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Thread: Usability University Course: Evaluating Accessibiilty Compliance Using STEP508

Number of posts in this thread: 5 (In chronological order)

From: Conrad Mulligan
Date: Tue, May 25 2004 11:40AM
Subject: Usability University Course: Evaluating Accessibiilty Compliance Using STEP508
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The General Service Administration (GSA) and the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are sponsoring a new,
comprehensive usability training program called Usability University. Usability
University will offer federal staff and federal contractors a variety of user
experience training opportunities including free seminars and in-depth courses
at nominal rates. The purpose of this initiative is to share, promote, and
demonstrate usability policies, methods, research, and best practices to improve
the usability of federal Web sites and other communication technologies. These
seminars and courses are designed to provide current, hands-on, practical
training for Web developers, editors, content managers, marketing staff, and
others.

On June 23-24, Usability University will host a
course entitled "Evaluating Accessibility Compliance Using STEP508".
STEP508, the Simple Tool for
Error Prioritization for Section 508
compliance, is a new electronic tool that:

Prioritizes the repairs you should make to ensure
that your Web site is compliant with the accessibility requirements of
<A
href="http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=content&;amp;amp;id=3">Section 508.
Provides the metrics to report your progress in
improving the accessibility of your site over time.
Details of the course, cost, and registration
information are shown below. For more information on the Usability
University and upcoming training programs and workshops, please visit <A
href="http://www.usability.gov/usabilityuniversity/training.html">http://www.usability.gov/usabilityuniversity/training.html<;FONT
face=Arial size=2> and <A
href="http://www.usability.gov/usabilityuniversity/seminar.html">http://www.usability.gov/usabilityuniversity/seminar.html

Evaluating Accessibility Compliance Using STEP508
 <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Instructors:
Andrew
Kirkpatrick
Project
Manager, WGBH National Center for Accessible Media

Debra
Ruh
President
and Founder, TecAccess, LLC

Date:
Wednesday
and Thursday, June 23-24, 2004

Time:
9:30 a.m.
- 4:30 p.m.

Place:
General
Services Administration
1800 F
Street, NW, Room 5007
Washington, DC 20407
(Nearest
Metro station is Farragut West)

Fee:
$350
Early registration (thru Friday, June 11, 2004)
$400
Registration (after Friday, June 11, 2004)

Objectives:
Learn how
to install and use STEP508 with accessibility evaluation tools. Review STEP508 output and ways to
utilize it to repair Web site errors and report results. Understand the strengths, limitations,
and upcoming enhancements of STEP508

Who
should attend:
Usability/IT specialists, web site designers/editors, program managers,
EEO or accessibility specialists.

Registration required:
<A
href="http://www.usability.gov/usabilityuniversity/training.html">http://www.usability.gov/usabilityuniversity/training.html

Questions:
Email
 = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Call
GSA's Usability Solutions Group: 202.208.7282

From: RC
Date: Wed, Aug 11 2004 7:25AM
Subject: Compliance
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I manage a Community College website. How compliant do we need to be. We
all "should be" 508 or are we level one and "should" aim for 508?

Help! How do I measure this? I see us reaching some level but it seems to
be unobtainable?

Thanks,

RC

From: julian.rickards
Date: Wed, Aug 11 2004 8:10AM
Subject: Re: Compliance
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One of our local colleges (in Canada, colleges do not mean universities but
are more technical in nature) has gone to great effort and expense to
provide teaching facilities for physically handicapped. I have not checked,
but I hope that they also have made their web site accessible. I personally
believe that colleges and universities are public institutions and
therefore, their web sites should be accessible, whether or not it is a
legal requirement. Likely, however, you are asking a legal question which I
cannot answer.

-----------------------------------------------
Julian Rickards
A/Digitial Publications Distribution Coordinator
Publication Services Section,
Ministry of Northern Development and Mines,
Vox: 705-670-5608 / Fax: 705-670-5960

From: Hall, Kevin (K.M.)
Date: Wed, Aug 11 2004 8:17AM
Subject: Re: Compliance
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RC,
A quick look over your homepage shows a number of accessibility problems that should be addressed. You can view an automated (and thus incomplete) report on your 508 compliance at http://www.contentquality.com/mynewtester/cynthia.exe?rptmode=-1&;amp;url1=http%3A//www.tulsacc.edu/.

