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Re: It's Official - New Sec. 508 is out

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From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Feb 20, 2015 11:33AM

Jon wrote: " Another recommendation that I was considering would be to alter
the nomencalture to allow for advances in technology. For example, they
specifically call out WCAG 2.0 or PDF/UA-1 rather than use a generic
identifier such as, "the current Recommendation" or "the latest version."
By the time this law gets written into the FAR, we might actually have an
update to the current PDF 1.7 specification which could change the needs and
capabilities of ISO 14289."

I'm concerned about that, too. I don't want to wait another 15 years for
WCAG 3.0 to be adopted!

I don't know of any other Federal regulations that automatically incorporate
new versions of "outside" standards (WCAG is not controlled by the US
Federal government, so it is outside our control). I think it's tough to
write language into Sec. 508 itself that would automatically adopt new WCAG
and PDF/UA standards because standards have to have their public comment and
review period.

An alternative might be to have the Access Board's policies state that their
agency has X months to review new versions of WCAG & PDF/UA, go through the
comment and review process, and incorporate them into Sec. 508 standards.

I think we all want Sec. 508 updated as quickly as possible in the future,
especially since we can assume more technologies will be developed faster
and faster each year. Yes, the language of Sec. 508 is fairly
technology-neutral, but we really can't foresee what devices or software
we'll be using 5 years from now.

Regarding abbreviations and unusual words, I think this standard is best
handled by WCAG and WC3's HTML standards. It's not for our specific
government to regulate, but rather an international standard that affects
all technologies. I remember some movement on the abbreviation tags a couple
of years ago. Hopefully someone on this list knows more and will contribute.

--Bevi Chagnon