tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40807366642313884292010-01-27T09:24:00.765ZSimon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-78093743485776269182010-01-27T09:12:00.003Z2010-01-27T09:24:00.772ZThis is the final call for technical and communications papers for the next W4A Conference: 'Developing Regions: Common Goals, Common Problems?'. Papers are due on Monday, February 1, at midnight Hawaii Standard Time. The deadline for the Web Accessibility Challenge is also rapidly approaching. If you are planning to submit to this conference, now is the time.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-7809374348577626918?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-89975597983397215472010-01-12T09:39:00.005Z2010-01-12T10:03:22.333Z<p>We are delighted to announce the W4A Google Student Awards, which will enable two students to attend this year's W4A in Raleigh, NC, USA.</p> <p>Thanks to financial support from Google, these Awards will provide financial support towards travel and accommodation, plus free conference registration, to two students conducting postgraduate research in the web accessibility field and who otherwise would be unable to attend W4A.</p> <p>We now invite submissions from interested students - the deadline is <strong>Thursday 4th February</strong>, midnight Hawaii Standard Time.</p> <p><a href="http://www.w4a.info/2010/submissions/studentawards.shtml">Google Student Awards</a> page - more information including details of the submission procedure.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-8997559798339721547?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>David Sloanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02719490944909732178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-25707357502790651002009-11-30T17:05:00.001Z2009-11-30T17:07:19.670Z<div>The Seventh International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web</div><div>Accessibility (W4A 2010)</div><div> </div><div>'Developing Regions: Common Goals, Common Problems?'</div><div> </div><div>Co-Located with the Nineteenth International World Wide Web Conference</div><div>(WWW2010), in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, 26-27 April 2010.</div><div> </div><div>Important Dates</div><div>-------------------</div><div>* SUBMISSIONS: </div><div> </div><div>TECHNICAL and COMMUNICATION Papers:</div><div>01 Feb 2010 (Midnight Hawaii Standard Time)</div><div> </div><div>WEB ACCESSIBILITY CHALLENGE:</div><div>19th Feb 2010 (Midnight Hawaii Standard Time)</div><div> </div><div>More details: <http://www.w4a.info/2010/submissions/dates.shtml></div><div> </div><div>Keynote Speakers</div><div>--------------------------</div><div>* Steve Bratt (CEO, WWW Foundation)</div><div> </div><div>* Gregg Vanderheiden (Director Trace R&amp;D Center, Professor, University</div><div>of Wisconsin-Madison)</div><div> </div><div>This year, we will also have an After Dinner Keynote at the conference dinner. We feel that this more casual environment will allow for an extended discussion among the conference attendees of the topics covered throughout the conference. Our 2010 After Dinner Keynote will be:</div><div> </div><div>* William Loughborough (Smith-Kettlewell Institute of Visual Science)</div><div> </div><div>Publications</div><div>-------------------</div><div>* The conference proceedings will be published as part of the ACM</div><div> International Conference Proceedings Series and will be available at</div><div> the ACM Digital Library.</div><div>* Authors of selected papers presented at W4A 2010 will be invited to submit revised versions of their papers for publication in a Special Issue of the New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia (NRHM) journal. This follows two previous successful Special Issues of the same journal presenting research from past W4A conferences, and we're pleased to be able to continue our association with the journal.</div><div> </div><div>New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia:</div><div><http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13614568.asp></div><div> </div><div>Topics and Content</div><div>-------------------</div><div>A revolution in the information society is now starting, based on the</div><div>use of mobile phones in developing countries. The hyper-growth of</div><div>mobile phone penetration is deeply changing the lives of people in</div><div>most of the world; their ways of communicating, working, learning, and</div><div>structuring their societies. The promising next step is obviously to</div><div>access the Web. The Web has already touched the lives of over a</div><div>billion people and now is the time for the next billions.</div><div> </div><div>However, this expansion faces unprecedented accessibility</div><div>challenges. Even the word "accessibility" needs a new definition for</div><div>people in the developing regions. How can someone who is illiterate or</div><div>barely literate access the Web? In some cases, a language may not even</div><div>have a written form. The affordability of the technology is also a</div><div>challenge, while access is constrained by low computational power,</div><div>limited bandwidth, compact keyboards, tiny screens, and even by the</div><div>lack of electric power. All of these constraints compound the problems</div><div>of access and inclusion.</div><div> </div><div>The desire for access in developing regions and the resourcefulness of</div><div>the people who want inclusion unite the communities of people in</div><div>developing regions and the communities of disabled people in the</div><div>developed world. Will complex and highly graphical interfaces exclude</div><div>developing regions from access? What problems exist, what are the</div><div>newly appearing problems, and what solutions are required? How do the</div><div>adoption patterns for Web accessibility and inclusion vary across</div><div>cultures? What effect will the Web in the developing regions have on</div><div>accessibility in the developed regions and vice versa?