Mobile

When we talk about accessibility, one of the first things we hear is providing keyboard access. This is all well if there is a keyboard. But have you wondered what is the situation when somebody uses a touch screen, for example an iPhone? To make matters even more confusing, these days we hear that the iPhone or the iPad is one of the most accessible devices for people with disabilities.

IBM will be working with two universities to explore the creation of an open, common user interface platform for mobile devices. The software developed by IBM, the National Institute of Design of India in Bangalore, and the University of Tokyo's RCAST, the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, will be made available as open source.

The new research partnership is part of the company's Collaborative Research Initiatives program. One of the goals of the most recent effort is to figure out how illiterate or elderly populations can use their mobile devices to exploit the
information and services available to Internet users.

In part 2, we followed Lisa, a blind woman and examined what kind of challenges she faces using everyday technologies, such as the computer, a mobile phone, the internet, or just reading the menu in a restaurant. In this part, we will see how Lisa does her groceries, reads the mail, or watches movies.

Many documents have been written about web accessibility. This is only appropriate as web accessibility covers a considerably large amount of topics. However, similar to any principle, web accessibility also has its set of limitations.

Here, we will try to point out those limitations in order for you to better understand web. Accessibility. It is important to note though that experts are presently working on these issues to address or improve them.

BALTIMORE, and LIBERTYVILLE, Ill., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Federation of the Blind, the nation's oldest and largest organization of blind people and the leading advocate for making mainstream devices accessible to the blind, and Motorola Inc., a leading manufacturer of cell phones and other mobile communications devices, announced today that they have entered into a cooperation agreement to promote technologies that improve the accessibility of cell phones to blind consumers.

The Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group and the WAI Education and Outreach Working Group invite you to comment on the following updated draft technical report published 3 July 2008:
* Relationship between Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Working Draft