Once small step...

Peter



Last week, the Bush Administration unveiled its accessibility-improved web
site, <http://www.whitehouse.gov>www.whitehouse.gov, at an event in the
Eisenhower Executive Office Building Library at the White House. Section 508 of
the 1998 Rehabilitation Amendments Act called for federal web sites to be
accessible as of June 26, 2001.

Since June 26, the White House had come under a barrage of criticism from the
disability community for deficiencies in its web site’s accessibility features.
Over the last two months, White House staff worked feverishly and diligently to
comply with Section 508, and, to its credit, the White House’s web site is now
accessible to people with disabilities, especially blind, visually impaired,
hearing-impaired and deaf individuals. The White House staffed worked with
people from the hearing, vision and other disability communities, and industry
representatives on web site accessibility issues.

The site contains more content than it did on June 26, including a Spanish
language section, multi-media components, and an area designed specifically for
children (<http://www.whitehousekids.gov>www.whitehousekids.gov). I encourage
children to visit this site and suggest that the White House use the site to
teach children about the accomplishments of people with disabilities throughout
history.

For blind and visually impaired individuals the web site is programmed so a
voice synthesizer can read aloud the contents, including online forms and photo
captions. For the hearing-impaired, videos of presidential events will be
captioned, and efforts are underway to encode previous video with captioning.
The synchronization between the captioning and the lip movement is fantastic
and in real time.

“We used MAGpie to achieve the real time synchronization,” Michael
Lingenfelter, Web Development, Executive Office of the President, told me
during a private demonstration at the New Executive Office Building. MAGpie
(Media Access Generator) was developed by the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting’s WBGH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) in Boston.

Using MAGpie, authors can add captions to three multimedia formats:
<http://www.apple.com/quicktime/>Apple's QuickTime, the World Wide Web
Consortium's Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language
<http://www.w3.org/AudioVideo/>(SMIL) and Microsoft's Synchronized Accessible
Media Interchange <http://www.microsoft.com/enable/sami/default.htm>(SAMI)
format. MAGpie can also integrate audio descriptions into SMIL presentations.

“The White House staff sought our advice in using MAGpie for its web
accessibility program,” said Larry Goldberg, Director, Media Access Group,
WBGH.

For anyone concerned with the cost of captioning, MAGpie is free and can be
downloaded by visiting <http://ncam.wgbh.org/webaccess/magpie/>NCAM's website.

I have seen MAGpie used before, and it is a first rate tool for for multimedia
specialists, publishing companies or service providers who want to add
captions, subtitles and audio descriptions to their work.

To use MAGpie you need Windows Media Player installed on your computer. For
maximum flexibility in creating accessible multimedia, the user should download
the RealPlayer and the QuickTime Player. While it is not mandatory that users
install the latter two players, they will need them if their target multimedia
format is SMIL or QuickTime, respectively.

JAWS (Job Access With Speech) is used by the White House. Sold by Freedom
Scientific, St. Petersburg, Florida, JAWS provides speech technology that works
with Windows 95/98/Me or Windows NT/2000 operating system to provide access to
software applications and the Internet. JAWS uses an integrated voice
synthesizer and your computer's sound card to output the content of a computer
screen to speakers. JAWS’ price ranges from $795 to $1,195.

Recognizing that users access the Internet on a variety of bandwidths, the site
was designed to accommodate slow and fast connections. A text-only option is
included for the most rapid download time.

The text-only option merits its users. “The text only version interests me more
than text and graphics,” said a Marilyn Bronski, 42, rehabilitation counselor,
Atlanta, Georgia. “My blind students work better with text. And I need to
download material quickly.”

For people with learning disabilities I recommend using Kurzweil’s 3000,
version 5.0 when accessing the White House web site. Its background contrasts
and other features enhance accessibility.

A blind Curtis Chong, Director of Technology, National Federation of the Blind,
Baltimore, MD demonstrated his multiple skills with JAWS when accessing the
White House’s web site. Sitting to his left, I watched in awe as he moved
through the web site’s multiple features and files with graceful ease,
confidence and skill.

“I was invited by the White House staff to review their accessibility efforts
and found they had done everything right,” Chong said. Chong made sure that
links were labeled, the combo boxes for lists, especially states, were correct,
and he advised them to avoid PDF documents because they are difficult to work
with and and the content is not “editable” by the web site visitor, whereas an
HTML page is easily edited by the web site visitor. Additionally, it is
marginally more difficult to copy and paste PDF content that has been secured
than HTML.

The White House staff says it can’t put a cost on the accessibility work for
the web site. “Many, many staff and consultants worked to make this site
accessible,” said Lingenfelter.

The White House staff recognizes web site accessibility is an eternal task in
progress. The leadership shown on web accessibility shows that President Bush
wants to include people with disabilities in the information technology field.
To expand this inclusion, the White House web accessibility leadership needs to
be emulated by other federal agencies.


----------


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and not
necessarily those of the National Organization on Disability.

<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_cont_type.cfm?locationId=4&contentTypeId=
17&fromLocHmePg=F>Click here to view other N.O.D. articles by John Williams.

Edited by Bethany Hoffman

Related link 1: <http://www.whitehouse.gov/accessibility.html>White House Web
Page Accessibility

Point of Contact 1: John Williams, an award-winning columnist, has been writing
about disability issues for 22 years. He writes a weekly column for Business
Week Online magazine and is knowledgeable on assistive technology products. If
you have any comments or questions, or would like more information on this
week's articles, please contact John Williams at
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]


<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId
=436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/form_
cont_item_email_friend.cfm?contentId=436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12>Click
here to email this story to a friend



National Organization on Disability
910 Sixteenth Street, N.W., Suite 600
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 293-5960
[log in to unmask]
<http://www.cast.org/bobby/>
 <http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentI
d=436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_
cont_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=18&locationNm=Employment>Employment |
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_co
nt_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=19&locationNm=Community>Community |
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_co
nt_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=20&locationNm=Politics>Politics |
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_co
nt_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=14&locationNm=Religion>Religion |
 <http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentI
d=436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_
cont_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=15&locationNm=Education>Education |
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_co
nt_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=13&locationNm=Transportation>Transportation |
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_co
nt_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=16&locationNm=Health Care>Health Care |
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_co
nt_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=17&locationNm=Technology>Technology |
 <http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentI
d=436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_
cont_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=1&locationNm=Get%20Involved>Get Involved  |
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_co
nt_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=2&locationNm=About%20N%2EO%2ED%2E>About N.O.D.  |
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_co
nt_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=3&locationNm=N%2EO%2ED%2E%20Programs>N.O.D. Programs
|
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_co
nt_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=4&locationNm=News>News |
 <http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentI
d=436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_
cont_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=5&locationNm=Stats%20and%20Surveys>Stats & Surveys
|
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_co
nt_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=6&locationNm=Info%2E%20and%20Resources>Info &
Resources  |
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_co
nt_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=7&locationNm=Calendar>Calendar  |
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_co
nt_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=8&locationNm=Donations%20and%20Sales>Donations &
Sales
|
 <http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentI
d=436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/dsp_site_
help.cfm>Site Help  |
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/auth/form_a
uth_login.cfm>Login  |
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/auth/Newsle
tterRegistration/form_subscribe.cfm>E-newsletter  |
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/dsp_sitemap
.cfm>Site Map  |
<http://www.nod.org/cont/dsp_cont_item_view.cfm?viewType=itemView&contentId=
436&fromLocHmePg=T&fromLocationId=12&timeStamp=07-Sep-0110:50:45/cont/dsp_co
nt_loc_hme.cfm?locationId=12&locationNm=Home>Home


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html