WASHINGTON - The World Wide Web Consortium has announced new, globally focused steps to speed up its campaign to dismantle barriers to Net access for the disabled.
The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative's new International Program Office is co-sponsored by the US National Science Foundation, the Education Department's Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the European Commission's TIDE program, and a group of academic industry partners.
The new office's mission: to coordinate worldwide efforts on a wide range of accessibility issues, including data formats, protocols, and guidelines for browsers, authoring tools, and content creation. The office will also work on expanding research and development of tools that will aid accessibility, developing ratings and certification for such tools, and undertaking education and outreach on the accessibility issue.
"The power of the Web is in its universality," Tim Berners-Lee, W3C director and inventor of the Web, said at the program office kickoff event at Washington's National Press Club. "Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect. The IPO will ensure the Web can be accessed through different combinations of senses and physical capabilities, just as other W3C activities ensure its operation across different hardware and software platforms, media, cultures, and countries."
