6th Report on International ICT Accessibility Standards Proposed, Being Developed and Recently Published

 

Richard Hodgkinson FISTC,
2nd July 2008

Overview:

This report covers current international activities in the development of standards, technical reports and guidelines that include accessibility requirements and recommendations for ICT products.

Accessibility standards are developed globally by committees of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), Joint Technical Committee (JTC) 1 of the ISO & IEC, national standards bodies (e.g. the BSi, ANSI, AFNOR, DIN…) and many other organisations.

Proposed new standards and activities:

Note: The following “projects” are currently under discussion within various standards organisations. In due course Working Drafts and New Project proposals will be submitted for international ballot. If the balloting is successful (acceptance of the project, commitment of experts, offer of a project editor, etc) the projects will be assigned to the appropriate standards organisations or new organisations will be created.

ISO 9241-135 – Natural language dialogues

This potential standard is being discussed in ISO/TC 159/SC 4/WG 5 (Software ergonomics and human-computer interaction) and in due course a Working Draft will be prepared together with a New Project proposal for international ballot.

This standard would provide recommendations and guidelines for the user-centred design of software user interfaces for voice controlled dialogue systems to increase usability.

ISO 9241-136 – Voice/Auditory interaction

This potential standard is being discussed in ISO/TC 159/SC 4/WG 5 (Software ergonomics and human-computer interaction) and a Working Draft is currently expected, together with a New Project proposal for international ballot.

This standard would provide recommendations and guidelines for the user-centred design of software user interfaces for voice interaction systems to increase usability.

ISO 9241-152 – Interpersonal communication – Usability and accessibility of computer-based data and voice communication

This potential standard is currently being discussed and developed within ISO/TC 159/SC 4/WG 5 (Software ergonomics and human-computer interaction). In due course a Working Draft will be prepared together with a New Project proposal for international ballot. 

ISO 9241-210 – Ergonomics of human-system interaction – Part 210: Human-centred design process for interactive systems

This will be a revision of ISO 13407:1999 - Human-centred design processes for interactive systems, incorporated and re-numbered into the expanded ISO 9241 series.

Comments:

  1. The New Work Item Proposal (NP) approval ballot closed on 10th June 2008…result unknown.
  2. Upon approval, the project is expected to be assigned to ISO/TC 159/SC 4/WG 6 – Human-centred design processes for interactive systems.

User interfaces - Information Technology - Interoperability with Assistive Technology (AT)

Scope: This standard defines the responsibilities of different Information Technology (IT) and Assistive Technology (AT) functional units in supporting interoperability. It recognizes that AT can be provided both as functional units that are installed or otherwise connected to a system or can be utilized by being provided as a service which is accessed via communications connections. It bases these responsibilities on fundamental IT definitions of major types of functional units. It focuses on the utilization of standard, public interfaces for functional units and on the provision of accessible documentation of their capabilities.

This standard recognizes that IT is implemented both in traditional computer systems and as a major component of other systems within the wider scope of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The requirements and recommendations of this standard apply to IT components of ICT.

This standard recognizes the fundamental role of operating systems in managing interoperability, and in providing guidance to developers of other functional units. It also recognizes that different operating systems will have their own standardized methods of supporting interoperability.
This standard does not define or require specific commands, Application Program Interfaces (APIs), or hardware interfaces. It defers to other existing standards and supports the development of new standards in these areas.

Comments:

  1. This potential standard is currently being discussed and developed within ISO/IEC SC JTC 1/SC 35 (User interfaces). A Working Draft was prepared for discussion at the meeting of SC 35/WG 6 (User interface accessibility) in Japan in February 2008.
  2. At the February 2008 meeting a number of modifications were made to the Working Draft and the editor instructed to prepare the draft for New Work Item ballot.
  3. The New Work Item Proposal (NP) ballot closes on 2008-07-18

ISO XXXXX - PDF/Universal Accessibility 1.0

Scope: This International Standard will specify how to use the Portable Document Format (PDF) ISO-32000 to produce electronic documents which are accessible to users with disabilities.
This International Standard will not apply to:

    1. Specific processes for converting paper or electronic documents to the PDF/UA format
    2. Specific technical design, user interface, implementation, or operational details of rendering
    3. Specific physical methods of storing these documents such as media and storage conditions
    4. Required computer hardware and/or operating systems

