Using acceptance tests to validate accessibility requirements in RIA
Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility
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Since conceived by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989, the Web has grown from 1 user to more than 1.7 billion. The Web offers its users the potential to create and consume information, communicate and collaborate across the globe, and develop (and dramatically alter) businesses and business models. Despite the Web's capabilities and growth, 75% of the world's people are not using the Internet and the Web. Some argue that connecting those who are currently unconnected to the Internet could help alleviate the world's greatest tragedies, such as poverty, hunger, disease, violence, corruption, lack of education, etc. Perhaps so, but a number of challenges -- beyond simple connections to the Internet -- must be addressed to realize the true value that the Web can provide for people in need. More than 4.7 billion people now have, through their mobile phones, entry-level, electronic access to some information and services. To date, most stories of the use of mobile phones for development center around voice and text messaging services. For example, in the Indian fishing sector of Kerala, an in-depth economic study [1] has shown that voice access to market information (demand, prices, locations) allows fishermen to optimize how and where they sell fish, has increased the income of fishermen by 9% (accounting for the cost of mobile phones and subscriptions), while reducing the overall price of fish by 4% for consumers (due to the elimination of unsold and therefore wasted catches). Similar results have been demonstrated for other products and regions (see e.g. grain market in Niger [2]). At the global level, the number of services like these and people benefiting from them are very low. Major contributors to this deficiency include barriers that inhibit people from developing and deploying locally-relevant content, information and services, as well as barriers that inhibit people from accessing and using services once they are deployed. This keynote will examine barriers to content development and access affecting people from underprivileged communities, with focus on people with low-reading skills, speaking lesser-known languages, without computer experience, and with disabilities. We will also introduce the different programs of the Web Foundation, a new international non-profit launched by Tim Berners-Lee in November 2009 [3]. The Foundation's programs aim to pool the talents of the Web community to break down these barriers such that more people can more effectively leverage the power of the Web to improve lives and communities.