Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology Advisory Committee (TEITAC)
Meeting Summary

July 16-18, 2007
National Science Foundation Arlington, VA

August 21 & 28, 2007 (Teleconference)

Monday, July 16, 2007

Review and Modification to Agenda

Michael Paciello, Jim Tobias, Co-Chairs, TEITAC reviewed the agenda. The co-chairs outlined the expectations for the meeting, which were that the full committee would hear subcommittee reports from all of the TEITAC subcommittees, with a view towards discussing the proposed recommendations of each subcommittee and seeing whether any consensus decisions could be made as to proposals made by each of the subcommittees during the course of this July meeting.  The reports are found in the July Working Draft document, which is found here:  http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_July_18

At the outset of the meeting, it was discussed and understood that the preliminary agenda for this meeting, which consisted of each subcommittee being allotted 90 minutes to present their report, could be modified, subject to the request of the subcommittee or the full committee.

Editorial Working Group presentation and discussion of draft to date

Michele Budris of the Editorial Working Group reviewed the July Working draft document, (link given above).  She discussed how the draft document was derived, and solicited comments and further input from the members of the committee.  There was discussion of the amount of time needed to get feedback from constituencies.  It was agreed that enough time would be allotted in the schedule of upcoming deadlines to allow sufficient time to review and comment on whatever draft was under consideration.

Public Comment Period

A public comment period was held at the conclusion of the morning’s session.  There was a break for lunch, and then the meeting resumed for the afternoon session.

Report and Discussion:  Industry Caucus

Several members from industry gave presentations on how the current draft of the proposed amended TEITAC report would work, as interpreted through their respective company’s product lines.  Speakers included committee members Ken Salaets of ITIC, Aubrey Wooley of Canon, Peter Korn of Sun Microsystems, Shannon Rapuano of IBM, and Alex Li, from SAP, which was not a member of the committee, but was invited to speak on how the organization of the document could be improved.  All of their presentations are found here:  http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/teitac5th/  Public comments included Terry Weaver of GSA, who discussed the “Buy accessible Wizard” which a tool used by GSA to map features of products.  Peter Manyin of the Federal Reserve System discussed how the single report was easier for potential users to see and comment upon, since it gathered all of the provisions in one place and made it easier to see the overall structure and impact of the proposed provisions.

Report and discussion of the Software, Web and Content Subcommittee

Andi Snow-Weaver, co-chair of the subcommittee, went through the proposals submitted by the Software, Web subcommittee.  After extensive discussion and questions from the full committee, the Software subcommittee agreed to review certain items at the subcommittee level, then resubmit them to the full committee.  Not all of the subcommittee proposals were able to be heard during the time allotted, so the agenda was amended to allow additional time.  The Software and Web subcommittee report ran for the entire rest of day one.  The General Interface subcommittee report was moved to July 18, 2007.

The topics discussed by the subcommittee included:  General Technical Requirements (1.2.G – (Contrast placeholder); Software & General Behaviour (3.1.A – Disruption of Access Features, 3.1.B – Timing, 3.1.C – Software as Platform and Application); If the Product has Visual Output or Display (3.2.A – Contrast, 3.2.B – Animation, 3.2.C – User Preferences); If … Keyboard (3.3.A – Keyboard); If … runs on OS with AT Support (3.4.A – AT Interoperability, 3.4.B – Bitmap Icons, 3.4.C – Focus Indicator); 4. Additional Provisions for AV Content or Players (4.C Play Control (Audio)); If Web Content or Web Applications (6.1.A – Color (Web) (see also 1.2.F), 6.1.B – Contrast (Web), 6.1.C – Timing (Web), 6.1.E – Non-text Content, 6.1.F – Repeated Blocks, 6.1.G – Keyboard, 6.1.H – Link Purpose, 6.1.I – Information and Relationships, 6.1.J – Focus Cursor (Web), 6.1.K – User Interface Components, 6.1.L – Consistent Identification, 6.1.M – Pausing); If a Content Format (6.2.A – Non-text Objects, 6.2.B – Multimedia (Format), 6.2.C – Reading Order, 6.2.D – Table Headers, 6.2.E – Complex Table Headers, 6.2.F – Interactive Elements, 6.2.G – Links, 6.2.H – Embedded Comments, 6.2.I – Images of Text, 6.2.J – Dynamic Information) 6.3. If Audio and/or Video Content (6.3.A – Synchronized Alternatives) and Definitions (Accessibility Services, Content, Content format, Decorative animation, Informational animation, Larger scale text, Other services to cooperate with assistive technologies, programmatically determinable, Pure decoration.  Retrieved from “http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Provisions_by_SC

Public Comment period

Bob Benedict of NASA asked that the committee please clarify what was meant by document accessibility.  He asked that the committee address the issue as to content and format.  At the end of the public comment period on the first day, the meeting was adjourned for the evening.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Report and discussion of the Desktops, Portables, Peripherals, and Other Computer Hardware Subcommittee.

