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Home > Accessibility > Annual Reports > 2004  Accessibility Annual Report 2004[Download the entire 2004 Accessibility Annual Report] or click on the links below to review online.
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| State and Community | Disability Seats | Technology Seats |
|---|---|---|
| CIO, Staff Support | Cognitive | Assistive Technology |
| ISMG Representative | Hearing | Application Development |
| University System | Mobility | Webmaster/Designer |
| BIS (Central IT) | Visual | Telecommunications |
| Community | Hardware | |
| Vocational Rehabilitation |
*It's understood that one member may fill more than one role on the committee
| Kathy Record, Office of the CIO, DAFS-Accessibile Information Technology Coordinator for the State of Maine, Staff to the IT Accessibility Committee 624-7573 or Kathy.record@maine.gov |
| Pauline Lamontagne Esq., Department of Education, Committee Chair |
| Carolyn Bebee, Bureau of Rehabilitation Services, Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired, DOL |
| Jan DeVinney, Bureau of Rehabilitation Services, Division of Deafness, DOL |
| Eric Dibner, Rehabilitation Services, DOL |
| Kathleen Powers, Statewide Assistive Tech Project, Maine CITE Coordinating Center, University College, University of Maine System |
| Bruce Prindall, Office of Information Processing, DOL |
| Flyod White, Bureau of Information Service, DAFS |
Leigh Wilkinson, Bureau of Human Resources, DAFS |
| Ellen Wood, Maine State Library |
| Valton Wood, Bureau of Information Services, DAFS |
The Committee has documented six focus areas and identified initiatives that would support each one of those. No one area is weighted any higher than another as it is felt all are critical to the objective of equal access to information and technology.
The challenge of this focus area continues to be providing guidance to agencies to ensure compliance with the existing state standards and policies on accessibility. The following are the accomplishments in this area.
The CIO has directed that all agencies prepare a Portfolio Management Plan. Included in the requirements must be a list of new software systems that each agency is developing. This gives visibility to new projects and the opportunity to address accessibility compliance during system concept.
Committee members (Floyd White and Pauline Lamontagne Esq.) have continued to provide testing of software for internal and external development groups. The effort has included testing with screen readers, voice recognition software and testing of websites for compliance.
The Web is now one of the most important means by which the State communicates with the public. As website usage continues to grow, it is critical that all websites be accessible to the broadest possible audience. The State of Maine Web Standards have been updated with the focus being to improve the quality, usability and accessibility of all state websites. To assist in this effort, new templates have been developed to meet industry standards for browser compatibility, usability and accessibility. Agencies will be required to use these templates in accordance with the Maine.gov Style Guide. There are several new administration requirements that will provide the structure which will ensure accessible sites with accountability control.
Kathy Powers continues to be the liaison between the State and national accessibility efforts. She represents Maine on accessible information technology issues to the Northeast Region ADA Technical Assistance Center , Boston MA , as well on a national work group of Information Technology and Training Technical Assistance Center (ITTATC) that identifies issues and develops resources related to accessible electronic and information technology for states and the federal government. She arranged for Maine to be a panelist on an ITTATC audio cast which highlighted progress states have made in the area of accessibility, as well as challenges they face. Additionally, Kathy was instrumental in providing scholarships to send two committee members to the Technology and People with Disabilities National Conference at CSUN ( California State University at Northridge) for the purpose of increasing awareness of and knowledge about the impact of technologies to improve the lives of Maine citizens with disabilities.
In the latter part of 2003, the Committee chartered a Telecommunications Sub-committee, with Jan DeVinney as Chair, to test a product called NexTalk that was identified by the Bureaus of Information Services as a substitute for TTY's. NexTalk is a network based system with special provisions for the communication needs of the deaf and hard of hearing, but with advanced communications and messaging features. It is a blending of telephone and computer technologies which links TTY callers with every NexTalk personal computer user on the local and wide area networks. This system can be compared to an instant messaging system. The product tested satisfactorily and the decision was made to implement. When implemented, we expect that NexTalk will increase the rate of successful TTY communications. The Bureau of Information Services assigned Lisa Thompson as Project Manager for this state wide project. Lisa developed the implementation plan which included testing with the deaf community outside the State. The sub-committee was fortunate to have the help of a summer intern, Dan Andrews, to write the required scripts and training documents. A state-wide education effort is in process and the implementation should be completed this summer.