</div><div> </div><div>Note that while the commonalities between Web Accessibility and</div><div>Developing Regions are this years theme, please don't be deterred if</div><div>this somewhat unique area is not yours. We would like to see all</div><div>quality work on Web Accessibility regardless of the particular field</div><div>within accessibility. The overriding reason for a paper being accepted</div><div>is its high quality in relation to the broad area of Web</div><div>Accessibility.</div><div> </div><div>In this case topics of interests include (but are not limited to):</div><div> </div><div>* Inclusion and Citizen Empowerment in Developing Regions;</div><div>* Inclusion and Literacy in Developing Regions;</div><div>* Enhancing Education in Developing Regions;</div><div>* Accessibility Problems in Developing Regions;</div><div>* Web Based Employment in Developing Regions;</div><div>* Web Based Health Care in Developing Regions;</div><div>* Evaluation and Validation tools and techniques;</div><div>* User Experimentation looking at Social Networking and Freedom of Expression;</div><div>* User Agents for Developing Regions and User Agent Guidelines;</div><div>* Web Authoring Guidelines;</div><div>* Design and best practice to support Web accessibility;</div><div>* Technological advances to support Web accessibility;</div><div>* End user tools;</div><div>* Accessibility guidelines, best practice, evaluation techniques, and tools;</div><div>* Psychology of end user experiences and scenarios;</div><div>* Innovative techniques to support accessibility;</div><div>* Universally accessible graphical design approaches;</div><div>* Design Perspectives;</div><div>* Adapting existing Web content; and</div><div>* Accessible graphic formats and tools for their creation.</div><div> </div><div>Submission</div><div>--------------------</div><div>We will accept position and technical papers, and short</div><div>communications. Position papers should only be submitted as a</div><div>communication of (up to 4-pages) whereas technical papers should be in</div><div>full paper format (up to 10-pages). Accepted papers and communications</div><div>will appear in the Conference proceedings contained on the Conference</div><div>CD, and will also be accessible to the general public via the ACM</div><div>Digital Library website. The official language of the Conference is</div><div>English.</div><div> </div><div>Submission details are available at:</div><div><http://www.w4a.info/2010/submissions/index.shtml></div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Web Accessibility Challenge</div><div>-------------------</div><div>Sponsored by Microsoft since 2008, the "Web Accessibility Challenge"</div><div>is organised to give an opportunity to researchers and developers of</div><div>advanced Web accessibility technologies for showcasing their</div><div>technologies to technical leaders in this area not only from academia</div><div>and industry but also from end-users. More details:</div><div>ttp://www.w4a.info/2010/submissions/challenge.shtml</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Endorsement</div><div>-------------------</div><div>W4A 2010 is endorsed by the International World Wide Web Conferences</div><div>Steering Committee (IW3C2)</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>General Chair</div><div>-------------------</div><div>Chieko Asakawa and Hironobu Takagi</div><div>Accessibility Research, Tokyo Research Laboratory, IBM Research, Tokyo</div><div>Japan</div><div> </div><div>Email: gc-2010-at-w4a.info</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Programme Chairs</div><div>-------------------</div><div>Leo Ferres</div><div>Department of Computer Science, Universidad de Concepci√≥n,</div><div>Chile</div><div> </div><div>Cynthia Shelly</div><div>Microsoft Co.</div><div>USA</div><div> </div><div>Email: pc-2010@w4a.info</div><div> </div><div>Challenge Chairs</div><div>-------------------</div><div>Julio Abascal, Myriam Arrue and Markel Vigo</div><div>UPV/EHU, </div><div>Spain</div><div> </div><div>Special Issue Chair</div><div>-------------------</div><div>David Sloan</div><div>University of Dundee, UK.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Programme Committee</div><div>-------------------</div><div> </div><div>Margherita Antona, ICS-FORTH, Greece</div><div>Helen Ashman, The University of South Australia, Australia</div><div>Armando Barreto, Florida International University, USA</div><div>Eugene Borodin, Stony Brook University, USA</div><div>Giorgio Brajnik, Universita di Udine, Italy</div><div>Andy Brown, University of Manchester, UK</div><div>Anna Cavender, University of Washington</div><div>Wendy Chisholm, University of Washington</div><div>Alan Chuter, ONCE Foundation</div><div>Michael Cooper, W3C, USA</div><div>Olga De Troyer, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium</div><div>David Duce, Oxford Brookes University, UK</div><div>Kelly Ford, Microsoft, Inc., USA</div><div>Renata Fortes, University of Sao Paulo, Brasil</div><div>Becky Gibson, IBM Emerging Internet Technologies, USA</div><div>Vicki Hanson, University of Dundee, UK</div><div>Simon Harper, University of Manchester, UK</div><div>Sarah Horton, Dartmouth College, USA</div><div>Caroline Jay, University of Manchester, UK</div><div>Brian Kelly, UKOLN, University of Bath, UK</div><div>Rui Lopes, University of Lisbon, Portugal</div><div>Darren Lunn, University of Manchester, UK</div><div>Charles McCathieNevile, Opera Software</div><div>Eleni Michailidou, University of Manchester, UK</div><div>Klaus Miesenberger, University of Linz, Austria</div><div>David Novick, The University of Texas at El Paso, USA</div><div>Zeljko Obrenovic, Technical University Eindhoven (TU/e), Netherland</div><div>Michael Paciello, The Paciello Group, USA</div><div>Enrico Pontelli, New Mexico State University, USA</div><div>I.V. Ramakrishnan, State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA</div><div>Gustavo Rossi, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina</div><div>Paola Salomoni, University of Bologna, Italy</div><div>Andrew Sears, UMBC, USA</div><div>David Sloan, University of Dundee, UK</div><div>Shari Trewin, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, USA</div><div>Victor Tsaran, Yahoo, Inc., USA</div><div>Douglas Tudhope, University of Glamorgan, UK</div><div>Takayuki Watanabe, Tokyo Woman's Christian University, Japan</div><div>Yeliz Yesilada, University of Manchester, UK</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>W4A on the Web</div><div>-------------------</div><div>* <http://www.w4a.info></div><div>* <http://www.w4a.info/updates.xml></div><div> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-2570735750279065100?