Hi, I'd just like to try and dispel a few commonly held myths about the processes of standards and the groups that form them at the W3C, and in particular, the W3C WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group.
I raise these issues, because it is quite understandable that many people come to certain conclusions about the W3C WAI process, such as the views Scott Barnes expresses here (http://www.mail-archive.com/wsg%40webstandardsgroup.org/msg06709.html). So I'd just like to put forward these points. 1. It may appear that groups like the W3C WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group are some group of elite people in an ivory tower somewhere, but actually it is an open group, and you can join it today, if you want. There are three types of people on that group; 1) members that are placed there by companies that are sponsors of the W3C, 2) invited experts 3) people who want to get involved in the process. The third group make up the majority of WAI, and there are a number of such people on that group from Melbourne. They are the little people (hobbits), like the rest of us. If this is something you really want to contribute too, and make your voice heard, as a developer, whatever, here is the charter, the guide to participation and the "How to Join". http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/new-charter-2000.html#participants http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/howto-join-wg.html You don't have to attend the Face to Face meetings, and it is not compulsory to attend the weekly teleconferences (but you are required to email a "Regret Cannot Attend"). If you are concerned about the direction of WAI and the work on WCAG2 (http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/) you should note in that document that it is a working draft. Being a working draft it is open to public comment. The group definitely wants your feedback and concerns, they do not want to it to get to Recommendation and there be oversights. They really do work hard at try to make these recommendations none restrictive on developers. Just look at the discussion list for WAI-GL to verify this. The fifth paragraph of "Status of this Document" states; <quote> The Working Group welcomes comments on this document at [EMAIL PROTECTED] The archives for this list are publicly available. Archives of the WCAG WG mailing list discussions are also publicly available. </quote> So you can get involved and provide feedback without having to join the W3C WAI GL. Does the W3C WAI GL work with the manufactures of User Agents (browsers)? They certainly do (http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/). And they have a set of guidelines that User Agents are *meant* to comply with (http://www.w3.org/TR/UAAG10/). Here is a list of participants (http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/wai-ua-members.html). If you feel some companies on this list are asleep at the wheel, then raise that issue with them and ask them what the hell are they doing if they are on that list and not working on trying to comply with those standards. There is also the UAAG FAQ http://www.w3.org/2002/10/uaag10-faq/ You can evaluate user agents conformance http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/2002/08/eval. You can also get involved with the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/) and their working draft of ATAG2 (http://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG20/). This too is open for public comment. You can help by doing Authoring Tool Evaluations (http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/2002/tools). <quote> Please send comments about this document to the public mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (public archives). Please note that this document may contain typographical errors. It was published as soon as possible since review of the content itself is important, although noting typographical errors is also helpful. </quote> Also see http://www.w3.org/WAI/PF/Overview.html Another way to get involved in the whole process is to work as a group to put pressure on User Agent and Authoring Tools developers to meet the standards. One way of doing this would be to review UAs and ATs and apply the test criteria as set down in these standards and publish them on the web site associated with this list or the Web Standards Project (or your own blog), whatever. If you really want to find out more about the W3C and WAI, how it works, how it interacts, about the standards, blah, blah, blah, the Melbourne Group could invite Charles McCathieNevile (http://www.w3.org/People/Charles/) to one of their meetings when he is in Melbourne. Another Australian W3C person worth contacting and getting to present is http://www.w3.org/People/Dean/. Dean is the SVG man. Everyone's experience of the W3C is different, I can see both the good and bad sides. Mostly I prefer that there is one standards body for the web, but I also am getting disillusioned by the plethora of standards, which I feel are beginning to fragment the web as a whole. I also can understand why there are break away movements like WhatWG (http://www.whatwg.org/), especially when they are trying to make a less fragmented web by endeavouring to make future technologies backward compatible. People like Joe Clark have issues with the W3C WAI GL, and I don't necessarily disagree with him, but I do often find that the ways he goes about dealing with people on the W3C WAI GL, not nearly as tolerate as his colleagues show towards him. As a final point, in standards and accessibility, it is really important that the developers voice be heard, both the benefits and the difficulties in keeping up with and implementing standards. If something is to hard to implement, is to restrictive, then let your voice be heard. My bugbears are web based forms as an authoring tool under ATAG and that to deliver content to W3C specifications, you are becoming more and more required to use a very sophisticated server implementation (my pet project). Also, the design community, I feel will bring a HUGE move forward in accessibility, and help dispel a lot of myth and show the rest of the web designers that it is not so hard. The current standards trend in design is starting to move accessibility into the mainstream, not because it was an issue, but because the type of designers and developers that are following the standards based movement, and see the benefits, are implementing all sorts of designs in the commercial world that are becoming showcases of good design in this area. This is going to help dispel so many myths about accessibility and promote good design, and hopefully all the people who invested in this path, will get the commercial recognistion and reputation for quality. A lot of this may not consciously addressing accessibility, but it is being addressed because accessibility comes within the realm of good design principles. So, really, WAI needs people like the ones on this list, developing, debating, providing feedback, and providing sources of knowledge in this area. Just my 2 cents worth to try and dismantle a few barriers. Geoff Deering ***************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help *****************************************************
