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The Implementation of Web Accessibility Standards by Dutch Municipalities. Factors of Resistance and Support.
Abstract and Figures
There are laws and regulations in place requiring public sector bodies to adopt and implement international standards for web accessibility. Municipalities in the Netherlands have collectively adopted these standards. However, they often seem unable to fully implement web accessibility standards even if the law requires them to and they are actively pursuing it. Based on existing models, literature, questionnaires and extensive audits of the websites of participating municipalities, this dissertation identifies processes that support or resist implementation of the standards within the specific context of web accessibility for local government websites. Awareness of these processes is important for stakeholders willing to implement web accessibility standards. The result is a set of recommendations for local governments that help them identify processes that support or resist the actual implementation of web accessibility standards. This not only contributes to the accessibility of the web for people with disabilities, it may also be helpful for the implementation of other guidelines and (open) standards within local governments.
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... Digitales Lernen ist mittlerweile für die Gesellschaft eine wichtige Bildungsgrundlage. In einer zunehmend digitalisierten und global vernetzten Welt ist es deshalb wichtig, auch Menschen einen Zugang zu digitalen Lernangeboten zu ermöglichen, die aufgrund einer bestehenden (nicht selten) altersbedingten Seh-oder Hörbeeinträchtigungen, keinen oder nur einen eingeschränkten Zugang zu digitalen Lehrmaterialien haben [Ve18]. Für alle Lernenden mit oder ohne Beeinträchtigungen ist es aber notwendig, digitale Inhalte zu nutzen, um gesellschaftlich und wissenschaftlich teilnehmen zu können. ...
... Da eine nachträgliche Umrüstung von Web-Anwendungen auf Normen der Barrierefreiheit aufwändig und kostspielig ist, sollte vom Beginn des Entwicklungsprozesses an das Webdesign barrierefrei gestaltet werden. Es stehen zwar diverse Unterstützungstechnologien (UT) für Menschen mit Behinderung zur Verfügung, doch zeigen Studien, dass gerade die, die davon profitieren könnten, diese Technologien nicht nutzen [Ve18]. Das kann darauf zurückzuführen sein, dass der Einsatz von UT die Behinderung einer Person besser sichtbar macht. ...
Die Prüfung von Webseiten auf Barrierefreiheit erfolgt nach wie vor noch unzureichend. Das Fehlen von geeigneten Standardtestverfahren ist einer der Gründe, warum Barrierefreiheit im Web so schwierig zu erreichen ist. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt, welche technischen Lösungsansätze sich mittels eines nutzerorientierten Ansatzes erstellen lassen, die automatisch möglichst viele digitalen Barrieren in einer Web-Anwendung abbauen. Es wird ein Entwicklungsframework für barrierefreie User Interfaces vorgestellt, das iterativ erarbeitet wurde. Neben den gewonnenen Erkenntnissen und entwickelten Ideen für technische Lösungen wird auch auf die Methode selbst eingegangen. Das entwickelte Framework AUI wurde entworfen, um für Nutzer*innen einen „barriereärmeren“ Zugang zu digitalen Inhalten u.a. zu eLearning-Angebote zu ermöglichen. Mit einem funktionsübergreifenden Design liefert dieses Framework überschaubare Kernfunktionen, die u.a. von Menschen mit Behinderungen benötigt werden. Das AUI enthält spezifische Merkmale, die auf individuelle Bedürfnisse des Einzelnen abgestimmt werden können, um einer Person mit sensorischen, kognitiven oder körperlichen Behinderungen den Zugang zu einer Web-Anwendung zu ermöglichen.
Understanding the interplay between the user experience (UX) and Web accessibility is key to design Web sites that, beyond access, could provide a better UX for people with disabilities. In this paper we examine the relationship between UX attributes and Web accessibility. We measured accessibility in two ways: the perceived accessibility as reported by participants and accessibility in terms of conformance to guidelines. Findings uncover that perceived Web accessibility is significantly correlated with 27 of the 35 UX attributes analysed, suggesting these two qualities are closely related. The relationship between UX and conformance to WCAG 2.0 is more elusive: we only found significant correlations between the hedonic attributes original, innovative and exciting.
Accessibility of the Italian public administration web pages is ruled by the Stanca Act and in particular the Decree of the Minister issued on July 8, 2005. In this paper, an objective test is performed on the official web pages of the Italian province and region chief towns to check their compliance to the 22 technical requirements defined by the Stanca Act. A sample of 976 web pages belonging to the websites of the Italian chief towns have been downloaded in the period October–December 2012. Such a data collection has been submitted to Achecker, the worldwide recognized syntax and accessibility validation service. Several accessibility and syntax errors have been found following the automatic analysis. Such errors have been classified, a statistic has been produced, and some graphs are included to offer an immediate view of the error distribution. Moreover, the most frequent errors are pointed out and explained in detail. Although the Stanca Act has been promulgated some years ago, and contains precise indications about updating a web page to be compliant to the 22 technical requirements, all the analyzed websites are not fully compliant to the law. Updating web pages to be compliant to the Stanca Act is a slow process and some grave errors are still present, both in terms of syntax and accessibility.
