Web accessibility metrics are an invaluable tool for researchers, developers, governmental agencies and end users. Accessibility metrics help indicate the accessibility level of websites, including the accessibility level of individual websites, or even large-scale surveys of the accessibility of many websites. Recently, a plethora of metrics has been released to complement the A, AA, and AAA Levels measurement used by the WAI guidelines. However, the validity and reliability of most of these metrics are unknown and those making use of them are taking the risk of using inappropriate metrics.

The transcript for the RDWG mobile access symposium is out. This text is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) or captioning are provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. SHADI ABOU-ZAHRA: Let’s get started. This is the start of the mobile accessibility symposium. Thank you, everybody, for joining. My name is Shadi Abou-Zahra. I’m the staff contact, W3C staff contact for the research and development working group that is organizing this on-line symposium on mobile accessibility.

Yesterday (25th June 2012), the W3C WAI RDWG conducted its second symposium, this time on Mobile Accessibility. Here are my early thoughts on the themes and topics discussed. Mobile devices are becoming increasingly important and are already the primary form of accessing the Web in many parts of the world. However, people with disabilities experience many difficulties when they access the Web with mobile devices. The symposium aimed to bring researchers and practitioners together to discuss these challenges and possible solutions, and develop a roadmap for future research and development in the field.

I discussed the first RDWG Symposium on Web Accessibility Metrics last week; here, as promised, is the full and un-edited transcript! So without further adieu, I’d like to give the floor to the symposium chairs, Giorgio and Markel, maybe just give a few introductory words, just a minute or two, and then we’ll get started with moderating the individual sessions. And again, instructions will be provided as we go step by step on how this Online Symposium – how the logistics will work out for that.

Yesterday we had the first (of what are planned to be many) W3C WAI Research and Development Working Group (RDWG) Website Accessibility Metrics Online Symposium. The Website Accessibility Metrics symposium brings together researchers and practitioners to scope the extent and magnitude of existing website accessibility metrics, and to develop a roadmap for future research and development in the field. Details are in the Background and Objectives. All 50 places on the symposium conference call where taken within 48h off its announcement, but fortunately there was a live transcription service and all of the slides and extended abstracts are online and openly available.

“For the last four years we have been working with the W3C to try and restart the Research and Development Interest Group which was previously, and ably, chaired by Markku Hakkinen. I’m glad to say that after much discussion within the W3C the group has been relaunched as a working group. This new group has a two-year charter, had its first weekly meeting in June, and has already chosen its first topic to be focused on.