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| Content Provider | ACM Digital Library |
|---|---|
| Author | Newell, Alan F. |
| Abstract | W4A has made tremendous strides in increasing the accessibility of web sites, and raising the profile of this activity, by researching into and producing web accessibility technologies and guidelines for this process. To a great extent, the literature has focused on how to ensure that data on web sites, and other aspects of the digital landscape, are accessible people with disabilities - but are there other goals that W4A should be pursuing? The introduction to this conference reads: "The World Wide Web has changed the way we search, access, consume and produce information". Roberts [4] however, reports that older people's use of the Internet remains lower than that of younger adults (64% of those 65 and older have never used the Internet, and, although the usage by older people is growing, it is at a slow rate). The situation in the USA is not dissimilar. In the UK, and possibly the rest of the world, this lack of usage of the Internet is also the case for those younger people who have few or no educational qualifications. There is also growing evidence that members of these groups are more likely to become "digitally disengaged" as their characteristics and capabilities change with time. Thus, unless the "us" only refers to conference delegates, the above quote should have read "The World Wide Web has changed the way some of us search, access, consume and produce information". This is not an isolated error -- the literature is full of "everyone" as a short hand for "the people I know" or "over 50% of the population - probably". What about the others? The theme of the 2009 W4A in Madrid was Web Accessibility for Older Users. Are We There Yet? Clearly we are not there yet! The web is still not "accessible" to all older and uneducated or technophobic people nor to many people from a different technological generation or different cultures. It was argued in Madrid that these issues should be a greater priority for W4A researchers. Appropriate ways of addressing them, however, were likely to be different from the task of increasing "accessibility" for (young) people with (mainly) sensory and motor disabilities [1]. This is a different war and W4A needs to develop different weapons. We need to investigate why these users are or choose, to be digitally excluded? What do they need and want in terms of digital information? That is: how can technology be made which is "acceptable" as well as "accessible"? This leads to questions, including: What does the evidence of "accessible" but "unusable" sites tell us about current guidelines and methods? Why do many designers seem to ignore current guidelines? How does this reflect on the acceptability and usability of these guidelines? Should there be a greater focus on "usability" of information and marginalized users' experience of the technology? How can we facilitate users' "delight"? Should we focus more on the design of web sites and other sources of digital data, and less on options to cope with inaccessible digital data? Should we be focusing on methods for improving design or coping with bad design? What are the most effective ways of communicating our research to the mainstream web community? How do we influence content developers or those developing tools for content developers? How can and should we contribute to the education of software engineers and web developers? How do we make our recommendations seem a challenge rather than a chore? In 2011, I discussed methodologies for design of artifacts for older and disabled people. These concepts could play a part in assisting this community to address the challenges suggested above. I have also used inter-active live theatre and narrative film techniques to raise awareness of the issues older people can have with new technologies [2 & 3]. This can be an exciting and effective way to communicate important messages about the design of accessible and usable web resources to the wider world of the web. Everyone is growing older -- including delegates at W4A -- and, given the rate of change of both people and technology with time, these challenges are unlikely to go away. |
| Starting Page | 1 |
| Ending Page | 1 |
| Page Count | 1 |
| File Format | |
| ISBN | 9781450310192 |
| DOI | 10.1145/2207016.2207040 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) |
| Publisher Date | 2012-04-16 |
| Publisher Place | New York |
| Access Restriction | Subscribed |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
National Digital Library of India (NDLI) is a virtual repository of learning resources which is not just a repository with search/browse facilities but provides a host of services for the learner community. It is sponsored and mentored by Ministry of Education, Government of India, through its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT). Filtered and federated searching is employed to facilitate focused searching so that learners can find the right resource with least effort and in minimum time. NDLI provides user group-specific services such as Examination Preparatory for School and College students and job aspirants. Services for Researchers and general learners are also provided. NDLI is designed to hold content of any language and provides interface support for 10 most widely used Indian languages. It is built to provide support for all academic levels including researchers and life-long learners, all disciplines, all popular forms of access devices and differently-abled learners. It is designed to enable people to learn and prepare from best practices from all over the world and to facilitate researchers to perform inter-linked exploration from multiple sources. It is developed, operated and maintained from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.
Learn more about this project from here.
NDLI is a conglomeration of freely available or institutionally contributed or donated or publisher managed contents. Almost all these contents are hosted and accessed from respective sources. The responsibility for authenticity, relevance, completeness, accuracy, reliability and suitability of these contents rests with the respective organization and NDLI has no responsibility or liability for these. Every effort is made to keep the NDLI portal up and running smoothly unless there are some unavoidable technical issues.
Ministry of Education, through its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), has sponsored and funded the National Digital Library of India (NDLI) project.
| Sl. | Authority | Responsibilities | Communication Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education |
Sanctioning Authority | https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives |
| 2 | Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur | Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project | https://www.iitkgp.ac.in |
| 3 | National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur | The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project | Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in |
| 4 | Project PI / Joint PI | Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project |
Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon |
| 5 | Website/Portal (Helpdesk) | Queries regarding NDLI and its services | support@ndl.gov.in |
| 6 | Contents and Copyright Issues | Queries related to content curation and copyright issues | content@ndl.gov.in |
| 7 | National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club) | Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach | clubsupport@ndl.gov.in |
| 8 | Digital Preservation Centre (DPC) | Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books | dpc@ndl.gov.in |
| 9 | IDR Setup or Support | Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops | idr@ndl.gov.in |
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