Literature Reviews

Reviewed research papers, articles, and publications relevant to digital accessibility.

• Global Considerations in Creating an Organizational Web Accessibility Policy

  David Sloan, Sarah Horton (2014) — Proceedings of the 11th Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper from The Paciello Group examines the legislative and policy landscape for web accessibility across five countries — Australia, Brazil, China, India, and South Africa — to help multinational organisations develop global accessibility polici…

  • accessibility policy
  • accessibility law
  • global accessibility
  • WCAG compliance
  • organizational accessibility
  • disability rights
  • copyright accessibility
  • PDF accessibility

• 'The new accessibility panic': Remaining challenges to the achievement of Australia's National Transition Strategy

  Denise Wood, Scott Hollier (2014) — Proceedings of the 11th Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper examines the Australian Government's progress toward its 2010 National Transition Strategy (NTS), which mandated that all federal, state, and territory websites achieve WCAG 2.0 Level AA conformance by the end of 2014. Drawing on content a…

  • web accessibility
  • government accessibility
  • accessibility policy
  • WCAG compliance
  • accessibility training
  • PDF accessibility
  • captioning
  • accessibility testing
  • organizational accessibility

• A Web Accessibility Report Card for Top International University Web Sites

  Shaun K. Kane, Jessie A. Shulman, Timothy J. Shockley, Richard E. Ladner (2007) — Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper from the University of Washington presents a comprehensive multi-method accessibility evaluation of the home pages of the top 100 international universities as ranked by the Times Higher Education Supplement 2006 World University Rankings.…

  • web accessibility
  • education
  • accessibility testing
  • WCAG compliance
  • automated testing
  • accessibility policy
  • global accessibility
  • higher education

• WCAG 2.0: A Web Accessibility Standard for the Evolving Web

  Loretta Guarino Reid, Andi Snow-Weaver (2008) — Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  Written by two members of the WCAG working group (from Google and IBM respectively), this paper explains the major design challenges faced in developing WCAG 2.0 and the strategies adopted to address them. WCAG 1.0, finalized in 1999, was designed fo…

  • WCAG
  • web standards
  • accessibility guidelines
  • WAI
  • ARIA
  • accessibility policy
  • conformance
  • technology neutrality

• An Accessibility Evaluation Platform: Borrowing from Web 2.0

  Yui-Liang Chen, Gina Lin (2008) — Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper proposes a community-driven Accessibility Evaluation Platform for Taiwan, drawing on Web 2.0 principles to supplement the government-led accessibility compliance program administered by the Research, Development & Evaluation Commission (RD…

  • accessibility evaluation
  • web 2.0
  • crowdsourcing
  • community review
  • Taiwan
  • government accessibility
  • social learning
  • accessibility policy

• One World, One Web ... But Great Diversity

  Brian Kelly, Liddy Nevile, EA Draffan, Sotiris Fanou (2008) — Proceedings of the 2008 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This provocative paper challenges the dominant WAI/WCAG-centric model of web accessibility, arguing that its narrow focus on guideline conformance of individual digital resources fails to account for the diversity of user needs, contexts of use, and …

  • WCAG
  • accessibility policy
  • social model of disability
  • learning disabilities
  • Web 2.0
  • personalized accessibility
  • accessibility metadata
  • inclusive design
  • e-learning
  • holistic accessibility

• Web Accessibility Highlights and Trends

  Judy Brewer (2004) — Proceedings of the 2004 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  Written by Judy Brewer, Director of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, this paper provides an authoritative overview of the state of web accessibility standards and their implementation as of 2004. Brewer describes the three complementary WAI guid…

  • WCAG
  • WAI
  • W3C
  • standards harmonization
  • accessibility policy
  • accessibility evaluation
  • authoring tools
  • browser accessibility
  • accessibility guidelines

• 2005 Accessibility Diagnosis on the Government Web Sites in Taiwan, R.O.C.

  Yui-Liang Chen, Yen-Yu Chen, Monica Shao (2006) — Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This study assessed the accessibility of 117 Taiwanese government websites in 2005 using the Freego Stand-Alone Validation Tool, developed by Taiwan's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC) under the Executive Yuan. Taiwan had establi…

  • government accessibility
  • automated testing
  • accessibility evaluation
  • WCAG compliance
  • accessibility policy
  • East Asian accessibility
  • conformance levels

• Forcing Standardization or Accommodating Diversity? A Framework for Applying the WCAG in the Real World

  Brian Kelly, David Sloan, Lawrie Phipps, Helen Petrie, Fraser Hamilton (2005) — Proceedings of the 2005 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This paper critically examines how the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0) were being applied in practice six years after their publication, arguing that rigid, context-free application of WCAG was creating serious problems for web de…

  • web accessibility
  • WCAG
  • accessibility policy
  • accessibility guidelines
  • holistic accessibility
  • user evaluation
  • automated testing
  • accessibility legislation

• Contextual Web Accessibility - Maximizing the Benefit of Accessibility Guidelines

  David Sloan, Andy Heath, Fraser Hamilton, Brian Kelly, Helen Petrie, Lawrie Phipps (2006) — Proceedings of the 2006 International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A)

  This influential paper challenges the prevailing approach to web accessibility that treats WCAG conformance as the sole measure of success. The authors argue that while guidelines like WCAG are valuable tools, the persistently low levels of web acces…

  • accessibility policy
  • WCAG
  • contextual design
  • e-learning accessibility
  • inclusive design
  • accessibility frameworks
  • metadata
  • personalization
  • social inclusion