Standards relating to the accessibility of ICT systems

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

Richard Hodgkinson FISTC,
28th March 2007

Overview:

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

Globally, accessibility standards are developed 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:

Note: The following “projects” are currently under discussion within various Working Groups. In due course Working Drafts and New Project proposals will be prepared 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 Working Groups or new Working Groups formed.

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.

Accessibility functions for personal computers

This potential standard is currently being discussed and developed within ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 35 (User interfaces). A Working Draft is currently being prepared together with a New Project proposal for international ballot.

Interoperability of assistive technologies and information technologies

This potential standard is currently being discussed and developed within ISO/IEC SC JTC 1/SC 35 (User interfaces). In due course a Working Draft will be prepared together with a New Project proposal for international ballot.

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

This potential standard has been proposed by the Japanese National Body and would be based upon Japanese standard JIS S 0011-2000. A Working Draft is available and the New Project proposal has been submitted for international ballot. The UK (BSi) has approved this project.
Relevant ISO committee is ISO/TC 159/SC 4 – Ergonomics.

Standards currently being developed:

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

Scope: This Standard addresses 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	Commenced 2007-02	2007

Comments:

• Development by ISO/TC 159/SC 4/WG 6 - Human-centered design processes for interactive systems.
• Based upon part 1 of the Japanese national standard, JIS 8341:2004.

ISO 9241-151 – Ergonomic design of World Wide Web 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	Imminent	Estimated late 2007/early 2008

Comments:

• Development by ISO/TC 159/SC 4/WG 5 – Software ergonomics and human-computer interaction.
• Will also be published as a European standard (EN)
• Started development as ISO 23973 – Ergonomic design of World Wide Web interfaces, and re-numbered for inclusion in the revised ISO 9241 series.
• 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 9241-171 - Guidance on software accessibility

Scope: This part of ISO 9241 provides 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 addresses 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 is 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	Imminent	Estimated late 2007/early 2008

Comments:

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

ISO 9241-920 - Guidance on haptic and tactile 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	2007-06 (est.)	2007-12 (est.)	2008-06 (est.)

Comments:

• Development by ISO/TC 159/SC 4/WG 9 – Haptic and tactile interactions.
• The ISO 9241-9XX series is planned to include:
• Part 900 – Introduction to tactile and haptic interactions
• Part 910 – Framework for tactile and haptic interactions
• Part 930 – Haptic and tactile interactions in multimodal environments
• Part 940 – Evaluation of tactile and haptic interactions
• Part 971 – Haptic and tactile interfaces to publicly available devices

ISO TR 22411 - Ergonomic data and ergonomic 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: This Technical Report provides 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	Closed 2006-12	Plan unknown

Comments:

• ISO/TC 159/WG 2 - Ergonomics for people with special requirements
• No information currently available on DIN or BSI web sites.

ISO/IEC TR 19765 - Survey of icons and symbols that provide access to functions and facilities to improve the use of IT products by the elderly and persons with disabilities.

Scope: This Technical Report results from a survey of icons and symbols currently used to provide access to facilities and tools to support the needs of disabled users of Information Technology products. The icons and symbols have been collected from a variety of sources including other standards, contemporary software products, web sites and hardware devices. Those sources are cross-referenced and listed in the Bibliography. The icons and symbols presented are categorised by modality and method of use.

Current project plan:

PDTR	DTR ballot	ISO (TR) publication
Completed	Approved	Imminent

Comments:

• Developed by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 35/WG 6 – User interfaces for people with special needs.
• This will be published as a Technical Report and the current draft contains approximately 60 icons and symbols “harvested” from a variety of sources.
• TRs are cancelled after a maximum of 6 years and can be used as the basis of a full standard.

ISO/IEC TR 19766 - Guidelines for the design of icons and symbols for the use of the elderly and disabled

Scope: This Technical Report provides recommendations relating to the design of icons to support accessibility by the elderly and people with disabilities. These recommendations assist accessible design of all icons for users. While these recommendations were developed to meet the needs of the elderly and people with disabilities, they can also provide greater accessibility to a wider range of users in a variety of different contexts.

Current project plan:

PDTR	DTR ballot	IO (TR) publication
Completed	Approved	Imminent

Comment:

• Developed by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 35/WG 6 – User interfaces for people with special needs.

ISO/IEC 24752  - Universal Remote Console

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

Structure:
Part 1: Framework
Part 2: User interface socket description
Part 3: Presentation template
Part 4: Target description
Part 5: Resource description

Current project plan:

	WD	CD ballot	DIS ballot	FDIS ballot	ISO publication
Part 1	Completed	Approved	Approved	2007-09	2008-03
Part 2	Completed	Approved	Approved	2007-09	2008-03
Part 3	Completed	Approved	Approved	2007-09	2008-03
Part 4	Completed	Approved	Approved	2007-09	2008-03
Part 5	Completed	Approved	Approved	2007-09	2008-03

Comments:

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

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

Scope:This standard defines a framework for selecting and supporting computer related accessibility including accessibility supported by assistive technologies. It provides 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	DIS ballot	FDIS ballot	ISO publication
Completed	Approved	Approved (2007-02)	TBD	2007-03	2007-09

Comment:

• Development by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 35/WG 6 – User interfaces for people with special needs

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

Scope: This standard describes 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	DIS ballot	FDIS ballot	ISO publication
Completed	2007-05	2007-11	2008-11	2009-05

Comment:

• Development by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 35/WG 6 – User interfaces for people with special needs

ISO/IEC 26513 - Software and systems engineering - User documentation requirements for documentation testers and assessors

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

Current project plan:

WD	CD ballot	FCD ballot	FDIS ballot	ISO publication
Underway	2007-10	2008-10	2009-05	2009-10

Comments:

• Will include guidance on testing and assessing software documentation for accessibility.
• Development by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 7/WG 2 – Software and systems documentation

ISO/IEC 26514 – Software and systems engineering - User documentation requirements for documentation designers and developers

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.