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-43538081085835007942009-11-13T12:35:00.004Z2009-11-13T12:41:24.674ZWilliam Loughborough has been associated with Smith-Kettlewell since its early inception, making many contributions to rehabilitation research. He was the instigator of the Talking Signs© project, publishing the first paper on this concept (then known as Talking Lights) in 1979. As well as continuing contributions to the system's later evolution and dissemination, he has also spearheaded our Web Accessibility Project to help ensure that the World Wide Web and associated infrastructure is accessible to those with visual impairments <a title="More Info. on William" href="http://www.ski.org/Rehab/WLoughborough/index.html">More Information on William can be found here</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-4353808108583500794?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-23915485016496358522009-11-06T17:13:00.001Z2009-11-06T17:17:21.718Z<h2>Programme Committee</h2> <ul class="members"> <li>Margherita Antona <address class="affiliation">ICS-FORTH, Greece</address></li> <li>Helen Ashman <address class="affiliation">The University of South Australia, Australia</address></li> <li>Armando Barreto <address class="affiliation">Florida International University, USA</address></li> <li>Eugene Borodin <address class="affiliation">Stony Brook University, USA</address></li> <li>Giorgio Brajnik <address class="affiliation">Universita di Udine, Italy</address></li> <li>Andy Brown <address class="affiliation">University of Manchester, UK</address></li> <li>Anna Cavender <address class="affiliation">University of Washington</address></li> <li>Michael Cooper <address class="affiliation">W3C, USA</address></li> <li>Olga De Troyer <address class="affiliation">Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium</address></li> <li>David Duce <address class="affiliation">Oxford Brookes University, UK</address></li> <li>Kelly Ford <address class="affiliation">Microsoft, Inc., USA</address></li> <li>Renata Fortes <address class="affiliation">University of Sao Paulo, Brasil</address></li> <li>Becky Gibson <address class="affiliation">IBM Emerging Internet Technologies, USA</address></li> <li>Vicki Hanson <address class="affiliation">University of Dundee, UK</address></li> <li>Simon Harper <address class="affiliation">University of Manchester, UK</address></li> <li>Sarah Horton <address class="affiliation">Dartmouth College, USA</address></li> <li>Caroline Jay <address class="affiliation">University of Manchester, UK</address></li> <li>Brian Kelly <address class="affiliation">UKOLN, University of Bath, UK</address></li> <li>Rui Lopes <address class="affiliation">University of Lisbon, Portugal</address></li> <li>Darren Lunn <address class="affiliation">University of Manchester, UK</address></li> <li>Charles McCathieNevile <address class="affiliation">Opera Software</address></li> <li>Eleni Michailidou <address class="affiliation">University of Manchester, UK</address></li> <li>Klaus Miesenberger <address class="affiliation">University of Linz, Austria</address></li> <li>David Novick <address class="affiliation">The University of Texas at El Paso, USA</address></li> <li>Zeljko Obrenovic <address class="affiliation">Technical University Eindhoven (TU/e), Netherland</address></li> <li>Michael Paciello <address class="affiliation">The Paciello Group, USA</address></li> <li>Enrico Pontelli <address class="affiliation">New Mexico State University, USA</address></li> <li>I.V. Ramakrishnan <address class="affiliation">State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA</address></li> <li>Gustavo Rossi <address class="affiliation">Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina</address></li> <li>Paola Salomoni <address class="affiliation">University of Bologna, Italy</address></li> <li>Andrew Sears <address class="affiliation">UMBC, USA</address></li> <li>David Sloan <address class="affiliation">University of Dundee, UK</address></li> <li>Shari Trewin <address class="affiliation">IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, USA</address></li> <li>Victor Tsaran <address class="affiliation">Yahoo, Inc., USA</address></li> <li>Douglas Tudhope <address class="affiliation">University of Glamorgan, UK</address></li> <li>Takayuki Watanabe <address class="affiliation">Tokyo Woman's Christian University, Japan</address></li> <li>Yeliz Yesilada <address class="affiliation">University of Manchester, UK</address></li> </ul><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-2391548501649635852?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-18259107594227992392009-10-14T15:31:00.004+01:002009-10-14T15:36:07.502+01:00<p>The Fourth "Web Accessibility Challenge", <a href="http://www.blogger.com/web4all/relations/microsoft.shtml" title="microsoft">sponsored since 2008 by Microsoft</a>, is organised to give an opportunity to researchers and developers of advanced Web accessibility technologies for showcasing their technologies to technical leaders in this area not only from academia and industry but also from end-users. We would like to encourage and accelerate development of innovative and practically usable Web accessibility technologies.