W4A 2013

W4A 2012 sponsors are supporters who have committed to sponsor the conference for this year. We’d really like to acknowledge our sponsors, without them the W4A would not exist. The sponsorship is mainly required to cover costs associated with the printing and shipping of conference proceedings (both in paper and electronic form). We also us it to waive the conference registration of our keynote speakers. Finally, a small amount from the sponsorship is used for conference expenses (stationary, printing of programs, this website, etc.).

This what our sponsors would like to tell us:

Google is our long term sponsor of the Student Awards Programme. In little more than a decade, Google created one of the world’s largest global computing infrastructures for both internal and external use. Using our unique technologies along with open source tools, we keep Google’s customer-facing products running, robust and secure. Our objective is to create solutions that allow people to work and communicate in new and innovative ways – giving back to the world’s technical community whenever we can.

The Paciello Group (TPG) is our sponsor of the Web Accessibility Challenge. TPG, a software accessibility consultancy, employs the most knowledgeable and experienced technology and business consultants in the field of software accessibility. Experts in assistive technology, accessible design, usability, quality assurance testing and web development, TPG consultants work with their clients to help bridge the information gap in accessibility that exists in most enterprises today. TPG consultants show their clients the most efficient and cost effective way to address accessibility and to reach out to the more than 50 million Americans with disabilities as potential customers and partners.

The William Loughborough After Dinner Speech is now sponsored by the ACM SIGWEB. The ACM Special Interest Group on Hypertext and the Web is a community of scholars, researchers, and professionals who study and use the concepts and technologies of linked information that were originally conceived as hypertext and are most famously realized on the Web.

IBM Research is taking the lead in making information technology accessible to many people, including those with disabilities. Our early and frequent pioneering efforts led to a number of first-of-a-kind technology innovations that transformed the assistive technology landscape and provided people with disabilities unprecedented access to technology. Technologies such as wireless communications and speech recognition improve the ability to access information for those who have disabilities and are also increasingly in demand by today’s society seeking convenience and ease of use. Envisioning the world where everyone can have equal access to the full benefits of a digital life and maximize their potential, regardless of age or ability, IBM Research is placing a strong focus on Web accessibility research today to enhance human ability through innovation. IBM has pioneered the cause to open the world of information technology to more people, regardless of age or ability. IBM’s long-standing commitment to people with disabilities began in 1914 when IBM hired its first disabled employee, 76 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Helping more people benefit from computing and information resources is part of IBM’s larger vision.

The Zakon Group (via its OpenConf Software) is our long term submissions sponsor for the conference. OpenConf is an abstract and peer-review management system that greatly facilitates the submission and review processes for conferences, workshops, and symposia. The software is flexible enough that OpenConf is also used for journals, grants, books, and competitions.

Supporters

Every W4A Conference has been in-Cooperation with the ACM. The ACM is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society it delivers resources that advance computing as a science and a profession. ACM provides the computing field’s premier Digital Library and serves its members and the computing profession with leading-edge publications, conferences, and career resources.

Thanks to SIGACCESS for all their support. ACM’s Special Interest Group on Accessible Computing, SIGACCESS, promotes the interests of professionals working on research and development of computing and information technology to help persons with disabilities.

Thanks to SIGCHI for all their support. SIGCHI is the premier international society for professionals, academics and students who are interested in human-technology & human-computer interaction (HCI).

This year we also have a reciprocal advertising arrangement with Interaction Design. Interaction-Design.org is all about making research accessible. We deal with human-centered aspects of technology: Interaction Design, User Experience (UX), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Information Architecture (IA), Human Factors, Usability, and related fields.

Every W4A Conference has been endorsed by the IW3C2. The International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee (IW3C2), is the organization that manages the WWW Conference series. This series aims to provide the world a premier forum for discussion and debate about the evolution of the Web, the standardization of its associated technologies, and the impact of those technologies on society and culture.