WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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From: Paul Bohman
Date: Dec 5, 2005 7:00PM

ANNOUNCING:
WebAIM Monthly: An online magazine for web accessibility professionals

Starting in January 2006, WebAIM will begin publishing "WebAIM Monthly"
at http://webaimmonthly.org (the site is not live yet). This online
magazine will feature cross-disciplinary articles about both the
techniques and theory of web accessibility.


CALL FOR ARTICLES

WebAIM is interested in publishing articles, op-ed opinion pieces, and
tutorials about all aspects of accessibility, with a particular interest
in articles pertaining to the specific upcoming themes outlined below.

Upcoming themes (and suggested possible focus areas):

1. LOOKING AHEAD--what does the future hold for web accessibility?
- Are we on the right track?
- What is the future impact of WCAG 2.0?
- What might future guidelines look like (WCAG 3.0, 4.0 ...)?
- Discuss the (sometimes neglected) role of user agents.
- Discuss ideas for business models for sustainable, forward-thinking
accessibility.
- Discuss pro-active vs. reactive accessibility.
- What are the *the "big ideas" of accessibility*? What would you really
want web accessibility to look like if you had the power to change
*everything?*

2. COGNITIVE DISABILITIES
- What does the research tell us?
- Discuss universal design vs. specialized design for cognitive
disabilities.
- Discuss the idea of simplifying content. How do you do it? Can you
automate it?
- How can evaluation tool developers incorporate criteria for cognitive
disabilities into their algorithms?
- At what point does accessibility become "impossible?"
- What are the conceptual categories of functional limitations?
- How well are cognitive disabilities represented in current/future
guidelines? in what ways could they be included more?
- How helpful are specific techniques such as increased white space,
supplemental illustrations, larger font, simplified language, increased
line height, etc.? (Actual experiments and studies would be fantastic!)

3. SCREEN READERS--now and into the future
- Prepare in-depth comparisons of current screen reader capabilities.
- Discuss unique and beneficial features in certain brands.
- Expose bugs and flaws.
- Discuss what you wish screen readers could do.
- What does the future hold "beyond screen readers"? (Get creative here.)

4. CSS FOR ACCESSIBILITY
- Describe CSS techniques that enhance accessibility.
- Describe CSS dangers and accessibility pitfalls to avoid.
- Describe techniques for allowing greater user customization of CSS.
- What is the role (or value) of disability-specific CSS, such as styles
just for low vision, screen readers, color-blindness, low-literacy or
reading disorders, or cognitive disabilities?

5. OTHER
- If you have other ideas relevant to accessibility which don't fit into
the above themes, we encourage you to submit them.
- We will update our list of upcoming themes periodically.


TO SUBMIT ARTICLES

We suggest you contact WebAIM with your ideas prior to submitting full
articles, though this is not required.

Send ideas and articles to <EMAIL REMOVED> .

DEADLINES:
Articles are due on the 15th of each month for publication in the next
month's issue.

FORMAT:
WebAIM Monthly publications will conform to XHTML 1.0 Strict. We prefer
that you prepare your content in this format, with proper headings and
other semantic markup, and no styles (unless the styles are a necessary
part of the content). We encourage you to include illustrations and
supplementary materials where appropriate. XHTML files and supplementary
files may be sent as email attachments, either as separate files or as
*.zip compressed files.

NOTE 1: Authors agree to grant WebAIM Monthly non-exclusive publication
rights. Authors retain ownership and may re-publish the same content--or
variations on it--in other publications, at conferences, etc.

NOTE 2: WebAIM Monthly will provided free of charge to readers. WebAIM
will not pay or reimburse authors for any costs associated with writing
articles for WebAIM Monthly.

NOTE 3: WebAIM will strive to ensure that your content is presented as
professionally (and as accessibly) as possible. You will receive
feedback from our editors in a peer review process. Not all articles or
contributions will be accepted. Authors will have the opportunity to
refine their work to meet the expectations of WebAIM Monthly editors.


--
Paul Bohman
Director of Training Products and Services
WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
www.webaim.org
Utah State University
www.usu.edu