Re: RIGHT ON GENA!

[Charles McCathieNevile <charles w3 org>]

As an practical approach, particularly for people with programming skills, I
would suggest that the first priority is to get some access to the X window
system through at least one Window manager, by making sure that one or both
of the projects Jason mentioned works (more or less). 

At that point you are in a position to join development teams for things like
Mozilla, (or whatever open source project you like). This will enable you to
work on the accessibility directly, as well as to work on the prject in
general. Just by being there, and being able to explain what needs to be done
for accessibility (and demonstrate that it is possible), an example is being
set. Moreover, by creating the awareness that this is a real problem with
real solutions for real people in the minds of the developers, you are far
more likely to get good results as other developers make the small shift to
considering accessiblity as a basic technical problem instead of just
marketing add-on that makes headaches.

just my 2 cents worth in frustration at not having had much time to do this
yself, and therefore not having made much impact. (but each bit starts - ants
can move boulders and grass can bring down skyscrapers).

charles McCN

On Thu, 19 Aug 1999, Jason White wrote:

  There are several existing projects which should be noted in this
  context:
  
  1. UltraSonix: http://henge1.henge.com/~brian/ultralin.html
  
  2. Gnome speech access, mentioned on this mailing list in the past (no
     dedicated web page?)
  
  It should also be pointed out that the two most popular graphical
  desktops for Linux, Gnome and KDE are now both free software (or
  open-source, depending on which side of the terminological debate you
  fall on) projects. So long as there is not a widespread movement away
  from free software licences, they will remain available for public
  development by the community of users as a whole. Most of the
  commercial interest surrounding Linux has so far related to (1)
  distribution, (2) the development of proprietary applications for
  Linux; and (3) technical support. The core development projects are
  not, however, driven by commercial interests. The continued viability
  of the "free software" (or "open-source") community is very important
  for accessibility as it ensures openness in the development of
  software and helps to maintain a high level of technical quality. It
  also fosters cooperation, which is exactly what is required if
  principles of universal design are to be widely implemented.
  
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--Charles McCathieNevile            mailto:charles w3 org
phone: +1 617 258 0992   http://www.w3.org/People/Charles
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative    http://www.w3.org/WAI
MIT/LCS  -  545 Technology sq., Cambridge MA, 02139,  USA