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⟶ CISD and DCI ⟶ Literature ⟶ W3C UK News (1998-2006)
⟶ CISD and DCI ⟶ Literature ⟶ W3C UK News (1998-2006)
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Issue 33: September 2000

WWW10 Call For Papers

The Tenth International World Wide Web Conference (WWW10) takes place in Hong Kong, China from May 1-5, 2001. Important dates with regard to Paper Submission are:

Paper Submission Deadline: November 13, 2000
Notification to Authors: January 19, 2001
Final Paper Due: February 19, 2001

A non-exhaustive list of topics of interest is:

Hypertext and hypermedia Languages and standards
Web accessibility Scalability of web servers
Intelligent agents Intelligent search engines
Resource management User interface and interactions
http and beyond Distributed objects
Performance and Reliability Metadata on the Web
Interoperability Architecture issues
Propagation, caching, replication Naming and resolution
Real-time multimedia support Privacy and preferences
Reliability and error recovery Security
Electronic commerce Metrics and measurement
Agent Technologies Wireless and mobility
Web navigation strategies Information mining
Multimedia and streaming Collaborative systems
Computer graphics Virtual reality
Browsers and tools Practice and experience
XML Web characterization

Submitted papers should present original reports of substantive new work in areas that can be theoretical (models, analyses, techniques, semantics), empirical (experiments, case studies), or implementation- oriented (new systems, tools, methodologies, user interfaces). Papers should properly place the work within the field, cite related work, and clearly indicate the innovative aspects of the work and its contribution to the development of the World Wide Web. Papers will be refereed by an International Program Committee, and accepted papers will be published in the WWW10 conference proceedings. Best Paper, Best Presentation, and Best Poster awards will be presented at the conference.

Details of the paper submission process will be posted on the WWW10 Web Site. If you wish to be placed on the WWW10 Announcements mailing list, please send an email message to info@www10.org or use the form on the Web site.

Tim Berners-Lee Keynote at XML World

On 6 September, Tim Berners-Lee gave a Keynote at XML World 2000 in Boston on "XML and the Web". The slides are available on the W3C Web site. The diagram gives the way forward to the web of trust.

Web of Trust

Web of Trust
Full image ⇗
© UKRI Science and Technology Facilities Council

CC/PP Implementors day in Karlstad

The next face-to-face meeting of the CC/PP (Composite Capabilities/ Preference Profiles) Working Group will be in Karlstad, Sweden on 14 November, followed by the Implementors Days 15-16 November, hosted by Ericsson. The goal of the CC/PP framework is to specify how client devices express their capabilities and preferences (the user agent profile) to the server that originates content (the origin server). The origin server uses the user agent profile to produce and deliver content appropriate to the client device. In addition to computer-based client devices, particular attention is being paid to other kinds of devices such as mobile phones.

The purpose of the CC/PP Implementors Day is to encourage implementations, ensure interoperability between existing implementations, and enable developers to share experiences and express concerns to the working group. The Implementors Days will be open to all interested developers.

The Agenda will include:

Implementors are encouraged to publish information about their work to the www-mobile@w3.org list. There will also be a possibility to demonstrate implementations. Internet connections will be provided but it is recommended that implementors bring their own computers or devices. The GSM coverage in Sweden is excellent, but no other wireless networks will be available. A notice of participation is required to participate in both meetings. Please send it to Mikael Nilsson, Ericsson Infotech, mikael.nilsson@ein.ericsson.se. Questions should be addressed to Mikael or the chair, Johan Hjelm, johan.hjelm@era-t.ericsson.se. There will be a cutoff date for registrations to the implementors days on November 3, and initially the number of participants is limited to 50.

Voice Browser patent issued to Leonard R. Kasday

A patent was issued on 22 August (Patent 6,108,629, Method and apparatus for voice interaction over a network using an information flow controller) that includes (among other things) a way to scan a web page via audio.

Basically, the web page is parsed into "elements" which may be HTML elements such as titles, etc. or heuristically selected parts of text, e.g. the first sentence of each paragraph. Each element assigned a value, which might be thought of as "importance" or "salience". The user sets a threshold value.

Then, when the user scans a page, everything above that threshold is read, and everything below the threshold is replaced with a babbling sound suggestive of a tape recorder played at high speed, with additional sounds giving an idea of what is being skipped (e.g. "bings" for links, snippets of skipped material). For example, on one setting the user might hear the first and second level headings, plus the first two sentences of each paragraph, interspersed with babble, and punctuated by occasional "bings" representing the skipped text and links. The user can change the threshold at any point to change the level of detail heard, or simply read everything from that point.

This is just a partial, informal description. The full text and images are online at the US patent office site or IBM's patent server (Search on year 2000, inventor kasday).

This system would provide one way to address the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) User Agent Guideline 7, Provide Navigation Mechanisms. It would work best on pages being properly marked up in accordance with the WAI content guidelines. The heuristics could be used in accessibility "filter" tools being considered by the WAI evaluation and repair tools group.

Len Kasday is the inventor but the rights were assigned to the company where he was employed at that time, AT&T.

WAI event at the White House

On 21 September, CEO's of a number of information technology companies are expected to announce commitments in the area of information technology accessibility at an event involving the White House. Included among a list of implementation commitments are the W3C WAI guidelines.

Following is the draft of a letter to President Clinton that a number of companies are expected to sign onto, prior to the public event:

As the CEOs of a number of America's leading high-tech companies, we strongly support your efforts to promote the accessibility of information and communications products and services for people with disabilities.

We believe that there are two compelling reasons to do so. First, accessible information technology can be a powerful tool for expanding opportunity in the emerging information society. If our products and services are designed to be accessible, people with disabilities will find it easier to work, access a growing universe of electronic information and services, and lead more independent lives. If we fail to do this, people with disabilities could be further isolated from the mainstream of our economy and our society. Second, there are sound economic and commercial incentives to make our products more accessible. Globally, there are over 750 million people with disabilities, and there are 55 million in the United States alone. Making our products accessible will also make it easier for us to serve the rapidly growing population of seniors. Moreover, increasing the accessibility of our products can often improve their functionality for everyone, not just for people with disabilities. Designing products and services that can give customers a choice of input and output mechanisms will help people with disabilities, but it will also help the mobile professional trying to access the Web on a handheld wireless device.

This issue requires private sector leadership. The federal government can help create the right policy environment, but it is ultimately companies that must design, develop and market accessible products and services. To make concrete progress on this issue, and to elevate its importance within our companies, all of us are committed to developing a corporate-wide policy on accessibility within the next six months. The specifics of our policies will vary because of the different markets that we serve, but all of us will seek to include the following private sector "best practices" as appropriate:

As an industry, we will also commit to establishing a Web site that will collect private sector policies on accessibility as a way of encouraging the rapid dissemination and adoption of best practices. Thank you for your leadership on this important issue.

Sincerely,

SVG Linearizer tools to aid accessibility

A Scalable Vector Graphics to text linearizer has been developed by Guillaume Lovet during his internship at INRIA this summer working with Daniel Dardailler. The project had three main parts:

  1. Development of an RDF vocabulary to describe an SVG document (pictures, schemas, graphics) so that the document could be made accessible regardless of the hardware available (computer screen, speaker, tactile screen etc).
  2. Development of a tool (written in Java) able to take that RDF description and present it as text ready for use by various accessibility tools (a vocal module or a "Braille" screen for people with visual impairment, etc).
  3. Development of an SVG editing tool to allow the addition of the RDF description without the need to know RDF.

Membership of W3C Continues to Rise

The total number of W3C Members has risen to 448. Recent new Members are:

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