Transcript WAI - Dublin 2003-9-3

eAccessibility and web
Accessibility
European Actions
Ima PLACENCIA [email protected]
Francois Junique
European Commission - Information Society Directorate-General
Unit “eInclusion”
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/citizens/accessibility/
http://www.cordis.lu/ist/so/einclusion/
Unit
eInclusion
Ima PLACENCIA - 2
e-Europe
•
•
Lisbon  e-Europe initiative “an Information Society for All”
e-Europe Action Plan 2002:
• e-Accessibility
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
 EC DG EMPL + INFSO
 ESDIS / eAccessibility Experts WG
• “Accessibility of Public Web Sites and their Content” (ref. WAI)
EC Communication (Sept-2001) to EP, Council, CoR, ESC
Council Resolutions (March-2002 + Dec-2002)
CoR Opinion (May-2002) , ESC Opinion (Feb-2002)
EP Resolution (June-2002)
e-Europe Action Plan 2002 – “WAI” final report
EYPD2003 + e-Europe Action Plan 2005
eAccessibility Communication
i2010
Ima PLACENCIA - 3
Communication, Opinions and Resolutions and MS situations
• Commitment
• WCAG1 conformance level A (MEP’s wish for AA)
• some MS: level AA and/or legislation
• Web sites
• National/Federal level (MS) + EU institutions
• Regional, Local
• Extension to publicly funded projects, and investigation
on how to act on commercial or social private sites
• Support Actions
• Training,awareness, tools, best practices exchange, RTD
• Monitoring: Comparable data => Common methodology
Ima PLACENCIA - 4
Web: Levels of Accessibility Monitoring
Not yet
in place
Guidelines
Compliance and
Accessibility
Assessment,
Questionnaire
to MS and to
EU institutions
delegation of tasks,
possible feedback to
author and labelling
=> Synthetic Reporting to EP and Council (end 2003)
Ima PLACENCIA - 5
Comparable data  Common Methodology
In each
Jurisdiction
Questionnaire
on Support
Actions
Sites inventory
Label
+ comments
Ima PLACENCIA - 6
Accessibility of public Web Sites and their content
(pages, material, applications)
European Commission services
+ ESDIS HG
+ e-Accessibility Experts Group
CEiii experts ?
National Government
responsible entities
Monitoring
Methodology
and
Infrastructure
National level Organisations
European level Organisations
EuroAccessibility
other Survey
Expertise ?
Overall Progress Indicators
(+ possibly individual marking)
Ima PLACENCIA - 7
Monitoring Support
•
•
•
W3C / WAI / EOWG + FP5 / IST / AMs
• material, support, methodologies, v2, …
Possible FP6 / IST RTD projects (for the future)
Some MS initiatives
 reported by ESDIS / e-Acc. Experts WG
(D, UK, IRL first results apparently not brilliant)
+ Euro-Accessibility initiative (MS NGOs)
?
•
DG INFSO e-Gov/e-Inclusion TopOfTheWeb contract
•
EU Institutions level
(2500 publics sites in EU, first results soon, apparently not brilliant)
• EC / Europa Quality-Control (DG Press + Ascii contractor)
• Others ?
Ima PLACENCIA - 8
Questionnaire (for each Juridiction/institution)
•
Official framework and responsible bodies (decision,
implementation, monitoring)?
•
•
•
•
•
Magnitude of the task and inventory of sites?
•
•
•
Tools for authoring and repairing, editorial contracts?
Monitoring methodology in place (if any)?
Accessibility situation (measured or estimated)?
Main actors (politicians, services, contractors)?
Training available and used, qualifications required
/procurement clauses?
Quality control or certification system?
Issues related to Web Applications or Documents
(e.g. PDF, Office formats)
Ima PLACENCIA - 9
Questionnaire
EC: DG EMPL / Disability
/ Knowledge Society
DG INFSO / Disable & Elderly
Monitoring
• commitment
• efforts, progress
Ceiii
EC
European
Institutions
Policy-makers,
Managers, IRMs,
Web-masters, Web-scribes
Trainers, Monitors, …
ESDIS +
eAcc. Exp. WG
Member States
(national/federal level)
Regions and
Municipalities
Ima PLACENCIA - 10
Short term monitoring (superficial)
• “Top-of-the-Web” E-Government EC project
• 2500 sites all over Europe, e-services oriented
• Methodology designed in collaboration with NL
Bartimeus (representing WAI) but simplified to
enter in the given budget. About 15 checkpoints.