Comments:

Standards currently being developed:

ISO 9241-20 – Accessibility guidelines for information/communication technology (ICT) equipment and services

Scope: This Standard will address general guidelines for planning, designing and developing ICT products and services to ensure their accessibility for people with the widest possible range of abilities including older persons and persons with permanent or temporary disabilities (referred to as “people with special requirements”). This Standard is also intended to provide general guidelines for evaluating and purchasing ICT products and services. Information communication equipment and services include hardware and software aspects of information processing equipment, electrical communication facilities, office machines, the Internet, and others. It does not include buildings, offices or transportation.

Current project plan:


CD ballot

DIS ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO Publication

Approved

Approved

 Approved

Published

Comments:

  1. Development by ISO/TC 159/SC 4/WG 6 - Human-centered design processes for interactive systems.
  2. Based upon Japanese national standard, JIS 8341-1:2004 - Guidelines for older persons and persons with disabilities – Information communication equipment and services Part 1: Common guidelines.

ISO 9241-129 – Guidance on software individualisation

Scope: This International standard will address ergonomic requirements and recommendations for individualization of human-computer interactions and will provide support for the development, evaluation, and procurement of user interfaces that incorporate individualization.

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

DIS ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO Publication

Under preparation

To be decided

To be decided

To be decided

To be decided

Comments:

  1. The new project proposal for this new standard was approved by international ballot (closed 2007-07-03) within ISO/TC 159/SC 4.
  2. Development will be by ISO/TC 159/SC 4/WG 5 – Software ergonomics and human-computer interaction.

ISO EN 9241-151 – Ergonomics of human-system interaction - Part 151: Guidance on World Wide Web user interfaces

Scope: This International Standard provides recommendations and guidelines for the user-centred design of World Wide Web user interfaces (in short: Web user interfaces) to increase usability. Web user interfaces address either all Internet users or closed user groups such as the members of an organisation (intranet), customers and/or suppliers of a company (extranet) or other specific communities of users.

Current project plan:


CD ballot

DIS ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO Publication

Approved

Approved

Approved

Published 2008

Comments:

  1. Development by ISO/TC 159/SC 4/WG 5 – Software ergonomics and human-computer interaction.
  2. Will also be published as a European standard (EN)
  3. Started development as ISO 23973 – Ergonomic design of World Wide Web interfaces, and re-numbered for inclusion in the revised ISO 9241 series.
  4. Though not originally intended to address Web accessibility, following comments on the CD ballot, guidance and references have been included. The reference will direct users to both the W3C WCAG WAI guidelines and ISO 9241 part 171.

ISO EN 9241-171 - Ergonomics of human-system interaction - Part 171: Guidance on software accessibility

Scope: This part of ISO 9241 will provide requirements and recommendations for the design of accessible software for use at work, in the home, in education and in public places. It covers issues associated with designing accessible software for people with the widest range of physical, sensory and cognitive abilities, including those who are temporarily disabled, and the elderly. This part of ISO 9241 will address software considerations for accessibility that complement general design for usability covered by ISO 9241 part 110, ISO 9241 parts 11 to 17, ISO 14915 parts 1 to 3 and ISO 13407.

This part of ISO 9241 will be applicable to the accessibility of interactive systems. It addresses a wide range of software (e.g. office applications, web sites, learning support systems and library systems). It does not provide recommendations for the design of hardware.

Current project plan:


2nd CD ballot

DIS ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO Publication

Approved

Approved

Approved

Estimated mid 2008

Comments:

  1. Development by ISO/TC 159/SC 4/WG 5 – Software ergonomics and human-computer interaction
  2. Will also be published as a European standard (EN)
  3. Synchronised with the US Human Factors & Ergonomics Society (HFES) 200.2 guidelines which will be published as an ANSI standard.
  4. Revised version of (and will replace) ISO TS 16071:2003 – Guidance on accessibility for human-computer interfaces (also based upon earlier HFES guidelines).

ISO 9241-910 – Framework for tactile and haptic interactions

Scope: This standard will provide a framework for specifying, designing and evaluating various aspects of. It will also contain general information about tactile and haptic interactions.

