Miguel Gonzales Sancho European Commission, ICT for Inclusion, Information Society & Media Directorate General

1. The ÆGIS concept, with updates
from the Pan-European Workshop
and User Forum
Peter Korn, Accessibility Principal
& ÆGIS Technical Manager

2. Presentation Overview
• What is ÆGIS
• Brief history of ICT Accessibility
• Steps to build an accessible...
...physical world ...ICT environment
• The Open Accessibility Framework (OAF)
• Updates from the Pan-European workshop

3. What is ÆGIS?
• EC-funded FP7 project to “...build
accessibility into future mainstream ICT...”
• Focus on...
– future: look at where accessibility is going
– mainstream: do research as close to products
as practical
– ICT: desktop, web, mobile; communication

4. What is “ÆGIS”?
• Open Accessibility Everywhere:
Groundwork, Infrastructure, Standards
• Inspiration from Greek myth
– ÆGIS is the shield of Zeus
– Now means a shield, protection, or sponsorship
– For us: building accessibility into ICT is a way
to protect people at risk of exclusion

5. What is “ÆGIS”... in Letters & Words?
• open: collaborate with existing communities
• Accessibility: focus of the project
• Everywhere: desktop, web, mobile
• Groundwork: start from users, user needs
• Infrastructure: build it in to ICT
• Standards: define, then build to standards

6. Key Goals of the ÆGIS Project
• Develop a complete framework to building
accessibility into ICT
– Prove it with users in desktop, web, and mobile
• Help developers & authors as well as users
• Address accessibility cost issues
– Leverage popular open source apps, platforms
– Use commodity hardware where possible

7. More Key Goals of the ÆGIS Project
• Seek to advance the state of the art
– Framework for magnification
– Concept Coding Framework for authoring
– Face tracking, eye tracking, gesture switches
– Aid to developers, authors
– “Platform on a platform” challenges

8. A Brief History of ICT Accessibility
• Late 1960s – early 1980s 1st generation access
– Character based screens
– Blind access via Optacon, screen readers from text
buffers
– Low vision access via custom video card
– Input device replacements (special keyboards, etc.)

9. More Brief History of ICT Accessibility
• Late 1980s – early 2000s 2nd generation access
– Graphical desktop
– Blind access via off-screen model: reverse engineered hack
– Low vision access via software magnification: also a hack
– Evolution of voice recognition systems
– Switch access software
– Specialized apps for cognitive impairments

10. rd
Emergence of 3 Generation Access
• Starts in 1997
– Java Accessibility API &
Pluggable Look & Feel of Swing
– W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
– MSAA
– Roots in two earlier attempts:
• RAP & AccessAware

11. rd
Focus of 3 Generation Access
• Provide everything needed by AT via APIs
– Address “platform-on-a-platform” issues
– Accessibility standards start to appear
– WCAG, UAAG, ATAG, ISO 13066
– Similar shift for accessibility as with printing
• Direct app-to-printer interfaces became mediated
by the operating system
– OS-defined printer driver APIs

12. Steps to Physical Accessibility – creation
Step 1: Define “Accessible”
• How wide must a door be for a wheelchair
to fit through it?
• How much force must you need to open a
window?
• How do we make an elevator accessible -
tones, Braille...

13. Steps to Physical Accessibility – creation
Step 2: Stock building materials
• Sets of standard doors - all wide enough for
a wheelchair
• Sets of standard windows - with little force
needed to open
• Standard elevators - with tones, Braille,
tactile symbols

14. Steps to Physical Accessibility – creation
Step 3: Tools for accessible building
• Manuals & standards for installing windows,
doors, elevators
• Specs. for wheelchair ramps; testing ramp
elevation
• Special tools for installing windows, doors,
elevators, etc.

15. Steps to Physical Accessibility – use
Step 4: Locate the building where it will work
• Is the building near public transit?
• Is there a wheelchair ramp leading up to
the building?
• Can people find the crosswalk buttons

16. Steps to Physical Accessibility – use
Step 5: Make the accessible buildings
• Follow the plans, use the stock building
materials, locate the building where it
should go
• And then build it

17. Steps to Physical Accessibility – use
Step 6: Disseminate access devices people need
• Distribute wheelchairs
(that work with the ramps)
• Provide canes for the blind, train seeing
eye dogs
• Diagnose hearing problems, prescribe
hearing aids

18. Steps to ICT Accessibility – creation
Step 1: Define “Accessible”
• Define keyboard navigation scheme
• Define theme mechanisms for high
contrast, large print
• Define an accessibility API for
communication with AT

19. Steps to ICT Accessibility – creation
Step 2: Stock UI elements, toolkits
• Build sets of desktop UI elements
– Menus, windows, etc.
• Build sets of web UI elements
– Charts, drag & drop, etc.
• Build sets of mobile UI elements
– Text fields, radio buttons, etc.

20. Steps to ICT Accessibility – creation
Step 3: Tools for developing accessible ICT
• Manuals & standards for how to make
accessible applications
• Developer tools that provide stock
accessible UI elements
• Developer tools that flag programmatically
determinable inaccessible app designs

21. Steps to ICT Accessibility – use
Step 4: Make platform accessible, able to run AT
• Does the platform expose accessibility
APIs from the applications?
• Can the user select a high contrast, large
print theme?
• Does the platform have text-to-speech,
Braille, for AT to use?

22. Steps to ICT Accessibility – use
Step 5: Make the accessible ICT applications
• Follow the plans, use the stock UI
elements & toolkits, deploy on an
accessible platform
• And then build the apps

23. Steps to ICT Accessibility – use
Step 6: Disseminate access devices people need
• Ensure blind have access to screen
readers for the platform
• Ensure low vision have access to screen
magnification
• Ensure access to augmentative/alternative
communication systems, etc.

24. Open Accessibility Framework
• Core idea of the ÆGIS project
• ÆGIS OAF deliverables:
1.Document describing the framework of 3rd
generation accessibility, validated by ÆGIS
prototypes and feedback
2.Prototypes implement OAF, proven in ÆGIS
• Many prototypes contributed back in open source

25. Open Accessibility Framework cont.
• Addresses all facets of building
accessibility into ICT
• Completely analogous to physical
accessibility
– Looks at “creation” and “use” sides
• It is essentially the “Steps to ICT
Accessibility” of previous slides

26. ÆGIS Technology Focus Areas
• Desktop
– Build on 3rd gen. accessibility already in GNOME
– Focus on authoring assistance in
OpenOffice.org
– DAISY, Braille, Concept Coding Framework
– Blind, low-vision, physical impairment, cognitive
impairment, developers / testers

27. ÆGIS Technology Focus Areas, cont.
• Web
– Work in all facets of OAF (except AT)
– UI element sets used in developer tools to
create apps that run in user agents on desktop
platforms (with AT)
• Mobile
– Work in all facets of OAF (including AT)

28. Creation Use

29. Updates from Pan-European Workshop
• <updates to go here, added the night
before, at the conclusion of the workshop>