• Automatic process based on CynthiaSays (Prof.
version) for detecting bad points (home pages +
up to 250 subpages)
• Human checkup when no bad points detected
(home page plus up to 5 pages per checkpoint)
• More info & results next time (aggregation issues)
Ima PLACENCIA - 11
Automatic Assessment Tools
•
•
Specifications availability and Tools validation?
•
Causes for the apparent missing open source
approach (niche market? competition benefits? …)
•
Complementary tools regarding language
complexity analysis
•
Mixing or not page assessment and site pages
walking processes
•
Semi-automatic tools, AI-based tools
Commercial products (European?, localised?),
National products?
Ima PLACENCIA - 12
Complementary preliminary monitoring
• Nov.2002 Report from Ireland (DCU/Rince)
• Barry McMullin team (EDeAN member, Euro-Accessibility partner)
• Current extension to other countries (not public specific)
• Others
• NL Bartimeus approach (partly used in our “Top-of-theWeb” e-Government project)
• Fraunhofer development (D): open-source possibility?
• RobAcc project (NO/DK) + OCAWA (F) : AI potentials
• Euro-Accessibility ???
•
Common risk: only negative aspects highlighted
Ima PLACENCIA - 13
W3C / WAI
WCAG1.0 &
associated
Techniques +
Checkpoints
WCAG 1.0
adopted for
EU public
sites
(2002)
½
1
Web
Sites
Eval.
Suite
WCAG1 Testlists +
Web Sites Eval. Suite
UWEM: WCAG1.0 &
2.0 migration + EU
Web Acc. Indicators
(public/ priv. sites,
nat./ regional)
WCAG2.0 & assoc.
Techn. Checkpoints
+ Test-lists
+ Eval. Suite
Prototype of an
EU Web
Accessibility
Observatory,
incl. Sites
Inventory
Prototype of an EU
Labelling Scheme
(incl. delivering
centres and
accreditation
authority(ies)
- R&D on
automation for
complex criteria
- Test suites for
WCAG2.0
Assess. Tools
- R&D on compl.
usability criteria
2
Standardisation
e.g. CEN WSA +
CEN keymark
legislations
methodologies
labels
Standardisation
Adoption
monitoring
already in some
Member States
Adoption
Indicators
recognition
Observatory
Figure 2: Subsequent EU level actions required after WAB
completion
Ima PLACENCIA - 14
WAB cluster
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction
Evaluation procedures and conformance
Scope of a Web site and methods for sampling
Evaluation guidelines and checklists
Aggregation of test results and reporting of results
User testing protocols
Scoring and reporting results
Ima PLACENCIA - 15
Methodology: Conclusion
• Still a lot of work to be done
•
To keep in mind when designing the methodology
• Transfer (on long term ?) to National, European or
International bodies for standardisation
+ statistics collection/survey
• see recent interest by ISI/IAOS Tokyo2001, OECD, UN, …
to ICT & Internet related matters
• Web accessibility is a “science” or still an “art”
Ima PLACENCIA - 16
Mission
To contribute to the inclusion in the information society of all Europeans, in
particular persons with disabilities and older people, by stimulating
European R&D and policy efforts in the area of eInclusion.
This is to be achieved by :
• Promoting eInclusion as a core horizontal building block in
the establishment of the Information Society
• Supportive complementary measures and activities: socioeconomic, regulatory, educational, ethical, policy making
and standardisation
• co-operation with external partners and other Commission
services
All Europeans have the right to participate fully and without
Ima PLACENCIA
discrimination in the information and knowledge society
- 17
Mainstreaming accessibility
•
Technology-based products & services are everywhere
•
To make them accessible, a twin approach is needed
• Research-based technology development
• Politically-supported policies to create a favourable
industrial / market environment
•
Complementary measures
 Raising awareness
 Policy coordination
 Legislation
 Standardisation
 Public Procurement
 Education
 Social dialogue
 Monitoring &benchmarking
Ima PLACENCIA - 18
eEurope policy achievments
•
2000 ->2002
eEurope 2002
• Design for all and assistive technologies standardization;
• Creation of an European Network on Design for All;
• Setting of the eAccessibility Expert group.