</p><h3>This year we are please to announce our excellent judging panel for the event!</h3><ul class="members"><li>Barbara Leporini<address class="affiliation">Researcher at the Laboratory of Human Interfaces in Information Systems, Italian National Research Council (CNR)</address></li> <li>Charles McCathieNevile<address class="affiliation">Chief Standards Officer at Opera</address></li> <li>Inmaculada Placencia Porrero<address class="affiliation">Head of Unit for Integration of People with Disabilities within the Directorate General for DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, European Commission</address></li> <li>T.V. Raman<address class="affiliation">Research Scientist at Google</address></li> <li>Jutta Treviranus<address class="affiliation">Director of the Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC), University of Toronto</address></li> </ul> We'd like to thank all out judges for volunteering their time and effort!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-1825910759422799239?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-11634019003472479262009-10-09T16:38:00.002+01:002009-10-09T16:40:40.906+01:00Mozilla, one of our regular supporters, will be sponsoring the W4A again this year. A really big thanks to Mozilla for this!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-1163401900347247926?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-54916196851631731722009-10-06T13:27:00.007+01:002009-10-06T13:56:00.257+01:00We're delighted to announce that authors of selected papers presented at W4A 2010 will be invited to submit revised versions of their papers for publication in a Special Issue of the <a href="http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13614568.asp">New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia</a> (NRHM) journal. This follows two previous successful Special Issues of the same journal presenting research from past W4A conferences, and we're pleased to be able to continue our association with the journal.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-5491619685163173172?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>David Sloanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02719490944909732178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-73559240555156512922009-10-02T16:49:00.003+01:002009-10-05T11:14:59.022+01:00Thanks to the Zakon Group for sponsoring the W4A 2010 Conference Management Systems by Providing support for in form of the OpenConf system.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-7355924055515651292?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-33881174976303888982009-10-02T16:42:00.002+01:002009-10-02T16:45:43.009+01:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'trebuchet MS', lucida, verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;font-size:12px;">ACM SIGACCESS will sponsor the W4A 2010. This will enable us to lodge our papers in the ACM Digital Library, and also means that ACM members get the lowest possible conference fees.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-3388117497630388898?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-40233863594008739672009-09-28T12:04:00.002+01:002009-09-28T12:07:18.896+01:00Microsoft will sponsor the W4A 2010 Web Accessibility Challenge give funding for trophies and complimentary access to the W4A 2011 for the winners. The "Web Accessibility Challenge" is organised to give an opportunity to researchers and developers of advanced Web accessibility technologies for showcasing their technologies to technical leaders in this area not only from academia and industry but also from end-users; in an attempt to encourage and accelerate development of innovative and practically usable Web accessibility technologies.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-4023386359400873967?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-11952815046892620242009-09-25T14:26:00.002+01:002009-09-25T14:30:10.988+01:00<h2>W4A Accommodation Deal 10% Discount</h2> <p>The deal enables conference attendees to receive 10% discount off accommodation booked through world's leading websites including Hotels.com, Booking.com, OctopusTravel.com and many others.</p> <h3>How does it work?</h3> <ul> <li>Participants of the conference can now receive a 10% rebate when making a booking through HotelsCombined.com</li> <li>To receive a rebate when making a booking through this site, you must use the HotelsCombined.com search engine to select your hotel.</li> <li>This discount is not available for general public.</li> </ul> <p>After you have made a booking fax or email HotelsCombined.com the following information: <ul> <li>Your full name and email address.</li> <li>Name of conference your have attended.</li> <li>Accommodation reservation receipt with booking number.></li> <li>Indicate whether you would like to be paid by PayPal or by Bank Wire Transfer.</li> </ul> <p> <strong>By Email:</strong> <a href="mailto:ConferenceRebates@hotelscombined.com">ConferenceRebates@hotelscombined.com</a> <p>The name on your reservation receipt must match the name registered at the conference. HotelsCombined.com will confirm your registration with the W4A organisers and refund you with 10% rebate after the end of conference; normally within 1 week.</p> <p>You can start your booking at <a href="http://www.hotelscombined.com/">hotelscombined.com</a>.</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.hotelscombined.com/Conference_Support" title="Support Program details">Support Program details</a>.</li> <li><a href="http://www.hotelscombined.com/City/Raleigh.htm" title="Basic list of hotels in Raleigh">Basic list of hotels in Raleigh</a>.</li> <li><a href="http://www.hotelscombined.com/SearchResults.aspx?fileName=Raleigh&amp;checkin=2010-04-26&amp;checkout=2010-04-27" title="Advanced list with price results for the stay between 26/04/2010 to 27/04/2010">Advanced list with price results for the stay between 26/04/2010 to 27/04/2010</a>.