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.