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ACCESSIBILITY FORUM MAY 9 -11, 2001
Gallaudet University Kellog Conference Center, Washington, DC PROJECT DISCUSSION AND BREAKOUT RESULTS

• Practical Projects Phase 1 - Version 2
• Project Discussion Notes
• Results of the Project Breakout Sessions
  • Breakout 1
  • Breakout 2
  • Breakout 3
  • Breakout 4

Practical Projects Phase 1 - Version 2

1. Inventory available accessibility standards that relate to the sector.
2. Inventory current or emerging AT that can be used with sector related products and services.
3. Inventory functional user requirements related to Section 508.
4. Capitalize on #1,2, and 3 above to assess and identify cross-sector and sector projects - then initiate projects with IT, AT, and user participants to identify and develop IT/AT interfaces.
5. Identify one or two additional practical projects that will not redefine the Section 508 standards and will meet the mission.

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Project Discussion Notes

1. Help the procurement official - get the information they need. Short term minimum - Give acquiring official information to perform market research. Provide the tools because industry self-assessment is not enough.
2. Compromise – take the practical projects approach but change third bullet to “Functional User Requirements for the Sectors”
3. Another Project: Go through the clauses and issues involved in applying them and go back to GSA requesting clarification. – Access Board welcomes.
4. Steps 1,2,3 and 5 are good steps for functional approach.
5. Projects criteria offered: mission based, resource based, and achievable.
6. Project to gather intellectual property of those using the products, what has worked and not have worked.
7. Comment for Practical Projects that was not captured in version 2 - Item 3 add words such as mapping, pooling or inventory of functional user requirements.

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Results of the Project Breakout Sessions

Breakout 1
ASSUMPTIONS

• All but two accept the Practical Projects Approach
• People w/disabilities have different needs from products.
• The decision process is already in place through the laws and regulations, Section 508, 504 and the FAR.
• User participation is an important part of ALL projects. Covered in mission statement.
• The working group will apply the exact working title for project.
• Presence or absence of standards should not unduly prejudice procuring official.

PROJECTS OFFERED

1. Primer for procurement officials on accessibility or Primer for Accessible Procurement.
2. Develop a directory of resources and technical standards that are related to the six technical sectors of 508Mainstream E&IT and AT interoperability. Map each of the 508 standards to user functional requirements.
3. Inventory current or emerging (contemporary) AT.

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Breakout 2
PROJECTS OFFERED

Is there a general consensus on the proposed practical project approach? Yes, with the following amendments:

1. Are there projects that you are willing to work on?
2. AT interoperability – this is step 4 of the “5 step process”.
3. Accessible content – maybe a consolidation of content projects already identified in the GSA functional project identification?
4. Electronic forms.
5. Structured content.
6. Auditory outputs.
7. Alternate representation.
8. Biometric identification.
9. Interface issues (from GSA functional project identification).
10. Template for 508/accessibility vendor claims for procurement officers.

All other projects in the GSA functional project identification are (partially) addressed in items 1, 2, and 3 (referring to 1, 2, 3 of Practical projects) -

1. Closed Captioning Circuitry.
2. Color display.
3. Interface issues.
4. Auditory outputs.
5. Display flash rate.
6. Alternate representation.
7. Physical access to operable controls.
8. Timed response.
9. TTY services.
10. Wireless interference and coupling.

UNRESOLVED OUTSTANDING CHALLENGES and ISSUES

• Education of procurement officers about the meaning/definition of the provisions.
• Inventory of problems in the AT interface that are introduced by user practices – maybe accomplished during step 2 of the process.
• Relationship with the GSA driven template for 508/accessibility vendor claims for procurement officers?
• Software applications for automated testing compliance to 508 – but any evaluation approach that reflects a proprietary solution cannot be allowed.
• Inventory of accessibility evaluation tools.

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Breakout 3
PROJECTS OFFERED

1. An “Interoperability” project.
   • Individual working groups
   • Cross platform/OS applications
2. Compile list of AT as applicable to 508.
3. Gather and send questions to Access Board and GSA regarding 508.
   • Government answers to be distributed through appropriate Government channel
   • Forum will maintain the list of questions but not answer them
   • Reference to information available in official Government technical assistance manuals may be noted alongside questions
4. Seek, review, and comment on template being developed by GSA.
5. Develop a common format, based on best practices in industry, for reporting the ways in which a product is accessible as defined by Section 508.
6. Seek input from GSA regarding the way “implied warranty by check mark” has been handled historically in other procurement situations and work with them to apply those well established principles to our situation.
7. Identify features that consumer groups think are more and less important.
8. Identify 508 provisions where there is consensus that measures and metrics are appropriate.
9. Develop metrics and methods to test compliance to 508 provisions identified in the above project.
10. Inventory available accessibility features on mainstream products.
11. Seek input on needs of procurement officials.
12. Identify and collect existing “consumer reports” type information related to Section 508 from user groups.
13. Document, define and disseminate information on how all of these projects are to be conducted, including which stakeholders are to be represented on the project, what format is to be used for project reporting, etc.

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Breakout 4
PROJECTS OFFERED

1. Set up an initial project team that is representative of the stakeholders mentioned in the mission statement. The goal of which is to identify core infrastructure projects then prioritize those. Examples:
   • Cross sector issues (e.g. animation, color…)
   • Existing standards / technical documents (e.g. captioning, TTY…)
2. Develop some approaches to defining terminology, e.g. adaptive, accessible, tested, etc…(analogous to low-fat vs. no-fat)
3. Glossary.
   • Need to reference existing definitions where available
   • Need to highlight terms that have not been defined elsewhere e.g. accessibility feature
4. Provide open channel to the Access Board.
   • The forum would like to contribute information to the Access Board for their technical assistance manuals and to Procurement or Contracting Officers regarding their training
   • Identify points of contact within the Access Board for each of the sectors so members of the Accessibility Forum will know whom to contact

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Last Updated: 11/12/01