L’azile

Accesstech, a new mailing list, has been launched today and subscriptions are now open.

This new space for discussions in French is open for all. It aims to be a forum on all questions related to the implementation of Web accessibility, namely concerning official standards and guidelines related to WCAG, RGAA (Référentiel Général d’Accessibilité pour les Administrations), etc., as well as concrete application cases (for example, video captioning).

We will be also discussing all related issues that concern accessibility, namely, evolution of mark-up languages and their impact in the field (for example, HTML5).

In short, it is a space for mutual help and understanding as well as technical intelligence on the issue of Web accessibility (the Charter is not limited to the aforementioned objectives, we are in the process of defining it).

This mailing list wishes to be complementary to the French list Accessiweb, which is a list that discusses more general matters related to Web accessibility, such as legislation, social developments, etc.

To subscribe to the Accesstech mailing list, please visit the subscription page and provide your e-mail address.

Continue reading… new French list on Web accessibility/nouvelle liste francophone sur l’accessibilité du Web

I have been meaning to write about this but stuff got in the way. I read on the Fagstein blog a couple of weeks ago that there will be a new television channel in Canada: The Accessible Channel. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) will require that the new channel, which should be launched in April 2008, be carried in all packages by cable and satellite providers and it will mean a very slight increase in fees for subscribers (2.40$ a year). An article on VoicePrint explains:

(…) the recent approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for The Accessible Channel, a national, English-language digital specialty service that will feature only “described” as well as “closed-captioned” programming, is a major breakthrough for Canadians with diminished vision or hearing.

Continue reading… a new television channel for the blind and visually-impaired

On a fait beaucoup d’éclat dernièrement à propos de l’ouverture de trois nouvelles stations de métro à Laval. Oooh ! Aaaahh ! Moderne ! Hi-tech ! Développement durable ! Ooooh ! Aaaahh !

« Nous pouvons être fiers du prolongement du métro de Montréal vers Laval. Tout d’abord parce qu’il s’inscrit dans une perspective de développement durable et qu’il contribuera à soulager le réseau routier et à réduire nos émissions de gaz à effet de serre, mais aussi parce qu’il offrira une meilleure qualité de vie aux citoyens de Montréal, de Laval et de la Rive-Nord. Le métro de Laval a été construit pour l’avenir d’un Québec qui croit dans le transport en commun et qui croit dans le développement durable » a affirmé le premier ministre.

– Gouvernement du Québec

On est très fier de l’accessibilité aux personnes handicapées aussi. Tellement fier, en fait, que même le gouvernement du Canada organise des visites guidées.

Le métro de Montréal est en service depuis 1966. Les nouvelles stations, qui doivent ouvrir à l’été 2007, seront entièrement accessibles, et des plans sont actuellement dressés pour adapter les stations actuelles. Cette visite de l’une des stations de métro de Laval comprendra une visite guidée des caractéristiques d’accessibilité de la station et un exposé des améliorations ultérieures de l’accessibilité.

– Horaire de la journée - COMOTRED 2007

Ok, y’en a qui n’ont peut-être pas compris que l’accessibilité du métro de Laval n’est pas juste pour les poussettes.

Accessibilité accrue des aires d’attentes du metro (Ascenseur pour les familles à pousse-pousse et elargissement des “trottoirs” à coté des trains)

– Steve

Mais ça l’air qu’ils ne sont pas tous seuls.

La Société de transport de Montréal (STM) tient à prévenir la population que malgré l’ouverture prévue, le samedi 28 avril 2007, des nouvelles stations de métro Cartier, de la Concorde et Montmorency, situées à Laval, elle n’a pas encore été en mesure d’élaborer une procédure efficace d’embarquement des personnes en fauteuil roulant à bord des trains.

Rappelons que les trois nouvelles stations de Laval sont munies d’ascenseurs permettant à la clientèle, principalement les personnes qui se déplacent en fauteuil roulant, les personnes à mobilité réduite, les gens âgés de même que les parents accompagnés d’enfants et avec poussette d’accéder aux quais d’embarquement.

Toutefois, à la suite d’essais effectués avec différents modèles de fauteuil roulant, il a été découvert que l’embarquement autonome dans les trains ne peut se faire adéquatement en raison de l’écart entre les planchers des quais et des trains. Conséquemment, la STM encourage les personnes qui se déplacent en fauteuil roulant à continuer d’utiliser le transport adapté, et ce, le temps que les mesures soient mises en place pour permettre l’embarquement adéquat et sécuritaire dans les trains desservant les trois stations de métro à Laval.

– Société de transport Montréal, via l’Office des personnes handicapées du Québec, 23 avril 2007

Heureusement, y’en a qui font preuve de gros bon sens.

Bravo pour l’initiative d’accessibilité, mais par contre, la personne en chaise roulante, elle fait quoi pour sortir à la station Rosemont par exemple? Comment elle fait pour transférer sur la ligne verte à Berri?

– S. Martel

Et en plus, ils ont des lecteurs qui ont du gros bon sens aussi.

Le plus drôle là-dedans quand on y pense, c’est que quelqu’un qui entre en métro en chaise roulante au métro de Laval va n’avoir que deux options: descendre tout de suite à un autre métro de Laval, ou se rendre à Côte-Vertu, virer de bord, revenir et redescendre à un des métros de Laval. Ils ne pourront pas transférer à aucune autre ligne, ils ne pourront même pas sortir du métro et traverser l’autre côté pour faire demi-tour.