</li> </ul><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-1195281504689262024?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-21002802129232729612009-09-23T08:36:00.001+01:002009-09-23T08:39:21.255+01:00<div>The Seventh International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web</div><div>Accessibility (W4A 2010)</div><div> </div><div>'Developing Regions: Common Goals, Common Problems?'</div><div> </div><div>Co-Located with the Nineteenth International World Wide Web Conference</div><div>(WWW2010), in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, 26-27 April 2010.</div><div> </div><div>Important Dates</div><div>-------------------</div><div>* SUBMISSIONS: </div><div> </div><div>TECHNICAL and COMMUNICATION Papers:</div><div>01 Feb 2010 (Midnight Hawaii Standard Time)</div><div> </div><div>WEB ACCESSIBILITY CHALLENGE:</div><div>19th Feb 2010 (Midnight Hawaii Standard Time)</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>More details: http://www.w4a.info/2010/submissions/dates.shtml</div><div> </div><div>Keynote Speakers</div><div>--------------------------</div><div>* Steve Bratt (CEO, WWW Foundation)</div><div> </div><div>* Gregg Vanderheiden (Director Trace R&amp;D Center, Professor, University</div><div>of Wisconsin-Madison)</div><div> </div><div>Publications</div><div>-------------------</div><div>* The conference proceedings will be published as part of the ACM</div><div> International Conference Proceedings Series and will be available at</div><div> the ACM Digital Library.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Topics and Content</div><div>-------------------</div><div>A revolution in the information society is now starting, based on the</div><div>use of mobile phones in developing countries. The hyper-growth of</div><div>mobile phone penetration is deeply changing the lives of people in</div><div>most of the world; their ways of communicating, working, learning, and</div><div>structuring their societies. The promising next step is obviously to</div><div>access the Web. The Web has already touched the lives of over a</div><div>billion people and now is the time for the next billions.</div><div> </div><div>However, this expansion faces unprecedented accessibility</div><div>challenges. Even the word "accessibility" needs a new definition for</div><div>people in the developing regions. How can someone who is illiterate or</div><div>barely literate access the Web? In some cases, a language may not even</div><div>have a written form. The affordability of the technology is also a</div><div>challenge, while access is constrained by low computational power,</div><div>limited bandwidth, compact keyboards, tiny screens, and even by the</div><div>lack of electric power. All of these constraints compound the problems</div><div>of access and inclusion.</div><div> </div><div>The desire for access in developing regions and the resourcefulness of</div><div>the people who want inclusion unite the communities of people in</div><div>developing regions and the communities of disabled people in the</div><div>developed world. Will complex and highly graphical interfaces exclude</div><div>developing regions from access? What problems exist, what are the</div><div>newly appearing problems, and what solutions are required? How do the</div><div>adoption patterns for Web accessibility and inclusion vary across</div><div>cultures? What effect will the Web in the developing regions have on</div><div>accessibility in the developed regions and vice versa?</div><div> </div><div>Note that while the commonalities between Web Accessibility and</div><div>Developing Regions are this years theme, please don't be deterred if</div><div>this somewhat unique area is not yours. We would like to see all</div><div>quality work on Web Accessibility regardless of the particular field</div><div>within accessibility. The overriding reason for a paper being accepted</div><div>is its high quality in relation to the broad area of Web</div><div>Accessibility.</div><div> </div><div>In this case topics of interests include (but are not limited to):</div><div> </div><div>* Inclusion and Citizen Empowerment in Developing Regions;</div><div>* Inclusion and Literacy in Developing Regions;</div><div>* Enhancing Education in Developing Regions;</div><div>* Accessibility Problems in Developing Regions;</div><div>* Web Based Employment in Developing Regions;</div><div>* Web Based Health Care in Developing Regions;</div><div>* Evaluation and Validation tools and techniques;</div><div>* User Experimentation looking at Social Networking and Freedom of Expression;</div><div>* User Agents for Developing Regions and User Agent Guidelines;</div><div>* Web Authoring Guidelines;</div><div>* Design and best practice to support Web accessibility;</div><div>* Technological advances to support Web accessibility;</div><div>* End user tools;</div><div>* Accessibility guidelines, best practice, evaluation techniques, and tools;</div><div>* Psychology of end user experiences and scenarios;</div><div>* Innovative techniques to support accessibility;</div><div>* Universally accessible graphical design approaches;</div><div>* Design Perspectives;</div><div>* Adapting existing Web content; and</div><div>* Accessible graphic formats and tools for their creation.</div><div> </div><div>Submission</div><div>--------------------</div><div>We will accept position and technical papers, and short</div><div>communications. Position papers should only be submitted as a</div><div>communication of (up to 4-pages) whereas technical papers should be in</div><div>full paper format (up to 10-pages). Accepted papers and communications</div><div>will appear in the Conference proceedings contained on the Conference</div><div>CD, and will also be accessible to the general public via the ACM</div><div>Digital Library website. The official language of the Conference is</div><div>English.