Blackboard 5.x, the tool was provided by a third party, Tutornet, and
was not accessible. For Release 6, we chose to completely rewrite the Collaboration
Tools using the Java accessibility APIs. For example, the
software provides "hot keys" and alt tags that can be read by assistive technology,
to make it easier for screen reader users to interact with the software. This
means that Release 6 now provides a Lightweight Chat tool that is fully accessible.
508 Standards Now Reaching A Wider Audience
Section 508 Standards Available in Other Languages and Formats
(Access Board - 3/3/03)
Recognizing the international interest in access to information technology, the Board has posted on its website translations of its section 508 standards in Spanish and Japanese. The standards, issued under section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, apply to electronic and information technology procured by Federal agencies. They provide specific criteria for computer hardware and software, websites, phone systems, fax machines, copiers, and similar technologies. The new translations are posted on the section 508 page. The Board also enhanced the range of available alternate formats by a adding a text-to-speech version of the standards that can be downloaded from its site. Known as a Digital Talking Book, this format runs on software that uses synchronized speech and marked-up text files to provide audible output. This format also offers advanced navigational features. In addition, the Board has posted a version of the standards that is formatted for Braille printing. Users can download a copy to their computer for use with a Braille printer.
These new formats can be found at www.access-board.gov/508.htm
NFB Is Promoting Web Accessibility
*Adapted from the NFB's Spring 2003 edition of Building Our Future
Maryland's Department of General Services (DGS) has become the nations first state agency in the nation to receive the National Federation of the Blinds Nonvisual Accessibility Web Certification. The certification was awarded at the 2002 Maryland Technology Showcase held in Baltimore and was presented to Secretary Peta N. Richkus, whose leadership encouraged the accessibility of the departments website.
This award represents DGS's commitment to meeting the accessibility needs of all blind people doing business with or employed by the state government.
The NFB-NVA certification program evaluates and then certifies websites and their applications as accessible through the use of screen readers.
Amaya, W3C's Editor/Browser
http://www.w3.org/Amaya
Amaya is a tool used to create and update documents directly on the Web.
Browsing features are seamlessly integrated with the editing and remote access
features in a uniform environment. This follows the original vision of the Web
as a space for collaboration and not just a one-way publishing medium.
Work on Amaya started at W3C in 1996 to showcase Web technologies in a fully-
featured Web client. The main motivation for developing Amaya was to provide a
framework that can integrate as many W3C technologies as possible. It is used
to demonstrate these technologies in action while taking advantage of their
combination in a single, consistent environment.
Amaya started as an HTML + CSS style sheets editor. Since that time it was
extended to support XML and an increasing number of XML applications such as
the XHTML family, MathML, and SVG. It allows all those vocabularies to be
edited simultaneously in compound documents.
Amaya includes a collaborative annotation application based on Resource
Description Framework (RDF), XLink, and XPointer. Visit the Annotea project
home page.
Amaya - Open Source
Amaya is an open source software project hosted by W3C. You are invited to
contribute in many forms (documentation, translation, writing code, fixing
bugs, porting to other platforms...)
The Amaya software is written in C and is available for Windows, Unix platforms
and MacOSX.
Amaya Team
The application is jointly developed by W3C and the WAM (Web, Adaptation and
Multimedia) project at INRIA. The core team includes: Irne Vatton (Project
lead, INRIA), Jos Kahan (W3C)., Laurent Carcone (W3C), Paul Cheyrou-Lagreze
(INRIA), Vincent Quint (INRIA), Abderrahim Maz (W3C/INRIA).
http://www.w3.org/Amaya/