•
2002 -> 2005 eEurope 2005
•
•
•
•
•
Adoption of WAI guidelines
Mainstream eAccessibility in eServices (eHealth, eGov, etc);
Explore eAccessibility requirements in Public Procurement;
Pilot courses based on a European DfA curriculum.
Communication on e Accessibility
Ima PLACENCIA - 19
Communication on eAccessibility
Why now ?
 Deployment of existing European policies is uneven and slow
 Industry lacks incentive to mainstream eAccessibility
 Accessible ICT goods and services are not competitive enough
increasing the risk of digital divide
eAccessibility Communication aims at promoting a consistent
approach to EU eAccessibility initiatives in the Member states, on a
voluntary basis, and at fostering industry self regulation to better
meet market needs
Ima PLACENCIA - 20
Commission Communication on eAccessibility
(1)
Policy objective
Increase the availability of quality Accessible
ICT products and services in Europe
Action is needed to foster EU-wide solutions
•
•
The ICT market is not providing enough timely solutions
Technical requirements & standards being developed
nationally
Public Procurement
• Possible use of accessibility requirements for ICT products and
services as specifications and criteria to select bids
Certification
• Council (Jan 2003) has called for an “eAccessibility mark”
Legislation
• Full eAccessibility potential of current legislation needs exploring
Ima PLACENCIA - 21
eAccessibility Communication
An Information Society for All
eAccessibility aims at overcoming the technical barriers
that people experience when trying to participate on
equal terms in the Information Society.
 Concerns at least 20% of the European population (about 90 M)
 Represents a growing market due to the demographic shift
 63% of people with disabilities are 45 years or older
.
Ima PLACENCIA - 22
Commission Communication on eAccessibility
•
Consultation from 10/Jan until 12/Febr/2005
•
489 replies received – all expectations exceeded!
• Good coverage of target groups
• Nearly 55% of respondents were experts/ professionals
• 1 out of 4 uses some type of eAccessibility product/ service
• Although optional, nearly 65% of respondents chose to
identify themselves
Ima PLACENCIA - 23
Commission Communication on eAccessibility
(4)
RESPONDENT’S PROFILE
Private individuals
... among which:
o Persons with disabilities
o Persons > 60 years old
 Organisations
... among which:
o Public Agencies
o Manufacturers, providers or sellers
of eAccessibility products & services
o University Research Groups
o User Associations, Consumer
Associations or similar (non-profit)
o Business Associations
o Others
57.1%
21.1%
7.9%
39.9%
19%
22.6%
8,7%
17.4%
9.2%
22.7%
Ima PLACENCIA - 24
Stakeholder consultation
Need to increase availability of eAccessible products ?
Don´t know
1
NO
YES
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
Should Administrations buy only eAccessible products ?
Don´t know
2
NO
YES
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
400
450
500
Should European Institutions take the initiative ?
Don´t know
3
NO
YES
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Ima PLACENCIA - 25
Communication on eAccessibility
Approach
• Improve the consistency of eAccessibility requirements in Public
Procurement
• Explore the possible benefits of certification schemes and
standardisation for accessible products
• Make better use of the «eAccessibility potential» of existing
legislation
. . . Complemented by several background measures
•
•
•
•
•
Accessibility requirements and standards.
Design for All
Web accessibility
Benchmark and monitoring.
Research and technological development.
Progress will be reviewed in two years from now when additional
Ima PLACENCIA
measures may be proposed including new legislation
- 26
Public procurement: the ICT market
•
•
•
•
Revised public procurement Directives
•
The European average of public sector ICT spend that goes
to external services such as consultancy and outsourcing is
16%
•
•
Overall growth rate for public sector ICT across EU is 3.3%
PP 16% EU gross domestic product 1500 Billion Euros
ICT sector 6% EU GDP
European public sector ICT average spending is 0,8 % of GDP
=76billion Euro
Total value of the ICT market in Europe is 594 billion Euro
Ima PLACENCIA - 27
Public Procurement Directives
•
The preambles to the revised Directives (paragraph 29 of Directive
2004/18/EC and paragraph 42 of Directive 2004/17/EC) now state
that:
“Contracting authorities should, whenever possible, lay down technical
specifications so as to take into account accessibility criteria for people
with disabilities or design for all users.”
