Social Accessibility Project

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What is the Social Accessibility Project?

The Social Accessibility Project is a service whose goal is to make Web pages more accessible to people with disabilities. The service gathers users' input and uses the power of the open community while not changing any existing content.

This pilot service focuses on users of screen readers. Users encountering Web access problems anywhere at any time can immediately report problems to the Social Accessibility server. Volunteers (called supporters) can be quickly notified and can easily respond by creating and publishing the requested accessibility metadata, which will help other users who encounter the same problems. Users themselves are also allowed to improve accessibility of pages by sharing landmarks on a page. Site owners can learn about methods for future accessibility renovations based on the volunteers' external metadata.

The system consists of tools and a server that enables the collaborative authoring. The entire process is empowered by various collaboration services, such as comments, discussions, measurements, and incentives.

How does it work?

The system consists of three parts:

• components for screen reader users
• a browser extension for volunteers
• a server that supports all the collaboration services.

An important characteristic of the tools for both the supporters and screen reader users is that they use seamless interfaces with their own familiar browsing environments. This characteristic helps reduce the learning curve.

The following scenario is an example of a typical use:

1. While surfing the Internet, a user of a screen reader reports a problem to the server by using a shortcut key command (after the screen reader extension has been installed).
2. The server immediately sends the report to supporters.
3. Interested supporters investigate the problem by using the browser extension.
4. The supporters discuss solutions among themselves through Web applications on the server.
5. The supporters create a set of metadata to solve the problem; they then submit it to the server.
6. When the user visits the page again, the page is automatically fixed. Any screen reader user who installs the screen reader extension can access the accessible version of the page.
7. If a user wants to comment on the metadata or suggest improvements, he can send measurements and comments to the server.
8. Through the server, supporters discuss solutions and consider users' comments; they refine metadata by using the browser extension.
9. Supporters and users can check their points and ranking in the portal on the server.

Users can also create metadata: When a user finds an important position in a page, the position can be submitted as a "landmark" for other screen reader users.