12,111 research outputs found
Determination and evaluation of web accessibility
The Web is the most pervasive collaborative
technology in widespread use today; however,
access to the web and its many applications cannot
be taken for granted. Web accessibility encompasses
a variety of concerns ranging from societal,
political, and economic to individual, physical, and
intellectual through to the purely technical. Thus,
there are many perspectives from which web
accessibility can be understood and evaluated. In
order to discuss these concerns and to gain a better
understanding of web accessibility, an accessibility
framework is proposed using as its base a layered
evaluation framework from Computer Supported
Co-operative Work research and the ISO standard,
ISO/IEC 9126 on software quality. The former is
employed in recognition of the collaborative nature
of the web and its importance in facilitating
communication. The latter is employed to refine and
extend the technical issues and to highlight the need
for considering accessibility from the viewpoint of
the web developer and maintainer as well as the web
user. A technically inaccessible web is unlikely to be
evolved over time. A final goal of the accessibility
framework is to provide web developers and
maintainers with a practical basis for considering
web accessibility through the development of a set of
accessibility factors associated with each identified
layer
Holistic approaches to eālearning accessibility
The importance of accessibility to digital eālearning resources is widely acknowledged. The World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility Initiative has played a leading role in promoting the importance of accessibility and developing guidelines that can help when developing accessible web resources. The accessibility of eālearning resources provides additional challenges. While it is important to consider the technical and resource related aspects of eālearning when designing and developing resources for students with disabilities, there is a need to consider pedagogic and contextual issues as well. A holistic framework is therefore proposed and described, which in addition to accessibility issues takes into account learner needs, learning outcomes, local factors, infrastructure, usability and quality assurance. The practical application and implementation of this framework is discussed and illustrated through the use of examples and case studies
A survey of UK university web management: staffing, systems and issues
Purpose:
The purpose of the paper is to summarize the findings of a survey of UK universities about how their web site is managed and resourced, which technologies are in use and what are seen as the main issues and priorities.
Methodology/approach:
The paper is based on a web based questionnaire distributed in summer 2006, and which received 104 usable responses from 87 insitutions.
Findings:
The survey showed that some web teams were based in IT and some in external relations, yet in both cases the site typically served internal and external audiences. The role of web manager is partly management of resources, time and people, partly about marketing and liaison and partly also concerned with more technical aspects including interface design and HTML. But it is a diverse role with a wide spread of responsibilities. On the whole web teams were relatively small. Three quarters of responding institutions had a CMS, but specific systems in use were diverse. 60% had a portal. There was evidence of increasing use of blogs and wikis. The key driver for the web site is student recruitment, with instituitional reputation and information to stakeholders also being important. The biggest perceived weaknesses were maintaining consistency with devolved content creation and currency of content; lack of resourcing a key threat while comprehensiveness was a key strength. Current and wished for projects pointed again to the diversity of the sector.
Research implications/limitations:
The lack of comparative data and difficulties of interpreting responses to closed questions where respondents could have quite different status (partly reflecting divergent patterns of governance of the web across the sector) create issues with the reliability of the research.
Practical implications:
Data about resourcing of web management, technology in use etc at comparable institutions is invaluable for practitioners in their efforts to gain resource in their own context.
Originality/value of paper:
The paper adds more systematic, current data to our limited knowledge about how university web sites are managed
Exploring the use of online corporate sustainability information
Whilst the supply, exclusivity and prominence of online corporate sustainability information has increased in recent years, comparatively little is known about what information is used by whom. This paper explores which user groups access online corporate sustainability information, and assesses the relative use of sustainability reports and other forms of social and environmental information disseminated on corporate Websites. To collect the necessary empirical data, the paper analyses 4,652,471 successful requests for information made by the users of 10 UK FTSE 350 corporate websites. \ud
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The paper finds that the majority of requests for online sustainability information originate from the reporting company indicative of an inward focus to sustainability reporting. In examining access to different online information sets, distinct profiles of corporate Website users begin to emerge. Requests from employees, private individuals, ISPs and consultants represent the vast majority of the online sustainability reporting audience and the corporate website in general. Contrastingly, a professional financially-orientated profile of users characterised by professional investors, creditors, accounting firms and lawyers make significantly more use of the Annual Report but significantly less use of sustainability reporting information and other online disclosures. Although prior literature notes how companies have yet to utilise the potential of the online medium in disseminating corporate sustainability information, disclosures are found to attract approximately a tenth of all corporate website requests. Environmental and ethical disclosures outside the Annual Report are the most popular sources of online corporate sustainability information whilst āstandaloneā Sustainability and/or Ethics Reports attract comparatively few requests
Embedding accessibility and usability: considerations for e-learning research and development projects
This paper makes the case that if eālearning research and development projects are to be successfully adopted in realāworld teaching and learning contexts, then they must effectively address accessibility and usability issues; and that these need to be integrated throughout the project. As such, accessibility and usability issues need to be made explicit in project documentation, along with allocation of appropriate resources and time. We argue that accessibility and usability are intrinsically interālinked. An integrated accessibility and usability evaluation methodology that we have developed is presented and discussed. The paper draws on a series of miniācase studies from eālearning projects undertaken over the past 10 years at the Open University
Web Accessibility as a Barrier to Successful Digital Governance: A Case Study of the Arabian Gulf Region
Conformance to web accessibility standards is crucial to successful digital governance. Examining the state of Web accessibility compliance in the state of Qatar, a fast growing digital economy with the world\u27s highest per capita GDP has many lessons for emerging economies. Our audit of a selected sample of websites across government and other sectors suggests the need to raise awareness among executives and other key stakeholders regarding Web accessibility and to develop best practices and an improved policy framework. To better understand the barriers to adoption of Web accessibility standards in the country, we interviewed 30 CIOs and senior information technology managers. The results suggest a need for stronger regulations, since organizations will not otherwise comply due to concerns that enforcement of accessibility standards results in increased website development time and costs and undermines usable website design and management, particularly with multilingual websites
Disability Online for CSR Practitioners: Keeping Global Business in Touch
[Excerpt] Corporations are under increasing pressure to become more transparent and to be seen to treat people fairly ā be they employees, customers or other stakeholders. However, too often disabled people are forgotten as organisations shape their thinking on corporate social responsibility
The accessibility of administrative processes: Assessing the impacts on students in higher education
Administrative processes that need to be completed to maintain a basic standard of living, to study, or to attain employment, are perceived to create burdens for disabled people. The navigation of information, forms, communications, and assessments to achieve a particular goal raises diverse accessibility issues. In this paper we explore the different types of impacts these processes have on disabled university students. We begin by surveying literature that highlights the systemic characteristics of administrative burdens and barriers for disabled people. We then describe how a participatory research exercise with students led to the development of a survey on these issues. This was completed by 104 respondents with a diverse range of declared disabilities. This provides evidence for a range of impacts, and understanding of the perceived level of challenge of commonly experienced processes. The most common negative impact reported was on stress levels. Other commonly reported impacts include exacerbation of existing conditions, time lost from study, and instances where support was not available in a timely fashion. Processes to apply for disability-related support were more commonly challenging than other types of processes. We use this research to suggest directions for improving accessibility and empowerment in this space
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