Türkiye’deki Üniversite Kütüphane Web Sitelerinin Web İçeriği Erişebilirlik Kılavuzu Kapsamında Değerlendirilmesi

İçinde bulunduğumuz bilgi çağında gelişen bilişim teknolojilerinin sunduğu imkânlar ile birlikte bilgi kaynaklarının büyük bir çoğunluğu elektronik ortama taşınmakta ve kütüphaneler de dijital kütüphanelere dönüşerek kullanıcılarına web ortamında hizmet sunmaktadır. Bu kapsamda kütüphane web siteleri bilgiye ve kütüphane hizmetlerine erişimde kullanıcılar için birincil iletişim noktası olmaktadır. Bu noktada, kaynaklara ve hizmetlere erişimde bir geçit görevi üstlenen web sitelerinin erişilebilirlik standartları doğrultusunda tasarlanmasının önemi ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, Türkiye’deki üniversite kütüphane web sitelerinin Web İçeriği Erişilebilirlik Kılavuzu (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines [WCAG]) ilkeleri doğrultusunda incelenmesi ve erişilebilirliklerine ilişkin mevcut durumun ortaya konulması amaçlanmaktadır. Betimleme modeli kullanılarak gerçekleştirilen çalışmada Türkiye’de 2020-2021 eğitim-öğretim yılında aktif olarak eğitim ve öğretim faaliyetlerine devam eden 183 üniversitenin kütüphane web sitesi WAVE otomatik değerlendirme aracı kullanılarak incelenmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular; üniversite kütüphane web sitelerinin tamamında en az bir erişilebilirlik hatasının bulunduğunu (maksimum=123), en sık karşılaşılan erişebilirlik hatasının “boş bağlantı” hatası olduğunu (n=160) ve web sitelerinin büyük bir çoğunluğunda (%93) en az bir öğede kontrast hatası olduğunu göstermektedir. Bununla birlikte web sitelerinin %97’sinde, doğrudan hata olarak değerlendirilmeyen ancak erişilebilirliği olumsuz etkileyebilecek unsurların da bulunduğu belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca, web sitelerinin erişilebilirliklerini olumsuz yönde etkileyen bir diğer unsurun da mobil uyumluluğa ilişkin tespit edilen hatalar olduğu görülmektedir. Bu çalışmanın ülkemizde kütüphane web sitelerinin erişilebilirliklerinin iyileştirilmesi amacıyla yapılacak planlamalara ve düzenlemelere katkı sağlayacağı ve aynı zamanda gelecekte konuya ilişkin yapılacak diğer çalışmalar için de örnek bir çalışma olacağı düşünülmektedir.

Unified Website Accessibility Assessment Framework

In this chapter, a unified web accessibility assessment (UWAA) framework and its software has been proposed. UWAA framework was developed by considering Web Content Accessibility Guideline 2.0 to evaluate accessibility of web sites by integrating more than one evaluation approach. Achecker tool as an automated evaluation approach and barrier walkthrough (BW) as an expert-based evaluation approach were integrated in the UWAA framework. The framework also provides suggestions to recover from the problems determined to the evaluators. The websites of three universities were evaluated to determine the framework's accuracy and consistency. It was revealed that the results obtained from automated and expert-based evaluation methods were consistent and complementary with each other. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that problems which cannot be determined by an automated tool but which can be detected by an expert can be identified by BW method.

Satisfaction of visually disabled users with California educational websites

BACKGROUND: College and university websites in the United States are legally required to meet accessibility standards to promote equal opportunity in education for blind and visually disabled students. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are the recognized standard for website accessibility. OBJECTIVE: Determine how satisfied blind and visually disabled college and university students are with college and university websites in California, and whether compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is a good predictor of that satisfaction. METHODS: A random sample of websites from California colleges and universities was evaluated for accessibility compliance. A stratified sample of six websites was taken from the initial sample. Thirty blind or visually disabled students performed a prescribed series of tasks on each of the six websites, then answered a Likert-format survey regarding their satisfaction with each website. RESULTS: Sixty-three percent of websites did not meet the first priority accessibility criteria. Participant responses showed a majority were satisfied with websites, both compliant and non-compliant, and a strong correlation between satisfaction and accessibility compliance. CONCLUSIONS: Despite legal requirements, a majority or large minority of college and university websites in California do not meet accessibility guidelines, indicating a significant opportunity to improve the accessibility of those websites.

Publishing accessible content on OJS and beyond

Open Journal Systems (OJS) was released in 2001 and has since become the most widely used open-source journal publishing platform in existence, with over 25,000 journals using it worldwide. Over the past few years, the Public Knowledge Project (PKP), its creator, has been working on improving accessibility of the platform, including the release of the first accessible Default theme in OJS 3.3. This presentation will go over the accessibility improvements made to day and those planned ahead. Making the platform accessible is only half the battle however as it is often the published content that presents barriers to readers. Creating resources for editors and authors to improve content accessibility – in OJS and beyond – is one of the goals of the PKP Accessibility Interest Group (AIG), a community initiative established in 2020. We will highlight the work of the group and the resources it makes available to the public. This overview is presented on behalf of the PKP AIG.

Eva-Web: una herramienta para evaluar la accesibilidad de sitios web

En la actualidad, las personas dependen en gran medida de las tecnologías de la información para realizar su trabajo, acceder contenidos para la formación académica o entretenimiento. En este contexto, los contenidos que ofrecen los sitios web deben ser compartidos entre distintos individuos. Para lograr que los contenidos sean percibidos por todas las personas, incluyendo aquellas que tienen alguna discapacidad, se requiere que los sitios web sean accesibles. El término accesibilidad denota el grado en el cual un sistema puede ser usado por personas con el más amplio rango de capacidades. El objetivo de este trabajo, por tanto, es presentar EvA-Web (Evaluación de la Accesibilidad-Web) como una herramienta que apoya a los desarrolladores de software en la identificación de las barreras a la accesibilidad que se encuentran en los sitios web que diseñan o programan. El prototipo de esta herramienta se desarrolló tomando en cuenta las guías de accesibilidad para el contenido web, (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) WCAG 2.0. Además, presentamos los resultados de la validación del prototipo de EvA-Web en donde se evaluó un sitio web y se identificaron barreras a la accesibilidad. La herramienta EvA-Web es uno de los productos generados de una tesis realizada por una estudiante de la licenciatura en Ciencias de la Computación que se ofrece en la Universidad de Sonora.

Making Scientific and Technical Materials Pervasively Accessible

In this paper, the question is explored of what policies, standards and practices are desirable to ensure that hardware, software and publications in the sciences and associated disciplines are created from the outset to be accessible to people with disabilities. Insight into this question can be obtained by considering the unique accessibility challenges that these materials pose, including complexities of notation, language, and graphical representation. Having analyzed what sets this problem apart from broader issues of accessibility, the advantages and limitations of current international standards are reviewed, and contemporary developments in standards and policies are considered from a strategic perspective. These developments include the establishment of accessibility requirements for e-books and e-readers under the European Accessibility Act, the potential role of process-oriented accessibility standards such as ISO/IEC 30071-1:2019, and opportunities for enhancing the standards applicable to scientific materials via future revisions of the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The accessibility of scientific and technical content is ultimately supported by several interrelated human rights recognized in international disability rights law, which constitute a foundation for further evaluation and development of policies. It is argued that attaining pervasive accessibility in scientific and technical fields requires an unprecedented level of commitment and collaboration among educators, scientists, content and software producers, regulators, and people with disabilities.