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

DIS ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO Publication

Completed

2008-06-01

2009-06-01

TBD

2010

Comments:

  1. Passed New Work Item ballot (closed 2007-09)
  2. Development by ISO/TC 159/SC 4/WG 9 – Haptic and tactile interactions.

ISO 9241-920 - Guidance on tactile and haptic interactions

Scope: This standard will address ergonomic requirements and recommendations for haptic and tactile hardware and software interactions. It will provide guidance related to the design and evaluation of hardware, software and combinations of hardware and software interactions.

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

DIS ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO Publication

Completed

Approved (2007-02-09)

2007-10-22
(closed 2008-03-22)

2008-12-22

2009-06-22

Comments:

  1. Development by ISO/TC 159/SC 4/WG 9 – Haptic and tactile interactions.
  2. DIS ballot currently delayed whilst it awaits translation into French
  3. The ISO 9241-9XX series is planned to include:
    1. Part 900 – Introduction to tactile and haptic interactions.
    2. Part 910 – Framework for tactile and haptic interactions.
    3. Part 930 – Haptic and tactile interactions in multimodal environments.
    4. Part 940 – Evaluation of tactile and haptic interactions.
    5. Part 971 – Haptic and tactile interfaces to publicly available devices.

ISO TR 22411 - Ergonomic data and guidelines for the application of ISO/IEC Guide 71 to products and services to address the needs of older persons and persons with disabilities

Scope: The TR aims to provide human ability data and design considerations that are useful for standards developers to implement the principles of ISO/IEC Guide 71 into individual standards. The areas covered by the TR are three human abilities – sensory, physical, and cognitive abilities – and allergy, all of which are addressed in Guide 71.This Technical Report will provide standards developers with ergonomic data and design techniques on how to take into account the needs of older persons and persons with disabilities, in accordance with the factors described in ISO/IEC Guide 71.

Current project plan:


WD

PDTR ballot

DTR ballot

ISO (TR) Publication

Approved

Approved

Approved

Early 2008

Comments:

    1. Development by ISO/TC 159/WG 2 - Ergonomics for people with special requirements
    2. The DTR ballot was successful. However, with more than 800 comments submitted by national bodies considerable time and effort was required to process those comments.
    3. Sent to ISO for publication following September 2007 meeting.
    4. Work on a revised version due to commence at the March 2008 meeting of ISO/TC 159/WG 2.

ISO 24500 - Ergonomics – Auditory signals for consumer products – Guidelines for all people including elderly persons and persons with disabilities

Scope: This International Standard gives guidelines for the auditory signals used as a means to communicate the information about the feedback of operation or the condition of products at the time when the users, including the people with visual disabilities and older people who suffer from impairments of eyesight and hearing, use the consumer products.
It does not specify fire alarm sounds, gas leak alarm sounds and crime prevention alarm sounds which are controlled by other laws and regulations and, in addition thereto, the electronic chimes, sound guides and the sound peculiar to communication instruments such as telephones.
It is applicable to the auditory signals of a fixed frequency used in general (called beep sound as well).

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

DIS ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO publication

Available

Expected
2008-06

TBD

TBD

TBD

Comments:

ISO 24501 - Ergonomics – Auditory signals for consumer products – Guidelines on sound pressure levels of signals for all people including older persons

Scope: This International Standard specifies the guidelines (recommendations) for designing the range of sound pressure levels of auditory signals so that the users of consumer products including, the elderly with hearing loss which develops with aging can hear them properly in consideration of the presence of masking sounds.

It does not specify the sound pressure levels of auditory signals regulated by other statutes such as signals for fire alarms, gas leakages and crime prevention, and auditory signals of an electronic chimes and voice guides, and auditory signals peculiar to a communication tool such as telephones.

“Auditory signals”, in this standard refer to the sound with a fixed frequency (also called a beep sound) which is heard in the same room where the product is used or in an adjacent room not totally enclosed within walls (at a maximum of 4m from the product).

This standard is not applicable to auditory signals heard through a head receiver or earphones, and auditory signals heard with the ear being located near the sound source.

