Assessing Section 508 compliance on federal e-government Web sites: A multi-method,user-centered evaluation of accessibility for persons with disabilities

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal e-government Web sites to be accessible to persons with disabilities. While some studies have assessed the accessibility of federal e-government sites, most of these studies did not sufficiently examine the breadth and depth of issues related to Web site accessibility. This article details a multi-method, user-centered study of the accessibility of federal e-government sites that addresses the complexities of accessibility and the reasons for continued inaccessibility on federal e-government sites. By employing policy analysis, user testing, expert testing, automated testing, and a survey of federal Web developers, this study provides a multi-dimensional, user-centered portrait of the levels of accessibility of federal e-government Web sites, reasons for the current levels of accessibility, and perceptions about accessibility. This article discusses the legal requirements of accessibility, the previous research, and the data and findings of this study, and ultimately offers recommendations for increasing federal e-government Web site compliance with Section 508.     

Beyond Section 508: The spectrum of legal requirements for accessible e-government Web sites in the United States

In the United States, a number of federal laws establish requirements that electronic government (e-government) information and services be accessible to individuals with disabilities. These laws affect e-government Web sites at the federal, state, and local levels. To this point, research about the accessibility of e-government Web sites has tended to focus on compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Though Section 508 has the most specific guidelines regarding Web site accessibility, it is hardly the only law establishing accessibility requirements for e-government Web sites, and Section 508 does not apply to many sites that may be required to be accessible by other laws. Until assessment of the accessibility of e-government Web sites accounts for all of the relevant laws, the understanding of levels of accessibility and compliance will be incomplete. This article examines the entire spectrum of federal laws that create legal requirements for accessible e-government Web sites, analyzing the accessibility requirements that the laws establish and the ways in which each of the laws applies to an e-government Web site. This article also suggests research areas that should be included in future assessments to address the entire range of laws related to the accessibility of e-government Web sites. The issues raised in this article have significant relevance to the design and development of e-government, to the assessment of e-government information and services, and to the inclusion in e-government of the 54 million individuals in the United States with disabilities.     

Accessibility of U.S. federal government home pages: Section 508 compliance and site accessibility statements

U.S. federal websites are required to be accessible for people with impairments. However, despite the existing regulations and guidelines, many federal websites continue to be inaccessible, and accessibility policy statements available on federal websites often do not provide any useful information. This paper provides three contributions to the research literature: (1) an accessibility evaluation of 100 federal home pages using both human and automated methods, (2) a content analysis of existing website accessibility policy statements, and (3) a discussion of the relationship between actual Section 508 compliance and the existing accessibility policy statements on a website. The paper concludes with recommendations for improving policy related to Section 508 compliance for websites.     

Assessing the Library Homepages of COPLAC Institutions for Section 508 Accessibility Errors: Who's Accessible,Who's Not,and How the Online WebXACT Assessment Tool Can Help

ABSTRACT

The Council on Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC) libraries websites were assessed for Section 508 errors using the online WebXACT tool. Only three of the twenty-one institutions (14%) had zero accessibility errors. Eighty-six percent of the COPLAC institutions had an average of 1.24 errors. Section 508 compliance is required for institutions receiving federal funding. While this study shows the need to correct the existing errors, the low error rate shows that COPLAC institutions have generally been conscious of accessibility standards and are working toward achieving fully accessible websites. Studies of the connections between average accessibility errors and the geographic locations of these institutions, the amount of federal funding received, and size were inconclusive. The main aim of the study is to demonstrate the need to check library websites using the free WebXACT tool. This tool offers suggestions for accessibility that should serve to decrease the number of pages that are inaccessible to patrons.     

信息无障碍，距离还有多远？——对146家美国城市公共图书馆的调查

文章以美国城市公共图书馆协会146家图书馆为调查对象,借助无障碍评估工具WAVE对这些馆的网站主页进行测评,逐一开展网站访查和内容分析,统计为残障用户提供服务的情况。调查发现,美国城市公共图书馆网站达到《康复法案》Section 508中规定的信息无障碍标准的比例只有15%,“缺少表单标签”“链接图像缺少替代文本”等是常见错误;55%的图书馆网站主页有残障用户服务信息。我国公共图书馆应重视信息无障碍建设,遵循信息无障碍标准,定期进行审查与维护,借助信息无障碍技术提供残障服务。     

Usability,content, and connections: How county-level Alabama emergency management agencies communicate with their online public