This committee was established, with Ellen Wood as Chair, in 2004 based on a recommendation from the Accountability Subcommittee's objectives. The goals were to review and implement the recommendations from the Web Accessibility Plan which was developed by Anna Flewelling , summer intern 2003. The Committee reviewed, updated and prioritized the recommendations. In the brief period of time since they were established, they have reviewed the web training curriculum, made basic web design training available for every state employee who works on web pages, set up a bulletin board for webmasters, and evaluated enterprise software to review all state sites for accessibility on a biannual basis. The decision was made, with the assistance of Alan Parks from the University of Maine , to purchase the enterprise software from HiSoftware. This software will evaluate each site for accessibility and produce a report to each department, providing the means to make the pages compliant. Additional purchase of a companion suite of tools for webmasters will provide further verification, repair, captions to videos, and check web site links. This committee has also been instrumental in working with InforME, to implement the new Web Standards, which includes the new, required templates, designed by InforME.
With the assistance of a new member from the Bureau of Human Resources, Leigh Wilkinson, the curriculum for State Web training courses was reviewed and is in the process of being updated to align with the accessibility requirements as stated in the standards. Additionally, a half day training session, sponsored by the Web Subcommittee, was provided for all webmasters on "Tools of Traveling the Web' and "Basic Steps towards Accessible Design". Going forward, they are continuing to offer quarterly half day workshops which are open to all webmasters and their managers at no cost to the departments.
Additionally, InforME hosts monthly webmaster meetings which include accessibility training and education. This also is open to all state webmasters.
As part of the updated Web Standards, Dreamweaver and Contribute have been acknowledged as the required Web authoring software. While there are courses offered in Dreamweaver, no courses have been developed in Contribute. To familiarize webmasters with this new software, two monthly webmaster meetings discussed the use of Contribute, one using the internet as the medium.
All new managers are required to participate in management training provided by Bureau of Human Resources. As part of that training, we have incorporated accessibility awareness training into the Maine Management System training program.
The Committee continued to publish articles that focused on web accessibility. This year articles were published on NexTalk and the new accessible templates that are required as part of the updated Web Standards.
The CIO's monthly report to Governor includes a section on accessibility which he uses to regularly update the Governor on the challenges and accomplishments of the IT Accessibility Committee. The reports, along with the minutes of the IT Accessibility Committee, are published on the OCIO website, www.maine.gov/cio .
InforME
Every year InforME hosts a day long off-site retreat for State of Maine webmasters. This year the Office of the CIO gave a presentation on accessibility and the future direction and requirement for the State agency web pages.
After serving as chair for the IT Accessibility Committee for two consecutive terms, Valton Wood resigned his chairmanship, but remains as an active member. Valton was presented with the Information Technology Accessibility Leadership Award for his leadership and commitment to universal design and accessible information technology in support of access to information for all Maine State employees and the public. This is the first award of this kind given and honors Valton as one of the original active participants in the accessibility effort.
This year, a letter was sent to consumer groups to make them aware of the IT Accessibility Committee and to invite them to assist with initiatives where we might be lacking expertise and/or resources. There was a response from the Maine Developmental Disabilities Council and communication, particularly related to web accessibility was initiated.
This past summer we were fortunate to have two interns assisting with the accessibility effort . Anna Flewelling who had worked for us the previous summer returned to continue to provide education and research on Web issues. Dan Andrews, who was hired through the Margaret Chase Smith Intern Program, provided strong support for the NexTalk project.
The 2005 work plan is framed around six focus areas, which is a change from past years. This year each focus area was assigned a lead, who may not be charged with accomplishing the tasks in the work plan, but will monitor progress of all efforts. The areas and leads are as follows:
| Accountability | Flyod White |
|---|---|
| Telecommunications | Bruce Prindall |
| Internet/Web | Ellen Wood |
| Training | Leigh Wilkinson |
| Visibility and Awareness | Carolyn Bebee |
| Administration | Kathy Record |
The work plan was drafted during an all day planning session, lead by a facilitator, and refined during a subsequent session. The final objectives are as follows:
Complete IT Accessibility Law Workgroup research by winter 2005. This subcommittee will research Section 508, analyze other state laws, and determine proper elements of a good Maine State law. At this point, the IT Accessibility Committee will decide if they want to pursue implementing a law or if the existing policies are as effective as having a law.
