Functional Accessibility on the Web: How the AODA Fails End Users

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) impacts the way persons with disabilities are able to access goods and services in Ontario. With more than 3 million people living with disabilities in Ontario, it is essential to enact the legislation to create equity. The AODA equates “obtainable” with “accessible” without recognizing the stark contrast between having access to something and being able to keep informed because the content is created with persons with disabilities in mind. This paper focuses on the effectiveness of the AODA’s website compliance standards under the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as required by Ontario Regulation 191/11, section 14 (O. Reg. 191/11s.14). Through an examination of the compliance requirements in comparison to the “Five E” Approach to Policy Analysis it is apparent that the AODA does not create equity or equality, but rather is a tool for the Ontario Government to demonstrate that it is moving toward making Ontario accessible for persons with disabilities. The “Five E” Approach to Policy Analysis of the AODA demonstrates that O. Reg. 191/11 s.14 does not have the proper mechanisms in place to ensure equity in Ontario with regards to websites and internet usage. It is hoped that this study will increase awareness about the discrepancy between what is written in the AODA and the type of accessibility needed for persons with disabilities in Ontario so the Government can move forward towards true equity

Applications of CSP solving in computer games (camera control)

While camera control systems of commercial 3D games have improved greatly in recent years, they are not as fully developed as are other game components such as graphics and physics engines. Bourne and Sattar (2006) have proposed a reactive constraint based third person perspective camera control system. We have extended the capability of their system to handle occlusion while following the main character, and have used camera cuts to find appropriate camera positions for a few difficult situations. We have developed a reactive constraint based third person perspective chase camera control system to follow a character in a 3D environment. The camera follows the character from (near) optimal positions defined by a camera profile. The desired values of the height and distance constraints of the camera profile are changed appropriately whenever the character enters a semi-enclosed or an enclosed area, and the desired value of the orientation constraint of the camera profile is changed incrementally whenever theoptimal camera view is obstructed. Camera cuts are used whenever the main character backs up to a wall or any other obstructions, or comes out of a semi-enclosed or an enclosed area. Two auxiliary cameras to observe the main camera positions from top and side views have been added. The chase camera control system achieved real-time performance while following the main character in a typical 3D environment, and maintained an optimal view based on a user specified/selected camera profile

Access to Justice Online: Are Canadian Court Websites Accessible for Users with Visual Impairments?

Steps taken to make legal information available online have resulted in access to justice benefits for many. However, these benefits may not extend to everyone equally. As scholars have cautioned, the adoption of new technologies that purport to improve access to justice may perpetuate the exclusion of vulnerable and marginalized individuals and groups from the justice system. This article applies this insight to legal information made available online by Canadian court websites and CanLII. It does so through a two-part study. First, we used an automated testing tool to determine whether the websites noted above comply with accessibility standards. Second, after having secured research ethics approval, we worked with Access & Diversity at the University of British Columbia to recruit persons with visual impairments; these participants evaluated the same websites and provided feedback. Our results showed that while largely accessible, the tested websites fall short of best practices, presenting challenges to users with visual impairments. We recommend that Canadian courts correct the deficiencies identified by our study, that other online legal resources be tested for accessibility issues, and that future research focus on the extent to which online legal resources are accessible to other vulnerable or marginalized individuals or groups. Implementing these recommendations will ensure that the access to justice benefits of online legal information are extended to everyone

Agent-based Crowd Simulation Modelling for a Gaming Environment

Crowd simulation study has become a favorite subject in the computer graphics community in the past three decades. It usually is a sub-function within many applications such as video games, films, and public security. This thesis proposes an independent crowd simulation model that is capable of running an Agent-based method through a gaming environment. It can simulate realistic human crowds with user-controllable features to provide a gaming-like experience. Our approach features an enhanced rendering system based on Distinguishable Agents Generating Method (DAGM). This method can generate distinguishable and scalable 3D human models in real-time. We also introduce our Multi-layer Collision System (MCS), which features a collision-message collection system and an evaluation processing system. We also introduce Building & City-planning Generating System (BCGS) for the purpose of setting up obstacles for the crowd during an evacuation simulation. Moreover, in this thesis, we also extend the study to other aspects such as crisis training and human animations to provide a complete agent-based crowd simulation model