Emergency Management Agencies (EMAs) in the U.S. operate at federal, state, and local levels, each with a common purpose “to prepare for, prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of incidents” (Homeland Security, 2008). As Homeland Security (2008) explains, local EMAs (LEMAs) lay the groundwork for prevention and other activities, coordinating with nearby LEMAs and local entities, including private and non-governmental organizations. LEMAs have been studied little; most research on online LEMAs and State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) has been limited to website content, providing an incomplete picture of how they provide online service to the public. Bertot & Jager argue that functionality, usability, and accessibility are critical elements in evaluating e-government, noting that if users cannot get to or find the content, the content becomes irrelevant. This study contributes to addressing this gap by evaluating Alabama LEMA websites, based on a combination of content rubrics used in prior EMA studies and usability heuristics, factors that can affect user trust, and thus a site's usefulness. It also looks at how Alabama LEMAs are using social networking on their websites.     

A usability analysis of municipal government website home pages in Alabama

This study uses e-government and corporate usability benchmarks to compare municipal government websites in Alabama and examine correlations between usability scores and population, as well as usability scores and per capita income. E-government in Alabama is on the rise. At the state level, in 2008, Alabama ranked in the top 10 states in e-government after three years of being in the bottom three. Improvements in state-level e-government have not, however, necessarily trickled down to the municipal level, and this study found no correlation between usability and a municipality's population or per capita income. Indeed, the study reveals substantial problems with municipal website usability, including accessibility; such problems could erode the web credibility of municipalities trying to engage citizens, to create or strengthen sustainable practices, and to attract companies that can bring new jobs and improve the local economy.     

Accessibility design issues with UK e-government sites

The research seeks to provide the audience and web designers with a higher level of awareness about the level of accessibility problems within the e-government sector, specifically a sampling of 130 sites of the UK members of Parliament. The study applies the results of an online accessibility testing tool to analyze the compliance levels of both UK disability law and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The research also show which guideline errors are the most prevalent among the sites and raises awareness about the issues of access in e-government. Although the UK's Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) of 1995 provides equality in access of websites to people with disabilities, the results of this study show that total openness of sites to these customers is not widespread and the vast majority of sites display similar non-compliance errors among the guidelines. For each of these issues, there are published methods that web designers can implement to improve the accessibility rankings of their sites and provide greater openness to users with disabilities.     

Cataloging and Archiving State Government Publications

The academic libraries in Alabama have been hampered in their ability to provide government information to researchers by the lack of a functioning state depository system. Digital publishing can make timely distribution and widespread accessibility of state government information possible if these online documents can be captured and archived before they are removed from agency Web sites. This article describes a year-long project to capture, archive, and catalog government publications by a catalog unit.     

Main public library building Cincinnati and Hamilton County: A critique

Inspired by the "Year of the Trustee" celebration, the article reviews educational opportunities afforded trusteei during the last decade or so in one state, Alabama, and offers suggestions for those planning educational activities at the local, state, or regional level. Conferences and workshops conducted for Alabama trustees by the state library agency (APLS) during the 1980s am discussed briefly, results of a survey of Alabama trustee's continuing education preferences am reported, and programs presented for trustees by the Alabama Library Association and the Southeastern Library Association during this period am listed as suggestions for program planners. After offering specific advice for those planning continuing education workshops, the article reports on workshops, videotapes, and speakers' kits available from ALTA, the American Library Trustee Association.     

An Analysis of State Library Job Application Forms for Compliance With EEOC Guidelines

This study analyzes the state library job application forms of the 50 state libraries for compliance with the federal government Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's guidelines for pre-employment inquiries. The analysis revealed a small number of discrepancies compared to the total number of items checked, but over one-half of the states did not meet all the items on the checklist. Library administrators should periodically review their job application forms for compliance with federal and state laws with local equal employment opportunity specialists or their state civil rights commission.     

Health information in Italian public health websites: moving from inaccessibility to accessibility

AIMS: In January 2004, the Italian government passed new legislation designed to give people with disabilities access to online services. Starting from the new legislation requirements, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether Italian Local Health Authorities websites are accessible to users with different abilities. METHODS: One hundred and seventy websites were analysed evaluating their compliance to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Priority 1 guidelines via a combination of appropriate accessibility testing methods. This review was carried out twice: the first time it took place between the end of 2003 and May-June 2004. The same survey was repeated again in December 2004, after the issuing of the draft of the Implementation Regulations for The Stanca Law in July 2004. In this second survey, all the websites analysed before were checked again to establish if some measures to make those sites accessible were taken. RESULTS: Seventy-six per cent of the analysed websites fail to satisfy the most basic W3C requirements, but Italian Local Health Authorities websites are likely to present significant improvements to access for some disabled user groups: the number of accessible websites increased consistently between the first and the second review. CONCLUSIONS: It seems that awareness of web accessibility issues is increasing among developers of health information websites because of law enforcement. Recommendations for future research and development are offered.     