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

DIS ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO publication

Available

Expected
2008-06

TBD

TBD

TBD

Comments:

  1. Development by ISO/TC 159/SC 5/WG 5 – Ergonomics of the physical environment – People with special requirements

ISO 24502 - Guidelines for all people, including elderly persons and persons with disabilities - Visual signs and displays - Specification of age-related relative luminance and its use in the assessment of light

Scope: This standard provides a means, using relative luminance differing by age group, of assessing visual efficiency of light and visibility affected thereby attained when viewers of different ages view a light source or an object.

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

DIS ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO publication

Awaited

Expected 2010 -04

TBD

TBD

TBD

Comments:

  1. This new project was proposed by the Japanese National Body and is based upon Japanese standard JIS S 0031:2004 - Guidelines for all people including elderly persons and persons with disabilities – Visual signs and displays – Specification of age-related luminance and its use in assessment of light.
  2. Development by ISO/TC 159/SC 5/WG 5 – Ergonomics of the physical environment – People with special requirements
  3. The new project was approved by international ballot (2007-04),

ISO 24503 - Ergonomics - Marking tactile dots on consumer products - Guidelines for all people, including elderly persons and persons with disabilities

Scope: This standard will specify the guidelines for marking tactile dots to be put on the
operating parts of various consumer products that have electrically-operated switches. The purpose is to enhance usability for all people including visually handicapped people and elderly people with declining of visual acuity.

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

DIS ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO publication

Available

TBD

TBD

TBD

TBD

Comments:

  1. Standard proposed by the Japanese National Body.
  2. The NP ballot was approved 2007-04.
  3. Development by ISO/TC 159/SC 4/WG 10 – Accessible design for consumer products.
  4. The establishment of WG 10was approved 2007-06.
  5. The Japanese national body provides the convenor for WG 10.
  6. Based upon Japanese standard JIS S 0011-2000.

ISO 28803 - Ergonomics of the physical environment - Application of international standards to people with special requirements

Scope: Unknown

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

DIS ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO publication

Available

2007-10-04

TBD

TBD

TBD

Comments:

  1. Development by ISO/TC 159/SC 5 – Ergonomics of the physical environment
  2. Project registered 2007-08

ISO 32000 - Document management - Portable document format - PDF 1.7

Scope: This International Standard specifies a digital form for representing electronic documents to enable users to exchange and view electronic documents independent of the environment in which they were created or the environment in which they are viewed or printed. It is intended for the developer of software that creates PDF files (conforming writers), software that reads existing PDF files and interprets their contents for display and interaction (conforming readers) and PDF products that read and/or write PDF files for a variety of other purposes (conforming products).

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

DIS ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO publication

Available

Approved

Approved

Approved

Imminent!

Comments:

  1. Development by ISO/TC 171/SC 2 – Document management applications – Application issues, under the ISO Fast-Track Procedure
  2. Clause 14.9 addresses accessibility support
  3. See also PDF/Universal Accessibility 1.0

ISO/IEC 10779 – Office equipment accessibility guidelines for elderly persons and persons with disabilities

Scope: This guideline is intended to improve information accessibility required when primarily elderly persons, persons with disabilities and persons with temporary disabilities use office equipment. This guideline will specify a guideline to be considered for planning, developing and designing office equipment.

Current project plan:


WD

DIS ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO publication

Available

Approved

Approved

Published

Comments:

  1. Developed from Japanese standard JIS X8341: 2006 part 5 - Guidelines for older persons and persons with disabilities - Information communication and services - Part 5: Office equipment.
  2. Currently undergoing ISO/IEC JTC 1 Fast Track Procedure ballot for adoption as an ISO standard from the original Japanese version.
  3. Development by ISO/IEC JTC 1 SC/28 – Office equipment.

ISO/IEC 24752  - Universal Remote Console

Overall scope: This multi-part standard will facilitate operation of information and electronic products through remote and alternative interfaces and intelligent agents.