•
In addition, the specific Articles on technical specifications (Article 23,
Paragraph 1 of Directive 2004/18/EC and Article 34, Paragraph 1 of
Directive 2004/17/EC) now state that:
“Whenever possible [these] technical specifications should be defined so
as to take into account accessibility criteria for people with disabilities
or design for all users.”
•
Award phase…(art 53)
the criteria on which the contracting authorities shall base the award of public
contracts shall either:
(a) when the awards is made to the tender most economically advantageous from
the point of view of the contracting authority, various criteria linked to the
subject matter of the public contract in question, for example quality, price,
technical merit, aesthetic and functional characteristics, environmental
characteristics,….
(b) the lowest price
Ima PLACENCIA - 28
International Workshop on Accessibility Requirements for Public Procurement
in the ICT Domain.
Brussels, October 19-21, 2004
•
Although there are different approaches internationally (which may or may
not converge over time), there is a general consensus that using public
procurement to promote accessibility of ICT is a good thing
•
There is a strong need for internationally harmonised standards /
requirements (that are suitable for use in procurement)
•
Such standards / requirements need to be “objective” (and seen to be so),
and endorsed by all the relevant stakeholders
•
There is some confusion (partly semantic) about the term “voluntary”; it has
different meanings in different contexts (standards, self regulation, self
certification….); industry generally favours voluntary approaches
•
The user view is that requirements must be mandatory, based on objectively
defined standards / requirements, and be independently verifiable
•
There is a real need for supports for procurers, for example, in the form of
toolkits
•
All stakeholders appreciate the benefits of working together and are
Ima PLACENCIA
committed to continuing this.
- 29
The Draft mandate to the Standardisation organisations
•
Phase I: Inventory
•
•
•
•
Technology products (ICT)
Existing accessibility requirements
Gaps in accessibility requirements
Existing standards to comply with accessibility
requirements
• Assessment: requirements as technical specifications/
award criteria
• Report on testing and certification schemes
Ima PLACENCIA - 30
The Draft mandate to the Standardisation organisations
•
Phase II: Standardisation Activities
• European standard (EN) Accessibility requirements for ICT
domain to be used as technical specifications
• Technical report (TR) listing existing technical standards
• Guidelines on award criteria
•
• Guidance and support material
On line freely accessible toolkit
Ima PLACENCIA - 31
The Draft mandate to the Standardisation organisations
Underlying principles
•
•
•
•
•
•
Consider National initiatives
International cooperation
User and consumer involvement
Industry participation
Involvement of procurers
Transparent open method
Ima PLACENCIA - 32
Commission Communication on eAccessibility
(7)
Need to certify/label eAccessible ICT products & services ?
Suppliers
Don´t know
Public Agencies
People w/Disab.
NO
Overall
YES
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
(percentages)
• Clear support for certification / labelling
• Significant wide variations:
-
Support levels exceed 80% in groups “Public Agencies” and
“Individuals with a disability”
- Only 61% of “Manufacturers, providers or sellers” support it,
while 32% reject it outright
Ima PLACENCIA - 33
Commission Communication on eAccessibility
(8)
Which certification scheme ?
50
45
(percentages)
40
35
30
Overall
People w/Disab.
Public Agencies
Suppliers
25
20
15
10
5
0
Mand S-C Volunt S-C Mand 3P Volunt 3P
Don´t
know
Ima PLACENCIA - 34
Better use of legislation
•
•
•
•
•
Electronic Communication Framework
•
Exploiting the “ eAccessibility potential of existing
European legislation”
Universal service Directive
Terminal Directives
Employment Equality Directive
Public Procurement Directive
Ima PLACENCIA - 35
Commission Communication on eAccessibility
Main messages
•
Convey to Member States the urgent need to work together
towards harmonization of the solutions they demand
•
Encourage industry to develop accessible solutions in their
products and services (mainstream accessibility!)
•
Show the users (with disabilities) the commitment of the
European Commission to improve accessibility in the
Information Society
Ima PLACENCIA - 36
Measuring progress of eAccessibility in Europe
(results)
•
•
•
review of the existing methodologies
survey of existing actions which have improve eAccessibility
Methodology to monitor and identify the existing and use of the
• 3 proposed approaches.