</div><div> </div><div>Submission details are available at:</div><div>http://www.w4a.info/2010/submissions/index.shtml</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Web Accessibility Challenge</div><div>-------------------</div><div>Sponsored by Microsoft since 2008, the "Web Accessibility Challenge"</div><div>is organised to give an opportunity to researchers and developers of</div><div>advanced Web accessibility technologies for showcasing their</div><div>technologies to technical leaders in this area not only from academia</div><div>and industry but also from end-users. More details:</div><div>ttp://www.w4a.info/2010/submissions/challenge.shtml</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Endorsement</div><div>-------------------</div><div>W4A 2010 is endorsed by the International World Wide Web Conferences</div><div>Steering Committee (IW3C2)</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>General Chair</div><div>-------------------</div><div>Chieko Asakawa and Hironobu Takagi</div><div>Accessibility Research, Tokyo Research Laboratory, IBM Research, Tokyo</div><div>Japan</div><div> </div><div>Email: gc-2010-at-w4a.info</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Programme Chairs</div><div>-------------------</div><div>Leo Ferres</div><div>Department of Computer Science, Universidad de Concepci√≥n,</div><div>Chile</div><div> </div><div>Cynthia Shelly</div><div>Microsoft Co.</div><div>USA</div><div> </div><div>Email: pc-2010@w4a.info</div><div> </div><div>Challenge Chairs</div><div>-------------------</div><div>Julio Abascal, Myriam Arrue and Markel Vigo</div><div>UPV/EHU, </div><div>Spain</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>W4A on the Web</div><div>-------------------</div><div>* http://www.w4a.info</div><div>* http://www.w4a.info/updates.xml (RSS/ATOM News Feed)</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-2100280212923272961?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-77100004280761290672009-09-10T09:11:00.002+01:002009-09-10T09:19:05.559+01:00<p class="portrait"><img src="http://www.w4a.info/2010/images/gv.jpg" alt="Gregg C. Vanderheiden"/></p> <div class="bio"> <p> Gregg Vanderheiden is a professor of Industrial and Biomedical Engineering, and director of Trace R&D Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has worked in technology and disability for more than 38s years and currently directs the NIDRR Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Information Technology Access, and co-directs the RERC on Telecommunications Access (joint with Gallaudet University). </p><p>Dr Vanderheiden was a pioneer in the field of Augmentative Communication (a term taken from his writings in 1979), and worked with people having physical, visual, hearing and cognitive disabilities. His work with the computer industry led to many of the access features that are standard today. For example, access features developed by Dr. Vanderheiden and his team (e.g., StickyKeys, MouseKeys, etc.) have been built into the Macintosh OS since 1987, OS/2 and the UNIX X Window system since 1993, and more than half a dozen were built into Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP, Vista and now System 7. His work is also found in the built-in access features in ATMs, Point of Sale terminals, and cross-disability accessible USPS Automated Postal Stations, as well as the accessible Amtrak ticket machines, and in airport terminals.</p><p> Dr. Vanderheiden has served on numerous professional, industry and government advisory and planning committees including those for the FCC, NSF, NIH, VA, DED, GSA, NCD, Access Board and White House. Dr. Vanderheiden served on the FCC's Technological Advisory Council, was a member of the Telecommunications Access Advisory committee and the Electronic Information Technology Access Advisory Committee (508 and 255 refresh) for the US Access Board, and served on the steering committee for the National Research Council's Planning Group on "Every Citizen Interfaces," and the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine Committee on the Future of Disability in America.</p><p> He has received over 30 awards for his work on technology and disability include the ACM Social Impact Award for the Human-Computer Interaction Community, the Ron Mace Award, the Access award from AFB, the Yuri Rubinski Memorial World Wide Web Award (WWW6), and the Isabelle and Leonard H. Goldenson Award for Outstanding Research in Medicine and Technology (UCPA). </p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-7710000428076129067?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-89410069097243789842009-08-17T17:31:00.004+01:002009-09-10T09:19:51.314+01:00<h4><a name="ceo">Steve Bratt, Chief Executive Officer</a>, <a href="http://www.webfoundation.org" title="Off-Site to the Web Foundation">World Wide Web Foundation</a></h4> <p class="portrait"><img src="http://www.w4a.info/2010/images/steveb2.jpg" alt="Steve Bratt"/></p> <p>Steve became the first Chief Executive Officer of the World Wide Web Foundation in September 2008. He is leading the launch of the Foundation, and working to fund and start high-impact initiatives to advance both the Web itself and the its ability to empower all people on the planet.</p> <p>Steve has held leadership and research positions within for-profit and not-for-profit, international organizations. His previous position was as CEO of the World Wide Web Consortium -- the standards organization responsible for the technologies that make the Web work. From 1997 through 2001, Steve served as the first Coordinator of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty International Data Centre in Vienna, Austria. There he was responsible for establishing the data center, global communications infrastructure, and standards for data exchange between more than 300 world-wide sensors and 170 nations. From 1984 to 1997, Steve led research initiatives -- first at Science Applications International Corporation and then as a program manager at Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- to develop advanced concepts for real-time sensor monitoring, intelligent analysis and international data communications. Since 1993, Web technologies have played the central role in support of the sharing of data, information and knowledge within the complex systems that he has designed and deployed.