Structure and Scopes of individual parts:

  1. Part 1: Framework. The purpose of part 1 is to provide a framework of components that combine to enable remote User Interfaces and remote control of network-accessible electronic devices and services through a Universal Remote Console (URC). Part 1 provides an overview of the URC framework and its components.
  2. Part 2: User Interface Socket Description. A User Interface Socket is an abstract concept that describes the functionality and state of a device or service (target) in a machine interpretable manner. The purpose of part 2 is to define an extensible Markup Language (XML) based language for describing a User Interface Socket. The purpose of the User Interface Socket is to expose the relevant information about a Target so that a user can perceive its state and operate it. This includes data presented to the user, variables that can be manipulated by the user, commands that the user can activate, and exceptions that the user is notified about. The User Interface Socket Specification is applicable to the construction or customization of user interfaces.
  3. Part 3: Presentation Template. The purpose of part 3 is to define a language (Presentation Template Markup Language) for describing modality-independent user interface specifications, or Presentation Templates associated with a User Interface Socket Description, as defined by ISO/IEC 24752-2. The purpose of a Presentation Template is to provide the URC with hints as to how to build a usable and consistent user interface for a Target device or service that is described in a User Interface Socket Description as referenced above. The hints are of an abstract nature, and are intended to apply to any delivery context. These hints primarily provide information on structuring, grouping and linearization of the Socket elements. Elements within a Presentation Template may be referenced by Atomic Resources whose format is given by ISO/IEC 24752-5. Taken together, a Presentation Template, Socket Description, and appropriate Atomic Resources can be used to construct a user interface in any modality (e.g. visual, auditory, tactile, multimodal), through which a user can access and control a Target.
  4. Part 4: Target Description. The purpose of part 4 is to define an extensible Markup Language (XML) based language for the description of Targets and their Sockets, as used within the URC framework for discovery purposes. A document conforming to this language is a Target Description.
  5. Part 5: Resource Description. The purpose of part 5 is to define a syntax for describing Atomic Resources, Resource Sheets, User Interface Implementation Descriptions, Resource Services, and Resource Directories relevant to the user interface of a device or service ("Target").

Current project plan:

 

WD

CD ballot

DIS ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO publication

Part 1

Completed

Approved

Approved

Approved

Published

Part 2

Completed

Approved

Approved

Approved

Published

Part 3

Completed

Approved

Approved

Approved

Published

Part 4

Completed

Approved

Approved

Approved

Published

Part 5

Completed

Approved

Approved

Approved

Published

Comments:

    1. Development by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 35/WG 8 – User interfaces for remote interactions.
    2. Proposed by US INCITS V2 group

ISO/IEC 24756 - Framework for specifying a Common Access Profile (CAP) of needs and capabilities of users, systems and their environments

Scope:This standard will define a framework for selecting and supporting computer related accessibility including accessibility supported by assistive technologies. It will provide a basis for identifying and dealing with accessibility issues in a standardized manner across multiple platforms. It can be used to evaluate accessibility of existing systems in particular environments for particular users.

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

FCD ballot

2nd FCD ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO publication

Completed

Approved

Approved

 Approved

2008-03 (Estimated)

2008-09 (Estimated)

Comments:

  1. Development by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 35/WG 6 – User interface accessibility.
  2. Whilst the FCD was approved by national body ballot in February 2007, further discussions within WG 6 have identified the need to conduct a 2nd FCD ballot.
  3. The 2nd CD ballot closed 2008-02-17.
  4. At the time of writing this report no further information is available.

ISO/IEC 24786 – Accessible user interface for accessibility setting on information devices

Scope: This standard will describe requirements to make the user interface of the accessibility setting accessible. It mentions about the accesses to open the accessibility setting mode where the user set up the various accessibility functions, and also describes about the accesses to enable the accessibility functions directly without open the accessibility setting mode. It also mentions about items to set up the accessibility functions in the accessibility setting mode.

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

FCD ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO publication

Completed

Approved

Approved

2008-11

2009-05

Comment:

ISO/IEC 26511 – Software and systems engineering - Requirements for managers of user documentation

Scope: This standard will support the interests of software users in consistent, complete, accurate, and usable documentation.

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

FCD ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO publication

Completed

2008-12

2009-06

2009-12

2010-06

Comments:

ISO/IEC 26512 – Software and systems engineering - Requirements for acquirers and suppliers of user documentation

Scope: This standard will support the interests of software users in consistent, complete, accurate, and usable documentation. It is addressed to acquirers and suppliers of software user documentation.

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

FCD ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO publication

Completed

2008-12

2009-06

2009-12

2010-06

Comments:

ISO/IEC 26513 - Software and systems engineering - Requirements for testers and assessors of user documentation

Scope: This standard will support the interests of software users in consistent, complete, accurate, and usable documentation. It is addressed to testers and assessors of software user documentation.