Implement NexTalk software to replace TTYs by fall 2005 . The Department of Labor (DOL) will pilot implementation beginning in March. Since the DOL is the largest user of TTYs and with the most complex system, there will be lessons learned during this pilot that can be applied to other agency implementations.
Explore Video Remote Interpreting and prepare recommendations by the summer of 2005. The Department of Labor will be the first department to explore this technology in their Career Centers. Recommendations will be made based on their experience.
Explore Distance Learning and develop status report by the fall of 2005. Determine best practices for producing accessible software applications and accessible content for online distributed learning. Research other government online learning and develop a report for the full Committee.
Ensure that each agency will have access to web testing and accessibility tools on at least one computer by the spring of 2005. The first step is to identify the webmaster coordinators who will receive the tools. They will be trained on the software and receive at least one copy for departmental use.
Evaluate all state agency home pages and primary navigation pages at least twice a year beginning in the spring 2005. Monitor the State of Maine Web page and primary/navigation pages for each department. The definition of "home" page agreed upon was the first page that a visitor sees when arriving to the State of Maine page or another department. "Primary navigation" refers to the left and top navigation on the home page. HiSoft will be used to validate these pages and a report will be distributed to each agency indicating pages that require revisions.
Evaluate enterprise evaluation software in the summer/fall 2005. Continue the evaluation of the HiSoftware even after purchase.
Mandate all state employees who have access to and work on state web pages to register with the
Office of the CIO by the winter of 2005. This requirement exists in the updated Web Standards which will be adopted in February, 2005. InforME will create an on line registration form which must be completed in order to receive FTP rights.
Assist with statewide NexTalk Training Plan spring 2005. The NexTalk group will identify individuals who need the training, have the software loaded on their machines and test it. They will identify locations for presenting the training and the training modules. The Web will be used as the vehicle to deliver the training and the training will be recorded for future use.
Inventory and collect all core accessibility training materials/modules. This will be an ongoing effort to insure there is up to date and available accessibility training material.
Make basic Web design training available to any state employee working on Web pages . The focus of this training will be directed towards the individuals who have registered using the InforME registration form for FTP accounts. To ensure that the Contribute and Dreamweaver software training is customized to meet the objectives of accessibility, the curriculum will be customized and the process for selecting a trainer will be updated.
Offer training on new software products. This includes the quarterly training workshops, such as training on the HiSoftware product used for testing and repairing sites, along with free tools.
Recruit a marketing person. The Membership subcommittee will identify and recruit a person from within state employment with PR/Marketing background to develop a marketing plan. The plan would include demos on accessibility. The intern will assist in this effort.
Continue presentations to managers during the Bureau of Human Resource Management training session (ongoing). Along with the webmasters, the managers have been identified as key to the advancement of accessibility.
Continue MIST articles (ongoing). Bi-monthly submissions to MIST will be an ongoing process.
Develop strategies to better organize the exchange of national information and initiatives spring 2005.
Publicize award / recognition / Best Practices winter 2005. It was decided that three awards will be presented annually, one for leadership and two others with categories determined on a yearly basis.
Explore an organized system to communicate with community disability advocacy groups. There are to be quarterly announcements/status reports and the addition of in-house demos or on-site training with feedback.
Present to the CIO Council . This presentation will explain what IT accessibility actually means and the impact when an application and /or website are not accessible. The IT Accessibility Committee will seek re-chartering from that group and/or the Chief Information Officer when the ISPB (Information Services Policy Board), who originally chartered this group, is eliminated by statutory change.
Recruit new committee members by winter 2005. This will be done under the direction of the Membership Subcommittee. There remain areas, such as cognitive, that require a higher level of expertise than what is currently available.
Identify and secure needed resources/support and prepare annual IT Accessibility Committee budget by fall 2005. The activity and accomplishments of the Committee has increased and along with the added efforts additional funds will be required. In the past, there has not been an adequate accounting of expenses, making it difficult to plan. This year, a budget will be developed.
Prepare Annual Report by fall 2005.
Hire a summer intern from the Margaret Chase Smith Summer Intern Program. For the past two summers we have had a summer intern working on accessibility. Because of their efforts, accessibility initiatives have advanced noticeably. We will apply for a summer intern for 2005 to help with accessibility.
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