Current project plan:

WD	CD ballot	FCD ballot	FDIS ballot	ISO publication
Completed	Approved	Underway	2007-06	2008-05

Comments:

• Will include guidance on planning, developing and writing accessible software documentation.
• Will replace ISO/IEC 18019:2004 – Systems and software engineering – Guidelines for the design and preparation of user documentation for application software.
• Development by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 7/WG 2 – Software and systems documentation

ETSI ES 202 432 – Human Factors: Access symbols for video and ICT devices.

• Scope and fields of application: Addresses five symbols/icons to identify the availability of “Audio Description, Signing, Subtitling, Spoken commands and Speech output” for use in printed media (programmes, packaging), way-finding signs (cinemas & theatres), device controls, TV and film trailers and s/w interfaces (multimedia).
• Published in conjunction with ETSI TR 102 520 – Access symbols for use with video content and ICT devices; Development and evaluation, which also includes descriptions of the development of a subset of tactile and audio symbols.
• Symbols submitted to ISO/TC 145 (Graphical symbols) for ISO & IEC adoption and inclusion on ISO 7000/IEC 60417 database.
• Developed by ETSI HF STF 286 and published in late 2006.
• More information and documents at : http://portal.etsi.org/stfs/STF_HomePages/STF286/STF286.asp

ETSI EG 202 487 – Human Factors: User experience guidelines for telecare solutions (e-Health)

• Scope and field of application: This ETSI Guide It will provide detailed user experience and user interface guidelines, applicable to a wide range of telecare solution elements, addressing key characteristics and the interactions between them and the primary (client) and secondary (carer) users. Consumers (clients) of telecare services and devices expect these to be easy to install, learn and use; reliable and consistent in quality, durability, safety, security and ease of use and ensure the integrity of personal data. It will be based on the recommendations developed by STF264, provided in TR 102 415
• Being developed by ETSI HF STF 299 for publication in December 2007
• More information and draft at : http://portal.etsi.org/STFs/STF_HomePages/STF299/STF299.asp

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

• Scope and field of application: The ETSI Technical Specification will establish and set out guidance for providers and operators of Public Internet Access Points (PIAPs). A "Design for All" approach will be followed to ensure that PIAPs will be more readily accessible to all people, including elderly or disabled users and users from a wide range of cultural backgrounds.
• Development by ETSI HF STF 324 for publication in July 2008
• Draft currently available from: http://portal.etsi.org/STFs/STF_HomePages/STF324/STF324.asp

ETSI TS 102 511 - Human Factors: AT Commands for assistive mobile device interfaces

• Scope and field of application: The present document sets out the requirements for a number of AT command protocol stacks that can be used to enable assistive devices to interwork satisfactorily with mobile terminals over a range of suitable interfaces. The work specifies those amendments of existing AT commands and new AT commands that are needed for effective communication between mobile terminals and the widest possible range of assistive devices
• Development by ETSI HF STF 304 for publication in August 2007.
• More information at: http://portal.etsi.org/STFs/STF_HomePages/STF304/STF304.asp

(ETSI) Human Factors: Generic spoken command vocabulary for ICT devices and services

• Scope and field of application: This ETSI Standard will specify a minimum set of spoken commands required to control the generic and most common functions of ICT devices and services that use speaker independent speech recognition, developed in a Design for All approach. It will specify the necessary and most common vocabularies to be supported by ICT devices and services for voice input, including command, control and editing and will be applicable to the functions required for navigation, information retrieval, basic call handling and configuration of preferences.
• Development by ETSI HF STF 326 for publication in January 2009
• More information from: http://portal.etsi.org/STFs/STF_HomePages/STF326/STF326.asp

(ETSI) Human Factors: Harmonised relay services

• Scope and field of application: The standard will set out the requirements for the provision of all kinds of relay services in all networks. It will identify those new types of text phone services that are IP based and make recommendations on how they should be handled. The provisions in this standard will directly assist users who are unable to hear and/or speak. This work will convert and update ETSI TR 101 806 (Guidelines for relay services) into an ETSI Standard.
• Development by ETSI HF STF 325 for publication in January 2009
• More information from: http://portal.etsi.org/stfs/STF_HomePages/STF325/STF325.asp

CEN Workshop on Document Processing for Accessibility (WS/DPA)

This activity is supported by the EUAIN (European Accessible Information Network) who are funding the chairman and technical secretariat.

Objectives:

• To bring together all the players in the information provision and e-publishing chain in order to achieve the critical mass significantly to enhance the provision of accessible information at a European level 
• To provide guidelines (a CWA = CEN Workshop Agreement) on integrating accessibility components within the document management and publishing process rather than as just a specialised, additional service.
• To raise awareness and stimulate the adoption at local, regional, national and European levels of the emerging formats and standards for the provision of accessible information and to find ways of ensuring that technological protection measures do not inadvertently impede legitimate access to information by people with print impairments

Schedule:

• 4 April 2007 Deadline for experts writing FIXME’s
• 30 April 2007 Distribution of the final draft CWA for the 60 days public comments phase
• July 2007 meeting to consider the results of the public comments phase
• September 2007 final meeting to approve the CWA DPA

More information: http://www.cen.eu/cenorm/businessdomains/businessdomains/isss/activity/ws-dpa.asp

 

Key to abbreviations and acronyms used in this report

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