</p> <p>Steve received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his B.S. from the Pennsylvania State University.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-8941006909724378984?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-9285499492680786922009-07-30T14:59:00.002+01:002009-07-30T15:03:06.942+01:00<p> The Fourth "Web Accessibility Challenge", <a href="/web4all/relations/microsoft.shtml" title="microsoft" title="More on Microsoft">sponsored since 2008 by Microsoft</a>, is organised to give an opportunity to researchers and developers of advanced Web accessibility technologies for showcasing their technologies to technical leaders in this area not only from academia and industry but also from end-users. We would like to encourage and accelerate development of innovative and practically usable Web accessibility technologies.</p> <p>This year’s theme, "Developing Regions: Common Goals, Common Problems?" addresses the accessibility challenges produced by the hyper-growth of mobile phone penetration in the developing countries. Next step is obviously to access the Web. The Web has already touched the lives of over a billion people and now is the time for the next billions.</p> <p>However, this expansion faces unprecedented accessibility challenges. Even the word "accessibility" needs a new definition for people in the developing regions. How can someone who is illiterate or barely literate access the Web? In some cases, a language may not even have a written form. The affordability of the technology is also a challenge, while access is constrained by low computational power, limited bandwidth, compact keyboards, tiny screens, and even by the lack of electric power. All of these constraints compound the problems of access and inclusion.</p> <p>The desire for access in developing regions and the resourcefulness of the people who want inclusion unite the communities of people in developing regions and the communities of disabled people in the developed world. What problems exist, what are the newly appearing problems, and what solutions are required? What can we learn from existing traditional accessibility solutions? What about people with disabilities in the developing world?</p> <p>Submissions related to this year's topic are encouraged but it is certainly not a requirement as all accessibility technologies are welcomed for the challenge.</p> <h3>Submission materials</h3> <ul> <li>Two-page abstract (see the W4A submission page - <a title="submissions" href="http://www.w4a.info/2010/submissions.shtml">http://www.w4a.info/2010/submissions/index.shtml</a>)</li> <li>Demonstration movie (or audio recording) with audio description.</li> <li>Software is not required, but encouraged.</li> </ul> <h3>Conference attendance</h3> <p>A presentation and demonstration session will be part of the W4A event, so at least one of the authors is required to attend the conference.</p> <h3>Deadlines</h3> <p>Deadline is 19-Feb-2010 (Midnight Hawaii Standard Time)</p> <h3>Awards</h3> <ul> <li>2010 Web Accessibility Challenge: Judges Award Decided by the invited judges, who are experts from academia, industry and end-users.</li> <li>2010 Web Accessibility Challenge: Delegates Award Decided by the participants of the conference.</li> <li>In addition, you can get feedback from judges and participants.</li> </ul> <h3>System requirements</h3> <ul> <li>Any kind of system is acceptable, such as standalone assistive technologies, voice browsers, browser plug-ins, server-based services, and telephony systems. Other accessibility technologies can be accepted (e.g., tactile browser). </li> <li>Open source systems are welcomed.</li> <li>Please contact us, if you have any questions about the coverage (<a href="mailto:cc2010@w4a.info" title="Email the Organisers">cc2010@w4a.info</a>).</li> </ul> <h3>Submission details</h3> <ul> <li>Submissions should be sent to this email address: <a href="mailto:cc2010@w4a.info" title="Email the Submission">cc2010@w4a.info</a></li> <li>You can also consider alternative methods for submission of large movie files such as uploading the file to YouTube. In this case, please add a tag "w4a2010" to the movie, and send the URL of the movie to the submission address (<a href="mailto:cc2010@w4a.info" title="Email the Submission">cc2010@w4a.info</a>).</li> <li>Abstracts and movies should emphasise the innovative ideas in the system. Do not demonstrate whole functions including usual or average functions.</li> <li>The demonstration movies should also be non-visually accessible, since some of referees are blind. Please consider to add audio descriptions to the submission movie, and do not add unnecessary audio (e.g., background music). </li> <li><a title="Format" href="http://www.w4a.info/2010/submissions/index.shtml">Abstracts should be in ACM/W4A paper format</a>, since abstracts will be published in the proceedings. Abstracts and movies will be stored in the ACM Digital Library.</li> </ul> <h3>Contact (<a href="mailto:cc2010@w4a.info" title="Email the Organisers">cc2010@w4a.info</a>)</h3> <ul> <li>Julio Abascal (University of the Basque Country)</li> <li>Myriam Arrue (University of the Basque Country)</li> <li> Markel Vigo (CICtourGUNE)</li> </ul><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-928549949268078692?