• other existing positive actions.
•
methodology used to measure
• the rate of eAccessibility in the Member States, experienced by people with
•
•
•
•
•
disabilities and older people.
the rate of eAccessibility, experienced by other stakeholders.
the first measurement and analyse the data. (12m)
the second measurement and analyse the data.(24 m)
final report including conclusions and policy recommendations
2 workshops to disseminate and validate the results of the methodology,
measurements and the conclusions
Ima PLACENCIA - 37
Measuring progress of eAccessibility in Europe (objectives)
•
To identify measures (e.g. policy, legal, industrial, …) that have a
significant positive impact on eAccessibility and that support the
Community eAccessibility strategy
•
To assess how ICT products and services available in Europe take
into account eAccessibility and Design for All
•
To assess the eAccessibility situation in Europe and to measure its
evolution quantifying the impact of the proposed approaches and
measures
•
To assess the implementation of successful measures, that can
serve as policy recommendations in the eAccessibility domain.
Ima PLACENCIA - 38
Prior Research Achievements
1991
TIDE initiative: Pilot Phase
21 projects
~14 MEURO
1993
TIDE initiative: Bridge Phase
55 projects
~38 MEURO
1996
4th FP - TAP : Disabled and Elderly Sector
53 projects
~50 MEURO
5th FP - IST
: Persons with Special Needs
approx. 40 projects
~60 MEURO
6th FP - IST
: eInclusion
start 17 projects
1998
2002
36 MEURO (+30)
Ima PLACENCIA - 39
From TIDE through TAP ...IST…to …FP6
TIDE >
TAP >
IST > ...FP6
Paradigm
Rehabilitation
Multimedia
telematics
Ambient
Intelligence
Priorities
Innovation and
Demonstration
New applications System
integration
Technological
emphasis
Target groups
Exploratory
Technology
Transfer
Ubiquitous
computing
D&E
D&E
careers
D&E
profesionals
Groups at risk of
exclusion
Results
Tech innovation
Demonstrations
Telematics
Socio-economic
benefit
Policy
impact????????
eInclusion
Barrierfree desig
Empowering
technologies
Mainstream tech
Ima PLACENCIA - 40
eInclusion projects in FP6: Call2
Results of IST Call 2 (Oct/2003)
95 submitted proposals involving more than 1000
partners
13 selected proposals for a total Community grant of 35
M€
Application domain
Mobility, orientation, navigation
IP
NoE
ASK-IT
HEARCOM
COGAIN
BENtoWEB, EIAO
BENtoWEB,
EIAO
ENABLED
Support-EAM
Ambient assisted living (article 169)
AAL
European network on accessible digital documents
EUAIN
e-Accessibility and Design for all
Total (per instrument)
SSA
MICOLE
Eye gaze interaction
Access to the Web
CA
MOVEMENT, MAPPED
Assistance to vision-impaired people
Enhanced hearing for disabled
STREP
CWST
3
1
5
1
3
Ima PLACENCIA - 41
ICT for growth and employment
i2010 - The three i’s
•
Information space
•
Innovation and investment in research
•
Inclusion, better public services and
quality of life
Ima PLACENCIA - 42
Five year goals (3)
Priority 3: Inclusion, better public
services and quality of life
•
Widening ICT access, accessibility and skills
•
Support ICT-enabled services of public
interest in Europe
•
Reinforcing trust and support of ICT use
•
Improve quality of life
Ima PLACENCIA - 43
eInclusion
•
eInclusion means ensuring everyone can
participate in and reap the benefits of an
information society.
eAccessibility is :
a pre-requisite for eInclusion thus a key
objective of i2010 “A European society for
all”
Ima PLACENCIA - 44
For further information …
•
•
the eInclusion call for proposals
•
•
projects financed in RTD in previous frame work programmes
•
On the preparatory work for eInclusion research for Frame
work programme 7
•
http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_f/einclusion/future.htm
•
•
On eInclusion and eAccessibility policies
•
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/policy/accessibility
/index_en.htm
•
[email protected]
http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6/call_details.cfm?CALL_ID=208
http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_f/einclusion/previousresearch.htm
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/soccul/eincl/index_
en.htm
Ima PLACENCIA - 45