[472] in Project_DB
Re: Does this project belong in the database?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert V. Ferrara)
Fri Apr 30 19:43:39 1999
Message-Id: <v03020906b34ffcf25bd8@[18.177.0.229]>
In-Reply-To: <199904301620.MAA03448@arizona>
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Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1999 19:45:07 -0500
To: Jean Foster <jfoster@mit.edu>
From: "Robert V. Ferrara" <rferrara@MIT.EDU>
Cc: Greg Anderson <ganderso@mit.edu>, lisanti@mit.edu, project-db@mit.edu
Hello Jean,
There is absolutely no harm in putting the ADA compliance project in the
database. It can be entered immediately as an 'informal' project, I presume
in Support. To make it 'formal', you and/or Suzana should enlist Bill Hogue
and make sure he is on board.
If you require any technical type help entering things (you won't be the
first to experience occasional difficulties), send e-mail to
project-db@mit.edu.
BTW, I haven't yet heard from the other Jean Foster in Canada, the one who
wanted to visit MIT.
Happy sailing, Cheers, Bob
At 12:20 PM -0400 4/30/99, Jean Foster wrote:
>Hi Greg,
>
>Thanks for your prompt reply! I'll wait till we hear from Bob
>before proceeding.
>
>-jean-
>> I'm copying Bob as he is also a keeper of the project db flame! He
>> may have other thoughts
>>
>> Thanks again,
>>
>> Greg
>>
>>
>> >Hello Greg,
>> >
>> >An issue I was working on alone evolved into a full blown project
>> >with a number of other people involved and I wonder if it should
>> >be included in the Projects DB, and how to go about submitting it?
>> >
>> >The issue is ADA compliance of MIT web pages. I stumbled
>> >across this problem as I was working on documentation to help
>> >faculty put their courses on the web. I found that there was
>> >essentially no information published by MIT that even acknowledges
>> >awareness of this issue (except for one article in the i/s
>> >newsletter 2 years ago;). I believe most people who publish web
>> >pages at MIT aren't aware of accessibility problems with web pages.
>> >
>> >I started asking around to find out if anybody was working on this
>> >and found that although there had been some discussion between
>> >Suzana Lisanti and Barbara Roberts, who is the Coordinator of
>> >Disability Services from the Personnel Office, nothing had really
>> >been done. Suzana said she would be happy to have me pick up on it
>> >and so I did. I was eager to see this done because this was
>> >something of a stumbling block for our course web page project
>> >since we wanted to build on existing documentation and what we
>> >needed to build on wasn't there.
>> >
>> >The Federal Government has recently started enforcing ADA compliance
>> >for accessible web pages. They have hit the California State School
>> >system already. MIT is a very ripe target and at this point has no
>> >protection. The govenment doesn't expect that every single page at
>> >MIT is compliant, but it is important to show that MIT is aware of
>> >the issue and has made a good faith effort to do something about it.
>> >Publishing a policy statement and guidelines for page authors and a
>> >publicity campaign to raise awareness would probably suffice.
>> >
>> >I've pulled together a group of people from IS and other organizations
>> >within MIT including, AC CWIS, the ATIC Lab, the Personnel Office,
>> >Training and Pubs and we met for the first time 2 weeks ago. We
>> >drafted a Policy Statement that Barbara Roberts is getting approved,
>> >Debby Levinson, Kathy Cahill and I are working on the guidelines and
>> >a number of others are working on publicity.
>> >
>> >We're hoping to have the policy statement and guidelines done by
>> >the end of May, but the publicity may drag on a little longer.
>> >
>> >There is a mailing list and a discuss archive called web-access
>> >(on nemesis).
>> >
>> >Please let me know if this should be tracked in the projects db.
>> >
>> >Thanks,
>> >-jean-
>> >
>> >
>> >----
>> >NOTE: This message was sent using a WWW form. The address jfoster@mit.edu
>> >was typed manually, and may easily be incorrect.
>>
>>
>>