As a community college you are likely receiving federal funds and should aim for full 508 compliance. Details on what is expected from a web site under 508 can be found at http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/1194.22.htm.

WebAIM wrote about the topic of colleges and 508 a few years ago:
"The question of the applicability of Section 508 to colleges and universities is even more difficult to answer. Some claim that universities must comply with Section 508 by virtue of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998. This Act supplies monies to states on condition of compliance with Section 508 rules and regulations. If this interpretation is accepted, however, Section 508 is still a procurement law, and might not apply to Web content developed at the university itself. In addition, a state could, in theory, refuse the monies from the Assistive Technology Act, and thus exempt itself from compliance to Section 508 regulations. The picture is a bit murky from a legal perspective at this point regarding some aspects of Section 508, but one thing is clear: universities are still bound by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Both of these laws require equal access for people with disabilities."

I hope that this helps. Also keep in mind that accessibility isn't really something we have to do becuase the government or someone else is making us, it's something we should want to do, particularly in an academic setting where inclusion and equal access to information are core ideals.

Regards,
-Kevin Hall

From: Jon Gunderson
Date: Wed, Aug 11 2004 8:30AM
Subject: Re: Compliance
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You may also want to link accessibility to use of Web standars
compliant design. In the next few years the lack of use of
web standards is going to effect alot of people and casue a
crissis in web development. A major example is LCD
technologies that are producing higher resolution displays.
Images used to stylize text on the web are going to shrink to
unreadible sizes as LCD increase their resolution. People are
going to continue to demand high resolution LCDs to increase
until they can match the resolutions of laser printers so that
people can read just as easily from a computer screen as they
can from a piece of paper. Web designers will no longer be
able to use the mythical 800x600 resultion for their designs
anymore.

The same princples needed to make web pages usable on
different resolution screens are the same as those needed by
people with disabilities. There are many other issues, but his
is going to be an issue that will be emerging in the next few
years. At UIUC we are developing a best practices document to
address accessibility and standards complaince issues for
forward looking web design.

http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/uiuc-web-best-practices.htm

Jon

---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 10:16:49 -0400
>From: "khall51"
>Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Compliance
>To: "WebAIM Discussion List"
>
>
>RC,
>A quick look over your homepage shows a number of
accessibility problems that should be addressed. You can view
an automated (and thus incomplete) report on your 508
compliance at
http://www.contentquality.com/mynewtester/cynthia.exe?rptmode=-1&;amp;url1=http%3A//www.tulsacc.edu/.

>
>As a community college you are likely receiving federal funds
and should aim for full 508 compliance. Details on what is
expected from a web site under 508 can be found at
http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/guide/1194.22.htm.
>
>WebAIM wrote about the topic of colleges and 508 a few years ago:
>"The question of the applicability of Section 508 to colleges
and universities is even more difficult to answer. Some claim
that universities must comply with Section 508 by virtue of
the Assistive Technology Act of 1998. This Act supplies monies
to states on condition of compliance with Section 508 rules
and regulations. If this interpretation is accepted, however,
Section 508 is still a procurement law, and might not apply to
Web content developed at the university itself. In addition, a
state could, in theory, refuse the monies from the Assistive
Technology Act, and thus exempt itself from compliance to
Section 508 regulations. The picture is a bit murky from a
legal perspective at this point regarding some aspects of
Section 508, but one thing is clear: universities are still
bound by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Both of these laws
require equal access for people with disabilities."
>
>I hope that this helps. Also keep in mind that accessibility
isn't really something we have to do becuase the government or
someone else is making us, it's something we should want to
do, particularly in an academic setting where inclusion and
equal access to information are core ideals.
>
>Regards,
>-Kevin Hall
>
>