– Mathieu

Mais tout n’est pas perdu !

Ça va être possible d’aller au Bingo de Laval !

– Miguel Tremblay

My EARL for dummies article is now available in French. I had to adapt it somewhat, mainly lose the references to the television show as I suspect many francophones would have no clue what I was talking about. And I have decided to post it via my personal Web page because it is a real pain adding French content to this blog.

Happy Hallowe’en !

Mon article sur EARL pour les nuls est maintenant disponible en français. J’ai dû l’adapter un peu et plus particulièrement, retirer toutes les références concernant l’émission de télé car j’imagine que ça ne dirait pas grand-chose aux francophones. Aussi, j’ai décidé de le mettre en ligne via ma page Web personnelle car c’est vraiment chiant ajouter du contenu français à ce blogue.

Boo !

A question came up this morning on the French accessibility mailing list hosted by AccessiWeb about e-mails using HTML format. This question stemmed from the person having received a newsletter in HTML format and reflecting on how inaccessible it could be given that it was basically a bunch of clickable images “sausaged” together with no textual equivalents for the text contained in these images.

In my experience, questions relating to accessibility of e-mail communication are rather rare but they do pop up every once in a while. And I have thought about this a bit over the years and poked around to find any resources or discussions on the subject of specific guidelines or techniques or well-identified policies. There is not a lot of easy-to-find material out there that addresses the topic of e-mail content accessibility though I have not done a full-on search in a good while (if you know of any, please send them along).

Continue reading… Content delivered via HTML formatted e-mail

In the last year, I have been doing a lot of reading and thinking about the Semantic Web and the potential benefits in the area of Web accessibility. I like the idea of the Semantic Web; I like the idea that it seems so abstract but that when you look closer, it is the complete opposite. I also like the idea of the big picture it provides. And how it can actually make you believe that things make sense in the largely undiscovered country that is the World Wide Web.

I have to admit however that up until recently, I did not see much practicality in all this stuff. I remember when I first started exploring this field a couple of years ago. I felt like “wow, this is really cool but how useful can it be to me, to the stuff that matters to me.” At the time, it was not very clear. It just seemed like a bunch of W3C rock stars geeking off. And that “Semantic Web cake” they kept adding layers to did not help matters.

I think that more than anything, more than social networking and [geo]tagging or folksomies and promises of tools that can organise your schedule so you can go to the dentist and make your daughter’s soccer game, EARL is what really brought it home for me.

Continue reading… my name is EARL 1.0

Once again, people are getting into what some are now calling the “accessibility wars”. This is quite unfortunate of course because after all, we are supposed to be on the same side ; we should be fighting for something, not over something. So once again, because I care about this issue and feel that all of this is doing more harm than good, I will reiterate in the clearest manner possible the difference between the basic concepts involved. I apologise in advance for the quality of my English in this post ; I usually spend days and days revising my texts but I wanted to get this out as soon as possible and move on.

The semantics surrounding accessibility is something I have studied for quite a while now. And I do not mean I have just read a couple of articles or blog posts and subsequently made up my mind. I mean I have scoured the Web and any other related material I could get my hands on with my albeit limited means and poured over these resources for months at a time to form my opinions. I have considered concepts of accessibility and/or universality not only in the field of Web development but also barrier-free architecture, spatial and information sciences. I have thought about it from different perspectives, political, social and technical. I have taken into account the context in which advancements concerning disability issues have taken place, traditional concepts and related initiatives and outcomes.

Continue reading… accessibility - prise deux

Like just about anyone in the field who has a pulse, I followed with much interest the recent fracas surrounding Web accessibility. Who started what and where is of little concern to me. Suffice it to say that a lot of things were said and a few seemingly irreconcilable differences were reiterated. Personally, I came away from the whole thing feeling like I had just witnessed a rather nasty boxing match. In one corner, you had the supposed raving fanatics and in the other, you had the alleged heartless bastards. Both sides made a few points but sadly, what stood out the most was all the hitting below the belt and in the end, they basically knocked each other out.

Of course, as is usually the case when it comes to issues concerning the “haves” vs. the “have-nots”, a rematch is inevitable, like being caught in a never-ending time loop in a very bad Star Trek episode. (Yes, I know I am mixing my metaphors but there was a lot of sparring in Star Trek so whatever.) I refer to the “haves” and “have-nots” because beyond aesthetics and personal preferences (and I am frankly not interested in debating something so abstract and impossible to pin down), what really got my attention was the “where do we draw the accessibility line” issue that reared its head through all of this. But before I get to that, I would like to address a few other things I noted along the way.

Continue reading… accessibility and zealots and cads, oh my !

Ok, so I have perhaps decided to start a blog though I am not completely sure yet. And I had started writing a long post explaining why I may or may not have started a blog. But then, I read something on Anne van Kesteren’s blog yesterday and got fairly irritated about it. So I decided that I would leave the existential ramblings for a later date and write about what got me so very much annoyed instead.

Anne posted an item a few days ago on the new accessible search service Google has recently unleashed onto the world. This has generated a certain amount of chit-chat in the technology field and in particular, the standards and accessibility fields, whether on blogs or various mailing lists. Unfortunately, nothing really interesting or useful has as yet been said about this new development. That is besides T.V. Raman’s post to the WAI Interest Group mailing list to explain, with the usual googlian aplomb, that Google would not disclose their criteria for ranking sites according to accessibility performance so we should just keep it simple and use our “favourite guidelines”.

Continue reading… on accessibility