The objective of Support-EAM (Supporting the creation of a e-Accessibility Quality Mark) is to propose a strategy for creating a Web Accessibility Quality Mark for Web services by the end of 2005, as part of the Action Plan eEurope 2005: An information society for all.
For more information on the Support-EAM project, you can choose to read the Support-EAM Project Presentation in HTML or to download it in PDF (181ko).
Support-EAM
Supporting
SPECIFIC SUPPORT ACTION
IST-2-004754-SSA
1st October 2004 30th March 2006
Project Presentation
Dominique BURGER
Pierre GUILLOU
Association BrailleNet
UPMC B23
9, quai Saint-Bernard
75252 Paris cedex 05
e-mail:
dominique.burger@snv.jussieu.fr
pierre.guillou@snv.jussieu.fr
The aim of the Support-EAM is to create an eAccessibility Quality Mark for Web services by the end of 2005, as part of the Action Plan eEurope 2005: An information society for all.
It clearly refers to the Council Resolution on " eAccessibility? - improving access people disabilities to Knowledge Based Society (doc. 5165 03), inviting Commission member states ?to consider the provision of an eAccessibility mark? goods and services which comply with relevant standards for eAccesibility".
The " people disabilities to Knowledge Commission the of an and with for recommendations. Making the thousands of applicable Web services (both public and private) accessible within the next few years will require a major effort across Europe, in terms of practical implementation and R&D. There will be a need for new accessibility standards for 'cutting edge' technologies, new technical solutions for existing technologies, new access technologies for people with disabilities, new web content authoring tools (which automatically create accessible content) and new tools for accessing web content. However, to achieve the best results all of this must be prepared in light of a better understanding of how e-accessibility should be implemented in harmony all over Europe something, which is now more important than ever, as more and more initiatives within different countries are leading to further divergence in peoples understanding of what is considered to be accessible.
The project goes through a Quality Assurance process and co-operates with standardisation bodies in order to turn the methodology into a real standard that could be enforced through national or international laws.
Within the WAB cluster, Support-EAM takes an active part in the further development of Version 2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (produced by W3C/WAI) by active participation in WAI Working Groups.
Support-EAM is a Specific Support Action Project (contract number 004754) co-funded by the INFSO DG of the European Commission within the RTD activities of the Thematic Priority Information Society Technologies of the 6th Framework Programme".
Duration: 18months, Start date: 01/10/2004, End date: 31/03/2006.
The project will create methodological instruments for accessing the implementation of the e-Accessibility recommendations and techniques provided by WAI/W3C (WCAG1.0 and WCAG2.0).
It will proceed in harmonising the expertise of European organisations, who currently all produce and use their own methodological tools when evaluating the accessibility of web services. The project will develop a process for collating and merging the different methodological tools, checking the coherence with the W3C/WAI work, with the WAB Cluster, and with the EuroAccessibility Consortium (www.euroaccessibility.org), in order to finally produce a harmonised methodology for single and large-scale Web sites evaluation (UWEM - Unified Web Evaluation Methodology). The UWEM methodology will fulfil the following requirements:
The methodology will be made public under an Open Source Licence.
Each iteration of the UWEM will be tested against a range of live websites. To gauge its 'international' application, and show its benchmarking potential, it is our hope that these websites will be selected for us by each Government.
The project will create a European Organisation (Legal Entity) and explore the conditions for such an organisation becoming a recognised authority in order to maintain and guarantee the quality and harmonisation of European activities in the field of Web accessibility through evaluation and certification.
This European Organisation will be composed of organisations in the different European countries/ regions, which will normally act as regional delegations (or Helpdesks). A particular attention will be paid to countries that have joined Europe recently. These regional helpdesks will provide information and services (appropriately localised).
The project will set up a Quality Mark concerning the accessibility of Web Sites using the UWEM methodology and supported with readily available information, evaluation, helpdesks, dissemination and certification. Relevant inventories will be made, and all documented materials will be made publicly available on a centralised Web Site.
It is Support-EAM's intension to hold a CEN WorkShop in order to get a CEN Workshop Agreement for the Quality Mark. Participation from Governments to this workshop will be necessary.
The project will prepare for the dissemination of this Quality Mark all over Europe and its maintenance through a network of regional Helpdesks. These regional Helpdesks will provide the necessary accompanying services like information outreach, localisation, training, accreditation, etc...
A first network of pilot regional Helpdesks will be set up by the contractors in 6 countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Netherlands and Spain.
The model for a regional Helpdesk will be refined (with continued feedback from partners in the different EU state) throughout the project.
The European Organisation will then affiliate new Helpdesks in other countries. Affiliation might be based on compliance to requirements described in a "regional helpdesk model" (for instance, commitment of the candidate organisation, training of experts from these organisation, verification by the European organisation of how the affiliated organisation apply the methodology,...).
An eAccessibility Quality Curriculum and e-learning courses based on the UWEM methodology will be developed to support the dissemination of the expertise.
This process will concern 50 to 100 experts in 6 to 10 countries contributing to raise the expertise on eAccessibility in Europe. It will also provide useful feedback for the verification and validation of the UWEM methodology and the eAccessibility Quality Curriculum. The EdeAN (www.edean.org) and the EuroAccessibility networks should facilitate this outreaching work by providing the necessary contacts.
The project will propose a general model for continuously augmenting the number of affiliated Helpdesks in Europe to continue and strengthen the harmonisation process. It will include an adaptable business model for generating sustainable income. The EEIG model (European Economic Interest Group) will be considered particularly.
The partners in the project are summarised in the table below.
| No. | Organisation | Short name | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Association Braillenet (Coordinator) | BNET | FR |
| 2 | Technosite | TSERV | ES |
| 3 | Bartimeus Accessibility Foundation | ACC | NL |
| 4 | Dublin City University | DCU | IE |
| 5 | Universität Linz | IS | AT |
| 6 | Katholieke Universiteit Leuven R&D | KULRD | BE |
| 7 | AccessInMind Ltd | AIM | UK |
Note: the formal name of the Bartimeus Accessibility Foundation is "Stichting Bartimeus Accessibility"
SUPPORT-EAM will co-operate with the EIAO and BentoWeb projects within the WAB Cluster, with W3C/WAI working groups as stated in the Cluster Agreement and with EdeAN. It has also a strong liaison with the EuroAccessibility Initiative.
| Work package | Short description | Leader |
|---|---|---|
| WP1 |
Project Management and Quality Assurance To ensure the timely and quality performance of the Support-EAM project and results. |
BNET |
| WAB Cluster |
To maintain compliance with WAI / WCAG (version 1.0 and/or 2.0) To provide a demonstration of the working prototype aggregation |
ACC |
| WP3 |
To create a Quality Mark for eAccessibility evaluation To create a European Authority and Regional helpDesk Model |
BNET |
| WP4 |
to prepare the implementation of regional Helpdesks to verify the conditions for the sustainability of the Quality Mark and the economical viability of an European Authority and Helpdesks. |
TSERV |
Information on the project outcomes are regularly published on the Web Site.