The accessibility of Chinese local government Web sites: An exploratory study

With the rapid development of Chinese e-government, Chinese citizens are encouraged to access e-government services as their convenience. However, the accessibility of Chinese e-government Web sites has been overlooked. This research study tries to provide an overview of the accessibility of Chinese local government Web sites. Three hundred twenty-four Chinese local government Web sites were examined to find out how accessible they are with reference to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG) published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). This research found that all the surveyed Chinese e-government Web sites failed one or more W3C's accessibility measures and thus many disabled Chinese people may have substantial problems to access them. Several valuable recommendations are made based on the research findings and the China's actual conditions.     

An accessibility study of state legislative Web sites

On-line state legislative information should be equally accessible to all citizens. While state Web sites have been praised for aesthetic design and innovative services, access has rarely been examined despite the legal activity regarding Web site accessibility on the federal level. This study examined selected Web pages for each of the fifty states using a program that determined the number and type of barriers posed to users of assistive technology. Although some states have clearly made an effort to provide equal access to all, there were a number of examples of inaccessible Web sites. Even states that meet the minimum requirements for accessibility have not chosen to follow the full guidelines. As the amount of on-line information continues to increase, adopting accessibility guidelines will become even more crucial.     

Opportunities and threats: A security assessment of state e-government websites

This study assessed the security of the U.S. state e-government sites to identify opportunities for and threats to the sites and their users. The study used a combination of three methods – web content analysis, information security auditing, and computer network security mapping – for data collection and analysis. The findings indicate that most state e-government sites posted privacy and security policy statements; however, only less than half stated clearly what security measures were in action. Second, the information security audit revealed that 98% of the sites secured users' accounts with SSL encryption for data transmission, and the sites' search tools enable public users to search for public information only. Third, although the sites had most of their internet ports filtered or behind firewalls, all of them had their main IP addresses detected and their port 80/tcp open. The study discussed the threats and opportunities and suggested possible solutions for improving e-government security.     

Assessing information security risks in the cloud: A case study of Australian local government authorities

Cloud computing enables cost-effective and scalable growth of IT services that can enhance government services. Despite the Australian Federal Government's ‘cloud-first’ strategy and policies, and the Queensland State Government's ‘digital-first’ strategy, cloud services adoption at local government level has been limited—largely due to data security concerns. We reviewed the ISO 27002 Information Security standard with extant literature and found that operational security, individual awareness and compliance matters pose more significant government challenges than the often-highlighted technical and process-oriented cloud security requirements. This study identifies and explores the critical factors associated with information security requirements of cloud services within the Australian regional local government context. We conducted 21 field interviews with IT managers, and surveyed 480 IT staff from Australia's 47 regional local governments. We propose a conceptual cloud computing security requirements model with four components – data security; risk assessment; legal & compliance requirements; and business & technical requirements – in order to promote a balanced view on cloud security for governments. Using this model, governments can work together to demand uniform security requirements for adopting cloud services.     

Blowing up Harry Potter: Leveraging an NLM Exhibition to Your Advantage

Libraries are constantly challenged to find ways to demonstrate their value to their institutions. Can hosting a National Library of Medicine (NLM) exhibition increase a library's impact? In 2012 the University of Toledo engaged their constituents by hosting and developing programming for the NLM exhibit Harry Potter's World: Renaissance Science, Magic and Medicine. The process is synthesized into five stages: choosing, visioning, finding allies, budgeting, and marketing. Recommended practices for each stage are presented. Measures of impact (attendance, views, tweets, feedback) are discussed. Author concludes that hosting NLM exhibitions can be cost effective ways to advance a library's mission, improve visibility and user's perceptions.     

The secrets of failing better: Accessible publishing at SAGE. A case study

Key points

• Accessibility is often misunderstood as a concept that is niche or of secondary importance.
• Reframing accessibility as improving the overall user experience instantly changes the perspective; accessibility becomes a critical requirement worthy of investment and resources.
• The single most prevalent complaint amongst librarians is the time it takes to get hold of accessible content.
• An accessibility roadmap provides structure and transparency for digital accessibility projects within the organization.
• Publishers' non‐compliance with accessibility standards will increase their risk of sales declines and legal complications over time.
• The SAGE A.C.C.E.S.S.I.B.L.E mnemonic offers suggestions on how to devise a successful accessible publishing programme.

     

Computerization in a housebound library service

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