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Accessible Information Technology Technical Bulletin: February 2005 The Northeast ADA & IT Center at Cornell University provides training, technical assistance and materials on the ADA and accessible information technology throughout New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This monthly technical bulletin is part of our dissemination efforts and if you do not want to receive this document or would like others from your organization added to our list, please call 1-800-949-4232 or reply to this message. Thank you U.S. Department of Education Seeks IDEA Comments The U.S. Department of Education is soliciting comments from the public and intends to hold informal public meetings before preparing regulations governing the recently enacted Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. The announcement was issued in the December 29th Federal Register. Comments from the public on rules governing the new IDEA are due to the Education Department by February 28, 2005. A schedule for the meetings was not announced, but the Federal Register notice indicated that the meetings would be held during the first few months of 2005 to seek comments and recommendations for developing regulations, as needed. The meetings are planned for Atlanta, GA; Newark, DE; Boston, MA; Columbus, OH; San Diego, CA; Laramie, WY; and Washington, D.C. Notification of specific dates and locations of the meetings will be published in the Federal Register. The Federal Register notice can be found at http://tinyurl.com/57xwl or http://tinyurl.com/6omg5. A summary of the new IDEA law is available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c108:7:./temp/~c1088rFWcu:: RFP: ADA consultant for distance learning program Westchester Community College is in the 4th year of a 5-year Strengthening Institutions grant (Title III of the Higher Education Act) entitled Improving, Expanding, and Institutionalizing WCC's Distance Learning Program. Each semester the college offers about 50 fully online sections and 100 web-enhanced sections (face-to-face supplements) in a WebCT environment. We are looking for a consultant to assist us in reaching our goal of accessible design in all courses and compliance with ADA/section 508 guidelines. We envision the project consisting of two parts, corresponding to years 4 and 5 of our grant. The time commitment is flexible. Part 1. year 4: present September 30, 2005 Review and evaluate a representative sample of online courses (about 10) with regard to ADA compliance. By August 15, 2005, prepare a report which includes an analysis of our current ADA needs and recommended strategies to enable us to reach our goal. Part 2. year 5 (funding pending): October 1, 2005 September 30, 2006 Prepare a schedule of activities designed to implement the strategies detailed in Part 1. including the training of faculty and/or staff. On-site visits are preferred but not essential. If you are interested, please send the following by March 31, 2005: * a brief resume which addresses your distance learning and ADA compliance related experience. * examples of work in the field. * separate proposals for Part 1. and Part 2. which include the scope of each project as well as an estimate of costs. Costs should include your regular hourly or daily rate, the number of hours or days anticipated, and travel and per diem costs. The college is located in Valhalla, New York, about 30 miles north of New York City. Any responses or questions should be directed to: Carol Klein Acting Distance Learning Coordinator Westchester Community College [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel 914-606-6827 fax 914-606-8550 Accessible IT: Universal Access in Higher Education The University at Buffalo Educational Technology Center presents a day-long conference on accessible information technologies. Faculty, instructional designers, IT staff and administrators from the regional educational community are invited to attend this guest presentation by the Northeast ADA and IT Center. The morning session includes discussion of awareness, legal issues, and techniques for developing accessible web content. The afternoon session includes in-depth discussion and demonstrations of techniques to make informational and instructional media fully accessible. For more information, visit the University at Buffalo web page for this event. CoSN: Accessible Technologies for All Students: Leadership Initiative The Accessible Technologies for All Students Project is a major new leadership initiative of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN). The goal of this initiative is increased achievement and success for all students through the unlimited and effective use of accessible technologies. It is a core belief of CoSN "that accessible technologies and the close collaboration of assistive technology (AT) and instructional technology (IT) services at the school district level will enhance and facilitate learning for all students, those with disabilities and those without disabilities." Visit the website for this new initiative, www.accessibletech4all.org to read more about it and learn How it will be done and Why it is important for school districts. Web Development training opportunities The NYS Forum in partnership with the Governor's Office of Employee Relations (GOER), the NYS Office for Technology, The Public Employees Federation (PEF) and the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW) is pleased to announce two one-day seminars. On Feb. 24, the topic will be Web Content Development; on Feb. 25, the topic is Web Content Management. You can register for one or both days. Space is limited and being allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. As you'll note, in addition to seminar attendance, you'll receive a free one-year membership to the World Organization of Webmasters, and a one-year voucher for a free certification exam. For more information and to register, visit: http://www.nysfirm.org/seminars/webcontent-2-24-05/. Creating Accessible Macromedia Flash Content by Jared Smith, WebAIM Macromedia Flash content can be viewed on nearly all computers. The Flash technology, in a general sense, may be one of the most widely available technologies used on the Web. For developers, the ability to program one multimedia presentation that can be viewed the same on nearly all computers makes the technology very appealing. For individuals with disabilities, Flash can introduce unique accessibility problems. Read the full article by Jared Smith on the WebAIM site at http://www.webaim.org/techniques/flash/. More information about Accessibility and Macromedia Flash MX 2004 can be found on the Macromedia website: http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/accessibility/features/flash/ IRS Forms in alternate formats excerpted from the IRS website The IRS Alternative Media Center has prepared hundreds of its most popular tax forms and publications using full text descriptions where needed and is making these files available for download through IRS.gov. Most of the files prepared in this manner are in ASCII text format, a few were prepared in HTML and all have been transcribed for Braille. The Braille print files are in .brf format and can be sent directly to an embosser for high quality Braille output. Visit the IRS website, http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=96151,00.html, to download files in the following formats: * Accessible Tax Forms (Braille and Text Formats) * Accessible Tax Publications (Braille and Text Formats) * Accessible Talking Tax Forms Or call the IRS Helpdesk at 202-622-1557. Northeast ADA&IT Center |
