New York State agency web sites will soon be open to many more visitors when Technology Policy 99-3, "Universal Access for New York State Web Sites," has been fully implemented. The policy aims to make web sites more usable for individuals with disabilities, users of low technology, and mobile users with web-enabled cell phones and personal digital assistants by requiring agency web site developers to adhere to guidelines developed by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), a sub-group of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The W3C, with membership including over 300 of the technology industry’s leading corporations, is the de facto standards-setting body for the web.
Adoption of the WAI guidelines was a recommendation from the NYS Access to Information Technology Work Group, formed in the fall of 1998 and jointly sponsored by the Governor’s Office for Technology (OFT) and the Office of the Advocate for Persons with Disabilities (OAPwD). The Accessible Web Design subgroup thoroughly researched the subject of web accessibility and various means for achieving that goal, and settled upon the WAI guidelines as the most comprehensive and best supported resources available. Any new material added to a State agency web site after October 1, 1999, must comply with this policy. Existing material must be compliant by September 30, 2000.
Over 200 of the staff involved in the development of State agency web sites congregated in Albany on November 18 for a full-day session on the new policy. The morning was devoted to providing more information on the new policy. As part of the policy’s implementation, agency heads were asked to designate individuals in their agencies who would be responsible for making sure that their web sites were in compliance. The afternoon sessions solicited feedback from these liaisons on what resources they felt would be needed in order to implement the policy successfully.
State Advocate Richard Warrender from OAPwD opened the session, and featured speaker Chuck Letourneau, a member of the WAI work group, offered some insight on the history of the policy and its implementation by the Canadian government. Letorneau also congratulated New York for becoming, to his knowledge, the first state to require conformance to the WAI guidelines. Shara Bunis and Steve McCaffrey, both of the State Education Department, presented some examples of the problems posed by non-conforming pages and demonstrated how to correct those problems. A lively question and answer session followed.
The afternoon session focused on the specifics of implementing the policy, and agencies voiced their concerns about the staff time and effort that the necessary changes would require. Many common problems were identified and reported out of the sessions, and the results will be used to guide the Access to Information Technology Work Group’s activities for the coming year. For more information on the policy, please refer to the OFT web site at www.irm.state.ny.us. For more information about the work of the NYS Access to Information Technology Workgroup, please refer to the group’s site at web.nysed.gov/cio/access/access.html.