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-35942938144841360852009-07-06T09:07:00.002+01:002009-07-06T09:11:51.001+01:00The June 2009 issue of the <a href="http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=t741771157">Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology journal</a> has just been published - it's a <a href="http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=g912789792~tab=toc~order=page">Web Accessibility Special Issue</a>, focusing on a selection of the best work presented at recent W4A conferences. The result is what I think is a very neat cross-section of the web accessibility research and development going on right now. The subjects range from from accessibility evaluation and measurement, to supporting accessibility of Web 2.0 applications to investigating the accessibility benefits of semantic markup to effective policies for using the Web to its full potential in enabling access to disabled people to online information and experiences. Thanks to all the authors who submitted articles, and to the reviewers for their time in helping to ensure the quality of the publication. David Sloan (special issue editor)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-3594293814484136085?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-59659652075051337562009-06-16T09:27:00.002+01:002009-06-16T09:30:55.710+01:00The International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee (IW3C2), is the organization that manages the WWW Conference series. They have again endorsed the W4A 2010 to run along side WWW2010 - the only conference to be granted such status.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-5965965207505133756?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-14171225218425051252009-06-16T09:26:00.000+01:002009-06-16T09:27:15.803+01:00<h2>Developing Regions: Common Goals, Common Problems?</h2> <h4> Co-Located with the <a title="Ninteenth International World Wide Web Conference, in Raleigh, USA." href="http://www.www2010.org">Ninteenth International World Wide Web Conference</a>, in Raleigh, USA.</h4> <p>Web use in developing regions is currently characterised by constrained operating modalities. Slow speed, low computational power, reduced bandwidth, compact keyboards, small screens, and limited power, all compound the problem of access and inclusion. In addition, interaction is sometimes without conventional written language and illiteracy is also a barrier to information and services. However, the benefits of the Web are so great that the peoples of these regions often adopt resourceful methods of interaction and access sometimes repurposing technical equipment so that it is put to a different use than for which it was intended and sharing access often on a community wide basis. Access and the resourcefulness of the people who wish to be included is the thing than unites the communities of developing regions and disabled communities world wide. Will complex and highly graphical interfaces exclude developing regions from access? What problems exist, what are the upcoming problems, what solutions are required? How do the adoption patterns for Web accessibility and inclusion vary across cultures; and what effect will the Web in the developing regions have on accessibility in the developed regions and vice-versa? We have common goals and common problems to overcome, but what are they and how can they be addressed to our mutual benefit? What can Web accessibility learn from access in developing regions and what can developers facilitating access in developing regions learn from Web accessibility?</p> <p>In this case topics of interests include (but are not limited to):</p> <ul> <li>Inclusion and Citizen Empowerment in Developing Regions;</li> <li>Inclusion and Literacy in Developing Regions;</li> <li>Enhancing Education in Developing Regions;</li> <li>Accessibility Problems in Developing Regions;</li> <li>Web Based Employment in Developing Regions;</li> <li>Web Based Health Care in Developing Regions;</li> <li>Evaluation and Validation tools and techniques;</li> <li>User Experimentation looking at Social Networking and Freedom of Expression;</li> <li>User Agents for Developing Regions and User Agent Guidelines;</li> <li>Web Authoring Guidelines;</li> <li>Design and best practice to support Web accessibility;</li> <li>Technological advances to support Web accessibility;</li> <li>End user tools;</li> <li>Accessibility guidelines, best practice, evaluation techniques, and tools;</li> <li>Psychology of end user experiences and scenarios;</li> <li>Innovative techniques to support accessibility;</li> <li>Universally accessible graphical design approaches;</li> <li>Design Perspectives;</li> <li>Adapting existing Web content; and</li> <li>Accessible graphic formats and tools for their creation.</li> </ul><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-1417122521842505125?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-75341042789415319062009-06-01T12:52:00.002+01:002009-06-01T12:54:35.603+01:00At W4A 2010 we'll be encouraging feedback, discussion and sharing of resources during and after the event, through channels such as <a href="http://www.twitter.com">Twitter</a> and <a href="http://www.slideshare.com">Slideshare</a>. Please use the tag <em>#w4a</em> to reference W4A 2010 in any social networking web site or application you use.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-7534104278941531906?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4080736664231388429.post-16227619315462341642009-06-01T12:38:00.000+01:002009-06-01T12:45:54.036+01:00Welcome to the new W4A 2010 Website. The website is now complete and has a News facility which is available from the home page. News items will be regularly updated on this page, so please remember to check on a regular basis. Alternatively you can subscribe to our RSS feed and have new items sent to you as they occur. We hope you find the website user friendly and easy to navigate. If you would like to make any comments about the site or suggest information that you would like to see available here, please contact the W4A 2010 General Chairs.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4080736664231388429-1622761931546234164?l=www.w4a.info%2F2010%2Fnews%2Findex.shtml' alt='' /></div>Simon HARPERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04641227261146119225noreply@blogger.com