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

FCD ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO publication

Completed

Approved

2008-06

2008-12

2009-06

Comments:

ISO/IEC 26514 – Software and systems engineering - Requirements for designers and developers of user documentation

Scope: This standard will support the interests of software users in consistent, complete, accurate, and usable documentation. It includes both approaches to standardization: a) process standards, which specify the way in which documentation products are to be developed; and b) documentation product standards, which specify the characteristics and functional requirements of the documentation. It is addressed to designers and developers of software user documentation.

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

FCD ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO publication

Completed

Approved

Approved

Current

2008-05

Comments:

ISO/IEC 29136 - Accessibility functions for personal computers

Scope: This standard will provide requirements and recommendations for the design of accessibility functions regarding PCs.

This standard will specify accessibility requirements and recommendations for the designing of PCs that are implemented by hardware or combination of hardware and software.

Current project plan:


WD

CD ballot

DIS ballot

FDIS ballot

ISO Publication

Available

TBD

TBD

TBD

TBD

Comments:

ISO/IEC TR 29138 - Information technology - Accessibility considerations for people with disabilities

Structure and scopes of individual parts:

Current project plan:


WD

PDTR ballot

DTR ballot

ISO (TR) Publication

Approved

Approved

Imminent

TBD

Comments:

ETSI TS 102 577 – Human Factors: Public Internet Access Points (PIAPs)

ETSI ES 202 076 - Human Factors: Generic spoken command vocabulary for ICT devices and services

ETSI ES 00077- Human Factors: Harmonised relay services for text telephones

ETSI TR 102 612 - Human Factors: European accessibility requirements for public procurement of products and services in the ICT domain (European Commission Mandate M/376, Phase 1)

ETSI established Specialist Task Force (STF) 333 in response to Phase 1 of Mandate M/376 on European accessibility requirements for public procurement of products and services in the ICT domain. The activity is being co-ordinated between ETSI, CEN and CENELEC.

Scope and field of application:
The ETSI STF will produce:

Current plan:


Public drafts release dates:

Commenting deadlines:

20 November 2007

10 January 2008

12 February 2008

4 March 2008

17 March 2008

16 April 2008

19 May 2008

11 August 2008

Comments:

ETSI EG XXX XXX - Human Factors: Personalization and user profile management standardization

  1. Background: Personalization and effective user profile management will be critical to achieve eInclusion and eAccessibility. The objective of this work is to provide means to achieve the goal of the new ICT era where services and devices can be personalized by the users in order to meet the individual users’ requirements and needs, in various situations. The ETSI STF 265 on "User Profile Management" produced an ETSI Guide, EG 202 325, that described the concept and established a set of guidelines relevant to users and their need for managing their user profiles to personalize their services and terminals. It is necessary that different services and terminals understand users’ preferences and offer an expected user experience. This STF will build on the results from STF 265 and perform further standardization work.
  2. Development will be by ETSI HF STF 342 for publication in 2010
  3. Both an ETSI Standard (ES) on standardized objects (including settings, values and operations) related to personalization and user profile management, a rule definition language for defining automatic activation of profiles and a common terminology, and a Technical Specification (TS) on issues related to networks, terminals and SmartCards will be produced.
  4. More information is available from: http://portal.etsi.org/STFs/STF_HomePages/STF342/STF342.asp

CEN/BT WG 185 PT - Report on Conformance schemes (Second report as requested by M/376, Phase 1)

In parallel to the ETSI Specialist Task Force 333 (see above) CEN has established a project team to produce a report under Phase 1 which “will present an analysis on testing and conformity schemes of products and services meeting accessibility requirements.”

Comments:

  1. A public workshop, organized by the DATSCG was held in Brussels, 3rd & 4th June 2008, in conjunction with ETSI STF HF 333.
  2. The final draft report of the CEN BT WG 185 Project Team has been released. It is now available for a two month period of public comments (deadline for comments is 2008-07-22). It can be downloaded from http://www.econformance.eu/euconformancereport.html
  3. More information from: http://econformance.eu/

(BSi) BIP 0090:2008 Web accessibility. Making PAS 78 work

Overview:

Web accessibility is a vast and ever-changing subject that attempts to address the needs of millions of people with disabilities who may be using one, or a combination of assistive software and hardware packages. This book helps organizations on the journey to understanding why web accessibility is important. It provides step-by-step advice that will help the web manager confidently co-ordinate internal developers, customers and third party suppliers in order to achieve a successful accessible web project.