Local government organizations such as municipalities often seem unable to fully adopt or implement web accessibility standards even if they are actively pursuing it. Based on existing adoption models, this study identifies factors in five categories that influence the adoption and implementation of accessibility standards for local government websites. Awareness of these factors is importap and understand these factors, this study has identified and interviewed experts in the field of (organizational) accessibility. This has led to an extension of the existing models. The extended model was then validated by interviews with key stakeholders. The outcome of this study places existing adoption models in a new context. The result is an adoption model that contributes better to explaining adoption and implementation processes within eGovernment systems and organizations. This adoption model aims to better help local governments in the identification of factors influencing the actual adoption and implementation of web accessibility standards in their situation. The model explains how factors in the different categories contribute to the adoption and implementation of web accessibility standards. The model may also be applicable to the adoption and implementation of other guidelines and (open) standards within local government.
Key points
• Policy, top–down support, educational working groups, customer data, and a central accessibility team have helped mature web accessibility at Elsevier ScienceDirect.
• Collaboration groups are essential for gathering feedback from users with disabilities and experts in the field.
• Many of the lessons learned from the first accessibility user study in 2001 are still relevant today.
• Alt text for figures is a challenge for publishers, and using authors or machine learning to provide text descriptions may be a solution.
• Accessibility is not an achievement to be won and done but a culture paradigm that integrates inclusive design into the very early phases of a product.
Ten years after the enactment of the Stanca Act in Italy, the paper presents a survey regarding the accessibility of municipal Web sites. This study aims at checking the application of WCAG 2.0 guidelines to Italian municipalities Web sites and to understand what are the problems that still need to be solved to obtain a universal access to public local content in Italy.
In this paper, we present the rationale and approach for establishing guidelines for the development of accessible wearables. Wearable technology is increasingly integrated in our everyday lives. Therefore, ensuring accessibility is pivotal to prevent a digital divide between persons who have and persons who lack access to these devices, caused by their abilities. We present a project in which guidelines are created that enable developers to design accessible wearable apps and technologies. These guidelines will be created with developers who have experience with designing accessible technology and/or wearables. In addition, users who (potentially) experience problems with accessibility of wearables (persons who have a disability) are involved in the development of the guideline, to ensure their validity from an end-user perspective.
Smart wearable devices are integrated our everyday lives. Such wearable technology is worn on or near the body, while leaving both hands free. This enables users to receive and send information in a non-obtrusive way. Because of the ability to continuously assist and support activities, wearables could be of great value to persons with a disability. Persons with a disability can only benefit from the potential of wearables if they are accessible. Like other devices, platforms, and applications, developers of wearables need to take accessibility into account during early development, for example by including multimodal interfaces in the design. Even though some accessibility guidelines and standards exist for websites and mobile phones, more support for the development of accessible wearables is needed. The aim of our project is to develop a set of guidelines for accessible wearables. Three approaches are combined to develop the guidelines. A scan of the literature was done to identify publications addressing the accessibility of wearables and/or development guidelines. Semi-structured interviews were held with developers of accessible wearable technology. Based on these first activities, a draft set of guidelines is created. This draft is evaluated with developers and researchers in the field of universal design, accessibility, and wearables. Further, the draft is evaluated with visually impaired people (VIP) in interviews. Based on these results, a final set of guidelines will be created. This set is evaluated against an actual project in which apps are developed for VIP. This study is in progress; first results are presented (literature study, semi-structured interviews, first draft of guidelines) and a call for participation in the Delphi study is issued.
Objective:
We examined the consequences of implementing Web accessibility guidelines for nondisabled users.
Background:
Although there are Web accessibility guidelines for people with disabilities available, they are rarely used in practice, partly due to the fact that practitioners believe that such guidelines provide no benefits, or even have negative consequences, for nondisabled people, who represent the main user group of Web sites. Despite these concerns, there is a lack of empirical research on the effects of current Web accessibility guidelines on nondisabled users.
Method:
Sixty-one nondisabled participants used one of three Web sites differing in levels of accessibility (high, low, and very low). Accessibility levels were determined by following established Web accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.0). A broad methodological approach was used, including performance measures (e.g., task completion time) and user ratings (e.g., perceived usability).
Results:
A high level of Web accessibility led to better performance (i.e., task completion time and task completion rate) than low or very low accessibility. Likewise, high Web accessibility improved user ratings (i.e., perceived usability, aesthetics, workload, and trustworthiness) compared to low or very low Web accessibility. There was no difference between the very low and low Web accessibility conditions for any of the outcome measures.
Conclusion:
Contrary to some concerns in the literature and among practitioners, high conformance with Web accessibility guidelines may provide benefits to users without disabilities.
Application:
The findings may encourage more practitioners to implement WCAG 2.0 for the benefit of users with disabilities and nondisabled users.
How can we best understand why the application of information and communication technology in organizations succeeds or fails? Calling on technical, organizational, social, psychological and economic perspectives, this book provides a fresh and comprehensive framework for answering this question.