Web 2.0 and Accessibility

First what is Web 2.0 and what is Accessibility?

The term Web 2.0 became notable after the first O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004 (1) and has been defined by Roman Hoegg, Robert Martignoni, Miriam Meckel, and Katarina Stanoevska-Slabeva in 2006 as "the philosophy of mutually maximizing collective intelligence and added value for each participant by formalized and dynamic information sharing and creation". (2)

According to Adobe, "Accessibility involves two key issues: first, how users with disabilities access electronic information, and second, how web content designers and developers enable web pages to function with assistive products used by individuals with disabilities". (3)

Web 2.0 is admittedly the greatest thing since "sliced bread" but not for everyone.

In 2005 research conducted by the Gallaudet Research Institute at Gallaudet University in Washington DC found that within the United States population approximately 10 million persons are hard of hearing and approximately 1million are functionally deaf. (4)

The American Foundation for the Blind currently reports that there are approximately 10 million blind and visually impaired persons in the United States and approximately 1.3 million are legally blind. (5)

However, these findings are limited to those who report being hearing and/or visually impaired so the actual number of hearing and/or visually impaired persons is unknown.

Why are these statistics important? We need two more statistics to answer this question. How many accessible Web sites are there and how many of them have media content that is accessible? These statistics are not available but my experience shows that very few Web sites are accessible and very little media content is accessible. This includes the Web sites of many of the organizations that act as a voice for persons who are hearing and/or visually impaired.

The above statistics, then, are important because the "added value (of Web 2.0) for each participant" is not available to persons with hearing and/or visual impairments if the Web site and media content are not accessible by them.

When Web sites were primarily text and images, Web sites that were not designed for accessibility were still somewhat accessible by hearing and/or visually impaired persons. Persons with hearing impairments could view the text and images and persons with visual impairments could hear the text with the use of screen reading software, though images were unavailable to them if there were no descriptive ALT tags associated with the images which could be accessed by the screen reading software.

It's a different world with Web 2.0. Now Web sites have audio and video and the audio is not available to the hearing impaired and the video is not available to the visually impaired unless the audio and video are made accessible.

So how do you create an accessible Web site and accessible media? It is actually quite easy though it adds extra work.

Here are the steps:

1. Validate your Web site HTML (6)

2. Validate your Web site CSS (7)

3. Validate your Web site Accessibility (8)

4. Add closed captions or sub-titles to videos - this will make the audio available to persons who are hearing impaired

5. Create a text version of the audio content including a descriptive depiction of the associated video content and include it on your Web site with a noticeable text link to it - this will allow persons with hearing impairments to read the audio content and it will allow persons with visual impairments to hear the audio content and video descriptions for an audio book like experience with the use of screen reading software.

That's it! But why do the extra work? Here are just a few reasons:

1. It's the polite thing to do.

2. It increases your potential audience and market for your Web site by 20 million or so persons.

3. It let's everyone choose how they want to experience the media content.

4. And, in some cases it's the law! Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires that public Web sites meet certain accessibility standards if the Web site is associated with the Federal government. Many State governments, including state funded colleges and universities may also require adherence to the Section 508 guidelines. (9)

So check your Web site with the validation services above. Does it pass? If it passes, you're part way there. Now work on making your media content accessible. If your Web site does not pass, you may have a lot of work to do before you can start making your media content accessible.

In the end it's your choice whether or not you choose to have a Web site that is accessible.

Visit my Web site (10) if you would like more information about accessible and standards compliant Web sites. While you are there spend a few minutes and view the DO-IT videos. (11) The DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) videos were created at the University of Washington (12) and cover a wide variety of topics, including technology, academic preparation, and career options for people with disabilities. It is my hope that promoting these videos will help Web site developers and media producers understand the importance of creating accessible and standards compliant Web sites.

References:

1. Web 2.0 conference, October 5-7, 2004, San Francisco, CA

2. Roman Hoegg, Robert Martignoni, Miriam Meckel, Katarina Stanoevska-Slabeva Overview of Business Models for Web 2.0 Communities 2006

3. Adobe

4. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 2006

5.American Foundation for the Blind

6. W3C Markup Validator

7. W3C CSS Validation Service

8. HiSoftware Cynthia Says Web Content Accessibility Validation

9. US Section 508

10. New Vista, Inc. - Accessible and Standards Compliant Web Site Development

11. New Vista, Inc. - DO-IT Video Page

12. University of Washington DO-IT Videos