Comments:

This new standard was recently published by the UK British Standards Institution (BSi) to supplement (BSi) PAS 78:2006 Guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites.

(BSi) New Web accessibility standard in development

From the BSi web site: “BSI British Standards has established a new technical committee with responsibility for the development of a British Standard on web accessibility. The standard will enable all types of organizations and individuals to commission and maintain websites which are accessible to all their potential audiences.

The new consensus standard will build on PAS 78, Guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites, which has been a great success in terms of demand and application.  It will take into account developments in technology and web use since the publication of PAS 78 in March 2006, such as an increase in user generated content and social networking and will consider the accessibility of tools used by web designers.”

Comments:

  1. Development by new BSi committee, IST/45 – Web Accessibility.
  2. Expected publication in the Spring of 2009.
  3. Possibility of further standards and guidance material in this area from IST/45.

(BSi) PAS 124 – Guidance on Web Standards

The British Standards Institution (BSi) are currently developing this Publicly Available Specification (PAS) to help protect the significant investment organizations are making in their web presence and online brands by establishing a best practice for “defining, implementing and managing organizational web standards”. It will provide a clear framework to help organizations apply standards effectively to significantly improve online performance and protect the integrity of their brands.

Comments:

  1. An initial draft is available for review and comment.
  2. For accessibility, the references include the W3C WAI guidelines
  3. The new ISO 9241 part 151 (Ergonomic design of World Wide Web interfaces)is not currently referenced.
  4. Publication of BS PAS 124 is planned for early 2008.

JIS X8341-1: 2004 - Guidelines for older persons and persons with disabilities - information communication equipment, software and services - Part1: Common Guidelines 2

Comments:

  1. The Japanese umbrella accessibility standard applicable to all ICT products and services
  2. JIS X8341-1 will be identical to ISO 9241-20 in 2009 (five years after publication in 2004).

JIS X8341-2: 2004 - Guidelines for older persons and persons with disabilities - Information communication equipment and services - Part 2: Information processing equipment 

Comments:

  1. The Japanese accessibility standard applicable to information processing equipment including PCs
  2. JIS X8341-2 will be revised in 2009 (five years after publication in 2004). However, there is no concrete plan for revision.

JIS X8341-3: 2004 - Guidelines for older persons and persons with disabilities - Information communication equipment and services - Part 3: Web content

Comments:

  1. The Japanese accessibility standard applicable to Web contents.
  2. JIS X8341-3 will be revised in 2009 (five years after publication in 2004) and will reflect WCAG 2.0 of W3C/WAI.

JIS X8341-4: 2005 - Guidelines for older persons and persons with disabilities - Information communication equipment and services - Part 4: Telecommunications equipment

Comments:

  1. The Japanese accessibility standard applicable to telecommunications equipment
  2. ITU-T SG16 had responsibility of the development of F.790 the baseline document of which became JIS X8341-4.
  3. JIS X8341-3 will be revised in 2010 (five years after publication in 2005) that will be an identical to F.790.

JIS X8341-5: 2005 - Guidelines for older persons and persons with disabilities - Information communication equipment and services - Part 5: Office equipment

Comments:

  1. The Japanese accessibility standard applicable to office equipment.
  2. JIS X8341-3 will be revised in 2011 (five years after publication in 2006) and will be identical to ISO/IEC 10779, the baseline document of which was JIS X8341-5.

ISO/IEC Guide 71:2001 - Guidelines to address the needs of older persons and people with disabilities when developing standards

Scope: This Guide provides guidance to writers of relevant International Standards on how to take into account the needs of older persons and persons with disabilities. Whilst recognizing that some people with very extensive and complex disabilities may have requirements beyond the level addressed in this Guide, a very large number of people have minor impairments which can be easily addressed by relatively small changes of approach in standards, thereby increasing the market for the product or service

Comments:

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