with the new regulations coming online and the importance of distance
learning and online education, I present this to you.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: discouraging news from ToolBook and MIT
Resent-Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 14:17:07 -0400 (EDT)
Resent-From: [log in to unmask]
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 20:15:27 +0200
From: Rafael Romero <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]

Hello, I was attending a conference about Online Learning in
Cheltenham last 21-22 july at the UK.

After Prof John Williams <http://ken.mit.edu/jrweb/> from MIT
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) explained the strategical
importance of online learning courses for the future of the institute
and the new applications they were developing I went to him privately
to ask if they were considering accesibility issues in the new
developments. He kindly explained to me that

1. W3 pages themselves do not comply with WAI accessibility standards
2. Accesibility for disabled was not a priority for them in these
moments.

Afterwards he accepted a WAI Quick Tips card that I handed to him.

Later on in the public presentation of Toolbook latest version (v. 7)
there was a very similar situation. TB 7 is used to develop multimedia
educational software, that now is also directly exported to html and
java formats. I asked publicly to Mr Claude Ostyn, the general
director of Asymetrix, if they were considering accesibility issues in
the html code generated by their application.

He also kindly explained to me and the rest of the public that

1. W3 pages themselves do not comply with WAI accessibility standards
2. Accesibility for disabled was not a priority in these moments and
they were not going to delay the launch of TB 7 for these issues.

I was a bit surprised because Mr Ostyn had previously mentioned the
potential of web for reaching many types of users, including those
with disabilities and he is himself a member of one W3 group working
in standardisation of Online Learning Materials (or something
similar).

The question of W3 pages not complying themselves to accesibility
standards seems to be a recurrent excuse for some people for not
promoting/enforcing the guidelines in their own institutional webs and
applications.

Pity. Isn't it?

Best regards, Rafael Romero.


PS: URL of conference was http://online.chelt.ac.uk/ole99/ but that is
not relevant to the message and currently it is not working. Hopefully
it will soon be available again in case anyone is interested in the
whole list of speakers.


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