EMFA: T2H1 - UI and Other Notes

["E-Mail for All" <emfa@publicus.net>]

- - E-Mail for All - - - EMFA-EVENT - - - Universal Access - -
      http://www.iaginteractive.com/emfa - Details Below



Greetings,

Whew, one theme down and three to go.  We recently sent out the 
first four essays related to the Universal Internet theme.  
The last Theme 1 comment digest will be sent later today.  
Now is the time to send in your comments and responses related 
to the questions and essays in Theme 2.

We will not post over the weekend until late Sunday, which is early 
Monday in the Pacific.  We have slots for essays (we accept one 
essay per person during the event) the second day of Networking 
Communities and on both days of Private and Public Roles.  

Visit the themes:  http://www.iaginteractive.com/emfa/themes.htm


Some important event notes:

1.  Internet Numbers
2.  Universal Access Regardless of Disability
3.  Interaction - Help Us with Directory


1. Internet Numbers 
------------------

With Internet surveys coming out every day it is hard to keep 
track.  The three up-to-date site that I visit are: 

Nua Internet Surveys - http://www.nua.ie/surveys/
CyberAtlas - http://www.cyberatlas.com/
EStats - http://www.emarketer.com/estats/welcome.html

Artur Serra of Barcelona has kindly created a grid with country 
by country numbers: 
http://www.ac.upc.es/homes/artur/universal-access.html


2. Universal Access Regardless of Disability
--------------------------------------------

At the NTIA/PULP Connecting All Americans conference Judy
Brewer with the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative gave an 
excellent presentation on accessibility to both the Internet 
itself and _what is on_ the Internet.

As of yet we have not received an essays on the topic so I 
wanted to share how David Erickson with E-Strategy (our web 
designer) went about making sure our site was fully accessible. 

First he reviewed the Unified Web Site Accessibility Guidelines:
http://trace.wisc.edu/docs/html_guidelines/htmlgide.htm
This influenced his design choices and then he checked the HTML 
code using a tool called "Bobby": http://www.cast.org/bobby/
And made corrections based on the extensive advice provided.

We have not received any complaints or complements (not 
that we expect complements for doing what should be expected) 
about the accessibility of the site.  We did make a few choices 
that Bobby didn't like, but only when other access choices 
existed (web-based or e-mail-based list subscribing ), but 
overall the site seems to be serving its purpose.  

The other cornerstone of accessibility is choice - e-mail or 
web.  By providing all of the event content via e-mail we have 
ensured the broadest possible content access and *dissemination* 
and are leveraging inter-personal and public e-mail networks.


3. Interaction
--------------

As we designed this event, we hoped for 250-300 direct 
subscribers.  We now have over 700 subscribers from Cameroon to 
the White House.  Many of you joined because we promised not to 
flood your mailbox.  Others are more familiar with free-flow, 
unmoderated e-mail lists where 50 or more e-mail messages a day 
are common.  We will keep to the "less is more" approach, but 
consider more options should future online events like this be 
planned.

Here is where we need your help!  Many of you found out about 
this forum because of our target  outreach to dozens of online 
forums (mailing lists).  Instead of duplicating the ongoing 
interactive work of others, next week we will promote the best 
public online forums for free-flow discussions.  

Once the conference is over, where should we meet after the 
event? :-) 

To suggest an online forum, please use the last box of our 
content submission form: 
http://www.iaginteractive.com/emfa/subform.htm

Or nominate a forum via e-mail to:  emfa@publicus.net

List/Web Board/News group Title:
Address/URL:
Short description:
 

List subscribe instructions:
Web home page/archive for list:
List owner name:
List owner address:
Estimated message volume:



Thank you for being a part of the Universal Access Conversation.

Sincerely,

Steven Clift - http://www.publicus.net
UAC Event Host
Markle Foundation's E-Mail for All Outreach Effort


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Markle Foundation's E-Mail for All Universal Access Event
 WWW/Un/Subscribe Info: http://www.iaginteractive.com/emfa
 Sub To: majordomo@publicus.net Body: subscribe emfa-event

 Forward event posts via e-mail to others, for details on
 other uses or to send general comments:  emfa@publicus.net
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -