Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo

Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo E&O Manager IWA/HWG Italy rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org First European e-Accessibility Forum Accessible on-line services, a benefit for all Paris, Jan 29 2007

Agenda • Today’s Web • Who’s a Web Professional? • IWA/HWG challange Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 2

Today’s Web • Web quality – Web Standards – Accessibility – Usability • Many developers are not aware of them Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 3

Today’s Web How many “web professionals” use visual-only tools? Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 4

Today’s Web How many “web professionals” know what accessibility is? Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 5

Gaps… • Web Developers – Deal with pages, db, code… • Web Managers – Decide what and how • Teachers – Transmit technical knowledge and ethical values Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 6

Developers’ gaps • Creating usable and accessible Web sites: – Requires “some” technical skills – Will never be automated – Is not so difficult • Bad habits are hard to defeat Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 7

Managers’ gaps • Managers ignore that: – Web is not TV – Accessibility is NOT an optional – Accessible Web sites are not necessarily ugly Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 8

Teachers’ gaps • Teachers – Are developers themselves – Risk to transfer and pass on their gaps and lacks Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 9

Education • Technical knowledge – Web standards, languages, best practices and tools • Ethical codes and moral values – Users needs, universal access, pwd rights Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 10

The Webmaster’s Fairytale Once upon a I can build any Web site I can do all about the. Web time… there was a Webmaster The webmaster Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 11

The Webmaster’s Fairytale • Today – Technologies and tools have changed – Webmaster is an unspecific and out-of-date word – “I-can-do-all” easily means “I-can-do-nothing-well” Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 12 The webmaster

The Webmaster’s Fairytale • Today – A single Webmaster cannot develop by himself a complex Web application – Working groups are better • Many professions (and professionals) working together Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 13 The webmaster

The Webmaster’s Fairytale • So, Web professionals should be able to: – Specialize in one specific area – Learn to work in team – Share their experiences and skills Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 14 The webmaster

The Webmaster’s Fairytale The Webmasters fairytale is over, and there’s no happy ending. The webmaster Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 15

Web professions • The Web broke many old rules in all human activities New markets New professions • Old professions transformed Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 16

New Web professions • Which are the new Web professions? • Which are the skills each of them requires? Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 17

Web professions’ pitfall • Face this new market off the cuff – Think up professions in peculiar and odd ways • Reach completely uncertain and not comparable skills Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 18

Web professions’ challenge • Encourage a systematic approach • Guarantee the diffusion of a basic, minimum, homogeneous and comparable set of skills Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 19

Web professions’ challenge • New rules and professions require new and common educational paths • So Web professionals will get that common knowledge that new Web professions require Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 20

IWA/HWG • Non-profit professional association – 106 countries – 130 local offices – >160. 000 associated http: //www. iwa. eu Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 21

IWA/HWG mission • Provide and foster to its members: – Motivations to work correctly to enhance their effectiveness, image, and professionalism – Professional advancement opportunities Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 22

IWA/HWG Is involved with: • • W 3 C ISO EAC (Euro. Accessibility Consortium) Italian Government – “Stanca Act”, the Italian law about Web accessibility Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 23

IWA/HWG Gabriele Bartolini - Evaluation & Repair Tools WG Marco Bertoni - WCAG WG Alessio Cartocci- Multimedia Semantics Incubator WG Roberto Castaldo - E&O, WGAC WGs Roberto Is involved with: Ellero - Multimedia Semantics Incubator and WCAG WG Fabrizio Gramuglio - Multimodal Interaction, Voice Browser WG • W 3 C Gez Lemon – WCAG WG Ben Logan - Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) WG • ISO Luca Mascaro - Device Independence, HTML, Web APIs, Web Application Formats, WCAG WGs • EAC (Euro. Accessibility Consortium) Giorgio Natili - Mobile Web Best Practice, Mobile Web Initiative Test Suites WGs • Italian Government Sebastiano Nutarelli – WCAG WG – “Stanca Act”, the Italian law about Web Pasquale Popolizio – E&O, Internationalization Guidelines, accessibility Education & Outreach (GEO), Multimedia Semantics Incubator WGs, Semantic Web Education and Outreach (SWEO) Interest Group Roberto Scano - Advisory Committee, ATAG, Internationalization Guidelines, Education & Outreach (GEO), WCAG WGs Robert Sobkoviak - Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) WG Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 24

IWA/HWG actions • Education of professionals/teachers – Technical seminaries and structured courses • Education guidelines – CWP WAS (Certified Web Professional Web Accessibility Specialist) – IEAS (IWA European Accessibility Syllabus) Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 25

CWP WAS skill profiles • WAS Web Operator – Basic common skills • WAS Web Designer • WAS Content Manager • WAS Application Developer • WAS Certified Trainer Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 26

IEAS IWA European Accessibility Syllabus 5 days, 5 modules 1. Users & Web, markup languages, XHTML 2. CSS, Cascade Style Sheets 3. Accessibile Multimedia 4. Evaluation 5. Web accessibility laws Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 27

CEN and IWA/HWG • CEN European ICT Skills Meta-Framework ftp: //ftp. cenorm. be/PUBLIC/CWAs/e-Europe/ICT-Skill/CWA 15515 -00 -2006 -Feb. pdf – Includes IWA/HWG to provide educational certifications about Web professions Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 28

IWA Web Skills Working Group Dec 2006 – March 2007 • Mission: – Outline Web professions and relative skills • Professionals from: – Public and private companies – Italian government agancies Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 29

IWA Web Skills Working Group Skill profile 1 Skill profile 2 Skill profile 3 Web profession 2 Web profession Skills Experience Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 30

IWA Web Skills Working Group Our challenge • Face many different scenarios • Work for the market • Not copy the market http: //www. skillprofiles. eu Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 31

Web professions outlook • Future Web will count on: – Global educational system – Common technical knowledge – Shared moral codes Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 32

Web outlook • Future Web professional will have more technical and cultural weapons to make a more accessible Web, a better Web. Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 33

Links and references • IWA http: //www. iwa. eu, http: //www. iwa-italy. org Present • CWP WAS skill profiles http: //www. iwanet. org/argomento. asp? cat=38 • IEAS class http: //www. iwanet. org/argomento. asp? cat=53 • CEN European ICT Skills Meta-Framework ftp: //ftp. cenorm. be/PUBLIC/CWAs/e-Europe/ICT-Skill/CWA 15515 -00 -2006 Feb. pdf • IWA Skill Profiles Working Group Web site http: //www. skillprofiles. eu Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org Near future 34

Thanks Thank you for your attention Grazie Harmonising the Accessibility Expertise in Europe Roberto Castaldo – rcastaldo@webaccessibile. org 35