Access For All

The special focus of this issue is on the findings of the project’s first pilot testing phase, as well as the findings of the 1st AEGIS International Conference that took place in combination with the 2nd Pan-European Workshop / User Forum. The AEGIS accomplishments and prototypes are highlighted. However, AEGIS is not only about technology, but also about people and how their needs can be met. This is why a major topic of this issue is their opinion about what we do, expressed though interviews with some of our users who have already tried out the AEGIS developments. Finally, the 2nd international AEGIS Conference and User Forum is announced.

An accessible PDF version can be downloaded here.

You can also download it as accessible PDF.

The Accessible Digital Office Document (ADOD) Project has released guidelines on the production of accessible documents for following office suites:

• OpenOffice.org (also valid for LibreOffice)
• Microsoft Office 2010
• Corel WordPerfect X5
• Google Docs
• iWork Pages ’09

More information at http://adod.idrc.ocad.ca/.

Source: Christophe Strobbe, dfa-ict-nl: nederlandstalige Yahoo!Group en mailinglijst over toegankelijkheid in ICT.

The AEGIS Consortium released the fourth issue of its Newsletter. The special focus of this fourth issue is on AEGIS’ 1st International Conference & 2nd Pan-European Workshop/User Forum, as well as on the new release of odt2braille software package developed within our project. They also feature an interview with the member of AEGIS’s Advisory Board, Prof. Gregg Vanderheiden, Director of Trace R&D Center University of Wisconsin-Madison. And as always, the articles in this issue present the ongoing work, experiences, accomplishments, and lessons learned by the AEGIS partners. An overview of past and forthcoming events where the project has or will be featured is also presented.

VERITAS just released its 1st Newsletter (accessible PDF).

VERITAS aims to develop, validate and assess tools for built-in accessibility support at all stages of ICT and non-ICT product development, including specification, design, development and testing. The goal is to introduce simulationbased and virtual reality testing at all stages of assistive technologies product design and development into the automotive, smart living spaces (buildings & construction, domotics), workplace, ehealth and infotainment applications areas. The goal is to ensure that future products and services are being systematically designed for all people including those with disabilities and functional limitations as well as older people. Furthermore, VERITAS plans to promote its results to the appropriate standards organisations for consideration and potential adoption and also to make them available through an open framework.

Project number: 247765
Project acronym: VERITAS
Project full title: Virtual and Augmented Environments and Realistic User Interactions To achieve Embedded Accessibility DesignS
Starting date: 1 January 2010
Duration: 48 Months
VERITAS is an Integrated Project (IP) within the 7th Framework Programme, Theme FP7-ICT-2009.7.2, Accessible and Assistive ICT

Designer and developers, as well as people with disabilities and older people that will be the main users and beneficiaries of the VERITAS system, are invited to dedicated User Forums where best practices and knowledge can be exchanged. These forums will take place in coincidence with the project’s conferences, where all interested parties will be able to join the debate. Members of the User Forum will also have the opportunity to apply for participation in testing of VERITAS services, and will be able to participate in project conferences at a reduced fee. Equally, all User Forum members will be provided with the project’s 6-monthly newsletter. To become part of the User Forum, please complete the registration form. Additionally, after submitting the form, you can also access their online User Forum.

The 2nd ACCESSIBLE project newsletter focuses on the progress of a survey on Accessible Software Implementation practices that was conducted by the project and which will continue to collect data till the end of the project duration.
Accessibility is a paramount issue nowadays. Authorities and experts are putting a lot of effort in pushing forward accessibility of software applications. However, despite this, ICT applications are in most cases not fully accessible yet. The triggering idea behind ACCESSIBLE is to contribute for better accessibility for all citizens, to increase the use of standards, and to develop an assessment simulation environment (including a suite of accessibility analysing tools, as well as developer-aid tools) to assess efficiently, easily and rapidly the accessibility and viability of software applications for all user groups. ACCESSIBLE will exploit the technologies behind the recent expansion of accessibility tools and standardisation methodologies, in order to provide an integrated simulation assessment environment for supporting the production of accessible software applications mobile or not. This will enable organisations and individuals (e.g. developers, designers, etc.) to produce software products of superior accessibility and quality, accompanied with appropriate measures and proposals for best practice. The proposed system will be demonstrated in the four pilots of ACCESSIBLE for the assessment of mobile applications, Web applications, Web services (mainly focusing on info-mobility services), and description languages (e.g. UML, SDL, etc.).