Discussion was led by Rob Nerhood.  The report may be found here:  http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_July_6#2._Provisions_for_Hardware_Aspects_of_Products

Report and discussion of the Subpart A Subcommittee:

Discussion was led by Laura Ruby of Microsoft and Deborah Buck of ATAP.  The report is found at:  http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_July_6_Subpart_A  Discussion time was extended to allow the members of the committee to fully discuss and present the outstanding issues.  Accordingly, the agenda was amended to move the report of the Documentation subcommittee to a teleconference call on August 21, 2007. 

Public Comment Period

A public comment period was held at the conclusion of the morning’s session.  There was a break for lunch, and then the meeting resumed for the afternoon session.

Report and discussion of the Telecommunications Subcommittee

Mary Brooner, co-chair of the subcommittee lead off the meeting by going through the proposals submitted by the Telecommunications subcommittee.  After extensive discussion and questions from the full committee, the Telecommunications subcommittee agreed to review certain items at the subcommittee level, then resubmit them to the full committee.  The full text of the materials submitted by the subcommittee can be found at:  http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_July_6_Provisions_Only#5-F_-_IVR_etc.  

Public Comment Period

A public comment period was held at the conclusion of the day.  Consumer Susie Rosen spoke about the need for uniform standards to enhance the delivery of Real Time Text.  The meeting concluded for the day.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The meeting of the full committee was convened. Meeting minutes from the May 2007 meeting were reviewed and approved.  The committee discussed the timeline for future meetings of the committee.  It was decided that the TEITAC would next meet face to face on September 4 through 6, 2007, as previously planned, then add another face to face meeting to be held November 13-16, 2007.  Conference calls would be held to cover the balance of the Documentation subcommittee report, on August 21, 2007, and to cover the Audio Visual subcommittee report on August 2, 2007.  A final conference call to discuss the details of the final draft would take place in December 2007.  The final report will be presented to the Access Board in January 2008.

Report and Discussion:  General Interface Subcommittee

Gregg Vanderheiden, co-chair of the subcommittee, presented the proposals of the General Interface subcommittee.  After extensive discussion and questions from the full committee, the General Interface subcommittee agreed to review certain items at the subcommittee level, then resubmit them to the full committee.  The full text of the materials submitted by the subcommittee can be found at:  http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_July_6:_Section_1_Comments

Public Comment Period

A public comment period was held.  Members of the public had an opportunity to ask questions or make comments.  The Committee then adjourned for lunch.

General discussion of next steps:

The committee members discussed and agree to continue the reports of the Documentation subcommittee to a teleconference on August 21st and the report of the Audio Visual subcommittee to a teleconference on August 28, 2007.  A revised delivery plan was discussed and approved as shown here:  http://teitac.org/wiki/Delivery_Plan_2007

Report and discussion:  Continuation of the Telecommunications Subcommittee Report

Brenda Battat continued the discussion of the telecommunications subcommittee report provisions, with an emphasis on standards for Real Time text.

Report and discussion of the Self Contained, Closed Products Subcommittee

Debbie Cook, co-chair of the subcommittee, presented the proposals of the Self Contained, Closed Products subcommittee.  After extensive discussion and questions from the full committee, the subcommittee agreed to review certain items at the subcommittee level, then resubmit them to the full committee.  The full text of the materials submitted by the subcommittee can be found at:  http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Draft_July_6_Subpart_A#1194.3_-_G_-_Narrow.2C_Delineated_Use

Public Comment Period

A public comment period was held at the end of the day, and then the fifth TEITAC meeting was adjourned, until August 21, 2007, when it will continue with the teleconference report of the Documentation subcommittee.

August 21, 2007, Tuesday

Teleconference Report of the Documentation Subcommittee, 1:00 – 3:00 pm.

Michele Budris, Sun Microsystems, presented the report of the Documentation subcommittee during the teleconference.  The provisions discussed may be found at:  http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Provisions_by_SC#Documentation  After participation by numerous committee members on the call, time was allotted for public comments.  The call was then adjourned.

August 28, 2007, Tuesday

Teleconference Report of the Audio-Visual Subcommittee, 1:00 – 3:00 pm.

Larry Goldberg, WGBH, Tony Jasionowski, Panasonic and Geoff Reed, WGBH, co-presented the report of the Audio-Visual subcommittee during the teleconference.  The provisions discussed may be found at:  http://teitac.org/wiki/EWG:Provisions_by_SC#Audio-Video  after participation by numerous committee members on the call, time was allotted for public comments.  The call was then adjourned.

The Fifth TEITAC meeting then adjourned, all subcommittees having reported.