How have governments supported citizens stranded abroad due to COVID-19 travel restrictions? A comparative analysis of the financial and health support in eleven countries

Background: In response to the continuing threat of COVID-19, many countries have implemented some form of border restriction. A repercussion of these restrictions has been that some travellers have been stranded abroad unable to return to their country of residence, and in need for government support. Our analysis explores the COVID-19-related information and support options provided by 11 countries to their citizens stranded overseas due to travel restrictions. We also examined the quality (i.e., readability, accessibility, and useability) of the information that was available from selected governments’ web-based resources.Methods: Between June 18 to June 30, 2021, COVID-19-related webpages from 11 countries (Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Canada, United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), France, Spain, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand) were reviewed and content relating to information and support for citizens stuck overseas analysed. Government assistance-related data from each webpage was extracted and coded for the following themes: travel arrangements, health and wellbeing, finance and accommodation, information needs, and sources. Readability was examined using the Simplified Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) and the Flesch Kincaid readability tests; content ‘accessibility’ was measured using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Version 2.1; and content ‘usability’ assessed using the usability heuristics for website design tool.Results: Ninety-eight webpages from 34 websites were evaluated. No country assessed covered all themes analysed. Most provided information and some level of support regarding repatriation options; border control and re-entry measures; medical assistance; and traveller registration. Only three countries provided information or support for emergency housing while abroad, and six provided some form of mental health support for their citizens. Our analysis of the quality of COVID-19-related information available on a subset of four countries’ websites found poor readability and multiple accessibility and usability issues.Conclusion: With large variance in the information and services available across the countries analysed, our results highlight gaps, inconsistencies, and potential inequities in support available, and raise issues pertinent to the quality, accessibility, and usability of information. This study will assist policymakers plan and communicate comprehensive support packages for citizens stuck abroad due to the COVID-19 situation and design future efforts to prepare for global public health emergencies.

A case study of Web Content Accessibility of 15 top-ranked Universities of India

Accessibility of websites are very important for making it web-based information for persons with disabilities which further reinforced by COVID-19 pandemic. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) has been developed by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and accordingly Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (GIGW) has also been developed. In this case study we studied the home page of websites of 15 top ranked Higher Education Institutions of India ranked by National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), started in 2016 for availability of basic accessibility features. The ranking used is of latest one i.e. of 2020. Qualitative observation has been made of the home page of each 15 universities and the NIRF website. Eleven fundamental accessibility features were taken in to account. Results revealed that most of these top15 ranked universities lack even basic accessibility feature making their websites inaccessible for persons with disabilities. Options like font size, screen reader, high contrast text also were not found on may website of top-15 universities. The website of NIRF had no basic features out of 11 considered in the study indicating a very poor condition of digital accessibility features of website of top ranked universities which needs urgent attention to achieve equity and inclusion as promised in NEP 2020.

Digital and Web Content Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities: A case study of Indian open universities

The radical development of internet and other Information and Communication Technologies have changed the scenario of education system in general and open and distance learning in particular which was further accelerated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools now a days are pivotal to any Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system. With the growth of ICT based education the issue of accessibility of digital information has also gained the attention of intelligentsia. With the interference of ICT tools, discussions have been taking place about the digital accessibility of web-based information available over websites. Websites of Open Universities are central source of educational and administrative information and learning for a learner enrolled in open and distance learning system. Further the basic promise of an open and distance learning system is providing education for marginalized group too and thus it must be as per the needs of persons with disabilities which has been recommended by United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). An enquiry has been made in present research to study primary accessibility features Screen Reader Access, High Contrast Text, Word Spacing, Text Resize feature and the feature of language change available over websites of Indian Open Universities. It was observed that about 45% of Indian Open University websites lacks any such accessibility features. Remaining 55% open universities of India, mostly were found providing two to four out of these five accessibility mechanisms required for persons with disabilities on any website. As Government of India has developed Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (GIGW) which has advised government institutions to confirm their websites in compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) guidelines of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at ‘AA’ level. The preliminary study revealed that Indian Open Universities has long way to go to make their websites GIGW & WCAG 2.0 complaint in order to ensure digital accessibility in higher education through open and distance learning for persons with disabilities to ensure inclusion in higher education in India.